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Show 1962 THE SPRINGVILLE (UTAH) HERALD Page Five n tp n (n) rn a n frnnARFTi (Ai U UUUuvJfcAL la LUJ h mil) ' National Guard's Mobilization ed 'Most Successful' in History - is - , . 4 , t v , . - I J I "i; ; '' T'.:.-- .... .L if I i HIT THE BEACH! Jeeps and tanks of the mobilized 150th Armored Cavalry Regiment of the West Virginia National Guard roar down the ramp of a landing craft at Ft. Miles on the Delaware coast. The swiftness with which the 150th became combat-read- y last winter earned it a place in the Army's elite Strategic Army Corps (STRAC). Guard retains grass-roof- s' identity here Organized to represent the most powerful reserve forces that have ever been available to U. S. military planners, to-day's National Guard still re-tains its "grass roots" identity. Army and Air National Guard units are situated in 2,600 U. S. communities. Every Guard unit has its primary concern a combat or a combat support mission. Most of the National Guard is in "training" status. All train-ing today is at the unit level, which means that Guard units can concentrate on advance de-velopment of teamwork. This has been mad'e posible largely by the fact that all new mem-bers of the Guard must com-plete six months of training in the Acive Army. This has en- - abled the Guard to get out of the basic training business. Uart of the Guard is "oper-ational" at all times, filling a vital role in the Air Defense program. Both Army and Air Guardsmen are in this import-ant mission across the nation. On the Army side, the Guard maintains a large number of fully operational NIKE air de-fense missile sites,, guarding key industrial complexes and population centers from coast to coast, including Hawaii. Soon these Guardsmen, who have been equipped with ther NIKE-AJT- will, be with the newer and more ' deadly The conversion program is already in progress. Guardsmen are at these NIKE sites around the clock, ready to open fire should an enemy air attack ever ma-terialize. Air Glard fighter squadrons assigned to the Air Defense Command fulfill a similar vital mission. Designated squadrons on "runway alert" can put jet interceptors into the skies on short order. Practice alerts keep flight and ground crews on their toes. Dispersed from coast to coast, from Hawaii to Pureto Rico and from Alaska to the Rio Grande, the National Guard is also a vital element in Am-erica's ability to make rapid recovery from nuclear attack should an aggressor strike. I. '"' . Ilij,' 22i'i,T " ' Vtfh ' " . t - i w'X- - ?. I I' "' , ; ., 'V- - --1 v a TON Now thaf 4of the "Berlin x l is coming to an i the active serv-- 1 time to increase r power and the id for the reserve sr many people "How effective National Guards-srvist- s, anyway? it take them to combat-ready?- " from one high irce: "This was cessful mobiliza-- j history of the s." Thus states ral Donald W. aief of the Na-Bure- Gowan is a man know. He has ime in the Na- - and has been ;e mobilizations accomplishments tig an armored lent through the "asion, command-comb- at division, entire 470,000-ti- d Air National h the most cru-tf- ul years of its 7 well the Guard W mobilization," u.fowan said re-- I ;iave only to look of the two divi-- e called to active d Infantry Divi-lsi- n and the 49th of Texas." Eision that bear IcGowan's claim. 15, both the 32nd were among six rd divisions se-le- w high-priori- ty en. Maxwell D. Cve Army Chief of il Taylor called ter. by-Si- plan be- - juired these six be combat-read-y 5nths after they Svflrid. All but for-- i general public, M'gnificant now by that it offers to Ntf the past ten ' of taking six 32nd and 49th effil. completely com-Sti- ii four months ' iluded the two HI E them to get ta weeks to leave ti time. If the "ra. had required It si have made it hs. ens ' ' sol: Two views of the equipment used by the 116th Engin-eers Company (Light Equipment) during their sojurn at Fort Lewis, Wash., gives . an idea of the job con fronting the guardsmen in the advance crews assigned to unload and get the road equipment to the Arm-ory. It was a grueling experi-ence, not soon to be forgotten by the members of these units. At Fort Polk, Louisiana, the 49th Armored was challenged in the dust and mud with rug-ged combat exercises requiring its tanks and men to maneu-ver and fire exactly as they would on the battlefield. At Fort Lewis, Washington, the 32nd was challenged in the tall pines and in the moun-- - tains, day and night, against a tough, clever aggressor who turned a routine tactical exer-cise into an infantryman's nightmare. But all this seemed worth-while when, immediately after being declared combat-read-y, both divisions were assigned to the Army's Strategic Army Corps (STRAC), the first Na-tional Guard units ever to be assigned to this elite fighting force. So impressive was the Guard's performance, in fact, that General James Van Fleet reported: "The quality of these units is far above any previous mobilization that took place in "World War II or Korea." Are there any specific rea-sons for such a marked im-provement in our citizen-soldie- rs ? '"Yes," says Gen. McGowan, "and the primary one is the six months training program which provides active duty basic training for every non-pri- or service man we enlist. This has raised National Guard training Ax the unit level across the board. "Then, too, we avoided our mistake of both world wars of reorganizing Guard units after they were called up. In 1959 we converted the entire Army Guard to the new Pen-tom- ic structure and when the Berlin crisis came upon us, we were able to provide the Army with the type of units it really needed. All they had to do was finish their training. "And finally, this was the first mobilization in modern history in which we were able to preserve the integrity of our units. In Korea, you will remember, many of our key officers and NCOs were pulled out of their units to beef up overseas-boun- d active Army units. This helped the Army but it sure weakened our Guard units." These are the facts of the Berlin Mobilization. But they do not tell the whole story. It remained for Sen. Henry M. Jackson of Washington to put the overall effect into words. "This is the first time," hp said, "that a President has been able to use the military power represented by our re-serve program to achieve a foreign policy objective." Quotes Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara . ' "The 150,000 recalled reservists have helped mep us strong, and their recall has surely evidenced our determination . . . their country wes them a very great debt. ..." ..iKte-- ilvis J. Stahr, Jr., then Secretary of the Army mvucm!aoottuui "TTib Guard nd Rasptvb ato essential to meet our mobilization plans on schedule with fighting forces, and without them we would either have to maintain standing forces some several times larger than we feel it necessary since we do have the Guard and the Reserve, or we would be in a very serious bind, indeed, because the Guard and Reserve are, and are known to our potential enemies to be a part of our definite war potential." "The call-u- p of the Army National Guard Air National Guard Mobilization 1961-6- 2 7 6 June 1961 President John F. Kennedy returned from meeting in Vienna with Premier Khrushchev and re-ported that Russia was threatening to sign a unilater-al treaty with the East German government and end the United States' right of access to Berlin. 11 July 1961 Deputy Secretary of Defense Roswell L. Gilpatric announced that National Guard units might be called to active duty. 25 July 1961 President Kennedy reported to the people on the dangers of the Berlin Crisis and announced that he was requesting authority from the Congress to call up to 250,000 Guardsmen and Reservists for military service. 31 July 1961 Final Congressional approval was given , to Senate Joint Resolution 505 giving the President authority to call up to 250,000 Guardsmen and Reserv-ists. 1 August 1961 The Department alerted 193 Air National Guard units for possible call to active duty. 25 August 1961 Secretary of Defense Robert S. Mc- Namara announced that 145 squadron-siz- e Air Na-tional Guard units were being called to active federal service to report by 1 October. 1 October 1961 Eighteen tactical fighter squadrons, four tactical reconnaissance squadrons, six 7 air trans-port squadrons, and one tactical control group, plus supporting elements, were activated. 27 October 1961 Tactical Fighter (F-84- and Tactical Reconnaissance (RF-84- squadrons moved to Mc-Gui- re AFB, New Jersey, and Tactical Fighters (F-86- to Loring AFB, Maine, for deployment to Germany, France and Spain, only 27 days after being called to active duty. (OPERATION STAIRSTEP.) 30 October 1961 OPERATION STAIRSTEP got under-way with the "island hopping" by way of , Labrador, Greenland, Iceland and Scotland. 1 November 1961 The RF-84- and moved out by way of Newfoundland, the Azores, and Spain. I November 1961 Three ANG F-1- fighter-intercept-squadrons and 15 supporting units were activated, bringing Air National Guard personnel on active duty to approximately 22,000. 10 November 1961 The three F-1- squadrons mobilized 10 days earlier were at their overseas bases with their 60 Starfighters which had been dismantled and air-lifted to their new station. This movement brought the Air ; National Guard personnel in Europe to about 10,000 and the number of aircraft to 284. II June 1962 Release dates announced by the Depart ment of Defense for all units from 1 August through 31 August 1962. and Army Reserve units and personnel has gone extremely well. It has been far superior to any previous mobilization in this country." General Georee H. Decker. Army Chief of Staff ' ' )&' ' ' . ' ' . ( it it" X ml - '. s i j " . i4iT' "' I ' "' " - -- v )U, Following visit to 32nd Infantry Division (Wisconsin National Guard) at Fort Lewis, Washington, and the 49th Armored Division (Texas National Guard) at Fort Polk, Louisi-ana, General Decker said in February, 1962: "Results of my visit were most gratifying. Morale is uniformly excellent, officers and men have a high sense of purpose, are extremely proud of their units and are resentful of the unfavorable reflection on them caused by the complaints of a few. They are working hard to complete successfully their intensified training program and the Army Training Tests administered at the conclusion of that period of training. Some shortage! of equip-ment still exist, but these are being corrected as fast as the Army resources will permit ... "The most impressive fact concerning the reserve forces on active duty is the high quality of personnel of all rank3. I was most favorably impressed by their keenness of mind, their professional skill, and their devotion to duty. I am convinced that they fully understand the reasons behind their call-u-p and that the vast majority have accepted the interruption of their normal lives graciously." )es of equipment belonging to the 116th En-mpa- (Light Equipment) reach the ground from the railroad flat cars, read for their journey home to the Springville Armory. JlDwwnirag pgDlle ROeDjc!hainift 0. P. Skaggs Foodliner Bo Peep Shop Robertson's Sanford Paint and Glass :eirvice Tip Top Shoe SOS Drug Marine & Garden Center Duke Jewelry ontractors Payzant's Ready-to-Ye- ar Art City Lanes Sage Creek Market Center Service :e Springville Sport Shop KoSob Lumber Brookside Market Smittie's Texaco Springville Herald Castleton's Modern Art Photo Westside Market Doug's Super Service Haymond Drug Peay's Market Miner's Auto Ruffs Garage |