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For strengths of the Army Reserve and National Guard, see chapter 4.

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HISTORICAL EVOLUTION. Older than our nation, the National Guard has the longest continuous history of any military organization in the United States. As an outgrowth of the early militia concept which provided for the common defense, its origin can be traced back to the first years of the seventeenth century, when the settlers, in order to protect their lives and homes, banded together to form "train bands," or militia organizations, equipped and trained according to the needs of the times. As the country grew and new communities and States came into being, additional units were formed for local and national protection.

Early Guard Units. The distinction of being the oldest National Guard units in the United States with unbroken

lineages is shared by the 101st Engineer Battalion and the 182d Infantry Regiment, both of the Massachusetts National Guard. They were originally organized on 7 October 1636, when the General Court at Boston ordered that all eligible men be ranked into militia regiments. Known respectively as the East Regiment (later the Regiment of Essex) and the Old North Regiment (later the Regiment of Middlesex), they responded to the call at Lexington and Concord, where the American tradition of minutemen-citizen-soldiers standing ready at a moment's notice to serve their country-was born.

Another historic regiment, the 176th Infantry of the Virginia National Guard, descends from the Charles City-Henrico Counties Regiment of Militia organized

in 1652. Elements of this regiment were reorganized with other county militia in 1754 to form the Virginia Regiment, which in turn was expanded a few years later to form the 1st and 2d Regiments of Virginia, commanded respectively by Colonels George Washington and William Byrd. During the Revolutionary War the 1st Regiment was commanded by Colonel Patrick Henry, and later its commander was Colonel John Marshall.

These examples of early militia organizations, forerunners of today's National Guard, illustrate the principle of citizen-soldier service advocated by George Washington when he said, "every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a free Government owes not only a proportion of his property but even his personal services to the defense of it."

Constitutional Basis. After the Colonies had won their independence, the principle of the citizen-soldier was considered so important that it was written into the Constitution of the United States. Section 8, Article I of the Constitution recognizes the militia of the several States:

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"The Congress shall have power provide for calling forth the militia execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions;

"To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the States, respectively, the appointment of the officers and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.'

In addition, the second amendment to the Constitution (Article II of the Bill of Rights) recognizes the right of the citizen-soldier, in the interests of "a well-regulated militia . . . to keep and bear arms."

The Period of State Control. Although President Washington constantly pressed Congress to prepare "a uniform and well-digested plan" for the militia, no such action was taken, and militia were separately formed, trained, and controlled by each State. The act of Congress of 28 February 1795 gave the President authority to call out the militia in cases of invasion and other emergency. However, Federal use of State militia depended on the individual State's acceptance or rejection of the President's request. In 1808 Congress

took a step in the direction of a uniform militia by providing for specific Federal aid to be paid annually to the States to support their militia, but these forces still remained under State control.

The name "National Guard" was first applied to a State militia on 16 August 1824, when New York's Seventh Regiment (now the 107th Infantry Regiment, NYNG) adopted the name in compliment to the Marquis de Lafayette, who had commanded the Garde Nationale in Paris in 1789 and had served in our Revolutionary War. By 1896 most States had adopted the title, although this change in name did not change the essential character of the Guard as a State organization. Nevertheless, it played an important part in providing trained troops in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.

Joint Federal-State Support. A sweeping change was effected in the Guard in 1903. The Secretary of War (Elihu Root) instituted a general program to reorganize the nation's military establishment after the Spanish-American War, and part of the program emerged as the Dick Act, passed on 21 January 1903. This legislation redesignated the active militia as the "Organized Militia" of the United States, and provided that its organization, armament, and discipline should be the same as that prescribed for the Regular Army. The act provided for regular inspection by Army officers detailed by the Secretary of War, and for regular returns by the Adjutants General of the several States to the Secretary. It authorized the participation by the organized militia in joint maneuvers with the Regular Army, and provided that participating militia should receive the same pay, subsistence, and transportation as did the Regular Army. Failure on the part of a State to keep the training up to a set standard would result in the withholding of annual appropriations by the Federal Government. The Act also provided for separate State encampments of the organized militia, by allowing, out of an annual appropriation of $1,000,000 for militia purposes, similar benefits for such encampments. The States were to provide personnel and

armory facilities, and to pay for their maintenance. In 1903 the State of New York (to take an example) appropriated $450,000, or $32.45 for each citizensoldier in its organized militia; and other States did proportionately well.

With this combined Federal and State support, the organized militia developed into well-organized and adequately trained units. It was not until the enactment of the National Defense Act of 1916, however, that the designation "National Guard" was officially adopted. That act corrected many of the deficiencies of the Act of 1903. It empowered the President or the Federal Government to prescribe the organization, strength, and armament of units to be maintained in each State and the qualifications for commission and enlistment, and provided for Federal compensation of National Guard officers and enlisted personnel for armory drill. Equally important, it made the Guard a component of the nation's organized peace establishment, and when in active Federal service, a part of the Army of the United States.

In 1916 about 151,000 Guardsmen were called into Federal service, of whom about 110,000 served on the Mexican border.

World War I. How well the act of 1916 accomplished its purpose was demonstrated by the ease and speed with which the National Guard regiments were inducted into Federal service and organized into divisions for World War I. The Guard furnished the AEF with 380,000 men, and with 17 divisions as follows

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crush the St. Mihiel Salient, and smash to victory through the Meuse-Argonne, and with having spent more days in actual combat than did either the Regular or the National Army divisions. The performance of the Guard units, according to records of the German Supreme Command which were released after World War I by Major Gerhard Von Rundstedt (Field Marshal Von Rundstedt of World War II), was exceptionally high: of the eight American divisions considered by them to be excellent or superior, six were National Guard divisions-the 26th, 28th, 32d, 33d, 37th and 42d.

Interwar Period. Following World War I the Guard became once again the National Guard of the several States. Under postwar amendments to the National Defense Act of 1916, it was reorganized to consist of the same Guard divisions that had served during the

war.

Then came another sweeping change. The Act of 15 June 1933 (amending the National Defense Act) created a new component of the Army known as the National Guard of the United States. This gave the Guard a dual status since, as a part of the Army, it could be ordered into active Federal service by the President whenever Congress declared a national emergency, without the necessity of being called through the Governors of the States. Under the act the enlisted men of the Guard acquired Federal status, which had previously been limited to officers.

The National Guard reorganized in the States at the rate of about 40,000 a year for four years. An era of economy prevented it from attaining its target strength of 435,000; instead, it stabilized at about 185,000 for the next 15 years, during which period it achieved a new high in all-round effectiveness.

World War II. By a joint resolution of Congress approved 27 August 1940, the National Guard was ordered into the active military service of the United States for 12 consecutive months. Induction began on 16 September 19401, and was completed on 6 October 1941. The Guard brought into Federal service a total of 300,034 men, organized into

1 16 September 1947 was proclaimed "National Guard Day" by the President.

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At this period the Army was undergoing changes in organization, and similar changes went into effect in the Guard units. Their divisions were made triangular, reducing the number of organic infantry regiments in each division from four to three. Units rendered surplus were used as cadres for new divisions. (The Americal Division, for example, was activated from a task force including the 132d, 164th, and 182d Infantry Regiments, which had thus become surplus.)

During the war over 75,000 National Guard enlisted men became commissioned officers, either by graduation from officer candidate schools or by battlefield commissions. Guard units participated in at least 34 separate campaigns and in numerous assault landings. The Guard's 18 combat divisions suffered a total of 185,561 battle casualties. One hundred and fortyeight distinguished unit citations were awarded to Guard units for outstanding performance of duty in action or for conspicuous valor or heroism. Individual Guardsmen received 14 medals of honor, 50 distinguished service crosses, 48 distinguished flying crosses, and more than 500 silver star medals.

The Honorable Robert P. Patterson, Secretary of War, summed up the Guard's contribution to victory in World War II in the following tribute: "The National Guard took to the field 18 infantry divisions-300,000 men. Those State troops doubled the strength of the Army at once, and their presence in the field gave the country a sense that it had passed the lowest ebb of its weakness . . . . Nine of those divisions crossed the Atlantic to Europe and Africa and nine went

to the far reaches of the Pacific. The soldiers of the Guard fought in every action in which the Army participated from Bataan to Okinawa. They made a brilliant record on every fighting front. They proved once more the value of the trained citizen-soldier."

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Postwar Period. With the end of World War II, National Guard units were inactivated, Guardsmen were separated from Federal service and returned direct to civilian life; and for a short period there actually was National Guard. On 13 October 1945, however, the Secretary of War approved the policies relating to the organization of the postwar Guard, and on 30 June 1946 Federal recognition was extended to the first reorganized Guard unit. In 1947 the air units were organized separately from the Army units and designated the Air National Guard. Since then the National Guard has consisted of the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard.

By July 1950 the National Guard had developed into a potent force of some 370,000 officers and men in more than 5,000 Army and Air Force units located in every State and in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. It consisted of 25 infantry and 2 armored divisions, 84 fighter and bomber squadrons, and numerous supporting units. Most of the officers and a good part of the enlisted men were combat veterans of World War II. All were volunteer citizen-soldiers, equipped and trained under the supervision and according to the standards of the Department of the Army or Department of the Air Force.

In the course of the Korean War, beginning in July of 1950 (a month after its outbreak), 138,600 officers and men in 1,672 Federally recognized Army National Guard units were ordered into Federal service. They included eight infantry divisions, three regimental combat teams, 43 antiaircraft artillery battalions, and a number of other nondivisional combat, combat support, and service units. Two of the divisions fought in combat in Korea, two served on active duty in Europe, and four were stationed in the United States. The divisions, with their dates and places of service, were the following

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