By SGM(CA) Daniel M. Sebby
Chief Curator, Military Museum Command, California State Guard
On July 1, 2019, the California State
Military Reserve reached back into its history to become the
California State Guard, one of the components of the California
Military Department equal to the Army and Air National Guard.
Along with the rebranding of our state defense force will be
the reorganization of the organization to provide better support
to the Army and Air National Guard as well as the Youth and Community
Affairs Task Force.
Many know about the State Military Reserve and the valuable work
they do. But do you know their history? No? So, let's take a
look at how and why a force separate from the national guard
was needed.
Officially formed just before statehood, the California Militia,
and after 1866, the National Guard of California was a pure state
force responsible for the security of California and local communities
only. This status was very like that of later state defense forces.
In the event of war or national emergency, the President would
call on the states to form volunteer regiments for Federal service.
In many cases, whole regiments of the National Guard would volunteer
for active service such as California's 1st and 7th Infantry
Regiments during the Spanish-American War.
But that all changed with the Militia Act of 1903 and the later
National Defense Acts of 1916 and 1933. The mobilization of 1898
exposed the weaknesses of the militia/volunteer system during
a national emergency. The time it took to raise, organize, train,
equip, and deploy overseas volunteer regiments became unacceptable
to the War Department and Congress.
With the signing of the Militia Act, the National Guard became
a reserve of the Army with Federal resources, logistics, and
standards. It also allowed the President to order the National
Guard to active service. The Mexican Border Crisis of 1916 was
the first test of the new law, but it showed a significant flaw
in the new system, in that the states lost their ability to respond
to substantial state emergencies.
When the United States entered World War I, Congress authorized
the states to raise state troops. In California's case, this
was the California Home Guard (CHG). The CHG consisted of 100
companies located throughout the state. State resources were
minimal, with members providing their equipment, uniforms, and
weapons.
One company, Hollywood's 51st Company, which was made up of actors
and technicians from the Laskey Players Studio and commanded
by famed director Cecil B. DeMille, drilled with prop rifles
wearing uniforms made by the studio's costume department.
Between the end of the war and 1920, when the National Guard
was reestablished, the Home Guard was redesignated as the California
Military Reserve and later disbanded.
In 1940, many community leaders in the Los Angeles metropolitan
area saw that war was coming and saw the need to increase security.
These leaders, without state approval, formed the Southern California
Home Defense Force (SCHDF) that organized as a single infantry
regiment with Veterans, inactive Army Reservists, and community
leaders in leadership positions. Leading this effort was Hollywood
producer, and uncle of industrialist and media mogul Howard Hughes,
Army Reserve Col. Rupert Hughes.
In 1941 when Congress and the California legislature authorized
state defense forces again, the SCHDF was absorbed by the newly
formed California State Guard (CSG) as the 2nd Regiment commanded
by Col. Hughes. On August 16 of that year, the CSG mobilized
for duty at the Santa Anita Racetrack. Regimental colors were
presented, including those of the 1st and 9th Regiments which
are currently on display in the Headquarters of the California
Military Department. Almost immediately, State Guardsmen were
deployed to defend the state's critical infrastructure. On December
1 of 1941, the CSG's nine infantry regiments mustered nearly
22,000 members.
Immediately after the attack on Pearl
Harbor, enlistments ballooned to the point where the CSG grew
and organized into:
13 infantry regiments. With an authorized
strength of 2,160, many of these regiments were manned at over
100%. Many of these regiments had reserve companies of state
guardsmen waiting to be reassigned to active rifle companies.
Some regiments also had cavalry troops. The 7th Regiment was
a regiment of African-American veterans and patriotic volunteers
One engineer regiment.
One quartermaster regiment organized into
two depot companies and two transportation companies.
One medical regiment. With close ties
to Hollywood, including actress, philanthropist, and girlfriend
of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst, Capt. Marion Davies,
who served as the regimental patron, the regiment operated three
hospitals in Sacramento, San Bernardino, and West Los Angeles
and a medical supply depot. Capt. Davies donated the facility
used by the West Los Angeles hospital.
One evacuation regiment. Another Hollywood
regiment with many actors, including Cesar Romero, Robert Young,
Buster Keaton, and others, serving as drivers of donated station
wagons that would evacuate families from coastal Southern California
families inland in the event of an invasion.
A light tank company equipped with three
World War I-era, M1917 tanks.
Ten observation squadrons. Organized before
the Army's Civil Air Patrol, it consisted of private pilots and
aircraft owners.
State Naval Guard (also known as the Nautical
Corps) made up of private ocean-going yachts and boats. Also
organized was a Marine rifle company.
The CSG also took over staffing of the Military Department that
included a large number of women soldiers and took over several
state-owned Civilian Conservation Corps and State Relief Agency
camps.
The units of the CSG were deployed in
primarily urban and suburban Southern California, San Francisco,
San Diego, and Sacramento metropolitan areas, thus leaving large
parts of the state without a local defense capability. In response,
the California State Militia (CSM), a tertiary defense force
made up of hundreds of locally raised "Licensed Military
Companies" that ranged from the squad to battalion-sized.
It also included many ethnic units such as the California Chinese
and Korean Reserves, Salinas Filipino Rifles, and the United
Mexican Reserves. On the whole, many of these units were poorly
equipped and trained, but some managed to be quite useful military
organizations.
In 1943, with the threat of the feared Japanese invasion, all
but eliminated, the mission of the CSG change from the active
defense of California to one of internal security. Concurrent
with the new mission, the CSG absorbed the CSM and more evenly
distributed its units. The Army also stepped up logistical support
to the CSG providing Jeeps, M3 Scout Cars, M1917 .30 and M2 .50
caliber machine guns as well as M1917 rifles and M1917 .45 caliber
revolvers.
The CSG was stood down in 1946 when the California National Guard
was reestablished. By the end of the war, over 75,000 California
men and women, including ethnic minorities, served as soldiers,
sailors, and airmen in defense of their state.
With the Cold War warming up, history repeated itself in the
late 1940s when a group of 40th Infantry Division veterans formed
the unofficial 40th Infantry Division Reserve, a group dedicated
to supporting the division should it be called to active duty
again.
With the start of the Korean War and the fear of nuclear attack,
California reformed its state defense force as the California
Defense and Security Corps. On May 10, 1951, the corps was renamed
the California National Guard Reserve (CNGR). Finally, in 1963,
it was redesignated as the California State Military Reserve
(CSMR).
During the Korean War, over 13,000 state soldiers served throughout
the state with many on State Active Duty. With the armistice
in Korea, the CNGR reverted to a cadre strength organization
of a few thousand organized into two divisions with subordinate
group and battalion headquarters and headquarters companies.
Over the years, the strength dwindled to a handful of small detachments.
Upon discovery that one or more of these detachments began operating
outside the authority of the Adjutant General of California,
the CSMR was stood down in 1967, and its members transferred
to the retired list.
In 1976, the CSMR was stood up again with the Headquarters and
the Center for Military History as the first units formed. During
the Cold War, the CSMR was organized at cadre strength with five
"infantry" brigades, an aviation brigade, a medical
brigade, a training command, a specialist support group, and
the Center for Military History. During this time, the CSMR was
a group of World War II and Korean War veterans, mostly with
senior officers and NCO ranks with little or no standards, training,
or real missions.
Over the years, the CSMR transitioned, often painfully, from
an ineffective group of well-meaning veterans into a gold standard
for state defense forces nationwide. With the CSMR being allowed
to apply for State Active Duty positions, members moved into
fulltime command and staff position on the California Military
Department's Joint Staff and the Youth Programs. In 2018, the
Commanding General of the California Army National Guard was
a CSMR Major General and in 2005, CSMR Brig. Gen. John R. Alexander
served as The Adjutant General of the State of California, commanding
both the California Army and Air National Guard as well as the
CSMR.
On July 1, 2019, the California State Military Reserve became
the California State Guard. It transitioned to a fully recognized
component of the California Military Department equal to both
the California Army and Air National Guard. Today, the CSG is
a highly effective, diverse part of the California Military Department
with units in direct support to specific National guard units
and general support of the whole California Military Department.
Proposed missions have us working outside of the department including
museum and library disaster response, littoral maritime patrol,
search and rescue and other missions
We don't know where the future will take the CSG, but the path
set forth by the past 20 years of visionary leadership will allow
Californians to be their best while serving their state.
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