99th Flag Cased / by Justin Merriman








On Sunday afternoon members of the US Army Reserve's 99th Regional Support Command held a ceremony at Soldiers and Sailors Hall in Oakland to case their flag. The 99th and it's checkerboard flag have called Pittsburgh home since 1921 but will now be relocated to Ft. Dix, N.J. As part of a national reorganization that coincided with the Defense Department's 2005 base restructuring, the Army Reserve decided to consolidate its 10 regional readiness commands into four regional support commands. The changes sent the 99th of Moon to Fort Dix as one of the four support commands, and expanded its responsibilities from Pennsylvania and four other states to a 13-state region including Pennsylvania.

The 99th Infantry fought at the Battle of the Bulge and held the "north shoulder" of the Bulge against heavy, repeated attacks by the Germans. The 99th then went on to become the first Allied infantry division to cross the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen.