WASHINGTON - Members of Congress and Pentagon officials will join National Guard leaders on Capitol Hill this evening for a special cake-cutting ceremony and reception to commemorate the Guard’s 374rd birthday.
Hosted by NGAUS, the event is set for the Rayburn House Office Building Foyer from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. It will celebrate the founding of the nation’s oldest military organization.
“On Dec. 13, 1636, the Massachusetts legislature ordered the organization of militia companies in the towns around Boston into three regiments to better defend lives and liberties in the fledgling colony,” said retired Maj. Gen. Gus L. Hargett, the NGAUS president.
“But tonight we will do more than just mark a date in history,” he said. “We will celebrate 374 years of service to state and nation, from the earliest colonial days to today, whenever and wherever there is a threat to our citizens, our values or our way of life.”
In Massachusetts, all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60―except ministers and judges ― were required to join the militia.
Today, the Guard is an all-volunteer force of more than 465,000 men and women, most of them part-time soldiers and airmen, who must take time from work or school, as well as families, to train and serve.
About 50,000 of them are deployed overseas or soon will be.
Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., the outgoing co-chairman of the House National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus; Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., the incoming co-chair of the caucus: Maj. Gen. Frank Vavala, the NGAUS chairman of the board; and Lt. Gen. Harry M. Wyatt III, the Air National Guard director, will be the featured speakers at the event.