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The Maryland State Guard 1LT MERLE T. COLE and LTC CECIL B. SMYTH JR.
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The Maryland State Guard (MDSG)is an element of the Organized Militia of Maryland and a State Defense Force (SDF) authorized by 32 U.S.C. 109. It has existed during three separate periods in this century. WORLDWAR I When America entered World War I, the Maryland National Guard was in State service, guarding bridges and water utilities, until ordered into Federal service between March and July 1917. Senate Bill No. 12 to cre?te a State Guard, was introduced to the General Assembly on 12 June and passed ten days later. Gov. Emerson C. Harrington signed the measure into law on 27 June. On 4 August, he signed an executive order bringing into being a 1,OOO-manforce designated "2d Regiment, Infantry, Maryland State Guard." A headquarters company, a supply company and twelve line (lettered) companies were authorized by this order. MG Clinton L. Riggs, who had served as Adjutant General of Maryland from 1904-1908, was named colonel commanding on 17 October, with l TC Irving Adams as deputy commander. Over half the Guard's strength was concentrated in Baltimore City. Records are not clear, but other companies were definitely formed in Hagerstown, Frederick and Annapolis, and may also have existed in Hyattsville, Cumberland, Elkton, Bel Air and Pikesville. Total strength appears to have peaked at about 570 men, with nine lettered companies and one machine gun company (the "Mot.or Battery of Baltimore"). The men were armed with A5-calibre Springfield black powder rifles, vintage SpanishAmerican War. The State Guard was never intended to perform routine sentry duty&aining instead for emergency se~~ It summer saw no active service~ut ~o camp: In 918 did at Timonium and in 1919 at Saunders Range, a National Guard rifle range near Glen Burnie. On 20 January 1920, newly-elected Gov. Albert C. Ritchie directed the Adjutant General to disband the 2d Regiment. The effective date was 1 March 1920. The Maryland militia code was revised in 1922 and made no provision for a State Guard. TRADING POST --
To discourage unlawful wear of Federal uniforms by State defense forces or "home guards," the War Department Issued Bulletin No. 47 on 14 August 1918. This required distinctive marks and insignia to be worn when a "State uniform in any given case is similar to one or more of the United States uniforms specified [Army, Navy or Marine Corps]." Items such as bronze collar ornaments, sleeve braid and cap devices had to be distinctive and, more significantly: "On overcoats, raincoats, dress and full dress and service coats, and on olivedrab shirts when worn without a coat, a scarlet five-pointed star of cloth or felt, measuring 1 inch from its center to each point thereof, on the outside of each sleeve, and centered 11/2inches from the lower end thereof."
the requirement to replace or cover Federal uniform buttons. It is perhaps significant that the order transferring State Guard officers tq the unassigned list (GO No. 11,- 28 February 1920) specifically authorized these men "to retain Field Service uniform, O.D., issued by the State of Maryland, ex.' cept the overcoat" [emphasis in original]. The general-use overcoats had to be turned in, while the specific State Guard uniform was retained. WORLDWAR II legislation to recreate the MDSG was introduced 2 January 1941 as Senate Bill No. 38, passed by the General Assembly 11 February and signed by Gov. Herbert R. O'Conor three days later. BG (later MG) Dwight H. Mohr, former commander of the 29th Infantry Division's 104th Medical Regiment, was appointed MDSG commander on 1 May 1941. COl Gaylord L. Clark served as executive. Initially established as a 2,OOO-manregiment of eleven battalions (nine infantry, one each engineer and medical), the force had evolved into a brigade structure by mid-1942. By the end of that time, major MDSG battalion he~dquarters were distributed as follows: Brigade HO, 1st Infantry, 2d Infantry (originally Engineer), 3d Infantry, 10th Medical, 11th Infantry (Negro), and Special Military Police (SMP)-Baltimore City; 4th Infantry-Salisbury; 5th InfantryChestertown; 6th Infantry-Pikesville; 7th Infantry-Silver Spring; 8th InfantryHagerstown; and 9th InfantryHyattsville. Maximum authorized strength was 3,535 officers and men, although the peak attained appears to have been 2,731 (31 December 1944). MDSGdisbandment began in May 1946 and progressed steadily until Brigade HO and Staff were deactivated on 28 February 1947.
This requirement was implemented in Maryland by Adjutant General General Order No. 16 (5 December 1918), which directed wear of a "red star" as prescribed "upon the sleeve of the uniform coat and uniform overcoat, excepting the 0.0. uniform coat of the Maryland State Guard, which Is now distinctive. . ." (emphasis added). The GO does not elaborate, but insight is provided by the 3 November 1917 Baltimore Evening Sun, which reported that State Guardsmen "will not wear The SMP Battalion was the only unit Uncle Sam's khaki, but the uniform of >serving full-time after January 1942, the State
of Maryland
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khaki with
forest green trimmings_" On 26 November, the same newspaper reported that issue of uniforms was being held up by a shortage of State force buttons, indicating compliance with
guarding
Note: WWI serviceproven by subsequentresearch.~ V. 65 (July-September 1986) --- u_--
critical
transportation
facilities and public utilities until disbanded on 31 March 1945. Other MDSG units saw active State service (some of it pre-war) as shown in the following table: 49
Date(s) October 2, 1941
Location Cumberland
December 7, 1941January 3, 1942 January 9, 1942March 31, 1945
Statewide
Purpose Assist relief agencies and patrol to prevent looting following explosion Patrol critical facilities in immediate post. Pearl Harbor period Bridges and water utilities under Special Military Police guard Assist state police with crowd control at site of 3-train collision
Various
September 24,1942
Dickerson
October 15, 1942
Cumberland
Patrol city after evacuation caused by flooding
May 4-5, 1943
Elkton
December 14-15, 1943
Baltimore
June 24, 1944
Cambridge
Assist state police with traffic control following explosion at munitions plant Protect workers at Point Breeze electrical power plant during strike Guard government facilities and patrol to prevent looting following tornado.
March 6-15, 1945 March 30, 1945
Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore
August 14-15, 1945
Summer encampments were held at Fort George G. Meade and Camp Albert C. Ritchie. One unusual training event was a mock amphibious invasion of Hart Island in the Chesapeake Bay. The 6th Battalion (Infantry) provided both defending and assault troops. According to the Baltimore Sun (18 September 1944), invading elements were transported from Otter Point (Bush River) and Sue Island (Middle
Assist firefighters Assist firefighters Patrol city during V-J night celebrations River)aboard boats manned by Flotilla 7, Division I, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary (USCGA). The company acting as defenders reached the island around 0300 on 17 September and dug fighting positions. Assault transport commenced at midnight, landings of gas-masked invaders began at "exactly 6:25," and the exercise concluded at 0900, the men wading "out to the waiting boats" which took them "back to Sue Island,
where a field kitchen breakfast was served." The USCGA magazine, Ahoy (December 1944) reported that umpires ruled the attackers had accomplished their mission, but in a manner which in a real assault "would have been most bloody and casualties high." The War Department distributed surplus Enfield M1917.3O-calibre rifles, with bayonets and scabbards, to SDFs during 1941. But when America entered the war an immediate weapons shortage emerged, and Enfields were recalled in April 1942. Outraged governors and SDF commanders protested to no avail, and "shotgun companies" equipped with Army-issue 12-guage weapons were the standard units until late 1943, when Enfields again became surplus. Other weapons issued to SDFs included: Browning machine gun, M1917, .30-calibre; Thompson submachine gun, M1928A1,.45-calibre; and, beginning in early 1945, Colt revolver, M1917, .45-calibre. The original MDSG uniform was described by General Mohr in a 19 August 1941 letter to the War Department as consisting of O.D. trousers and overseas caps in 18 oz. serge, and khaki shirts in 8.2 cotton. A black tie, and web belt with brass buckle, completed the ensemble. Caps were "without piping, with metal insignia in color as shoulder insignia sample." (This distinctive appears as M2on page 9 of the October-December 1972 Trading Post.) Shirts were "to have shoulder insignia on left shoulder. . .
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