Fact Sheet:
The National Guard
In the Korean War

Army National Guard

On June 30", 1950, five days after North Korea
invaded South Korea, President Truman signed the
Selective Service Extension Act. It continued the draft
that had been in effect since 1948 and authorized the call-
up of reserve component units for Federal service not to
exceed 21 months (later 24 months).

While a small mobilization was planned at first,
the disastrous setbacks of those first few weeks of the war
made it apparent that a far larger number of Guard and
Reserve units would be needed. In early September four
National Guard Infantry Divisions were called to active
duty ~ the 40" (California), 45 (Oklahoma), 28"
(Pennsylvania) and 43¢ (Connecticut, Rhode Island,
Vermont). The 40" and 45" would both see combat in
Korea, while the 28" and 43¢ would be sent to Germany to
help bolster NATO against the ever-present threat of

Soviet invasion.

These four divisions
were among the first of over
700 Army National Guard units
(including four additional
divisions) mobilized for the
Korean War. The 138,600
Guardsmen called represented
37 % of the Army National

45" Infantry Division

Guard. In addition to the 40"

and 45" Infantry Divisions, 42 other Army Guard units
were sent to Korea and thousands of individual
Guardsmen went as replacements.
Most Guard units began arriving in Korea in
early 1951, at the same time massive Chinese and North
Korean attacks were pushing
UN forces south. That spring,
as UN forces regrouped and
repulsed these massive attacks,
three National Guard Artillery
battalions, the 196" (Tennessee)
the 937" (Arkansas) and the
300" (Wyoming), and a
Transportation Company - the

40" Infantry Division

2524 Transportation Truck

Company (Alabama) - won Presidential Unit Citations, the
highest award that the Army can bestow upon a unit. A
fifth Presidential Unit Citation was awarded to
Pennsylvania’s 176" Armored Field Artillery battalion for
heroic action in June 1953; in addition, 18 Army National
Guard units in Korea were recognized for their superior
service with the Army’s Meritorious Unit Commendation.
By the summer of 1951, UN forces were
mounting successful limited attacks and peace
negotiations had begun. Meanwhile, the 40TM and 45"
Divisions remained in Japan, where they had trained and
served as the defensive garrison for the island since April
1951. The UN Commander, General Matthew Ridgeway,

was reluctant to send these divisions to Korea, preferring
instead to use their soldiers as individual replacements for
units already there. Finally, under pressure from Congress
and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Ridgeway agreed in
November 1951 to a “swap in place” of the two Guard
divisions for two of his combat-wor divisions.

The following month Oklahoma’s 45" Infantry
Division switched places with the 1 Cavalry Division,
and in January 1952 California’s 40" Infantry Division
switched places with the 24" Infantry Division. While the
Guardsmen complained about the miserable condition of
the vehicles and equipment they “inherited” from the units
they replaced, the relative lull in combat brought on by the
frigid Korean winter gave them time to make repairs
before more active hostilities resumed in the spring.

By the spring of 1952, most of the Guardsmen
who had been called up in the late summer of 1950 were
nearing the end of their term of active Federal service, and
began rotating home in the summer of 1952. While the
Guardsmen went home, the Guard units — now filled with
draftees and enlistees — continued on active duty, even
after the war ended in July 1953. Not until 1957 was
every unit Federalized for service in Korea returned to
state control.



Air National Guard

Korea was the Air National Guard’s first war as a
separate reserve component of the Air Force. In all, 486
units, including 22 of 27 Air National Guard Wings and
67 of 84 flying squadrons totaling 45,594 officers and
men, were called to active Federal service between
October 1950 and April 1951. This was approximately

80% of the Air Guard’s total personnel strength.
q

Two wings, the 116' =
Fighter Bomber Wing (Georgia)
and the 136" Fighter Bomber
Wing (Texas) fought in Korea,
entering combat in May 1951.
Both wings had to transition from
outdated aircraft to the F-84
Thunderjet before shipping off to

"ta

116" Fighter
Bomber Wing

war. The majority of the missions

assigned to the F-84 in Korea were
close air support of friendly ground troops and aerial
interdiction of enemy troops and supplies behind the front
lines. Three Air Guard wings deployed to Europe to
reinforce NATO — the 117" (Alabama), 123 (Kentucky)
and 126" (Illinois).

Months before the two Air Guard wings entered
combat in Korea, hundreds of

individual guardsmen had shipped
over to augment US Air Force units.
Four Air Guard pilots became aces
in USAF units flying F-86 Sabrejets.
The two Guard wings also provided
air defense for Japan.

The Air Force, which had
little use for the Air Guard before
the outbreak of the Korean War,

136" Fighter
Bomber Wing

was impressed by the performance it received from its
citizen-airmen. Air Guardsmen flew 39,530 combat
sorties, destroying 39 enemy aircraft and damaging
another 149. The Air Force discovered that the Air Guard
had a level experience and that paid big dividends in
combat in Korea maturity - 40% of the men mobilized
were veterans with two or more years of service during
World War II. In fact, a Fifth Air Force survey conducted
in 1951 showed that 80% of that unit’s personnel were
Reservists and Guardsmen recalled to active service.

Air National Guard Units to Deploy to Korea

Unit State__Arrived Overseas
116" Fighter Bomber Wing GA July 51

136" Fighter Bomber Wing Avs May 51
111" Fighter Bomber Squadron 1TMX May 51
154" Fighter Bomber Squadron AR May51
158" Fighter Bomber Squadron GA July 51
159" Fighter Bomber Squadron FL July 51
182° Fighter Bomber Squadron 1X May 51
196 Fighter Bomber Squadron. CA July 51

Army National Guard Units to Deploy to Korea

Unit State___Arrived Korea
30" Ordnance Bn, HHD NJ 21Mar51
32° Ordnance Bn, HHD IL 10 Jul 51
82" Quartermaster Group, HAD PA 17 Feb 52
40" Infantry Division CA 11 Jan 52
45" Infantry Division OK 5 Dec Si
65" Infantry Regiment **PR 23 Sep 50
101* Signal Battalion NY 7 Apr 51
106" Ordnance (H) MaintenanceCo MO 26 Mar 51
107" Ordnance (M) MaintenanceCo MI ‘9 Mar 51
107” Transportation Truck Co AL 8Jan51
116 Engineer Combat Battalion ID 28 Feb 51
121* Transportation Truck Co PA 4Jan51
131" Transportation Truck Co PA 1 Jan 51
138” Engineer Pontoon Bridge Co MS 16 Feb 51
145" Field Artillery Battalion Ur 5 Dec 51
151" Engineer Combat Battalion AL 9Feb51
167" Transportation Truck Bn,HHD PA 1 Jan 51
176® Armored Field Artillery Bn PA 17Feb 51
194" Engineer Combat Battalion TN 16 Feb 51
196" Field Artillery Battalion IN 9Feb51
204" Field Artillery Battalion UT 2Feb51
213" AAA Gun Battalion PA 11 Nov51
213 Armored Field Artillery Bn UT 16 Feb 51
217" Medical Collecting Company AR 4 May 51
227" AAA Group, HHB FL 21 Mar 52
231" Transportation Truck Bn, HHD MD 1 Jan 51
235" Field Artillery ObservationBn PA 10 Dec 52
252° Transportation Truck Co AL 1Jan51
300" Armored Field Artillery Bn WY 16 Feb 51
378” Engineer Combat Battalion NC 24 Feb 51
568" Ordnance (H) MaintenanceCo TN ‘19 Mar 51
623" Field Artillery Battalion KY 23 Dec 51
715" Transportation Truck Co DC 5Jan51
726" Transportation Truck Co MD 31 Dec 50
773° AAA Gun Battalion NY 18 Oct 52
936" Field Artillery Battalion AR 10Feb 51
937" Field Artillery Battalion AR 10Feb 51
955" Field Artillery Battalion NY 2Feb51
987" Armored Field Artillery Bn OH 16 Feb 51
1092" Engineer Combat Battalion WV 3 Mar51
1169" Engineer Group HHC AL 28 Feb 51
13434 Engineer Combat Battalion AL 9Feb51
1437" Engineer Treadway BridgeCo MI 2 Mar 51
2998" Engineer Treadway BridgeCo TN  27Feb 51

Key to abbreviations: AAA = Anti-Aircraft Artillery; Bn = Battalion; Co
= Company; HHB = Headquarters and Headquarters Battery; HHC =
Headquarters and Headquarters Company; HHD = Headquarters and
Headquarters Detachment; (H) = Heavy, (M) = Medium

** The 65" Infantry Regiment was part of the Regular Army from 1908
until 1959, when it was allotted to the Puerto Rican National Guard,
However, the history of this regiment is in many ways more typical of a
National Guard regiment than one from the Regular Army. First
organized in 1899 as a Puerto Rican volunteer regiment, it was later
transferred to the Regular Army. During its 50 years in the Regular
‘Army it was continually stationed in Puerto Rico and the soldiers
recruited solely from the local population.

Department of Defense 50" Anniversary of the |
Korean War Commemoration Committee
1213 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 702

Arlingtor 2202.

National’ Guard Bureau!
Public Affairs - Historical Services Branch
1411 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, VA 22202-3231

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