The Delaware State Guard, A History

The Delaware State Guard, A History

Brig. Gen. Kennard R. Wiggins, (DE ANG Ret)

The National Guard has its roots in the pre-colonial militia when “minutemen” citizen soldiers took up arms as needed to defend their homes and farms in their communities.  It is an organization that steadily increased its breadth of capability in order to defend the state, and the nation, at home and then overseas.  It progressively became more professional with higher standards of performance and with increasingly sophisticated equipment and training. Its mission evolved from a local defense force to an organization designed for the dual role of protecting state and nation.

In peacetime the National Guard commander is the governor and the Guard is a resource for civil emergency, natural disaster relief, and other state needs.  Yet in war, the Guard could be federalized and become a national asset commanded by the President to defend the country.  The question that then arose; If the National Guard is federalized and deployed, then who would look to the traditional mission needs of the state?

During the preparedness period just prior to U.S. involvement in World War I, Congress consented to establishing home defense forces for the states in the event that the National Guard was federalized. Subsequently, state legislatures authorized defense forces. The Home Defense Act of June 1917 authorized the Secretary of War to equip these “home guards” with missions focused on security and civil defense.

Additionally, the nationally-based U.S. Guard, which came to number 26,000, was established as a facsimile of Britain’s Home Guard. By 1918, over 100,000 men were serving in 42 state guards. But rather than use the militia to build the regular army, during the war the military relied primarily on draft calls to fill the huge manpower requirement required of the “Army of the United States” formally established in July 1918. The War Department also created the “U.S. Guards”, an organization that consisted of 25,000 men culled from the ranks of those deemed unfit for overseas deployment, to oversee internal security.

The coming of the next World War was a turning point for the state militias. Both the state defense forces and the National Guard itself had declined in numbers and readiness during the interwar years.

As war clouds in Europe and Asia began to threaten, on September 16^th, 1940 the Delaware National Guard was called up for federal service by Executive Order Number 8530 for a one year term by President Roosevelt as part of the largest peacetime mobilization in the nation’s history.  The 198^th Coast Artillery was sent to New York.  Downstate, the 261^st Coast Artillery Battalion was trained at Fort DuPont and then later posted to Fort Miles.  Although they remained in state, they were now a federal asset whose focus was the defense of the Delaware Bay and river estuary.

State governors were uneasy over leaving their constituents unprotected, and thus state guards were recreated by the time of American entry into World War II. In 1940, Section 61 of the old National Defense Act of 1916 was modified to again allow the establishment of state defense forces. An amendment specified that state forces would be limited to duties as determined by their respective state governors.

Legislation was passed by the Delaware General Assembly on April 14, 1941 “to provide for the Creation, Maintenance, Discipline, Legislation and Use of the Delaware State Guard”[1] (significantly, well before war was declared).  This act enabled the State Guard to assume the state mission the Delaware National Guard had previously held. Their federalization effectively led to the disbandment of the organization until it could be re-organized post bellum. The legislation provided that the governor could establish a State Guard when the National Guard was in federal service, and could be organized and maintained as he felt necessary to defend the State. All members were to be uniformed volunteers. Although they were unpaid volunteers, if they were to be called out for an emergency, they would be granted pay and subsidence for each day’s service. 

Enlistments were for one year.  Members were not exempt from being called into federal service via the draft.  The State Guard was forbidden to serve outside state borders except with the consent of the governor, and the governor of the state to be entered.  In the case of “hot pursuit” of saboteurs, insurrectionists, and enemy forces, the guard could offer its services to a neighboring state, and reciprocity was anticipated if the reverse were true. Similarly, by Pearl Harbor, State Guards were stood up in 37 states and involved 90,000 men. By 1945, 47 states and territories had organized home guards consisting of 150,000 troops.[2]

In May 1941, Colonel J. Paul Heinel was appointed commanding officer of the Delaware State Guard by Paul R. Rinard, the Adjutant General for Delaware.  Heinel was a World War I veteran who had served with the “Fighting 69^th” and later commanded Battery D of the 198^th Regiment Coast Artillery.  He described the State Guard mission as: “The State Guard will be used as a reserve force only and then only for a short period. They will be called out only for emergency situations and then only for brief periods until relieved by other forces.”

Company A, Delaware State Guard, Wilmington Armory circa 1942

The organization began as one battalion, but over the course of the war it grew to a regiment with two battalions numbering some 450-500 men with seven line companies of soldiers. The men were ages 38-50 as well as younger men deferred because of dependents or occupations, those rejected because of slight physical disabilities, and youths of pre-induction age. The Journal Every Evening[3] described them as, “businessmen, tradesmen, professional men and workers at war plants.  During the day, they are plain Joe or Bill; Mr. Jones lawyer, or Mr. Smith architect. But on drill night, when they shed their civilian clothes and don regulation uniforms of the State Guard, they take over the responsibilities of their military ranks and become soldiers. ”

Colonel J. Paul Heinel added, “Men join the State Guard because they feel they want to be of some service to their country and their state. There is no compulsion in joining.”

Attached to Headquarters Company was a Grenadiers Platoon under Captain George H. Latham, trained to throw grenades, fire automatic weapons and operate gas and smoke dispensers. The organization included a medical detachment led by Major Raymond A. Lynch and a band under Captain J. Norris Robinson, who had been connected with Delaware National Guard Bands since 1902.

Delaware State Guard on Parade in Wilmington 1942

Ordnance and equipment were furnished by the federal government and uniforms initially by the state. The Delaware State Guard initially focused on a role as a combat unit, not as a police force. They followed training guidance from the Commanding General of the Second Service Command. The members drilled one night per week at their local armories. 

Before organizing annual summer encampments, the commissioned officers and NCOs conducted some training at St. Andrews school in Middletown, consisting of target practice, military tactics, and army regulations.

“A visitor is impressed at once with the earnestness with which the men take the volunteer work.  The huge hall echoes with the rhythmic “hup-hup-hup” of the drill masters, the tramp of recruits learning the new infantry movements, the maneuver of the “flying wedge” wrote a newspaper reporter. One soldier, Kenneth (K.P.) Brown found it remarkable that so many fellows would turn out and demonstrate so much enthusiasm without any recompense. Brown would later retire as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Delaware National Guard after three decades of service. He recalled that the weekly training focused on mostly on basic infantry skills, marching and drill.

The Journal Every Evening described the training activity as “One unit practices wedge formations, another studies the use of machine guns, a third takes apart and replaces Thompson submachine guns.  In the balcony, a group of men pores over topographical maps. In the headquarters a small battery of clerks works against time keeping records straight.”  Weather permitting, the company takes to the fields and wooded country of nearby Brandywine for brief maneuvers.  The men would also practice marksmanship at the rifle range. The standard weapon was an O-3, Springfield bolt action rifle, later in the war replaced by the M-1.

An early surprise mobilization of the State Guard was a success when 267 of the 350 men reported for assembly from all over the state in Dover during an April 1942 exercise. It was the first time they had swung into action and state officials were impressed with the response.

The first field encampment was held at Fort DuPont in July 31^st, to August 8, 1943.  The field training supplemented the fundamentals learned at weekly drill.  Two hundred men attended the one week encampment. The men fired Tommy guns, wore gas masks, and did field exercises, learning the basics of modern warfare. The exercise was paid a high compliment by Colonel George Ruhlen, the commanding officer at Fort DuPont for their proficiency. By June 1, 1944 they had received their outfit of Army uniforms in olive drab bearing the State Guard insignia as well as a consignment of submachine guns. Ken Brown recalls a blue uniform with a round hat before they began to wear the Army fatigues.

The War Department clarified the mission and emphasized their primary function was to insure the internal security of the State during the absence of the National Guard.  They did not view the State Guard as a combat unit for anything but the most sporadic of raids by an invading enemy. This statement of emphasis shifted the focus of training away from combat to internal security.

The State Guard staff drew up plans for the protection of vital installations. Power plants, utilities, and public supply facilities were to be prioritized and protected by the State Guard in the event of an insurrection or invasion. Each company was assigned a geographic area near its own base of operations, control posts were established and plans were made to deploy in an emergency.  The training syllabus included riot and crowd control techniques.

Picture dated 1944, Unknown members of the Delaware State Guard except “my dad” who is Walter M. Deputy

The second encampment was held at Fort DuPont from July 29 to August 6, 1944. Almost 300 officers and men were in attendance. Over 100 were awarded gold service stripes for perfect attendance during the previous year and 95 were given camp stripes for attendance at the previous year’s camp.

Occasionally the State Guard was employed for a local emergency.  On June 10^th, 1945 an Army Air Force plane crashed near Newark and the State Guard guarded the site of the crash until the wreckage could be trucked away to New Castle Army Air Base. [4]

The last wartime field training camp in 1945 was changed to the Bethany Beach Training Site.  The camp was named in honor of Governor Walter W. Bacon who was Delaware’s “war governor”.  The State Guard encampment was held from August 6-12. Some 450 officers and men engaged in field training and riot control drills. The Governor’s rifle matches and officer’s pistol matches were conducted.  “Governor’s Day” was the highlight of the camp as Governor Bacon awarded some 80 medals to the winners of the competition.  Regimental flags were presented to the Guard by the Chamber of Commerce.

A 14 year old Pvt. Raymond E. Deputy, in 1944, sporting the distinctive blue diamond patch of the Delaware State Guard

Raymond Deputy, a former State Guardsman relates, “During the 1945 camp we had German Prisoners of War held at Bethany, mostly veterans of the Afrika Corps.  We made daily runs to Fort Miles to pick up supplies, and took prisoners to do the heavy lifting. I was assigned to guard the Germans.  I was 14 years old at the time, and made corporal at 15 yrs old. I carried a single shot twelve-gauge shotgun, single barrel.  The Germans asked me if I would really use that thing, (I had only one cartridge) and I replied, they better not try me. The German POW's called me "Super Nazi" because of my youth.

The Fort was high security and we were not allowed to go anyplace but the PX and the Commissary, and the base movie. We were not allowed near the bunkers or the dock; you could see the mines on the dock but you couldn't get near the place.  My brother Marty was also there.” The Guard was often a family affair, Raymond and Martin Deputy were the sons of Major Walter M. Deputy, Second Battalion Commander.[5]

The troops were entertained by bowling for duck pins at a local bowling alley, Saturday movies, and ogling the girls on the beach, or on the modest boardwalk in the quiet resort town. They were treated well by the local citizenry, and made the occasional jaunt down to Ocean City to visit the one-armed bandits at the “Gold Coin” and the “Sandbar”.

The food at camp was cooked by German POWs and was described by Ken Brown as “adequate”.  He was intrigued upon encountering for the first time a German “pepper pot” as part of the menu.  This was a concoction prepared by the Germans from leftovers, mostly cabbage and vinegar. The soldiers slept either in barracks or in squad tents erected on concrete pads.

The first and last postwar encampment was once again held at Bethany Beach and named Camp Rechek after Colonel John Rechek who had been an early and ardent supporter of the State Guard as part of the Second Service Command, U.S. Army, responsible for State Guard activities.  He helped to organize the organization and followed it with great interest through its entire existence.  The camp was held August 3-11, 1946. Various units were awarded the Delaware Blue Fighting Cock for efficiency.

With the re-activation of the Delaware National Guard the Delaware State Guard was inactivated after five years of service.  A public ceremony was held at the Wilmington Armory at 10^th and DuPont streets on January 3, 1947.  The program included a regimental formation and review of the troops by Governor Bacon. Colonel Heinel was presented a silver tray by the officers and men of the Regiment. He also received the Delaware Conspicuous Service Cross presented by Adjutant General Paul R. Rinard. The regimental colors were furled and retired and the deactivation order was read.  In part, it said:

      The record of achievement by the Delaware State Guard has been one that will be forever a standard for the military organizations of the State to emulate. The services have been voluntary and unpaid, the sacrifices in time and energy beyond calculation, and at all times this organization was ready, willing, and able to perform had the need arisen. The people of the State of Delaware recognize these facts and gratefully acknowledge them. To the officers and men who have so ably and honorably upheld the rich traditions of the citizen-soldiery of the State go the thanks of the State.”

Governor Bacon added in his remarks, “It is too bad that the Guard must disband. I am sure the bonds of friendship developed in the guard will in time result in a civilian organization that will ever remind us of the important part the Delaware State Guard has played”

Many (perhaps most) State Guardsmen who were able, soon joined the Delaware National Guard and continued their service to their state and country.

The state guards declined again after World War II’s conclusion. Operative parts of the 1940 enabling legislation were rescinded, and the National Security Act of 1947 ignored the state guards entirely.

Indeed, a 1948 Defense Department board even suggested doing away with the National Guard as a federal reserve force and instead melding it into the Organized Reserve. This trend held until the advent of the Korean War. During the 1950s, the National Guard Bureau directed that states temporarily maintain cadres of military personnel to assist with planning. Federal legislation for the creation of state defense forces was enacted by the 84th Congress in Public Law 364 of 1955 and in the State Defense Forces Act of the United States of 1958.

Delaware no longer maintains a State Guard.  Some 23 states maintain a State Guard or a State Defense Force including neighboring Maryland and New Jersey.  In the aftermath of 9/11 in 2001, the need for homeland defense forces gained renewed debate and discussion.  Efforts to revive this force in Delaware have not generated enough interest to be successful, however.

Appendix A

Delaware State Guard Regimental Staff (as of August 6, 1945)

      Colonel J. Paul Heinel, commanding officer of the Delaware State Guard

      Lieutenant Colonel Victor Clark, executive officer

      Major Ralph E. Buckalew, plans and training.

Major Raymond Lynch, commanding officer, Medical Detachment

Captain James D. Quillen, ordnance and transportation officer

Captain Frank S. Carrow, summary court officer

Captain Leroy W. Lowe, (later Major) quartermaster and regimental supply officer

Captain William D. Munds, Chaplain

Captain C. Layton Allen, assistant adjutant and gas officer

Captain John C. Cole, assistant plans and training officer

Captain J. Norris Robinson, band director

The First Battalion was commanded by Major Joseph Holland Prettyman with Lieutenant William W. Noling as adjutant.  It consisted of:

Company B of Dover, commanded by Captain Cedric E. Cooper, assisted by Lieutenant Nelson S. Everheart.

Company C of Milford, commanded by Captain J.H. Roosa assisted by Lieutenants William D. Kimmel, and Leslie C. Greenly.

Company D of Middletown commanded by Captain (later Major) Walden Pell II, and assisted by Lieutenants Robert C. Heller and Lewis Mondes.

Second Battalion was commanded by Major Walter M. Deputy with Lieutenant Thomas C. Sullivan as adjutant. It consisted of:

Company A of Wilmington, commanded by Captain Jonathan G. Wells Jr., assisted by Lieutenants Michael F. Analfatine and A.P. Downing.

Company E of New Castle, commanded by Captain Thomas Herlihy, (Mayor of Wilmington) assisted by Lieutenants Relio Devoto, and Thomas L. Carpenter Jr.

Company F of Wilmington, commanded by Captain William R. Wilson assisted by Lieutenants Frank J. Reese, and Grant R. Weldin.

Company G of Newark, commanded by Captain William E. Donnell assisted by Lieutenants Johnson Reeves, and William a. Greenwell.

Other officers who served with the State Guard included:

            Major James Warner Bellah

            Captain William A. Leach

            Captain Lawrence Lapetina

            Lieutenant James E. Manlove

            Lieutenant Carmen Palmiotti

            Lieutenant William W. Bolen

            Lieutenant Harry L. Maier Jr.

            Lieutenant Fred D. Taylor

            Lieutenant Earl P. Schubert

            Lieutenant William D. Moore

            Lieutenant John L. Stidham

            Lieutenant Harry E. Best

            Lieutenant Wallace McKnitt

End Notes/Bibliography

The most comprehensive account of the Delaware State Guard is “Delaware’s
Role in World War II” in two volumes by William H. Conner and Leon deValinger Jr. published by the Public archives Commission State of Delaware, Dover DE 1955. The account therein of the Delaware State Guard was provided by Colonel J. Paul Heinel , regimental commander. A very significant portion of the history related above was from this book.

An excellent short history of the State Guard in States across the nation is, “America’s State Defense Forces: An Historical Component of National Defense, by Dr. Kent G. Sieg, State Defense Force Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 2005

An early account of the progress of the nascent organization can be found at “State Guard Is Becoming Well Disciplined Infantry Unit; Strength to be Increased to 600” Wilmington DE Journal Every Evening. August 24, 1942

This short history is also based on interviews with former State Guardsmen Kenneth (K.P.) Brown and Raymond E. Deputy on July 22, 2010

The Delaware Legislation establishing the State Guard is TITLE 20, Military and Civil Defense, Military, CHAPTER 3. STATE DEFENSE FORCES § 301. Establishment and composition.  Can be found at: http://delcode.delaware.gov/title20/c003/index.shtml#TopOfPage

“The State Guard Experience and Homeland Defense”

Prepared, submitted and approved as a United States Army War College research paper on 9 May 2003. by Colonel Andre N. Coulombe (USAR). Can be found at:

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA499045&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

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[1] TITLE 20, Military and Civil Defense, Military, CHAPTER 3. STATE DEFENSE FORCES § 301. Establishment and composition.

[2] America’s State Defense Forces: An Historical Component of National Defense, Dr. Kent G. Sieg, State Defense Force Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 2005

[3] “State Guard Is Becoming Well Disciplined Infantry Unit; Strength to be Increased to 600” Wilmington DE Journal Every Evening. August 24, 1942

[4] http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/default.htm  Aircraft was a C-45F #44 86972, from Pope Airfield North Carolina piloted by Douglas T. Goodale who perished in the crash.

[5] Major Walter Deputy’s grandson is the author of this history.  

Lt. James Allison O'Daniel -First Delaware casualty WWI

O’Daniel, Lt. James Allison

Born 4 October 1895, Newark Delaware, died 27 July 1918, France

James Allison O’Daniel was born in Newark Delaware, the son of James and Nora Wilson O’Daniel. At the time of his birth, his parents lived at 315 E. Main Street with Mr. and Mrs. James Alexander Wilson, his maternal grandparents.  Much of Allison’s early childhood was spent in Chester County Pennsylvania.  After his mother’s death, in 1914, he returned to Newark to reside with his aunts, the Misses Nell and Etta Wilson.

In 1914 he entered Delaware College, now the University of Delaware, and in July of 1914 he enlisted in Company E of the Delaware National Guard.  He served on the Mexican Border for seven months as a member of that unit in 1916-1917.

Allison was back in college when the Delaware Regiment was organized.  Al O’Daniel was a member of the Delaware College Class of 1918 (now the University of Delaware) having volunteered for service before graduating.  Before going overseas, he had been living with his brother John Wilson O’Daniel and Aunts Etta J. Wilson, and Willie Nelson in their home at 313 E. Main Street in Newark.

He enlisted in the Delaware regiment, which became part of the 59^th Pioneers, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.  Assigned to Camp McClellan, Austin Texas, he attended the School of Military Aeronautics, graduating and reporting overseas in July 1917.  In Europe he attended two additional flying schools, and was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant, Signal Corps. After August 1, 1918 Lt. O’Daniel was scheduled to go to an active combat air unit. 

1st Lieutenant O’Daniel was attached to the 2^nd Aviation Instruction Center.  He was a camera man and observer on a reconnaissance flight.  He died when his plane went down over France before the battle of Chateau Thiery.  James Allison O’Daniel was the first Delawarean to be killed in action in World War I. 

Al O’Daniel was buried first at Camp Coetquidan in Morbihan France and the reburied at Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, Fere-en-Tardenois, Aisne France (Block C, Row 16, Grave 17) on 13 September 1922.

Lt. James Allison O’Daniel’s name is engraved on a bronze plaque in the center hall of the University of Delaware’s Memorial Hall, and his name is inscribed in the Book of Remembrance which has the names of those who died in WWI from Delaware.  This book is in a glass-covered case in the middle of the hall and currently members of the ROTC ceremoniously turn a page every day to display another name of one who died in the War.

He was the younger brother of Lieutenant General “Iron Mike” John Wilson O’Daniel.  VFW Post Number 475 and American Legion Post Number 10 of Newark are named after Lt. J. Allison O’Daniel who was called Al by most of his friends.

Since his mother and grandmother were deceased, his step-mother, Anna, made the Gold Star Pilgrimage for War Mothers and Widows in 1931 to visit his grave. She traveled to France on the SS President Roosevelt and returned home on the SS Washington. This pilgrimage was made possible by an act of Congress of 2 March 1929.