History of the 59th Infantry Brigade

By Maj. William Carraway
Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

 

The insignia of the Macon-based 59th Infantry Brigade. Author's Collection

The 59^th Infantry Brigade was a subordinate unit of the Macon-based 30^th Division from 1923 to 1941. From its Macon headquarters, the 59th encompassed the 121^st Infantry Regiment of the Georgia Army National Guard as well as the 118^th Infantry Regiment of the South Carolina National Guard.

The 59^th Infantry Brigade was established Jan. 8, 1923 under the command of Brig. Gen. Henry D. Russell. Russell commanded the brigade until 1932 when he was promoted to major general and placed in command of the 30^th Division, which was comprised of National Guard units from Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.

This Signal Corps photo depicting the 30th CRT is captioned 

"Infantrymen of the U.S. Ninth Army, 19th Corps, 30th 

Infantry Division poised for action atop an Army 

Reconnaissance Car, enter the burning town of Bonn, Germany

...April 13, 1945"

The Headquarters Company of the 59^th Infantry Brigade was the Macon Volunteers, a storied unit whose lineage traced back to 1825 and continues today as headquarters of the 48^th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.  

In September 1940, the Georgia National Guard was placed in federal service and the 59^th Infantry Brigade was dispatched to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for initial training.[i] The 59^th participated in the Tennessee Maneuvers and Carolina Maneuvers before returning to Fort Jackson in September 1941 whereupon, a reorganization of Army divisions reassigned the 121^st Infantry Regiment to the 8^th Division.[ii] February 24, 1942, Headquarters Company, 59^th Infantry was redesignated as the 30^th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop.[iii] Three Georgia Guardsmen received the Bronze Star Medal for actions with the 30^th CRT in Europe: Staff Sgt. James R. Chester, Staff Sgt. Edwin J. Deedrick and 1^st Sgt. Louis Stuart.[iv]

Three Georgia Guardsmen of the 59^th Infantry Brigade Headquarters Company are known to have been killed in action while serving in other units following the 1942 reorganization.[v] A brief biography of each Soldier follows:


James W. Mathis Jr. enlisted in the Macon based Headquarters Company, 59th Infantry Brigade September 25, 1939 at the age of 15. After arriving at Fort Jackson, S.C. in 1941, Mathis was transferred to the 143rd Infantry, 36th Division.  He was commissioned a second lieutenant. He was killed in action December 15, 1943 in Sicily and is buried in the Sicily Rome American Cemetery.

James Mathis

Private Jack Moseley enlisted in the, 59th Infantry Brigade Headquarters October 2, 1939 at the age of 16. Moseley volunteered for service in the Army Air Corps and was assigned to the 33rd Bomb Squadron, 22nd Bomb Group as a bombardier on a B-26. On January 7, 1943 Moseley’s aircraft took off from Port Moresby on a bombing mission against a Japanese convoy. The aircraft was intercepted by enemy aircraft and hit by anti-aircraft fire in the left wing and engine. The aircraft ditched. Unable to escape the aircraft Moseley drowned. He is listed on the Wall of the Missing in Manila.

Jack Moseley

Charles R. Wheaton joined the Headquarters Company, 59th Infantry Brigade and, by October 5, 1939, had reached the rank of master sergeant. Wheaton was commissioned a second lieutenant and stationed at Camp Barkley, Texas. He was mortally wounded and died from the effects of his wounds November 16, 1944. He is buried in Macon Memorial Park.

Charles R. Wheaton

---

[i] Military Department of the State of Georgia, General Order No. 13, Oct. 7, 1941.

[ii] Hewett, Robert L. Work Horse of the Western Front: The Story of the 30^th infantry Division. Washington Infantry Journal Press, New York, NY, 1946, 5.

[iii] Center for Military History, Lineage and Honors Certificate, Headquarters Company, 48^th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

[iv] Hewett, 290, 294, 326.

[v] Carraway William. Fallen Soldiers of the Georgia Army National Guard, ND.

Sixty Years Ago: The Georgia Air National Guard Enters a New Decade on High Alert

By Maj. William Carraway
Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

Two F-86L Super Sabers of the Georgia Air National Guard’s 158^th Fighter Squadron scramble from Travis Field during an alert exercise in January 1960.
Georgia Guard archives.

The sun had not yet risen on the first day of 1960 when the Savannah-based 158^th Fighter Squadron was put on alert status and prepared to scramble fighter interceptors at a moment’s notice. The 158^th was one of 21 Air National Guard Squadrons across the nation to participate in a readiness exercise designed to test the ability of National Guard pilots and aircraft to take to the air in response to the detection of incoming enemy aircraft. Additionally, the alert tested the ability of Air National Guard units to conduct sustained operations against a possible enemy attack.[1]

Captain Kenneth Davis and Capt. Harry Morrow
of the Georgia Air National Guard’s 158^th Fighter Squadron
 sprint to their F86L Super Sabers during a high alert
exercise at Travis Field in January 1960.
Georgia Guard archives

With the sound of a siren, two Georgia Air National Guard pilots, Capt. Kenneth Davis and Capt. Harry Morrow sprinted from the ready room at Travis Field in full flight equipment and boarded two rocket-armed F-86L Saber Jets that had been prepped and started by dedicated crew chiefs. Within seconds of reaching the Saber Jets, the pilots taxied the aircraft to the runway then rocketed at full afterburner over the Atlantic Ocean. The response was so rapid that the pilots did not receive their approach vectors until after take-off. The 702^nd Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, based at the nearby Hunter Air Force Base, provided the pilots with their initial mission briefings by radio. The pilots then used their Saber Jets’ internal radar to close the distance on the target aircraft. Moving into firing position, the Guardsmen identified the aircraft as friendly or hostile, a hostile intercept resulting in simulated launch of pod-mounted 2.75-inch rockets. At the completion of the intercept, the pilots returned to Travis Airfield for debriefing.

Throughout the exercise, the squadron’s fighter pilots served 10 to 14-hour shifts as did the aircraft ground crews. On January 16, the Marietta-based 128^th Fighter Squadron had joined the 158^th on alert status. Pilots and ground crews of the 128^th conducted 24-hour operations scrambling aircraft to meet potential threats emanating from South Georgia.[2] More than 1,000 Georgia Air National Guard personnel participated in the exercise, including members of the 116^th Tactical Hospital which was charged with evaluating and evacuating simulated casualties.  

Georgia Air National Guard TSgt. Swain and MSgt. Way load rockets into an F-86L Super Saber’s rocket pod during alert operations at Travis Field
in January 1960. Georgia Guard archives.

At the conclusion of the alert exercise, Col. G. D. Campbell Jr., United States Air Force Inspector, praised the Georgia Air National Guard noting particularly the in-commission state of aircraft and the rapid rate of turnaround for aircraft upon returning from missions.[3] These two factors demonstrated that the Georgia Air National Guard was indeed capable of rapidly responding to threats in an increasingly uncertain world.

Captain Kenneth Davis of the Georgia Air National Guard’s 158^th Fighter Squadron descends from an
F86L Super Saber at Travis Field following a mission in January 1960.
Georgia Guard archives.

---

[1] Georgia National Guard Magazine Jan, Feb 1960, 2.

[2] Ibid, 6.

[3] Ibid, 7.

Christmas in Combat: Georgia Guard Soldiers Observe Christmas in 1944

By Major William Carraway
Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

A cartoon depiction of the rapid mobilization of the Georgia National Guard’s 179th Field Artillery Battalion and 4^th Armor Division to the Ardennes 
in December 1944 as drawn by a Soldier of the 179^th. 179^th, 17.

Seventy-five years ago, seven battalions of Georgia Guard Soldiers spent Christmas engaged in the Ardennes following a surprise German counterattack remembered today as the Battle of the Bulge. This chapter of the Georgia Guard History Blog takes a brief look at how each Georgia Guard unit passed Christmas 1944.

945^th Field Artillery Battalion

When the Germans launched the Ardennes Offensive, the 945^th Field Artillery Battalion was engaged with the IIX Corps, 3^rd Army in the Lorraine Campaign near Nancy. In action throughout December, the battalion had taken severe casualties with just 72 men remaining for duty in Battery C.[1] On December 19, Lt. Gen. George Patton ordered the XII Corps to move via Luxembourg to the Ardennes. The 945^th, still recovering from the counterbattery fire of December 18, did not get started until the next day.[2] Due to the heavy snow and unbearable cold, the route of march was torturous and delayed. A Soldier in the 945^th recalled that the mud froze to their boots and that men clustered to ride on the hoods of M5 tractors in order to stay warm.[3]

On Christmas Eve, Lt. Gen. George S. Patton 

distributed these personal messages to the Soldiers

of the 3^rd Army including members of the Georgia Army National 

Guard’s 945^th Field Artillery Battalion.

The 3^rd Army was moving to first stabilize the German penetration, then counterattack.[4] The American counterattack brought with it 108 artillery battalions with nearly 1,300 guns.[5] The guns of the 945^th FAB went into action December 23 in Luxembourg targeting roads, bridges and enemy counterbattery fire. The next day, the 945^th fired 549 high explosive rounds and 17 white phosphorous rounds.[6] That evening, Patton distributed a personal message and prayer written by Chaplain James O’Neill to the Soldiers of the 3^rd Army.

On Christmas Day, the Soldiers of the 945^th received turkey dinner. Patton circulated through the divisions of the 3^rd Army congratulating the men for their efforts. He subsequently wrote that “No other Army in the world except the American could have done such a thing.”



179^th Field Artillery Battalion[7]

A communications section of the Georgia Army National Guard’s 
179^th Field Artillery Battalion struggles against the elements to 
set up a relay station in this humorous cartoon generated 
by a 179^th Soldier. 179^th, 16.

Also moving out with the 3^rd Army on December 20 was the 179^th Field Artillery Battalion, a Georgia Guard unit which had been based in Atlanta prior to the start of the War. Moving with the 4^th Armored Division, the 179^th arrived in Nagen, Belgium where the Georgia Guardsmen delivered their first salvos into German flank positions on December 23, 1944. From their firing position, the 179^th Field Artillery Battalion supported the 26^th Division and would continue to do so through Christmas. In January, the 179^th, moving with the 4^th Armored Division advanced to Bastogne to relieve the encircled 101^st Airborne Division.



121^st Infantry Regiment

The 121^st Infantry Regiment had spent November and December in the bloody Hurtgen Forest, an experience one Gray Bonnet Soldier recalled as “hell with icicles” During the fighting, Staff Sgt. John Minick led an element of Soldiers through a minefield, silenced an enemy machine gun, killed 20 Germans and captured 20 before he was killed by a mine explosion. For his valorous actions, Minnick posthumously received the Medal of Honor.[8]

A mortar crew from Company D, 121st Infantry Regiment, Georgia National Guard fires rounds at a German observation post across the Roer River. National Archives.

In late December, the objective of the 121^st Infantry Regiment was the town of Obermaubach, east of Hurtgen. Near Obermaubach was a dam on the Roer River. If the Germans destroyed the dam the resulting flood would hamper 1^st Army efforts to cross.[9]

The 121^st attack jumped off on Dec. 22, 1944. Company B, under command of Capt. William McKenna achieved early success, driving 300 yards through enemy mortar and machine gun fire. Company C gained a foothold in the town and the 121^st began clearing operations. An enemy sniper felled Maj. Joseph Johnston, commander of 1^st Battalion but he refused medical evacuation until the engagement was decided.[10]

Christmas Eve and Christmas came with the infantry still heavily engaged. Company F

Men of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment eat 
their first hot meal in 15 days after fighting in the Hurtgen Forest 
in December 1944. National Archives

cleared four bunkers while Soldiers of Company K knocked out two enemy strong points and cleared an approach for armor forces to move forward in support.

Stories of individual heroism were replete during the Christmas Day attack of the 121^st against Obermaubach. Technical Sgt. Raymond Kommer moved out ahead of his squad which had been pinned down by machine gun fire. Incredibly, Kommer managed to crawl within arms reach of the enemy machine gun position. When the enemy gunner paused to reload, Kommer reached into the machine gun nest and unceremoniously pulled the gun right out of the gunner’s hands.[11]

While leading Company B, Capt. McKenna low crawled through enemy minefields within sight of enemy positions and called in artillery fire. He remained in an exposed position calling in targets before machine gun fire compelled him to return to his men. Still, he moved from foxhole to foxhole encouraging his Soldiers through personal example. During the attack that followed, McKenna was killed by small arms fire.[12]



118^th Field Artillery Battalion

The Georgia Army National Guard’s 118^th Field Artillery Battalion went into 

position near Malmedy, Belgium in which American Soldiers had been 

murdered by the Waffen SS days previous. 230^th FA, 54

On December 16, 1944, the Soldiers of the Georgia Army National Guard’s 118^th Field Artillery Battalion, part of the 30^th Infantry Division, were in Langweiler, Germany when they received the order to be prepared to mobilize following the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes. Hastily loading personnel, equipment, and Christmas souvenirs onto trucks, the battalion moved out of Langweiler at 8:00 p.m. into darkness and swirling snow.[13] The vehicle column endured a night attack by the Luftwaffe the next morning and by December 18, the 118^th was passing through Malmedy. Going into position near the town of Spa, Belgium, the Soldiers would soon find themselves firing at their old nemeses from Mortain, the 1^st SS Panzer Division.[14] The resolve of the Soldiers was strengthened after learning of the American Soldiers who had been ambushed and murdered along the road in Malmedy through which they had passed just two days previous.

On December 19, the 118^th batteries received fire missions and began firing at the rate of one round per minute against the advancing German vanguard. Presently, the batteries were ordered to increase their rate of fire to two rounds per minute. This rate of fire was sustained until the guns became red hot and the falling snows sizzled on tubes. Soldiers of Service Battery were hard pressed to keep up with the ammunition requirements of the line batteries and were compelled to race about on steep, icy roads bringing ammunition forward.

Over the next several days, the 118^th fought the Germans and the elements with freezing cold temperatures and low clouds preventing American aircraft from flying over the lines. Finally, on Christmas Eve, the clouds lifted, and allied aircraft were soon bombing German positions and strafing supply lines.

The fighting continued in earnest on Christmas and the Soldiers had to rotate from their positions to enjoy their turkey dinner. From December 19 to 25, the battalion fired approximately 20,000 rounds.[15] They would continue to fire with deadly effect into the New Year and halfway through January before the Allies began to push the Germans back.



230^th Field Artillery Battalion

Georgia National Guard Soldiers of Battery A, 230^th Field Artillery Battalion in action near Malmedy, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944.  230^th, 50.

Like its sister battalion, the 118^th, the Georgia Guard’s 230^th Field Artillery Battalion received an urgent alert to move while stationed at Langendorf, Germany[16]. Shortly before midnight December 17, the battalion abandoned their comfortable houses with decorated fir trees and began the movement to the Ardennes. Along the route, the 230^th experienced the same Luftwaffe attacks as related by the Soldiers of the 118^th. Moving south from Aachen, the 230^th established firing positions near Malmedy. Although in proximity to the 118^th the 230^th did not receive the same quantity of fire due to the terrain of the valley in which they were emplaced. Nevertheless, the guns of the 230^th supported the 120^th Infantry Regiment was positioned to their front.

Happy Soldiers of the Ga. Army National Guard’s 
230^th FAB receive Christmas packages from
 home Dec. 24, 1944 near Spa, Belgium. 230^th, 54.

The 230^th had perhaps the most fortunate position on Christmas of any Georgia Guard unit in Europe. The battalion’s headquarters was near the Belgian town of Spa. The Soldiers were able to rotate from Malmedy to Spa where they enjoyed Turkey dinner along with the hot bubbling mineral springs. Without ornaments, the Soldiers decorated small fir trees with bright paper and bubble gum wrappers. Not content to enjoy the blessings of Christmas by themselves, the Soldiers collected truckloads of candy and food to provide for the children of nearby Malmedy. Having enjoyed a relatively peaceful Christmas interlude with the moonlight reflecting of the quiet snowy valley, the Soldiers would soon advance to provide artillery support as the Infantry Regiments of the 30^th Division pressed east.[17]

---

[1] Cosgrove, William M. Time on Target: the 945th Field Artillery Battalion in World War II. Place of publication not identified: W.M. Cosgrove, III, 1997, 111

[2] Cosgrove, 125

[3] Ibid

[4] Cosgrove, 126

[5] Cosgrove, 127

[6] Ibid

[7] History and Battle Record of 179 F.A. Bn., 1857-1945. Regensburg, Germany: Frederich Pustet, 1945, 16.

[8] The Gray Bonnet: Combat History of the 121st Infantry. Baton Rouge, LA: Army & Navy Publishing Company, 1946, 33

[9] Gray Bonnet, 41

[10] Gray Bonnet, 42

[11] Gray Bonnet, 43

[12] Ibid

[13]Smith, Gordon Burns. History in Action: 118th Field Artillery, 30th Infantry Division 1942-1945, 2nd Edition. Washington, D.C.: Florida “Gator” Chapter, 1988, 83

[14] 118, 85

[15] 118, 88

[16] Jacobs, John et al. On the Way: A Historical Narrative of the Two-Thirtieth Field Artillery Battalion Thirtieth Infantry Division. Poessneck, Germany: F. Gerold Verlag, 1945, 48

[17] 230^th, 54

55 Years Ago: Ga. Guard Unit Takes to the Air to Demonstrate Alert Mobility and Joint Capability

By Maj. William Carraway
Historian, Ga. Army National Guard

DOBBINS AIR FORCE BASE, December 20, 1964 – Members of Rome’s Company A, 2nd Medium Tank Battalion, 108th Armor Regiment prepare to board a Ga. Air National Guard C-97 Stratofreighter of the 116th Air Transport Wing as part of a rapid assembly and mobilization drill. The Guardsmen reported to the Rome Armory at 6:00 and were transported to Dobbins by 9:30. For some of the men, it was their first time in an airplane. After flying a circuit throw North Alabama and Tennessee, the C-97 returned to Dobbins and the Rome Soldiers returned to their armory. Georgia Guard Archives

When the Georgia Army National Guard Soldiers of the Rome-based Company A, 2^nd Medium Tank Battalion, 108^th Armor Regiment reported for duty Sunday Dec. 20, 1964, they received a surprise mission order. The Soldiers were briefed of a simulated emergency situation that required rapid deployment by air to assist Georgia citizens. The Soldiers hurriedly drew their weapons, assembled in formation and were loaded onto trucks for transport to Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Ga.

By 9:30 a.m., the Soldiers were transporting south in columns of trucks. Huddled together in the back of the 2 ½ ton trucks, the Soldiers endured the chill December air as the trucks rumbled south over surface roads bound for the Marietta headquarters of the Georgia Air National Guard. Arriving at Dobbins, the men received a boxed lunch from the unit’s mess section and were directed to the flight line to board a waiting C-97 Stratofreighter of the 116^th Transport Wing. For many of the Soldiers strapping themselves into the seats in the cargo hold of the transport plane, this would be their first flight. As the men peered from tiny windows dotting the aircraft’s fuselage, the four engines roared to life and propelled the lumbering aircraft to the runway. Taking to the air, the plane flew north to simulate transportation to an impacted town. The men passed the time playing cards and viewing the North Georgia terrain from an entirely new perspective.

DOBBINS AIR FORCE BASE, December 20, 1964 – Members of Rome’s Company A, 2nd Medium Tank Battalion, 108th Armor Regiment catch a ride on a Georgia Air National Guard C-97 Stratofreighter of the 116th Air Transport Wing as part of a rapid assembly and mobilization drill. Georgia Guard Archives

The Stratofreighter flew the Rome Guardsmen on a loop over North Georgia to Gadsden, Ala. And Chattanooga, Tenn. to demonstrate the rapid reach capability in the event of a local emergency. Before returning, the Air National Guardsmen circled the aircraft over Rome to afford the Guardsmen a birds-eye view of their hometown. The Aircraft then bore them back to Dobbins where the men boarded their trucks for the return drive home.

Captain John. Yarborough, commander of Company A, considered the mobility

DOBBINS AIR FORCE BASE, December 20, 1964 –
Members of Rome’s Company A, 2nd Medium Tank Battalion,
108th Armor Regiment pass the time during a flight aboard a Ga.
Air National Guard C-97 Stratofreighter of the 116th Air
Transport Wing as part of a rapid assembly and mobilization drill.
Georgia Guard Archives.

exercise a complete success lauding the cooperation between the Georgia Air National Guard personnel and the Georgia Army National Guard Unit. Yarborough also praised the Soldiers for their response.
“The alert was 100 percent,” said Yarborough. “The assembly order went out at 6:00, and by 8:00, 85 percent of the unit’s officers and men were present.”

The unit left the armory at full-strength at 9:30 a.m., less than four hours after the initial notice. This is all the more remarkable when one considers that the alert did not have modern communications capabilities afforded by internet or cell phones. The alert required total commitment of the unit and the Rome community to communicate the assembly order and assemble the entire unit in short order. The exercise demonstrated not only the partnership between the Georgia Air and Army National Guard but the synergy between the Soldier and community.

Fifty-five years later, Rome Georgia is home to the Georgia National Guard’s 1160^th Transportation Company. In 2019, the 1160^th completed a mobility test of its own when its nearly 200 Soldiers completed back-to-back rotations at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La.

48th IBCT Bids Farewell to Col. Matthew Smith, Welcomes 28th Commander

By Maj. William Carraway
Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

 Colonel Matthew Smith, outgoing commander of the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team receives the colors 
of the 48th IBCT from Brigade Command Sgt. Maj. Matthew Marks during a change of command ceremony at
 the Macon Readiness Center Dec. 7, 2019. Colonel Anthony Fournier assumed command as the 
28th commander of the 48th IBCT. Photo by Maj. William Carraway

Colonel Matthew Smith relinquished command of the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team to Col. Anthony Fournier during a ceremony at the Macon Readiness Center Dec. 7, 2019. 

Smith, who led the brigade since December 2016, passed the 48th IBCT colors to Col. Anthony Fournier, signifying the official transfer of power for the 48th IBCT Volunteers, an organization of more than 4,000 Georgia Guardsmen. Smith’s tour of command culminated with the successful deployment of the 48^th to Afghanistan in 2019. It was the brigade’s fourth overseas combat deployment since September 11, 2001.

 Georgia Guardsmen of the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team assemble at the Macon Readiness Center Dec. 7, 2019 
for a ceremony marking the transfer of command from Col. Matthew Smith to Col. Anthony Fournier. Photo by Maj. William Carraway

Smith led the 48^th through a period of transition and increased partnership with the 3^rd Infantry Division. Assuming command just six months into the brigade’s associated unit pilot with the 3^rd ID, Smith integrated the IBCT training with the Fort Stewart-based division. From June 5 to 25, 2017, the Volunteers endured extreme temperatures and long training days in the humid fields of Fort Stewart during an eXportable Combat Training Capability exercise. 

Soldiers of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment and the 177th Brigade Engineer Battalion move
 out on an approach march to reach their objective during the eXportable Combat Training Capability exercise at
 Fort Stewart, Ga. June 21, 2017. Photo by Capt. William Carraway

A joint command post training exercise held at Fort Stewart in April 2018 further cemented the relationship between the 48^th IBCT and 3^rd ID before the brigade headed to Fort Polk, La. for a rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center. The 48^th returned to Fort Stewart for pre-mobilization training and its first elements began to deploy to Afghanistan from Hunter Army Airfield in December. By the end of January, the brigade had completed the transfer of authority for its new mission and served for the next six months before returning to Fort Stewart in July. 

Following the change of command ceremony, Smith was promoted to brigadier general. His next assignment is as the Deputy Director of Operations, Readiness and Mobilization, Headquarters, Department of the Army.

Colonel Anthony Fournier accepts the colors of the 48th 
IBCT during a change of command ceremony at the 
Macon Regional Readiness Center Dec. 7, 
2019. Photo by Maj. William Carraway

Colonel Anthony Fournier has served over 30 years in the Georgia National Guard. Fournier enlisted as a private in 1989 and commissioned through the Georgia Military Institute’s Officer Candidate School in 1994 as an infantry lieutenant. He served as a platoon leader in the 1^st Battalion 121^st Infantry Regiment and in Troop E, 108^th Cavalry, both of the 48^th Infantry Brigade. In 2000 he deployed to Bosnia as the executive officer of Company A, 2^nd Battalion, 121^st Infantry Regiment. Upon returning from Bosnia, Fournier assumed command of Company C, 1^st Battalion, 121^st Infantry Regiment and lead the company through the 2005-2006 deployment to Iraq. Fournier also deployed with to Afghanistan with the 48^th IBCT serving as the chief of operations for Task Force Phoenix which consisted of more 11,000 Soldiers from 27 countries charged with training the Afghan Army, Police, and Border Police. From 2012 to 2015, Fournier commanded the 2^nd Battalion 121^st Infantry Regiment. In 2014, Fournier deployed to Guatemala as the task force commander of a joint, interagency, multinational training team charged with training a specialized Guatemalan unit in combating transnational organized. In his most recent assignments, Fournier served as Chief of Future Operations and then Chief of Exercise Branch for US Army Europe, Wiesbaden, Germany in 2018 and 2019.

The 48th IBCT is comprised of units whose history and battle honors predate the American Revolution. Its colors bear the campaign streamers of The Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, The Civil War, the Seminole War, both World Wars, Iraq and Afghanistan. The list of commanders for the 48^th IBCT encompass those of the 48^th Infantry Division (1946 to 1955); 48^th Armor Division (1956 to 1968); 3^rd Brigade, 30^th Infantry Division (1968-1973) and the 48^th Brigade (1973 to present).

The Creation of the 48th Brigade and its Shoulder Sleeve Insignia

By Maj. William Carraway
Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

The United States Army Institute of Heraldry final approved design of the shoulder sleeve insignia for the 48th Infantry Brigade. Georgia Guard Archives

The Macon, Ga. based 48^th Brigade was established in the Georgia National Guard by National Guard Bureau Reorganizational Authority 153-73 effective December 1, 1973. That same day, Brig. Gen. Holden West, of Bolingbroke, Ga., was appointed as the first commander of the 48th.[1] 

The designation of the 48th Brigade echoed the history and heritage of the 48th Infantry Division which existed from 1946 to 1955 and 48th Armor Division whose tanks thundered across Fort Stewart, Ga. from 1956 until its January 1968 inactivation whereupon several of the 48th Armor Division units were reorganized to form the 3rd Brigade, 30th Infantry Division. For the next five years, the Soldiers of these units would wear the patch of the 30th Infantry Division.

FORT STEWART, Ga. June 7, 1972- Governor Jimmy Carter prepares to fire an M60 machine gun during a visit to
Ga. Army National Guard troops undergoing annual training at Fort Stewart. The Soldier of the 1^st Battalion 121^st Infantry Regiment
assisting the Governor wears the patch of the 30^th Infantry Division. Georgia Guard Archives.

The 48th Brigade was formed from existing elements of Georgia’s 3^rd Brigade, 30^th Infantry Division as well as other elements within the Ga. ARNG’s existing structure. The allocation of an independent brigade brought an increase of 278 Soldiers to the Ga. ARNG.[2]


Initial Structure of the 48^th Brigade

Several veteran Ga. ARNG units remained intact from their previous designations in the 3^rd Brigade. Among these were the 1^st and 2^nd Battalions of the 121^st Infantry Regiment; 1^st Battalion, 108^th Armor Regiment; and 1^st Battalion 230^th Artillery Regiment. Joining these units were the Griffin-based Troop E, 348^th Cavalry Regiment and the Douglas-based 848^th Engineer Company, which was organized from the former Company B, 878^th Engineer Battalion.[3] The 148^th Support Company, headquartered in Macon, was organized from previously established units.[4] The original strength of the 48^th Brigade was 3,482 Soldiers.[5]

The 48^th Brigade Shoulder Sleeve Insignia

The Department of the Army Institute of Heraldry authorized the shoulder sleeve patch for the 48^th Brigade April 16, 1974. It was described as follows:

On a light blue shield, rounded in base 3 ½ inches in height and 2 ½ inches in width overall, two right oblique bars throughout; the upper blue and lower scarlet, both edged white and surmounted over-all by a left oblique yellow lightning bolt all within a 1/8 inch white border.[6]

On January 15, 1975, Brig. Gen. Holden West, commander of the 48th Infantry Brigade was appointed Assistant Adjutant General of the
Ga. Army National Guard by Governor George Busbee. This is the earliest known published image of a uniformed Georgia Guardsman with the
48th Infantry Brigade shoulder sleeve insignia. Georgia Guard Archives.

The design elements in the shoulder sleeve insignia were all symbolic of the design of the 48^th Brigade itself. The light blue represents the infantry which is the basic structure of the brigade. The colors of the state flag of Georgia: scarlet, white and blue are represented in the patch with scarlet additionally symbolizing the artillery element of the brigade. The yellow of the lightning bolt symbolized the armor while the lightning bolt itself characterizes the mobility and effectiveness of the combined forces present in the brigade.

Wearing the Boar in 74

While the 48^th Brigade’s patch was approved in 1974 it had not entered production by the time of the brigade’s first annual training. Thus, when West led the 48^th Brigade to Fort Stewart to train from July 29 to July 13, he and the nearly 3,500 Volunteers wore the Oglethorpe crest shoulder sleeve insignia prescribed for the Ga. ARNG Headquarters Detachment and non-divisional units of the Ga. ARNG. 

FORT STEWART, Ga., July 1974 - A tank crew from the 1st Battalion, 108th Armor Regiment prepares to conduct live-fire tables during
annual training at Fort Stewart, Ga. Photo by 124th Public Information Detachment

To view more images of the first annual training of the 48th Infantry Brigade, visit  https://www.flickr.com/photos/georgiaguardhistory/albums/72157711996369412

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[1] Georgia Guardsman Magazine, November 1973, 8

[2] Georgia Guardsman Magazine, November 1973, 6

[3] NGB ARO-0 207-02-GA Reorganization Authority Number 157-73, 3

[4] 157-73, 3

[5] Annual Report, Georgia Department of Defense 1974, NPN

[6] Department of the Army Institute of Heraldry Memorandum Dated April 16, 1974

Franklin: The Death Angel Gathers Its Last Harvest

By Maj. William Carraway
Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

If you have participated in a staff ride at a Civil War battlefield, it is likely you learned of tactics employed, leadership tests and decisions made in the heat of conflict. A staff ride provides the opportunity to connect with leaders and great events of the past, to reveal the human dimension of war and to apply lessons of the past to present and future Army operations. One human dimension hitherto lacking in the staff ride experience, has been the roll of post-traumatic stress on the veterans of these great battles. We are left to assume that our generation is the only one to combat PTS, and yet, a study of Civil War letters reveals a connection between our experience and the experiences of the Civil War Soldier. It is critical that we make this connection, that our veterans know that they are not alone in their experiences. 

The Battle of Franklin Tennessee, fought on November 30, 1864, provides a study in the savagery of war and its lasting impact on those who return. Samuel Watkins, a private in the 1st Tennessee wrote of the Battle of Franklin:

“Kind reader, right here my pen, and courage, and ability fail me. I shrink from butchery. Would to God I could tear the page from these memoirs and from my own memory. It is the blackest page in the history of (the war). It was the bloodiest battle of modern times in any war…  I was there. I saw it. My flesh trembles, and creeps, and crawls when I think of it today. My heart almost ceases to beat at the horrid recollection. Would to God that I had never witnessed such a scene!”[1]

Writing in his memoir, Co. Aytch, nearly 20 years after the Battle of Franklin, Watkins reveals the difficulty in discussing the battle, an experience shared by Veterans of 21st century conflicts:

“I cannot describe it. It beggars description. I will not attempt to describe it. I could not. The death-angel was there to gather its last harvest. It was the grand coronation of death. Would that I could turn the page. But I feel, though I did so, that page would still be there, teeming with its scenes of horror and blood. I can only tell of what I saw.”[2]

 Situation

In the waning days of November 1864, the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood had pursued the smaller Federal army of Maj. Gen. John Schofield to the town of Franklin approximately 15 miles from Nashville, Tenn. Hood intended to isolate the Federal Army before it could reach the safety of Nashville and its Federal garrison.

Federal forces arrived in Franklin in the early hours of November 30 and began improving defensive works left over from a previous battle. The division of Brig. Gen. George Wagner was the last Federal force to reach Franklin. Wagner ordered his three brigades to take up position about a half mile forward of the main entrenchments. Colonel Emerson Opdycke of Ohio refused the order and marched his brigade to the rear of the Federal lines and went into camp. This decision would have far-reaching impact on the coming battle. 

Post-war map of the Franklin Battlefield.  Library of Congress

Survey of the Battlefield

As the Confederate Army drew into a battle formation on the crest of Winstead Hill its 20,000 Soldiers looked down on two miles of open ground and Schofield’s 25,000-man army. The defensive line was anchored near the brick home of Fountain Branch Carter. The Columbia Turnpike pierced the Federal center adjacent to the Carter House. Running perpendicular, in a crescent shape, from the Carter House and the turnpike, massive earthworks rose eight feet high topped with head logs. The lines on the Federal left were fronted by a grove of thorny trees. Fort Granger, located on the opposite bank of the Harpeth River, overlooked the fields southeast of the Franklin Line with guns that could range the field. Rather than wait to consolidate and reconnoiter the lines, with daylight fading, Hood ordered an assault at 4:00 p.m. Major Gen. John C Brown’s Division with 10 Georgia regiments would advance west of the Columbia Turnpike while Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne’s Division would advance east of the turnpike. Major Gen. William Bate’s Division would attack to the left of Brown’s Division. Lieutenant Gen. Alexander P. Stewart’s Corps would assault east of Cleburne’s Division with the divisions of William Loring, Edward Walthall and Samuel French. Lieutenant Gen. Stephen D. Lee’s Corps, on the march from Spring Hill, would arrive with three additional divisions including nine Georgia regiments after the initial assault. Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest would harass and attempt to turn the Federal flanks.

The home of Fountain Branch Carter was at the center of the Battle of Franklin

Photo by Maj. William Carraway

The Attack

With perhaps a half hour of daylight left, eighteen Confederate brigades with over 100 regiments began the two-mile march from Winstead Hill to destiny. Wagner’s 3,000 Soldiers watched as a vast gray tide surged towards them. Some of the veteran Soldiers began to run for the main line of defenses. The rest waited until the Confederates were within 100 yards, then unleashed a volley. Cleburne’s men returned the volley and surged forward over the works. In moments Wagner’s position was overrun. Worse than the loss of more than 700 captured, Wagner’s fleeing men prevented the Federals from firing. Cries of “follow them into the works!”[3] echoed across the field and a desperate footrace ensued. Unable to fire because of their fleeing comrades, Federal troops watched in horror as the full force of the frontal assault closed the distance and broke upon the earthworks. Confederate Soldiers surged unchecked onto the Carter House grounds clubbing and bayoneting in a ferocious melee. Those in the breach, both Federal and Confederate, were subject to a hailstorm of fire from all directions. One captured Federal recalled huddling in terror against a trench wall with his captor as bullets sailed above them. A captain of the 72nd Illinois recalled that the shriek of powder and lead was so loud that his orders could not be heard even as he shouted them to men within arm’s distance. Within moments, a 200-yard section of the Federal line had been swept away by a tsunami of Confederates. Two hundred yards south of the pandemonium at the Carter House, Opdycke’s six regiments were resting and eating rations. Hearing the sounds of battle, these veteran Soldiers from Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin took up arms and charged south into the smoky hell of the Carter House lawn. Opdycke’s charging westerners met Cleburne and Brown’s juggernaut at a dead run in a scene reminiscent of medieval hand-to-hand combat. Eyewitnesses recalled the two armies crashing together like a great wave.

Opdycke emptied his revolver then used the weapon as a club in close quarters. Major Arthur McArthur at the head of the 24th Wisconsin had reached the Carter House when he was shot by a Confederate officer. MacArthur rose and ran the officer through with his sword. MacArthur survived his wound to become the father of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.

A Scene from The Bowels of Hell

Out buildings on the Carter House property bear mute witness to the savage

fighting that occurred at Franklin, Tenn. Photo by Maj. William Carraway

Slowly, the counterattack pushed the enemy back, but the Confederates still held the outer trenches. Men clung to opposite sides of earthworks raising muskets and firing blindly and desperately over the opposite side. In the sixty yards between the inner and outer trenches a scene out of the bowels of hell played out as Federal officers and infantrymen serving the cannons of the 20th Ohio Battery raked the grounds between the trenches with canister, reaping men like a great iron scythe. Those who tried to surrender could not be heard over the din of musket and cannon fire. A severely wounded Federal Soldier was observed through the smoke furiously swinging at a throng of Confederate Soldiers with a pickaxe.[4] A Soldier of the 41st Tennessee had to stand on bodies of his comrades to fire over the trench. Handing him loaded muskets was his brigade commander, Brig. Gen. Otho Strahl, an Ohioan by birth. Struck in the neck, Strahl managed to crawl 20 feet across the bodies of his brigade before being fatally struck in the head. Strahl was one of six southern generals killed at Franklin. Hiram Granbury had fallen in front of his Texas Brigade while his division commander, Maj. Gen. Patrick Cleburne, had been shot through the heart while on foot. Brig Gen. John Adams reached the works east of the Columbia Turnpike. Grasping the colors of the 65th Ohio, he was shot through both legs, mortally wounded. To the west of the Carter House, Brig. Gen. States Rights Gist led his South Carolinians and Georgians forward when he too was fatally struck. Brigadier Gen. John C. Carter fell in front of his brigade while moving in support of Gist. Within 60 minutes of the attack’s commencement, the sun had set, and the Confederates had suffered more casualties than the U.S. suffered in the 24 hours of D-Day. But the fighting was not over. Stephen Lee’s Corps arrived on the battlefield and began funneling troops into the fray. Marching forward in darkness, the troops used torches to align their ranks. By 7:00 p.m. Their assault was broken with heavy loss and Hood decided to end the attack for the evening. Firing continued through the frozen night air, breaking the constant wail of the wounded. Ghastly scenes greeted those brave enough to move about the field. John K. Shellenberger of the 64th Ohio wrote that the dead “were piled high as an artillery embrasure.”[5]

This ground just south of the Carter House was the scene of savage hand-to-hand fighting. Photo by Maj. William Carraway

Aftermath

By 2:00 a.m., the Federal Army withdrew across the Harpeth River. The Confederates were in no shape to pursue. Fourteen Confederate generals had been killed or wounded and nearly sixty regimental commanders were casualties. Federal casualties were relatively light: 2,300 compared to 6,300 for the Confederates. Nevertheless, Hood ordered his army to pursue Schofield to Nashville, where in an ill-conceived siege, his army would be annihilated by Maj. Gen. George Thomas.

Legacy

The July 3, 1863 assault at Gettysburg, popularly remembered as “Pickett’s Charge” is

Memorial to fallen Georgia Soldiers in the 

McGavock Cemetery in Franklin. Photo by

Maj. William Carraway

 perhaps the most famous attack of the American Civil War, but it paled in comparison to the assault at Franklin. Franklin witnessed nearly twice as many men charging twice the distance with no reconnaissance and one-battery of artillery support against three-lines of earthworks. Yet, unlike Gettysburg, the Franklin battlefield is largely forgotten. Until recently, the ground on which Maj. Gen. Cleburne fell was occupied by a pizza restaurant. Gettysburg’s silent marble monuments invite visitors to celebrate the honor and valor of war. Franklin, meanwhile, seems to exist in a forgotten corner of our national memory not as a commemoration, but as a grim reminder us of the agony and misery of conflict. A Mississippi private wrote of the battle:

“Franklin was the only battleground I ever saw where the faces of the majority of the dead expressed supreme fear and terror… Their very attitude as they lay prone upon the ground, with extended earth clutching fingers, and with their faces partially buried in the soil told the tale of the mental agony they had endured before death released them.”[6]

The Civil War generation wrote about and experienced these memories just as our veterans experience them now. But we must not allow the horror of war to be something left to the memory of our veterans. The experience of Franklin must be available for future generations just as surely as the experience of Gettysburg. We cannot allow ourselves to forget the savagery of war, lest, as Robert E. Lee admonished, “we should grow too fond of it.”[7]

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[1] Watkins, Sam. “The Project Gutenberg EBook of ‘Co. Aytch’, by Sam R. Watkins.” Gutenberg, August 17, 2004. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13202/13202.txt.

[2] Watkins

[3] Sword, Wiley. The Confederacy’s Last Hurrah. Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1993, 193

[4] Sword, 210

[5] Sword, 249

[6] Sword, 267

[7] Alexander, E. Porter. Memoirs of a Confederate. New York, Charles Scribner & Sons, 1907, 302.