The 30th continued across France fighting battles as it went.  After crossing the Seine river the 30th Division raced across the remainder of France to liberate Tournai, Belgium.  After a six day halt to be resupplied, the division continued its march across Belgium and became the first allied troops to enter Holland.  By late September the division was planning for the assault on the Siegfried Line.  This attack opened on 2 October 1944, and a breach was made the following day.  The objective of the division was to cutoff Aachen by linking up with the 1st Infantry Division on the city's eastern edge.  This would prevent resupply of German troops and equipment while the 1st Infantry Division subdued the city.  On 16 October 1944, after an intensive two weeks of fighting the encirclement of Aachen was completed.  The 30th then continued on its offensive into Germany.

When Von Rundstedt attempted his breakthrough in December, 1944, the 30th was rushed to the Malmedy-Stavelot-Stoumont area.  The northern thrust of the German army and the shortest route to Antwerp was through these three Belgian towns.  The 30th had given such a mauling to some of Hitler's best troops, that "Axis Sally"; German radio propagandist, called the Division "Roosevelt's SS Troops."  Col Pipher's elite SS troops were prevented by the 30th Division and attached forces from getting any of the nearly one million gallons of fuel just north of Stavelot.  By mid January 1945, the Division had closed the gap of the bulge to within one mile of St. Vith, when the battle was turned over to the 7th Armored Division for the honor of recapturing a city for which they had fought so hard to hold about a month earlier.

Returning to Germany, the 30th division crossed the Roer River in February and fought several battles across the flat German land towards the Rhine River.  The Rhine River was crossed in late March 1945.  The 30th was one of the first divisions to break out from the bridgehead and led the dash encircling the Ruhr and trapping thousands of Germans.  At war's end the Division was stationed at Magdeburg, Germany.  Arriving in the US late in August, the Division trained at Ft Jackson SC under V Corps until being inactivated on 25 November 1945

Towards the end of the war General Eisenhower asked the European Theater historian to rate all the division in the European Theater of Operations.  The 30th participated prominently and effectively in all five major battle campaigns in Northern Europe. After a thorough study by the historian staff the 30th Infantry Division was rated the No.1 Division in the ETO by these historians.  It was judged overall to have outperformed the acclaimed airborne and regular army divisions. This is the legacy we wish to carry forward.

After the war the 30th Infantry Division was reorganized again as part of the National Guard. The organization continued until 28 October 1954, when the 30th was again reorganized with the entire division located in North Carolina.

In January 1968, the Division became the 30th Infantry division (Mechanized) and was divided among the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The division was deactivated in 1973, and three separate infantry brigades (mechanized) were formed. The North Carolina brigade retained the lineage of the division named "Old Hickory", after President Andrew Jackson.

On 5 June 1999, during, the 30th Heavy Separate Brigade became part of the 24th Infantry Division under the new active/reserve component integrated division concept.

The 2000-2001 six-month rotation of U.S. soldiers in Bosnia was the first time that National Guard troops have patrolled the countryside in vehicles armed with automatic weapons.  One hundred seventy-six infantry and armor Guard soldiers from North Carolina's enhanced 30th Infantry Brigade were amongst the first to pull patrol duty with active Army soldiers. After weeks of intense training, they joined the rotation commanded by the 3rd Infantry Division.

More than 4,500 soldiers and airmen of the North Carolina National Guard used California's Mojave Desert to train for war starting May 31, 2003. They went there for the largest battle training exercises ever held by Tarheel guardsmen during a three-week deployment to the National Training Center (NTC), Ft. Irwin, CA.

The Army announced on July 26, 2003 that it had alerted two U.S. Army National Guard Enhanced Separate Brigades that may participate in the Army unit rotation plan for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). One of the units was the 30th Infantry. These National Guard units would provide capabilities necessary to perform the on going mission in Iraq.

In February 2004, the Brigade began its deployment to Iraq prepared to spend one year "boots on the ground" there.

In addition to the units from West Virginia and Illinois, which are normally part of the Brigade, soldiers from several other states were added to the unit for this deployment.; 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry (NY), Company B of the 279th Signal Battalion (AL),  Company C of the 1st Battalion, 107th Armor (OH), Company B, 451st Civil Affairs Battalion (TX), Detachment 1495, 324th Psychological Operations Company (CA), and soldiers from the 682nd Engineer Battalion (MN).

In all, nearly 5,000 soldiers made up the Brigade at the time of its deployment.

While deployed to Iraq, the unit disbursed the Northeastern Iraq sector, where it was stationed with more than $5.7 million for security, education and water-sewer treatment projects. The 30th BCT also undertook 393 improvement projects, including the refurbishment of schools, mosques and the construction of hospitals.