April 1955: Operation Minuteman Demonstrates Effectiveness of National Guard

By Maj. William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

A 57 mm recoilless rifle squad from the Rome-based Company E, 122nd Infantry Regiment secures an intersection during exercises as part of
Operation Minuteman April 20, 1955. Georgia Guard Archives

In April 1955, the National Guard’s 400,000-strong force responded to an unprecedented activation exercise. Operation Minuteman, conceived by Maj. Gen. Edgar Erickson, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, successfully mobilized nearly 320,000 National Guardsmen in an age long before e-mail, social media and smart phones.

This 1955 Cartoon by Bill Canfield illustrates the reach
of Operation Minuteman. Georgia Guard Archives.

“Considering this was the first time that a nationwide alert has been held by a reserve component of the armed forces, the National Guard made a great showing,” said Maj. Gen. George Hearn, Adjutant General of the Georgia National Guard following the conclusion of Operation Minuteman. “The people of the state and nation became instantly aware of the potent force we mobilized in such a short period of time.”

The purpose of Operation Minuteman was to test the speed and efficiency with which the National Guard could be mobilized in the event of a national emergency. Additionally, the operation was intended to demonstrate to the public the efficiency and readiness of the National Guard.

At 3:30 on the afternoon of April 20, 1955, the alert notification was dispatched from Washington D.C. to the adjutants general of the 48 states and Alaska Territory. In towns across the country, local armories were flooded with National Guardsmen responding to the exercise alert. A company commander in the California National Guard reported 70 percent of his personnel had reported within one hour of the alert, ninety percent had reported by the second hour and all were present within three hours of the alert notice.

After assembling, the Guardsmen were dispatched on simulated missions. Units of the Atlanta-based 122^nd Infantry Regiment established protective cordons around vital infrastructure including power stations, water works and radio stations. The 215^th Medical Battalion of the Tennessee National Guard set up four hospital tents near their Memphis Armory and ambulances were dispatched to receive simulated patients.

 

Georgia Army National Guard Soldiers rush to the Atlanta Armory during Operation Minuteman. The Soldiers are from
the 122nd Infantry Regiment, 179th Field Artillery Regiment, 48th Signal Company and 878th Engineer Aviation Battalion. Georgia Guard archives.

In addition to the myriad of Army unit movements, the Air National Guard also responded in force. Georgia Air National Guardsmen of the 116^th Fighter Bomber Wing launched 24 aircraft within the first hour of the alert. While he declined to give official numbers due to operational security concerns, Brig. Gen. Winston P. Wilson, Chief of the Air National Guard, noted that hundreds of aircraft participated in the exercise.

Trucks of the 179th Field Artillery Regiment, 48th Armored Division, Georgia Army National Guard move out from the Atlanta Armory during
Operation Minuteman April 20, 1955. Georgia Guard Archives. 

Operation Minuteman represented the first time in the history of the National Guard that a national level alert was executed. While the National Guard had previously conducted large-scale mobilization efforts, such as those for Mexican Border service in 1916 and for WW II service, those mobilizations were incremental.

Erickson, formerly the adjutant general of Massachusetts, chose April 20 as the date for Operation Minuteman as it was the date that the Minuteman Companies of the Hampshire County Militia Regiment began marching to Boston following the battles of Lexington and Concord.

Sources:

Georgia Guardsman Magazine, March-May 1955 edition 

Healdsburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar, Number 32, April 28, 1955

Madera Tribune, Number 317, 21 April 1955

On This Day in Memphis History, G. Wayne Dowdy

Looking Back: The First 30 Days of Ga. DoD Coronavirus Response Operations

By Maj. William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

Georgia Army National Guard 1st Lt. Catherine Blakelock of the Savannah-based Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 118th Field Artillery Regiment
briefs an infection control team before entering a nursing home in Port Wentworth, Ga. April 10, 2020. Photo by 1st Lt. Joe Reynolds

The Beginning

In just one month, the Georgia Department of Defense moved from contingency planning, in preparation for COVID-19 operations, to full engagements in 10 different missions encompassing locations across the state. On March 10, the Clay National Guard lodging facilities were cleared and prepared to receive guests from the Grand Princess Cruise Ship. On that day, the Ga. DoD issued a warning order advising the force that the Ga. DoD would “begin pandemic response operations in order to protect the force, assist local and state authorities with the protection of life and property, and with the preservation of peace, order, and public safety.”

At the time WARNO 1 was issued, Georgia had reported 18 cases of COVID-19 and no deaths. The next day more than 250 cruise ship passengers arrived at Dobbins Air Reserve Force Base to begin observation for COVID-19 symptoms. The Clay National Guard Center received its first passengers the evening of March 13.

Lieutenant Colonel Pervis Brown, officer in charge
of the Ga. DoD's Joint Operations Center and 2nd Lt.
Austin Brumby track mission assignments from the
Georgia Emergency Management Agency at the Joint
Force Headquarters in Marietta, Ga. March 23, 2020.
Phot by Maj. William Carraway

The Response Ramps Up

On March 14, Governor Brian Kemp authorized the activation of 2,000 Georgia National Guard Soldiers and Airmen. The next day, the first Soldiers were on mission transporting patients while Georgia State Defense Force volunteers augmented operations at the headquarters of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency alongside Georgia’s Citizen Soldiers and Airmen. At first, the battle rhythm of operations had the familiarity of a hurricane or severe weather response, but key differences soon became apparent. The state surgeon of the Ga. DoD was an early key staff augmentee at the State Operations Center where civilians and service members worked in coordination with the Department of Public Health.

Medical Support Teams

During the update brief for commanders and senior staff on March 18, Maj. Gen. Tom Carden, Georgia’s Adjutant General, tasked the Ga. DoD joint staff with developing a unit-manning document for a new kind of unit that did not exist anywhere within the force structure. As described by Carden, teams of medical personnel would be assembled in order to supplement hospital staff.

Georgia Air National Guard Airman 1st Class Matthew Brownson, a medical specialist with the 116th Medical Broup Detachment One records patient data at
Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta on March 26, 2020. Photo by Sgt. Jeron Walker

“The people who will populate that unit will be people with medical skill sets who are not first responders, not working in a hospital,” said Carden, addressing commanders and staff at the Joint Force Headquarters in Marietta. “We are not waiting for someone to ask for this information, we need to anticipate the need and be prepared.”

The concept of the joint medical unit evolved into medical support teams, comprised of Soldiers, Airmen, and Ga SDF Volunteers who had civilian or military training in the medical field. Less than two weeks from the first expression of concept, more than 200 personnel were employed at 19 regional medical centers across the state.

Ventilators

Aviators of the Marietta-based 78th Aviation Troop
Command transported 12 ventilators from Tobyhanna
Army Depot April 3, 2020. Photo by Maj. Travis Brown

By March 23, the Ga. DOD coordinated the placement of the first medical support team which embedded two days later. Based on reports fielded from hospitals and input from the state surgeon, Carden tasked the Ga. DoD to inventory all units for ventilators and prepare to transfer them to civilian hospitals.

“Knowing (the number of COVID-19 cases) is not what really matters,” said Carden during a planning meeting with senior leaders. “What really matters is when we hit capacity at hospitals. When will we run out of ventilators?”

With ventilators identified as critical equipment, commanders in the Georgia and Army National Guard requested immediate inventory and calibration. Those in need of calibration were transported to Tobyhanna Army Depot by aviators of the 78^th Aviation Troop Command. By March 24, the Ga. DoD logistics officer reported the Ga. DoD could make 41 ventilators available to hospitals.

In his closing comments to commanders and staff March 24, Carden recognized the herculean efforts of the Ga. DoD and reminded all in attendance to always plan ahead.

“What we are doing now is different than anything we have ever done before,” said Carden. No one in this room has experience with pandemic response. This is where we live our values. Your entire career has built your ability to respond now. Since the day you put the uniform on, you have learned to be adaptive and agile. We have got to know not only what is going on now, we have to think about what is next.”

Infection Control Teams

On March 26, Brigadier General Randall Simmons, Commander of the Ga. ARNG and Joint Task Force Commander Ga. COVID-19 Response Force, traveled to Albany Ga. to meet with community leaders and hospital staff. In addition to visiting patient isolation facilities and speaking with medical support team personnel, Simmons visited a local nursing home where he learned that multiple residents had tested positive for COVID-19. Recognizing the potential health crisis, Simmons suggested the Georgia National Guard could provide assistance to the facility.

Soldiers of the Forsyth-based 2^nd Battalion 121^st Infantry Regiment were dispatched to assist at the Albany nursing home and to supplement patient observation sites in Albany and Forsyth on March 28. Identifying the vulnerability of nursing homes to COVID-19, Carden tasked commanders and staff with anticipating a mission to assist. Colonel John Till, safety officer of the Ga. DOD informed senior leaders that his office had conducted disinfecting operations at Ga. DoD facilities and that the techniques and protective equipment could be adapted to disinfect critical facilities in the state.

In the coming days, Carden briefed members of the Governor’s Task Force on the Coronavirus regarding the risk and potential for the Ga. DoD to assist. Carden briefed the capability to Governor Kemp while Till assembled personnel from the 138^th Chemical Company to constitute the first infection control team.

“We are going to generate the capability and be prepared to provide the service,” said Carden. “The critical discussion will have to be had between DPH and GEMA to determine how we are to be employed. Our job is to lean forward as far as we can.”

On the morning of March 31, Brig. Gen. Simmons directed the 201^st Regional Support Group to dispatch the first ICT to Albany and to take with it personal protective equipment for nursing home workers. Simmons also directed the joint staff to establish a planning team for disinfecting operations.

The first infection control team composed of Soldiers of the 138th Chemical Company and 177th Brigade Engineer Battalion prepare to depart
the Clay National Guard Center for Albany, Ga. March 31, 2020. Photo by Maj. William Carraway

In the coming days, the Ga. DoD established a list of 383 nursing homes across the state. The first ICT trained a follow-on team at the Albany nursing home. On April 1, sixty Soldiers of the Calhoun-based 1^st Squadron, 108^th Cavalry Regiment had trained for the disinfecting mission.

30 Days of Operations

On the morning of April 10, nearly 1,000 Soldiers and Airmen comprising 58 ICTs had cleaned nearly 120 facilities and were continuing to work into the Easter weekend to alleviate human suffering. More than 200 of Georgia’s Citizen Soldiers and Airmen were working shoulder to shoulder with medical personnel at 19 hospitals across the state. Georgia State Defense Force Volunteers provided support to food bank operations in Valdosta, one of nine foodbanks supported by the Ga. DoD across the state. Logisticians supported GEMA and DPH warehouse operations and isolation facilities while more than 70 personnel provided health screenings at hospitals in Athens, Atlanta, Albany, Macon, and Gainesville, freeing nurses and medical support personnel to care for patients.

Georgia Army National Guard Soldiers of the Marietta-based 201st Regional Support Group disinfect a nursing home facility on Easter Sunday
March 12, 2020. The team was visited by Maj. Gen. Tom Carden, Georgia's Adjutant General, who presented coins to Spc. Joshua Brown
of the Monroe-based 178th Military Police Company and Spc. Kevin Mincey of the Hinesville-based 179th MP Company in recognition of their
efforts on behalf of Georgia's Citizens. Photo by 2nd Lt. Elisabeth Tanifum.

As the Ga. DoD passes 30 days of Coronavirus response operations, the role these Citizen Soldiers, Airmen and State Defense Force Volunteers play continues to expand. As Maj. Gen. Tom Carden has said on numerous occasions, “We will never be late to need.”