Activation of new aaa units - Air Defense Artillery

The National Guard Our
Modern Minutemen *
By Major General Kenneth F. Cramer
Famous battle Bagshave been broken out and are Bying
from every armory the length and breadth of the nation.
The National Guard is back on its traditional job-securing
America's defenses in time of peace by preparing America's
men for a possible future emergency. Never since frontier
days when quick, stealthy, murderous Indian attacks \,,'iped
out whole communities has the United States had such
need for a well-trained, heavily armed and widely deployed
civilian army. For, like Indian attacks of old, aggressions of
the future will be undeclared, sudden, and deadly. The
United States needs modem :Minutemen in order to survive.
The ne\v National Guard has been called upon to furnish
683,000 l\linutemen to serve in 25 Infantrv Divisions, 2
Armored Divisions, 21 Regimental Combat Teams, 123
Antiaircraft Battalions, 45 Field Artillery Battalions, 72
Fighter Squadrons, 12 Light Bombardment Squadrons, and
necessary supporting troops in every State of the Union,
the District of Columbia, the T erritorv of Hawaii, and
Puerto Rico. Furthermore, this total M-bay force, capable
of immediate mobilization in case of attack, is to be ready
bv 1952 .
. This new National Guard represents the largest peacetime
military organization manned by civilians that the
United States has ever possessed. In view of its defense
mission,the United States can afford no smaller.
The first citizens of this country protected their right to
beararms by the 2d Amendment to the Bill of Rights which
reads:
"A well regulated l\lilitia, being necessary to the security
of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms
shallnot be infringed."
Legislation in 1795 and 1798 prm:ided for Federal use of
thisState l\lilitia and these local volunteers. A law in 1808
inaugurated the practice of providing annual Federal aid
to the States for the support of their forces. This practice
COntinuedthroughout the 19th Century under the strong
~pposition that the Militia \\'Quld ultimately be employed
l~ National Defense. As you well know, this strong suppo-
SItiononce again became a pro\Ten fact early in the 20th
Century.
Of ail legislation passed by the Congress for the purpose
of increasing the efficiency of the 1\lilitia, 11.'1.'0 bills \vere
---l)utstandingin
their effect upon the military establishment
ofthe United States. First, the Dick Bill, which was intro-
*Reprinted from May-June 1948 issue of Armored Cat'tllr} J01l1'11al and
amended so as to indud;: full details on CAe.
duced in 1903 by l\lajor General Charles Dick, United
States Senator from Ohio, gave the Federal Government
authority to use National Guard troops in any theater of
war. This Bill \Vas really but one phase of Elihu Root's
general program to reorganize the military establishment
after the Spanish-American vVar and became actually effective
some years later with the enactment of the Natipnal
Defense Act of 1916, as later amended in 1920. This Act
provided for local volunteer units, raised and housed by the
States, but formally recognized and given drill pay b)' the
Federal Government.
Sparked by local spirit and aided by Federal cooperation,
the National Guard came a long \\'ay along the road to
military efficiencv. \Vhen \Vorld vVar I was declared the
Natio~al Guard \vas a well organized and adequ;tely
trained tactical force. Its regiments had only to be redistributed
into combat divisions and it was readv for service
in the AEF of 1917-18. All in all, the Natio~al Guard
furnished the country with 17 divisions and other organizations
which were manned by over 300,000 Guardsmen.
The fighting worth of these divisions was more than
evident upon the battlefields of Europe. They comprised
two-fifths of all divisions in the AEF and of 25 \.\'hich saw
combat, 11 \'.'ere National Guard. These 11 spent more
days in combat than did either the Regular or National
Army Divisions. The German Imperial Staff rated only 8
American Divisions "superior" or "excellent." Six of these
divisions were National Guard. \iVho can forget the 32d
-nrst to break the Hindenburg Line, and nicknamed "Les
T erribles," or the 28th which rescued the Lost Battalion in
the Argonne, or the 26th which earned more combat
decorations than anv other Guard Division.
The value of Gu~rd contributions to the successful prosecution
of \,\TorId\\'ar I was illustrated by its formal designation
in 1933 as the National Guard of the United States
and its assignment as a resen'e component of the Army
of the United States.
Once again \i.'hen \\'ar came in 19..H the :\:ational Guard
\yas ready. Between September 19-to and 1942 a total of
300,000 were inducted into Federal sen'ice. The Guard put
18 combat diyisions and many separate units into the field.
These units trained Selectiye Service men equal to about
half their mm number, and furnished something like 100,-
000 officers to the ... -\rmy of the United States from their
own officercorps and fro~ their enlisted men. For example:
1. One division furnished one reoiment of infantry at
o ..