TFH 10/16: Private Thomas C. Neibaur, USA

The United States Army's 42nd Infantry Division is known as the "Rainbow" Division. The unit was formed by combining selected Army National Guard formations from across the United States for combat service in World War I. Legend has it that the division's chief of staff, then-Major Douglas MacArthur, said it would "stretch over the country like a rainbow."

On this day in 1918, a twenty year-old private in the Rainbow Division from Sharon, Idaho took his French-made Chauchat automatic rifle and single-handedly held off an enemy counterattack. When the attack was halted, he captured eleven enemy soldiers with just his pistol, and though wounded, brought all his prisoners back to our own lines. His name was Thomas Croft Neibaur, and for his courage, he received the Medal of Honor.


From Medal of Honor Citations for World War I:


NEIBAUR, THOMAS C.

Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company M, 167th Infantry, 42d Division. Place and date: Near Landres-et-St. Georges, France, 16 October 1918. Entered service at: Sugar City, Idaho. Born: 17 May 1898, Sharon, Idaho. G.O. No.: 118, W.D., 1918. Citation: On the afternoon of 16 October 1918, when the Cote-de-Chatillion had just been gained after bitter fighting and the summit of that strong bulwark in the Kriemhilde Stellung was being organized, Pvt. Neibaur was sent out on patrol with his automatic rifle squad to enfilade enemy machinegun nests. As he gained the ridge he set up his automatic rifle and was directly thereafter wounded in both legs by fire from a hostile machinegun on his flank. The advance wave of the enemy troops, counterattacking, had about gained the ridge, and although practically cut off and surrounded, the remainder of his detachment being killed or wounded, this gallant soldier kept his automatic rifle in operation to such effect that by his own efforts and by fire from the skirmish line of his company, at least 100 yards in his rear, the attack was checked. The enemy wave being halted and Iying prone, 4 of the enemy attacked Pvt. Neibaur at close quarters. These he killed. He then moved alone among the enemy Iying on the ground about him, in the midst of the fire from his own lines, and by coolness and gallantry captured 11 prisoners at the point of his pistol and, although painfully wounded, brought them back to our lines. The counterattack in full force was arrested to a large extent by the single efforts of this soldier, whose heroic exploits took place against the skyline in full view of his entire battalion.

Neibaur passed away due to tuberculosis at age 44 on December 23, 1942. He rests in peace in the Sugar City Cemetery, Sugar City, Idaho.

Today, while two-thirds of the present 42nd Infantry Division are National Guardsmen from either New Jersey or New York, the division still carries on the "rainbow" tradition as the remaining third of the unit is spread amongst 12 other states: Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont.