Delaware Army National Guard

Brig Gen Kennard R. Wiggins Jr. (DE ANG Ret)

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781439622544
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Images of America: Delaware Army National Guard presents images of this fabled organization that survived from the Spanish-American War to the present.

The Delaware National Guard traces its roots to 1655, when the Swedish Colonial government formed a militia to defend itself. That tradition carried through Dutch and then English control of the colony. The militia served in all five French and Indian Wars and then distinguished itself during the Revolutionary War as the First Delaware Regiment of the Continental Army, earning its "Blue Hen" nickname. The Delaware militia continued to serve in every major war, and currently it remains in the forefront. The people, places, equipment, and facilities of the Delaware National Guard are illustrated in this compilation of historic photographs from the collection of the Delaware Military Heritage and Education Foundation.

Five

AFTER THE WAR

By the time World War II ended, all state enlistments in the National Guard had expired. The difficult task of reorganizing began in June 1946, and 15 months later, the National Guard had fully organized the 198th AAA Group Headquarters and the 736th and 945th AAA Battalions. In 1946, the Delaware Air Guard was organized as the 142nd Fighter Squadron and was a separate state service.

In 1949, the Delaware Army Guard was authorized to expand to brigade strength. In June 1950, North Korea moved south across the 38th Parallel and the United States was at war again. The 736th AAA Battalion was at summer camp when word came of its order into federal service. About one-third of the Delaware Army National Guard went on active duty.

The 736th served at Fort Meade, Maryland, where with its 90-mm guns it became one of the first units in the newly established Air Defense of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. By the time the unit was returned to the state in 1952, few of its original members were still with it. Most had been transferred, and many saw combat service in Korea with other units under the policy of individual replacement then in effect.

Throughout the Cold War much reorganization, expansion, and consolidation occurred in National Guard units, especially in Delaware. Initially two new anti-aircraft battalions, the 197th in Smyrna and the 945th in Laurel, were formed in the mid-1950s to meet these new challenges. In addition, two of Delaware’s six battalions received the new self-propelled twin 40-mm “Dusters,” and two other battalions received the 75-mm “Skysweeper” guns. At this time, the 116th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital was organized in Wilmington.

Then in 1959, a major reorganization, based on the “Pentomic” division structure, took place within the National Guard. All of Delaware’s artillery units once again became part of the old regiment, and the 198th Artillery (1st Delaware) became the regimental headquarters. The 156th Anti-Aircraft Battalion was re-designated as 1st Battalion, 198th Artillery. Its headquarters battery, which dated back to the Revolutionary War, is the senior unit in the state.

A June 1950 formal portrait of Brig. Gen. Joseph J. Scannell, adjutant general of Delaware, is shown here.

The Milford Armory is...