{"id":9094,"date":"2024-02-03T20:04:28","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T20:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=9094"},"modified":"2024-09-04T14:07:34","modified_gmt":"2024-09-04T14:07:34","slug":"otd-in-maryland-guard-history-the-maryland-national-guard-is-mobilized-for-world-war-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2024\/02\/03\/otd-in-maryland-guard-history-the-maryland-national-guard-is-mobilized-for-world-war-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"#OTD in Maryland Guard History: The Maryland National Guard is Mobilized for World War II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Heft<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Members of Company E, 1st Maryland, march out of their Elkton Armory 1941<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 29th<\/sup> 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\u2019 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1SG Thomas Coston and other members of Service Company, 372d Infantry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201c5th Maryland\u201d became the 175th Infantry, and the old \u201c1st Maryland\u201d 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\u2019s 1st Separate Company, the \u201cMonumental City Guards,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s 29th<\/sup> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Baltimore Evening Sun February 3rd, 1941<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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By Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Heft 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\u2019s 29th Division, were intended to serve in increments for one year of federal service  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[811],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9094"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9117,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9094\/revisions\/9117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}