IX Corps      1950 through 1954

        The IX Army Corps was activated at Fort Lewis, Washington, on June 1, 1940. In July 1941, the corps assumed operational responsibility for the Camp Murray Staging Area. This was in addition to the normal training functions of the Corps. After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 73 1941, IX Army Corps was assigned the mission of supporting defensive operations along the central and northern regions of America's western seaboard.

        On September 1, 1943, the unit was redesignated IX Corps and a year later, September 25, 1944, IX Corps closed its headquarters at Fort McPherson, Georgia, preparatory to overseas movement to Hawaii. Upon arrival, IX Corps was assigned to Tenth Army with a dual mission of developing an overall plan for the invasion of the Japanese-held coast of China, and the preparation of all Tenth Army units on Hawaii for movement to Okinawa. With establishment of an overall command of Pacific Forces under General MacArthur, IX Corps moved to Leyte, Philippine islands, in July 1945 and was assigned to the Sixth Army. There, it began planning for the initial invasion of Kyushu, Japan and later, occupation of Japan in case the Japanese collapsed or surrendered. In October 1945, following the surrender of the Japanese military forces, IX Corps came ashore and established a headquarters at Sapporo. When military occupational missions were reduced, IX Corps was inactivated in March 1950.

        Within three months, the Korean conflict started and on August 10, 1950, IX Corps was reactivated at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and shipped almost immediately to Korea. During the Korean conflict, IX Corps played an essential role in such operations as Vulture, Clam-up, Tune-up, Mushroom, and Showroom, all designed to limit Invading Communist manpower and equipment.

        On January 1, 1954, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, IX Corps, was relieved from assignment to Eighth Army and assigned to Far East United States Army Forces. Camp Sendai was Headquarters XVI and then IX Corps during the 1950s. On February 2, 1956, IX Corps moved from mainland Japan to Fort Buckner, Okinawa, where it merged with Headquarters Ryukyus Command, to form HQ RYCOM/IX Corps on January 1, 1957.

        On May 15, 1972, IX Corps once again returned to mainland Japan where it merged with HQ, U.S. Army Japan, to form HQ USARJ/IX Corps, fulfilling a contingency planning mission which includes periodic participation in joint and combined forces Command Post Exercises in the Western Pacific.

        In 1961, IX Corps became a separate headquarters of U.S. Army Pacific. The 9th Regional Support Command [9th RSC] in Hawaii was designated HQ IX Corps (Augmentation) and was organized on January 16, 1962. At that time it was an integral part of the active Army’s IX Corps, and participated in command post exercises with the corps for its annual training.

        On April 27, 1987, the organization in Hawaii was re-designated HQ IX Corps (Reinforcement). Effective December 1, 1991, this organization was re-designated again as HQ IX Corps (Reinforcement/9th ARCOM). Effective October 1, 1995, the command in Hawaii was re-designated HQ 9th U.S. Army Reserve Command, following the inactivation of IX Corps at Camp Zama, Japan in September 1995. When IX Corps was deactivated, the 9th Theater Army Area Command was activated in its place in Japan.

        During the Civil War, the IX Corps of the Union Army had the distinction of traveling further and losing more of its highest-ranking generals than any other Union corps. Commanded by Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, the IX Corps was formed at Fort Monroe, VA, from three divisions brought there from the coast of the Carolinas in the aftermath of the Union's disastrous Peninsular campaign. At the December 1862 Battle of Fredricksburg, the IX Corps was one of the units that valiantly but futilely attacked the Confederate position at Marye's Heights. From March 1863 to March 1864, the IX Corps was transferred to the war's western theater, where it helped in the capture of Vicksburg, Miss. In the fall of 1863, the corps fought at Campbell's Station, TN, and succeeded in defending Knoxville from the siege of Rebel troops commanded by Gen. James Longstreet. During Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's drive into Richmond, VA, in 1864, the IX Corps fought at the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, and then engaged in the trench warfare at Petersburg. On July 30, the IX Corps charged the Confederate lines after the explosion of a mine under the Rebel entrenchments and were slaughtered in the subsequent Battle of the Crater. Burnside was relieved of command after that Union disaster, and Gen. John G. Parke commanded the corps for the rest of its existence. After the Confederate evacuation of Petersburg, VA, on April 2, 1865, the IX Corps entered the city unopposed and followed the Union army to the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House. The IX Corps was officially disbanded on August 1, 1865.