WW2 veteran Alvin Ungerleider

On 3 February 1941, the First Maryland Infantry Regiment, Maryland Army National Guard, was inducted into federal service as the 115th Infantry Regiment at Frederick, Maryland as part of the second partial mobilization of the National Guard for World War II, and then moved to Fort George G. Meade on 18 February 1941 to join the 29th Infantry Division. The regiment completed in-processing, traded in its equipment for modern equipment, and started to repeat its division level training. It was then transferred to the A.P. Hill Military Reservation on 22 April 1942 to participate in maneuvers, and then moved to the Carolina Maneuvers to participate in large unit maneuvers on 8 July 1942. It then moved on to Camp Blanding to fill its empty personnel slots on 19 August 1942, and then staged at Camp Kilmer on 20 September 1942, and shipped out from the New York Port of Embarkation on 5 October 1942 on the RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth. They arrived in England on 11 October 1942, and then were attached to the 1st Infantry Division in preparation for the D-Day invasion. They moved with the 1st Infantry Division from 2 June 1944, and remained with 1st Infantry Division until 7 June 1944, when they returned to the 29th Infantry Division for further operations. Their participation in the Normandy Campaign continued until it was over on 24 July 1944. They immediately moved into the Northern France Campaign on 25 July 1944, which continued until it was over on 14 September 1944.

During this period the 115th Infantry Regiment was engaged in one of the war's forgotten chapters, "The Battle of Brest". The Battle for Brest was one of the fiercest battles fought during Operation Cobra, the Allied breakout of Normandy which began on 27 July 1944, during the Battle of Normandy during World War II.

Part of the Allied plan for the invasion of mainland Europe called for the capture of port facilities, in order to ensure the timely delivery of the enormous amount of war material required to supply the invading Allied forces (it was estimated that the 37 Allied divisions to be on the continent by September 1944 would need 26.000 tons of supplies each day). The main port the Allied forces hoped to seize and put into their service was Brest, in northwestern France.

Brest also served as a major German U-boat base from 18 June 1940 until its surrender to U.S. forces during the Brittany Campaign.

The 115th Infantry then started participation in the Rhineland Campaign on 15 September 1944, whereupon the 115th Infantry crossed from France to Belgium and the Netherlands both on 27 September 1944, and entered Germany on 30 September 1944.

This campaign continued unabated until 21 March 1945, and the 115th Infantry did not take part in the Ardennes Campaign. With the end of the Rhineland Campaign, the 115th Infantry moved to the Central Europe Campaign on 22 March 1945, which continued until the end of Hostilities, which took place on 8 May 1945, but the campaign was not declared terminated until 11 May 1945.

The 115th Infantry was on occupation duty at Bremen, Germany on VE Day, and this continued through 1946. The regiment returned to the New York Port of Embarkation on 16 January 1946, and mustered out at Camp Kilmer the next day.

The 115th Regiment sustained 5.948 casualties during the fighting in Europe. Campaign streamers for Normandy (with arrowhead), North France, Rhineland, and Central Europe were added to the colors. Additional decorations included a distinguished unit streamer embroidered "St. Laurent-Sur-Mer," a streamer in the colors of the French Croix du Guerre with palms embroidered "St. Laurent-Sur-Mer," and, for the First Battalion, a streamer in the colors of the French Croix du Guerre with Silver Star embroidered "St. Lo."