#OTD in Maryland Guard History: The Maryland National Guard is Mobilized for World War II
By Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Heft
Members of Company E, 1st Maryland, march out of their Elkton Armory 1941
With war raging across Europe and the Pacific in the early 1940s, National Guard units from across the country mobilized to prepare for the possibility of involvement in combat operations. National Guard Divisions, like Maryland’s 29th Division, were intended to serve in increments for one year of federal service stateside to raise their level of preparedness in case of the United States’ entry into the global conflict. Maryland soldiers from across the state reported to their home armories and began this temporary mobilization in February of 1941. After ten days of home station service, the majority of the 29th Division was moved to Fort Meade for fourteen months, where they filled their units to wartime strength with volunteers and draftees and began an intensive training regimen to integrate the new recruits. Later, the 29th Division and Guardsmen would move from Fort Meade to posts across the south for a series of maneuvers. These maneuvers, known as the Carolina Maneuvers, tested the preparedness of Regular (active duty) and National Guard units in large-scale combat operations.
Maryland Guardsman saw their temporary mobilization become permanent with the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. A series of reorganizations of the Army during this time restructured the Maryland National Guard for service in another World War. The old “5th Maryland” became the 175th Infantry, and the old “1st Maryland” again became the 115th Infantry. Alongside these Regiments were formed Field Artillery Battalions of Marylanders, including the 110th and 224th Field Artillery, as well as Quartermaster, Engineer, and Medical Units. Outside the 29th Division, Baltimore’s 1st Separate Company, the “Monumental City Guards,” would convert to the Service Company of the 372d Infantry, a unit consisting of all-African American and Black Guardsmen from around the nation. As the United States began shipping units overseas, Marylanders would be among some of the first US troops in England in September of 1942.
During World War II, Maryland National Guardsmen would serve across the United States in domestic security roles, and most would be deployed to the European and Pacific Theaters, seeing extensive combat. Units like the 29th Infantry Division famously landed at Normandy in June of 1944, and others like Service Company, 372nd Infantry (today’s 1229th Transportation Company) deployed to Hawaii to garrison the islands and train replacement troops. Today, campaign streamers for World War II service hang from the flags of many Maryland National Guard units like the 104th Medical Company (again deployed overseas to Europe), the 1-175th Infantry, and the 29th Military Police Battalion. The actions of Maryland’s 29th Infantry Division in the war ensured that the patch still worn by some Maryland Soldiers today stands as an internationally recognized symbol of the liberation of France.
