28th Infantry Division (United States) - Legacy - 28th Infantry Division Shrine

28th Infantry Division Shrine

A shrine dedicated to the 28th Infantry Division is located on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. This site was formerly the estate of Colonel Theodore Davis Boal. In 1916 Boal formed the Boal Troop, the 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry, State College, a horse-mounted machine gun unit which was accepted as a provisional unit of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. In April 1917, the Boal Troop was reconfigured as an infantry unit, Company A of the 107th Machine Gun Battalion, and deployed to France for service in World War I.

In 1919, soldiers of the Boal Troop returning from the war erected a monument on the Boal Estate dedicated to their fallen comrades. In the 1920s, other units of the 28th began erecting their own memorials, and began to refer to the area as a "shrine". In 1931, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased the site, and in 1969 the Pennsylvania Military Museum was opened. By 1971, memorials to most of the units of the 28th that served in World War I had been erected, and in 1997 a World War II memorial was dedicated at this site.

Members of the 28th Infantry Division have gathered for a memorial service at the shrine every third Sunday in May since 1919. U.S. Route 322, on which the shrine is located, is named the Pennsylvania 28th Division Highway.

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