Pennsylvania Guardians - Summer 2010

The Workingmen’s Benevolent Association, the
primary union for miners, spent years fighting for
better wages for mine workers, and until 1875,
had, to a certain extent, succeeded.
In late 1874, the president of the Philadelphia
and Reading Railroads, Franklin Gowen, managed
to gain complete control over anthracite mines
in central and eastern Pennsylvania, thus destroying
all wage agreements the union had secured.
During this time, the coal workers were becoming
increasingly disgruntled, leading to the formation
of the Molly Maguires, an Irish band of miners
located in the coal region of Lackawanna,
Luzerne, Columbia, Schuylkill, Carbon and
Northumberland counties.
The Molly Maguires primarily focused on the
use of intimidation and violence to achieve their
goals, which caused Gowen to view them as a gang
of unruly workers who needed to be eliminated.
As tensions grew, Gowen made the mistake of
instituting a 20 percent pay cut for all coal operators
Pennsylvania National Guard
MISSIONS throughout history
Flood Duty
1936 Floods (March 17-30)
1940 Floods (March 31- April 11)
1950 Floods (Nov. 26-20)
1955 Hurricane Diane (Aug. 19-29)
1971 Floods (Sept. 14-16, Sept. 18-19, Sept. 20-26)
1972 Hurricane Agnes (June 22-Aug. 6)
1975 Hurricane Eloise (Sept. 26-Oct. 3)
1977 Johnstown Flood (Aug. 18)
1979 Susquehanna River Basin Flood (March 6-7)
1981 Oil City Flood (June 9-11)
1983 Operation High Water (Dec. 14-15)
1984 Operation Clearwater (March 29-May 15)
1984 Operation Rampage (Aug. 11-14)
1985 Hurricane Gloria (Sept. 27-30)
1985 Operation Overflow (Nov. 5-Dec. 13)
1986 Operation Pine Creek (May 30-June 14)
1996 Operation Blizzard/Meltdown 96 (Jan. 7-Feb. 13)
1996 Operation Flash Flood (June 19)
1996 Operation Thunder Head (July 19-31)
1996 Operation Tropical Deluge (Sept. 6-Oct. 24)
1999 McKean County Flood (Sept. 8)
1999 Tropical Storm Floyd (Sept. 16-20)
2002 Operation Angry Bear (May 28-29)
2004 Hurricane Isabel (Sept. 18-20)
2004 Operation Aqua Night (Sept. 17-30)
2006 Hurricane Katrina/Rita (Aug. 5-Sept. 5)
2006 Operation Wash Out (June 27-July 7)
2007 Operation Spring Fury (April 13-17)
Winter Storms
1956 Heavy Snows (Nov. 23-26)
1974 Snow Emergency (Dec. 1-10)
1978 Snow Emergency (Feb. 3-8)
1993 Operation Winter Storm 93 (March 13-20)
1994 Operation Winter Storm 94 (Jan. 1-31)
1994 Salt Hauling (Jan. 1-31)
1994 Ice Emergency (Feb. 1-28)
1994 Winter Storm (March 1-31)
1995 Operation White Christmas (Dec. 19-21)
1997 Operation Arctic Hammer (March 31-April 2)
1997 Polar Vortex (Dec. 5-6)
1999 Operation Ice Pack (Jan. 14-15)
1999 Severe Snow Storm (March 14)
2000 Operation White Hammer (Jan. 25-26)
2000 Operation Snow Bowl (Jan. 30-31)
2000 Operation Fizzle (Dec. 29-30)
2001 Operation March Lion (March 4-6)
2002 Operation Ice Melt (Dec. 11)
2007 Operation Winter Freeze I/II (Feb. 13-17)
Other
1973 Food Distribution (July 12-13)
1977 Energy Crisis (Jan. 26-Feb. 19)
1978 Indian Encampment (June 27-aug. 29)
1979 Three Mile Island Nuclear Crisis (March 30-April 5)
1986 Operation Haylift (Aug. 9-Sept. 2)
1994 Operation Rolling Fuel (Jan. 1-31)
1997 Operation Tioga Hazmit (Feb. 7)
1997 Operation Limerick (Oct. 10)
1999 Allentown Explosion (Feb. 19-20)
2000 Operation Mon Swello (Feb. 19-20)
2000 Operation Arbor (June 5-30)
2000 Water Transport (Nov. 22-23)
2002 Operation Shartlesville Shuttle (March 8-17)
2002 Water Trailer Support (Aug. 15-23)
2003 Operation Liberty Shield (March 20-24)
2003 TMI Exercise (April 22)
Strike Duty
1875 Mine Labor Strikes (June 3-14)
1877 Railroad Strikes (July 22-Aug. 10)
1891 Mine Labor Strikes (April 2-18)
1892 Mine Labor Strikes (July 10-28)
1894 Mine Labor Strikes (June 21-July 3)
1897 Mine Labor Strikes (July 11-Sept. 28)
1900 Anthracite Strikes (Sept. 22-oct. 29)
1902 Anthracite Strikes (July 30-Nov. 2)
1967 Trucker Strikes (Oct. 3-4, Oct. 7-8)
1970 Trucker Strikes (May 2-3, May 16-17)
1974 Trucker Strike (Feb. 1-10)
Security Operations
1970 Armory Security (Sept. 3-9)
1971 Armory Security (Aug. 24-25)
1972 Armory Security (May 10-14)
1972 Security Patrols (Dec. 17-18)
1977 United Nations (June 10-13)
1991 Gov. Casey 2nd Inaugural (Jan. 15)
1998 FTIG Security (Dec. 1-31)
1999 Governor’s Ball (Jan. 19-20)
2001 America Under Attack (Sept. 11-Nov. 3)
2003 Operation Clenched Fist (Nov. 3-June 4)
2004 Operation Clenched Fist II
(Dec. 22, 2003-Feb. 6, 2004)
2004 Operation Clenched Fist III (July 2-6)
1968
Two Pennsylvania National Guardsmen stand guard outside a shop in Pittsburgh in 1968
after Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered. Photo: PA National Guard Military Museum
Conference Support
1978 Adjutant Generals Association Conference
(May 5-11)
1978 National Association of State Directors of Veterans
Affairs Conference (Aug. 28-29)
1980 Governors’ Conference (Nov. 15-18)
2000 National Governor’s Association Conference
(July 5-12)
2000 Republican National Convention (July 5-Aug. 31)
2009 G-20 Conference (Sept. 17-26)
Civil Unrest/Riot Control
1922 Civil Unrest (July 20-27)
1968 Civil Unrest (April 6-13)
1969 Civil Unrest (July 22-28)
1972 Harrisburg Unrest (March 26-April 1)
1972 Civil Unrest (May 10-11)
1989 Camp Hill Prison Riot (Oct. 26-Nov. 3)
Drought Emergency
1991 Drought (July 24-May 1)
1995 Drought (Sept. 1-Dec. 8)
1998 Drought (Nov. 25-Jan. 1)
2000 Operation Provide Water (Sept. 28-Oct. 13)
2002 Mercer County Water Emergency (Nov. 4-8)
Airplane Crash
1925 Lost Aircraft (Oct. 6-9)
1966 Airplane Crash (May 9-10)
1994 United Flight 427 Crash (Sept. 8-17)
Fire Emergency
1966 Mine Fires (Nov. 24-Jan. 18)
1987 Operation Toxic Cloud (March 24)
1999 Tobyhanna Fire Support (Aug. 5-15)
Tornado
1985 Operation Touchdown (June 1-10)
1998 Operation Vortex Viper (June 4-15)
2003 Operation Lights Out (July 22)
Mine Disaster
1963 Mine Disaster (Aug. 23-27)
1982 Scranton Area Mine Collapse (May 24-25)
Kidnapping
1966 Manhunt for Kidnapper (May 18)
2000 Operation Abduction Quest (Oct. 28)
Oil Spill
1988 Operation Oil River (Jan. 4-13)
1990 Operation Buckeye (April 1-11)
Summer 2010 / GUARDIANS / 17