Washington National Guard History

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Medical Responsibility

AN INFORMAL HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL GUARD

A more formal history of the National Guard may be obtained from the National Guard Bureau itself.

Every National Guard member has a responsibility to understand the history of the National Guard and apply the lessons of the past to the activities of today and the vision for tomorrow. It has been said, "You can't know where you are going if you don't know where you have been." Knowledge and understanding of military history and tradition is a force multiplier. Members of today's National Guard are the temporary guardians of this history - they belong to America's oldest military component, and are the reason America has a trained and ready National Guard.

Origins of the National Guard's history rest with four Massachusetts Army National Guard units. The oldest units in the National Guard and U.S. Army are the 181st Infantry, the 182nd Infantry, 101st Field Artillery and the 101st Engineer Battalion. These units were organized on December 13,1636, by authority of the General Court at Boston, as the North, South and East Regiments. The 181st and 182nd Infantry Regiments perpetuate the North Regiment. The 101st Engineer Battalion perpetuates the East Regiment and the 101st Field Artillery Regiment perpetuates the South Regiment. These units are among the world's oldest military units.

In the English Colonies the militia's mission was to defend the settlement and colony in case of attack. Each militiaman was required to drill several times a month and to provide his own arms and equipment. As the threat of attack diminished, English colonial authorities began to use militiamen to augment regular troops in campaigns against French colonial possessions. During the French and Indian War several hundred militia officers gained valuable experience which they later used in the Revolutionary War.

During the Revolutionary War that began at Lexington and Concord on April 19,1775, more than 164,000 militiamen from the 13 colonies served under the command of the former Virginia militia colonel, George Washington. Without the militia, American independence could not have been won. While the Continental Army, with militia support, fought the main battles of the Revolutionary War, other militia regiments kept British forces in check by harassing, foraging and raiding parties and limiting the royal troops to the cities.

Primarily the militia fought the battles of Bunker Hill, King's Mountain, Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse. The American militia won grudging respect from British regulars. Lord Cornwallis officially reported in 1781, "I will not say much in praise of the Militia of the Southern colonies, but the list of British Officers & Soldiers killed & wounded by them since last June proves that they are not wholly contemptible."

On October 19,1781, when Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, former militiamen of the Maryland, Delaware and Virginia Lines were there. Twenty-eight of today's Army National Guard units carry battle streamers on their colors embroidered with the names of the battles of the Revolutionary War: Lexington, Boston, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Cowpens, Monmouth, Guilford Courthouse and Yorktown.

After the war, the militia was governed by the Militia Act of 1792. States were required to enroll men between the ages of 18 and 45 into companies, regiments and brigades. Each state appointed an adjutant general and brigade inspectors. As the enrolled militia declined in importance, the volunteer companies of the organized militia grew in strength. These uniformed, trained and equipped units, grew to a strength of 25,000 by 1804.

The term "National Guard" was first used in America by a New York militia unit on August 25,1824. The name came about as the result of a visit to New York by the famous veteran of the Continental Army, the Marquis de Lafayette. The honor guard for the French hero, who had made great contributions to America's independence, was made up of men from the 2nd Battalion, 11th Regiment of Artillery. The battalion had voted to rename itself the "Battalion of National Guards" in tribute to Lafayette's command of the Paris militia "Garde Nationale." The battalion later became the famous 7th Regiment, one of the nation's most distinguished militia organizations. It was after the Civil War that many states renamed their militia "National Guard" and the National Defense Act of 1916 made the term mandatory.

With the start of the War of 1812, the U.S. Army consisted of only 10,000 men. The militia of the states was called into federal service and 489,173 militiamen responded. The most famous militia commander during the War of 1812 was Major General Andrew Jackson, whose backwoods sharpshooters defeated British regulars at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.

Following the admission of Texas into the Union in December 1845, a dispute rose between Texas and Mexico over the southern border of the new state. This resulted in the Mexican War of 1846-1848, with more than 73,000 militiamen called into federal service. On February 23, 1847, a regiment of Mississippi militiamen, the famed "Mississippi Rifles," led by their commander, Colonel Jefferson Davis, defeated a much larger Mexican force in hand-to-hand combat in the mountains near Buena Vista, Mexico. The defeat of the Mexicans at Buena Vista enabled the U.S. forces to continue their assault, resulting in the capture of Vera Cruz in March 1847 by General Winfield Scott and his 12,000 troops, two-thirds of whom were militiamen.

Most states recognized the volunteer militia companies - uniformed units that drilled on a regular basis - as the State Organized Militia. These units responded to President Lincoln's call in April 1861 for 75,000 militia to form the bulk of the Union Army for the first several months of the Civil War.

No accurate figure can be determined as to the number of militiamen in the Civil War. The figure of 1,933,779 is used for the number of all volunteers who served in the Union Army. Many militia regiments that responded to the call of 1861 remained in service for the duration of the war. Other regiments returned to state status and served as cadres for the many volunteer regiments the states furnished to the federal forces. The initial bulk of the Confederate Army was made up of volunteer militia regiments.

With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, close to 165,000 National
Guardsmen volunteered for active duty. Although only a few National Guard regiments were
sent to Cuba, many Guardsmen were shipped to the Philippines to fight in the Philippine
Insurrection. One of the most famous regiments of the war were the Rough Riders, made up of
Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas Guardsmen who, under the command of
Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, assaulted San Juan Hill.

The modern image of today's National Guard began to emerge in 1903, when the Militia Act (also called the Dick Act) thrust the federal government into the picture by establishing procedures for a more direct and active role in organizing, training and equipping the National Guard in line with the standards established for the regular Army.

As the result of raids by Pancho Villa on Columbus, NM, and two Texas towns in 1916, President Wilson called the National Guard into service to patrol the Mexican-American border where more than 158,000 Guardsmen served. Although the National Guard did not see any combat action, the training received was invaluable when the U.S. entered World War I.

In June 1916, the National Defense Act was passed which essentially created the modem National Guard. The new act provided increased federal support and regulation. When officers and units reached Army standards in regard to strength, equipment and skill, they were federally recognized and eligible for federal support.

Many of the Guardsmen returned from their Mexican border duty only to be called again into federal service in 1917 for World War I, with more than 379,000 Guardsmen being ordered to active duty. During the war, National Guard units throughout the country were organized into combat divisions of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), and soon afterwards departed for France to enter combat during World War I.

During World War I, the National Guard supplied 17 combat divisions, or about 40 percent of the entire American Expeditionary Forces. The Guard also provided three black infantry regiments, the 369th, 370th, and 372nd to the all-black 93rd Division. National Guardsmen from the 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 36th, 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 41st and 42nd Divisions saw World War I service. Eleven of these divisions were noted to have spent more days in actual combat than did the regular Army divisions.

After the end of World War I, following a rapid and haphazard demobilization, it was necessary for many states to rebuild their National Guard units. The National Guard began the difficult process of reorganizing into companies, regiments and divisions. The National Guard was reorganized to consist of four cavalry divisions and 18 infantry divisions.

The National Defense Act of 1920 established the Army of the United States, to consist of the Regular Army, the Organized Reserve Corps and the National Guard, when called into federal service.

An amendment to the National Defense Act passed on June 15,1933 created a new Army component, the National Guard of the United States. This component, while identical in personnel and organization to the National Guard of the states, was a part of the Army at all times, and could be ordered into active federal service by the president whenever Congress declared a national emergency. Thus it became possible for the National Guard to be given an Army mission without having to wait for a "call" to be issued by the various state governors.

In August 1940, President Roosevelt ordered the National Guard of the United States into active service. Between September 16, 1940, and October 6,1941, the National Guard brought into federal service more than 300,000 men, in 18 combat divisions, as well as numerous non-divisional units, including 4,800 men from the 29 National Guard observation squadrons. The number of Guardsmen federalized doubled the strength of the active Army, and the National Guard observation squadrons, due to their high state of training, helped to expand the U.S. Army Air Forces.

Not only did the Guard provide the Army with an experienced source of manpower, it also provided the expanding Army with leaders as over 75,000 National Guard enlisted men became commissioned officers during World War II, either through OCS programs or by battlefield commissions.

During World War II, National Guard units participated in 34 separate campaigns and numerous assault landings in the European and Pacific Theaters of Operation. Of the first five U.S. Army divisions to enter offensive combat, four of them, the 32nd, 34th, 37th and Americal Divisions, were Guard divisions. One Guard division, the 2~h, participated in the Normandy Omaha Beach D-Day landings on June 6,1944. Again Guard units served well, with 148 presidential citations awarded to National Guard units for outstanding performance of duty, or for conspicuous valor or heroism. Individual Guardsmen received 20 Medals of Honor, 50 Distinguished Service Crosses, 48 Distinguished Flying Crosses and over 500 Silver Star Medals.

With the end of World War II in 1945, National Guard units were demobilized and personnel were returned directly to civilian life through Army separation centers. For a short period during the winter of 194546, there was no National Guard.

The Secretary of War approved plans on October 13,1945, calling for the reorganization of the National Guard. Under those "approved policies" the Guard was established with a dual status and mission. The National Guard of the United States (NG US), as a reserve component of the Army of the United States (AUS), was to be an "M-day" (Mobilization Day) force, thoroughly trained, equipped and ready for immediate service to the nation in case of enemy aggression or a national emergency. The National Guard of the sever2l states was to provide organizations and personnel for the Reserve (federal) Component, and to preserve peace, order and public safety in their states and during local emergencies. The Secretary of War's policies provided that the federal government was to supervise military instruction, furnish field training facilities, pay, uniforms, equipment and ammunition, and contribute a fair portion of the expenses for construction of National Guard armories. The federal assistance in armory construction marked a new development in the history of the Guard.

The first four post-World War II Guard units were granted federal recognition on June 30, 1946, as was the first Air National Guard unit to reorganize, the 120th Fighter Squadron of Colorado. On September 18,1947, with the establishment of the U.S. Air Force, a new reserve component was established, the Air National Guard, and since that date the National Guard has consisted of the Army and Air National Guard.

Black National Guard units had survived since Reconstruction in a few states. In 1946, New Jersey became the first state to officially integrate its National Guard, two years before the integration of the active Army. But many states in the Deep South with large black populations had rio blacks at all in their National Guards. This could have been a problem during the civil unrest that sometimes accompanied desegregation in the 1950s and 60s. In 1956, President Eisenhower federalized the entire Arkansas National Guard for a month to prevent the segregationist governor from using it to stop the court-ordered integration of Little Rock High School. The scene was replayed in 1962 during the desegregation of the University of Mississippi. In both cases, Guardsmen obeyed the President and helped enforce the law.

The Korean War brought more than 183,000 Army and Air Guard members to active duty. Army Guard units included eight infantry divisions and three regimental combat teams. The Air Guard call up included 22 wings and 66 tactical squadrons.

During the Korean War, two Army Guard infantry divisions, the 28th of Pennsylvania, and the 43rd of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont, and four Air Guard wings were sent to Europe; four divisions and 17 wings remained in the United States; and two infantry divisions, the 4Oth of California, and the 45th of Oklahoma, and two air wings fought in Korea. Each Guard division was credited with four campaigns, and four out of 36 jet aces of the Korean War were Air Guard pilots.

During the Berlin Crisis of 1961-62, two Army Guard divisions, the 32nd Infantry Division of Wisconsin and the 49th Armored Division of Texas were mobilized on October 15,1961, along with 104 other non-divisional units, for a total Army Guard call up of more than 45,115. None of the Army Guard units were sent overseas.

Prodded by the National Guard Bureau, the states began to recruit more blacks and minorities, a process hastened by the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1965. By 1984, minorities made up one quarter of the Army National Guard, and almost 10 percent of its officer corps.

No massive call-ups of National Guard troops occurred to meet the country's military manpower requirements during the Vietnam War. Mobilization of large numbers of Guardsmen would have been inconsistent with President Lyndon B. Johnson's attempt to portray the war as a limited conflict that could be fought with resources already available to the regular Army. Johnson chose to rely on an increased draft and a one-year tour of duty rotation policy to fight the Vietnam War instead of activating significant numbers of National Guardsmen.

The popular perception that National Guardsmen were not used in Vietnam, however, is incorrect. On May 13,1968, in response to the Lunar New Year (Tet) communist attacks on South Vietnam, President Johnson activated 20 Army National Guard combat units and 12 combat support and combat service support units. Of the 12,234 mobilized, 2,729 reported to Vietnam with their units. Of the 9,505 initially remaining in the United States, 4,311 subsequently were assigned to Vietnam, bringing the total number of mobilized Army Guard members in the Republic of Vietnam to 7,040. All Army Guard units were released from active duty by December 12, 1969. Included among the more than 4,000 awards earned by Army Guard members in Vietnam were 55 Silver Stars, 681 Purple Hearts, one Distinguished Flying Cross, 16 Distinguished Service Medals, six Legions of Merit, and over 1,000 Bronze Stars.

Many National Guard units not mobilized for the Vietnam War saw action of a different sort during the 1960s. Beginning with Newark, New Jersey in 1964, racially motivated riots broke out in many large American cities. Units of the National Guard were called out to stop burning and looting in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Detroit, and a host of other cities. As the anti-
war movement gathered momentum in the late I 960s, Guardsmen were called out to maintain order during large demonstrations.

During the 1970s, as America entered the "all-volunteer era," and the Total Force Policy came into being, the Army and Air National Guard began to receive more modem equipment in larger quantities than it had in decades. Following was the Army's "Steadfast" reorganization in 1972-73. Under this program the Army greatly increased the manpower available to assist the Army Guard in advisory and training missions. The Army's "affiliation" program also came into being; whereby Army Guard battalions and brigades were affiliated with active Army combat units with whom they would train and later deploy. Newer helicopters and fixed wing aircraft were received by the Army Guard in addition to upgraded tanks and artillery pieces, while infantry units replaced their recoilless rifles with TOW and Dragon antitank missiles.

Women, too, found a place in the National Guard in the 1970s. Because the Militia Act of 1792 and the National Defense Act of 1916 had both referred specifically to males, legislation was required to allow women to enlist. The first female in the National Guard was a nurse, commissioned in the Air National Guard in 1956. For the next 12 years, nurses were the only women in the Guard. A 1968 law authorized prior-service enlisted women to join the Guard, but the numbers recruited were small. In 1971 non-prior-service women were allowed to enlist. As all branches of the military began opening previously restricted jobs to women, the number of women in both the Army and Air National Guard rose dramatically.

Opportunities for realistic training began to increase during the 1970s. The first Army National Guard units went overseas to train in 1977. The first battalion-sized overseas deployment was in 1980, and in 1983 the first Army Guard unit deployed overseas with its equipment. In the winter of 1986, some 8,000 Guardsmen, including the entire 32nd Brigade from Wisconsin, were sent to Germany for REFORGER, NATO's major military exercise. Other overseas deployments sent Army Guard units to Korea for Operation Team Spirit and to Central America, where Guard and Reserve engineers joined forces to conduct major road-building exercises throughout the region.

With more modern equipment and communications capabilities, the Guard was used more for State missions in the 1980s than ever before in the Guard's history. Floods, forest fires, tornadoes, snow emergencies and energy shortages resulted in hundreds of call-ups during the 80s. Civil disturbances, police and firemen's strikes and walkouts by state prison employees resulted in other call-ups for domestic emergencies to maintain safety and law and order.

In the 1980s the Army Guard embarked on the most ambitious modernization program in its history with a goal to be fully equipped with the Army's best equipment by FY-91. By the end of the 1980s, the Guard had 77 percent of its "go to war" equipment on hand, but needed to procure additional equipment to be fully combat-ready. By FY-91, the Guard had received 315 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 557 Improved TOW Vehicles.

In 1984, when the National Guard was asked to take active roles in the nation's war against illegal drugs, 14 states participated in 14 support missions. The number of states participating and the number of missions supported has increased each year.

The 1989 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the Secretary of Defense to provide funding to governors who submit plans to use their National Guard members to support drug law enforcement agency requests. Since that time, the National Guard has played a major role in supporting Federal, state, and local drug enforcement agencies.

Both the Air and Army National Guard were active participants during Operation Just Cause, the United States' invasion of Panama in December 1989. Missouri's 1138th Military Police Company and Minnesota's 125th Public Affairs Detachment were both in Panama for annual training at the start of Just Cause. The 1138th MP Co. was, at the time, the only military police unit in Panama trained to process prisoners of war.

On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. Saudi Arabia asked for immediate military support to prevent further aggression from Iraqi troops into the sovereign nation of Saudi Arabia. On August 8, the 82nd Airborne Division began movement to the Middle East as directed by President Bush. Air National Guard volunteers immediately began transporting troops and equipment to Southwest Asia.

The mobilization of the National Guard affected units in 51 of the 54 states and territories, including Washington. The Army National Guard mobilized more than 398 units nationwide.

In this first real test of the Total Force Policy, Army Guard units were on active duty a little more than two weeks after Operation Desert Shield began. A majority of the U.S. Army's combat service support units were now located in the reserve components, and the majority of the first Army Guard units to be mobilized were transportation, quartermaster, and military police units. Later, two field artillery brigades arrived in the theater, and three "Roundout" brigades were mobilized but not deployed.

Army Guard units were still arriving in the Persian Gulf in January 1991 as the offensive against Iraq, Desert Storm, was launched by the Allied air forces. In all, 62,411 Army National Guard personnel were in active federal service, 37,848 of them in Southwest Asia. Women made up 10% of the total.

On February 23, 1991, the coalition forces launched their ground offensive. Air and Army National Guard units, fully integrated into the coalition forces, supported the plan of action.

The campaign's successful conclusion did not end the work of the Army National Guard units in the theater. Army Guard maintenance units engaged in battlefield recovery of coalition and Iraqi equipment. Medical units continued their work with allied and Iraqi sick and wounded. Many units and individual Guard members initiated civic action work with Kuwaiti and Iraqi civilians. America's pride in her National Guard members was shown by the many parades and celebrations upon the return of units from Saudi Arabia.

General Cohn Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on December 3,1990, "The success of the Guard... participation in Desert Shield cannot be overemphasized." General Frederick M. Franks, Jr., former Commander, VII Corps, told National Guard senior commanders on April 3,1992, "You saved the battle."

Beginning in 1991, the Army National Guard began significant cuts to its force structure as part of the downsizing of the U.S. military after the end of the Cold War. The Guard inactivated several hundred units to include three separate brigades and two divisions.

Army Guard Special Forces and aviation soldiers took part in Operation Uphold Democracy
in Haiti in 1995. Also that year, the 4th Battalion, 505th Infantry, which consisted of 70 percent
Guard soldiers, deployed to the Middle East as part of the Multinational Force and Observers.
Beginning in 1996, both Army and Air Guard personnel began taking part in Operation Joint
Endeavor, now Joint Guard, as part of the NATO peacekeeping force in Bosnia.

Today, the Guard has entered new areas in concert with its theme of "adding Value to America" by establishing programs for youths at risk such as Challenge, Star Base and the Youth Conservation Corps. The Guard also plays a significant role in many communities by sponsoring drug demand reduction programs. The Guard is also continuing its efforts in assisting law enforcement agencies in the seizure of illegal drugs.

The Guard continues to play a major role in assisting civil authorities during natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, snowstorms and hurricanes. During the past several years, nearly every state had Guard personnel on state active duty assisting their neighbors by providing food, shelter, security, and in many cases, by performing life saving missions.

The National Guard is one of the oldest continuing institutions in this country. It is many years older than the United States itself, many years older than the United States Army, and a great many years older than the United States Air Force,

The citizen-soldiers who make up the National Guard have fought in every major American war since the Pequot War in Connecticut in 1637. War has changed a great deal since 1637, and today's National Guard is trained to serve in a high-technology environment, using complex weapons and equipment. But the principles that underlie Guard service are the same as they were in 1636: to become full-time military professionals if the need arises.

INTERESTING NATIONAL GUARD HISTORICAL FACTS
Twenty-one former Presidents of the United States have served as National Guardsmen, militiamen or volunteers:

The Medal of Honor was established on December 21,1861, when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Medal of Honor Bill into law. 114 members of the National Guard have been awarded the Medal of Honor since 1898.