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The Utah National Guard and Camp W. G. Williams 1926-1965
Utah's First Line of Defense: The UTAH NATIONAL GUARD and CAMP W. G. WILLIAMS 1926-1965
BY THOMAS G. ALEXANDER AND LEONARD J. ARRINGTON
Since earliest times, America has traditionally kept a militia of citizen-soldiers ready for any emergency. John Adams considered the annual training days one of colonial New England's most important institutions; and from the founding of the Republic, the militia has been called upon to serve both at home and abroad. The nation's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, stipulated that "every State shall always keep up a well regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutred, and shall provide and constantly have ready for use, in public stores, a due number of field pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition and camp equipage."
Although we now call it the National Guard, the duty of the state militia has changed little since the early days of the Republic. Today, we maintain a large standing army — something our forefathers abhorred — because we have found it necessary to our national security; but the militia forms an important reserve force of private citizens who are ready to serve their country.
UTAH'S TERRITORIAL MILITIA, THE NAUVOO LEGION
As with some of the older states, Utah has a long and honored tradition of militia service. One of Utah's first laws created a territorial militia with the name "The Nauvoo Legion," recalling a similar organization which had been established by the Mormons in Illinois. All male adults between the ages of 18 and 45 were liable for this service. As early as 1854 the Legion had 1,744 in the infantry and 1,004 in the cavalry, for a total of 2,748. Led by some of the foremost citizens, the Legion met in annual musters from 1849, and performed service in Indian campaigns and guarding the mail routes. In the Utah War of 1857-58, a force of about 3,000 men was equipped by requisition from Utah towns and villages and mobilized to defend Zion against the government's Utah Expedition. Under the command of Lieutenant General Daniel H. Wells, some of these troops harassed the Army's supply train and built defensive works in Echo Canyon, while others stood ready for possible engagement. From 1865 to 1868, the militia engaged in combat against 300 Indians under Chief Black Hawk in central and southern Utah. During this war, pay for the troops alone amounted to $1.5 million, and there was considerable loss of life and property. Throughout much of the territorial period, units of the gaily uniformed Legion had annual musters and encampments, and the Lehi units often bivouacked near Jordan Narrows — a site which was to become the training headquarters of the Legion's successor, the Utah National Guard.
The territorial legislature had provided that the governor of the territory be the commander-in-chief of the Legion; but in practice the command had been exercised by General Wells, who was also a counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When Brigham Young was replaced as governor and a series of "carpetbag" appointees assumed the office, the militia became, from the latter's point of view, an independent military force —- a kind of private army with more men by far than the federal troops in the territory. In 1870 Governor J. Wilson Shaffer, a Civil War veteran and "northern reconstructionist," forbade the militia to muster, and the organization remained relatively inactive until 1887 when Congress abolished the Legion by a specific provision in the Edmunds-Tucker Act. At the time of its suspension, the Legion consisted of 13,000 efficiently armed and well-drilled men. In a most unusual arrangement, they elected their own officers. In addition to General Wells, who was active commander throughout the period of the Legion's existence, officers included Robert T. Burton and Luke Johnson, major generals; H. B. Clawson, adjutant general; and the following brigadier generals: Franklin D. Richards; W. H. Kimball; Chauncey W. West; William B. Pace; Albert K. Thurber; George A. Smith; Erastus Snow; Brigham Young, Jr.; Lot Smith; Warren Snow; and W. B. Preston. There were also 25 colonels with their respective staffs.
UTAH'S FIRST "NATIONAL GUARD"
Meanwhile, upon the organization of the National Guard Association of the United States in 1878, the term "National Guard" had become a general designation for the organized militias of the various states and territories. The conflict between the Mormons and the federal government having been largely resolved, the territorial legislature, in March 1894, authorized the governor, Caleb W. West, to establish "The National Guard of Utah." By the end of the year, 14 companies of infantry, 3 troops of cavalry, and 2 batteries of light artillery — all told, about 400 men — were enlisted. They were equipped with uniforms, rifles, cannon, Gatling guns, and other materiel by means of $80,000 in Congressional appropriations which had accumulated to the credit of the territory during the period the Nauvoo Legion had been inactive. However, following the pioneer tradition, no money was available for provisions or other support at the annual encampment.
The first use of the Guard was in connection with one of the industrial "armies" of the period, which passed through Utah shortly after the enactment of the new militia law. As Whitney relates:
No sooner had the skeleton of the Utah National Guard been enrolled and trained than the nation called for volunteers to participate in the Spanish-American War. Utah's first apportionment of 346 volunteers was raised quickly in May 1898, and another 102 men were added in June to make 448. Further additions brought the total of 663 for the war, many of whom were or had been members of the newly established Guard. These included two batteries of artillery, under the command of Major Richard W. Young, who battled in the Philippines at Manila and against insurgents ; a battery of artillery and a cavalry troop under Captain Frank W. Jennings and Captain Joseph E. Caine, which served in California; and one troop of cavalry garrisoned at Camp Cuba Libre near Jacksonville, Florida, as part of Colonel Jay L. Torrey's "Rocky Mountain Cavalry." Following the war, Major Young was appointed chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court.
On occasion, governors of the state have used the National Guard to regulate conditions during strikes in the coal mines of eastern Utah. During the winter of 1903-04, when the United Mine Workers attempted to organize the miners in order to raise wages and improve conditions, Governor Heber M. Wells called out the National Guard, then under the direction of Brigadier General John Q. Cannon. Strikebreakers were then allowed to come in, and striking miners lost their jobs. In June of 1922, after a deputy sheriff had been killed in an outburst of violence, Governor Charles R. Mabey sent the Guard to Carbon County during a strike. Public opinion was apparently against the strikers, despite the fact that both they and the operators cooperated with the troops.
In 1916, just prior to America's entry in World War I, President Woodrow Wilson called for Utah's 642-man National Guard to serve on the Mexican border under the general command of John J. "Jack" Pershing. The entire force, consisting of a regiment of cavalry under Major (later brigadier general) W. G. Williams, a battery of light artillery under Captain William C Webb, and a band and hospital unit served about six months near Nogales, Arizona. Shortly after their return from the Mexican border, these troops were formed into the 145th Field Artillery. During World War I this unit of approximately 1,500 men was mobilized at Fort Douglas and trained at Jordan Narrows; at Camp Kearny, California ; and at Bordeaux, France, but did not see action. A National Guard ambulance corps unit under Captain H. B. Sprague and a field hospital unit under Captain George Roberts saw service in France both during and after the war. The largest number of Utahns saw action during the war as members of the 91st Division, known as the "Wild West Division," which was composed of men from Utah, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and northern California. This group distinguished themselves in Belgium.
To provide "permanent maneuver grounds" for Utah's National Guard, President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914 and 1915, set aside 18,700 acres of the public domain near the Jordan Narrows — about six miles northwest of Lehi. This government reserve was rough and rugged, with no place for a cantonment area, so the state first rented and later bought land for the camp. On June 26, 1927, the state purchased 153 acres of land for $1,461, and in 1931 obtained an additional 199 acres for $2,533. When added to the rough, government land, this made an excellent site for the training camp.
The calling of troops into the first World War held up the construction of facilities at Jordan Narrows. After the war it was used only one year (1922) before 1926, when the Utah National Guard units started using it as a permanent site for their annual encampments. In 1928 the camp was named for Brigadier General W. G. Williams, who as adjutant general was the prime mover in the purchase of the cantonment area and in establishing the camp as a permanent training site. On June 16, 1938, a plaque honoring General Williams was placed at the camp.
ACTIVITIES AT CAMP WILLIAMS
Some of the accouterments which the Utah National Guard took to Camp Williams in 1928 reflect the curious conglomeration of the modern and the archaic which was characteristic of the military in the 1920's. Along with 174 horses and 28 wagons, the units brought 36 trucks, 30 machine guns, and 51 five-ton artillery tractors. By 1941, however, the unit was equipped with cargo trucks, prime movers, motorcycles, bulldozers, repair trucks, and machine shop trucks. The cavalry charge and the horsedrawn wagon were out!
At first Camp Williams consisted of two-men puptents for the soldiers, and corrals for the horses. As time went on, new, more permanent, and more modern facilities were constructed — 16-foot pyramidal tents for the troops, and 9-by-9 wall tents for the officers, with wooden pallets for floors. In 1927 the state constructed (with federal assistance) 147 of these tent floors, together with 2 latrines and bathhouses, 10 mess halls, 10 hay-racks and mangers, and 19 watering troughs, at a cost of $56,420. In 1928 the camp received an administration building, recreation hall, and electric light system; and in 1929 another bathhouse, mess hall, telephone system, post exchange, infirmary, 11 shelters for animals, and a corral at the railroad station — at a total cost of $21,225.
By 1934 total expenditures for construction were $246,124, of which $188,155 were provided by the federal government. A large part of the state expenditure ($54,829) built the recreation hall, the caretaker cottage, and the Hostess House. The latter was designed by Architect Edward O. Anderson for receptions and an officers' club.
Although the number and quality of facilities grew, Camp Williams remained a one-regiment camp capable of handling between 1,000 and 1,300 men. The new facilities, however, encouraged the growth of the Guard. Before 1926 when the Utah units traveled to Wyoming or California for summer camp, Guard strength ranged between 616 and 953 men. By 1928 when the camp received its name, 1,315 men belonged to Utah units, and by 1941 the number of Utah's citizen-soldiers totaled 2,201. The cost of summer camp pay increased proportionately, from $90,944 in 1924 to $163,562 in 1928. This came exclusively from federal sources, which supplied all the clothing, pay, and equipment, and 75 per cent of the money for building training facilities.
WORLD WAR II
Guardsmen who trained during the 1920's and 1930's were among the first Utahns inducted into military service prior to World War II. On October 8, 1940, 5 officers and 17 enlisted men from the Guard set up the Utah State Selective Service System at 32 Exchange Place in Salt Lake City. Fully nine months before Pearl Harbor, on March 3, 1941, the government called all units of the Utah National Guard to active duty. Those units inducted included elements of the 40th Division Staff, Headquarters of the 65th Field Artillery Brigade, the 145th Field Artillery Regiment, the 222nd Field Artillery Regiment, the 115th Combat Engineers, the 115th Medical Unit, and the 115th Ordnance Company. These units distinguished themselves in action both in the Pacific and European theatres. The 145th Field Artillery Regiment went island-hopping in the Pacific, and the 1st Battalion of the 222nd Field Artillery Regiment served at Cherbourg during the invasion of Europe.
While these and other Utah units served gallantly on the war front, the Army put Camp Williams to other use. In return for the funds which the federal government had supplied to construct facilities and support the Guard, the state had agreed that it would make all National Guard facilities available in time of national emergency for training sites and for other purposes deemed essential to national security. Camp Williams thus became a sub-post and training site for Fort Douglas during World War II. "Perspiring troops experienced the thrill of battle ... [at the camp] when they crawled through blinding dust over troublesome obstacles — while under actual gunfire... [on] the 'personal conditioning infiltration course,'" which the Army constructed at Williams. Owing to the frequent unpredictable dust storms, it was an excellent spot to simulate actual combat conditions. Through this course crawled such diverse personnel as troops in military police training and nine women nurses from Fort Douglas who formed the first female contingent in the Intermountain area to face simulated battle conditions.
As a one-regiment facility, Camp Williams was too small for the 5,000 men the Army planned to station there; therefore, the cantonment area was virtually doubled. By June 1943 Army engineers had constructed over 100 buildings, half permanent and half temporary. When the Army had completed its training program, Camp Williams was declared surplus and returned to the State of Utah in November 1944.
After the Army called the units of the National Guard to active duty, the state continued to recruit and organize other militia units (the Utah State Guard) to replace them. The units never became as large as the prewar units (the strength of the 1st Infantry Regiment, as it was called, at no time exceeded 648 men), but they performed valuable service at home and stood ready in the event of a much-feared Japanese attack on the West Coast. These units held bivouacs at Snow Basin, east of Ogden, and at Camp Williams when possible. They performed important services in maintaining order during public celebrations, guarding crashed airplanes, assisting in fire fighting, searching for lost persons, and acting as color guard for important state functions. The Cedar City units even helped Columbia and Republic picture companies in filming movies under the governor's state development program.
THE INTER WAR PERIOD
After the war the old field artillery and engineer units returned to National Guard status and the state deactivated the Utah State Guard infantry units. The state also obtained War Department permission to activate three Air National Guard units: the 191st Fighter Squadron, the 224th Air Service Group, and a section of the 191st Weather Station, all of which were stationed at the Salt Lake Airport.
Although the reorganized National Guard took pride in being able to conduct its own training, regular Army personnel were occasionally assigned to assist, and the Guard required armories with storage space to protect the Army's property. Above all, the Guard needed "combat veterans familiar with the art of warfare." Utah National Guard officials found no difficulty in obtaining community support, and the active Army supported the Guard with 10 officers and 18 enlisted men as advisors to provide assistance with administrative and training matters. Nevertheless, veterans were reluctant to return to the Guard. Despite a full-day's pay for each of 48, two-hour drills, and full pay for the 15 days at Camp Williams, ex-soldiers were not enthusiastic about joining. Despite these and other obstacles, by 1948 the Utah National Guard had organized a corps artillery headquarters, two field artillery groups of two battalions each, a combat engineer group of three battalions, a field artillery observation battalion, an ordnance company, a headquarters detachment, and an Army band unit, in addition to an Air Force fighter squadron, a weather station, and an Air Service Group.
The first postwar meeting of the Utah National Guard was held in November 1947, at Camp Williams, and the first postwar training camp was held there the following June. Almost all annual Guard encampments have been held at Camp Williams since that date. In 1948 permanent metal frames were installed in concrete tent floors; in 1949 and 1950, four new latrines, a security fence around the ammunition area, and an air strip which was to double as an emergency landing field for CAA planes, were all constructed. In addition, the state enlarged nine mess halls and moved in two buildings from Fort Douglas.
The National Guard Bureau authorized the State of Utah to recruit 4,500 men for its Guard in 1946. By the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, the strength of the Guard was only 337 officers and 2,603 enlisted men. This number of Guardsmen was higher than ever before in Utah's history except during the Utah War of 1857-58 and the Black Hawk War of 1865-68.
The federal government continued to support the Guard with equipment and pay and allowance for duty performed. Full-time employees, paid from Defense Department funds, were added to perform the many additional administrative and maintenance requirements imposed upon the National Guard. The state continued to pay the costs of personnel to operate the state headquarters, armory operation and maintenance, custodial service, and 25 per cent of the cost of construction of armory facilities. The Army also continued to support service school training programs for the professional qualification of officers and enlisted men. In 1949 and 1950, for instance, 132 men went to schools run by the Armed Services to learn various specialties ranging from cooking to leadership. National Guard officials estimated in 1946 that the yearly federal support for drills and encampments would run over $1.5 million. The drill pay did not reach this amount, but the federal government paid $159,748 in 1948 and $258,- 048 in 1950 for the two 15-day annual encampments. During the two years the Defense Department expended a total of $922,174 and $1,870,- 910 on Utah's National Guard units.
In return for these expenditures by the federal government and approximately five per cent as much by the state, the units were required to be on call when they were needed. In the winter of 1948-49, during "Operation Snow-disaster," the Utah National Guard removed the snow from 21,395 miles of road and helped in rescue operations.
THE KOREAN WAR
At the outbreak of the Korean War, Utah National Guardsmen were again prepared to serve their country, thanks to the weekly drills and the summer training they had received at Camp Williams. Nevertheless, there was some dissatisfaction that the Army saw fit to mobilize 60 per cent of the Utah units and called no units to active duty in some other states in the Sixth Army area.
Just as during World War II, the state activated new units to replace those which had been called to duty. These were authorized to recruit up to 50 per cent officer and 25 per cent enlisted strength. The state did maintain a band, two field artillery groups, two combat engineer units, an ordnance company, and the headquarters of the XI Corps artillery.
These and the older units of the Guard continued to meet for their annual encampments at Camp Williams, and the facilities of the camp were continually improved. Some 200 new tents were added, as well as a swimming pool and five baseball diamonds, a new road to the 20,000- acre artillery range, and sidewalks in the cantonment area. By 1952 the Camp had ample facilities for 3,000 men, including an outdoor amphitheatre with a capacity of 3,000 and a new water supply system.
Total Guard expenditures in 1952 were $1,492,721, of which the state spent $115,170 and the federal government $1,377,551. The cost of training the Utah National Guard troops at Camp Williams in that year totaled $233,000, all of which was paid by the federal government.
RECENT ACTIVITIES
After the Korean War, the Utah National Guard again faced the problem of reorganizing its units, integrating the wartime enlistees with those returning from active duty, and recruiting new Guardsmen. It had been traditional with the National Guard that members always saw service as units under their own officers. There was some deviation from this policy during the Korean campaign where, due to prevailing circumstances, the Army utilized some Utah National Guard personnel as individual fill-in replacements. The fact that some Guardsmen had been called to active duty twice within a period of 10 years, with the attending employment and family dislocations, discouraged many from voluntary enlistment in the National Guard. Despite these obstacles, by June 30, 1954, the Utah National Guard was completely reorganized for another tour of peace-time duty.
One new policy permitted young men between the ages of 17 and 18 1/2 to discharge their military obligation by joining the Guard for eight years. Thus they were deferred from any active duty unless their units were recalled. The Reserve Forces Act of 1955 provided an alternative to fill the military obligation by training for six months with the regular Army, then attending weekly training sessions and annual encampments for five and one-half years. Both of these opportunities served to increase enlistment in the Guard. The number of men in Utah's National Guard rose from 2,717 in June 1954 to more than 4,700 in June 1960.
In order to train these new men, the state and nation built new armories and improved the facilities at Camp Williams. The state appropriated $15,000 to winterize seven buildings at the camp, and federal funds constructed four barracks. The Guard also replaced tent frames with a semi-permanent siding extending about three feet from the ground and added aluminum roofs. Over $2 million was expended out of federal sources for construction of facilities in 1954-56 at Camp Williams and throughout the state. During fiscal 1956, the Defense Department spent an additional $360,305 for field training, and an undetermined sum for sending 50 or more Utah Guardsmen to service schools.
The Camp Williams area is now an advantageous center for the training of National Guard units. The Transverse Mountains form an ideal barrier between artillery units and the impact area north of Cedar Valley. West of the cantonment area, which lies between Redwood Road and Jordan Narrows, the state has constructed a submachine gun range, rifle and carbine range, rifle grenade and rocket launcher range, bayonet course, infiltration course, two machine gun ranges, and a hand grenade course.
Under the leadership of Major General Maxwell E. Rich, the recently retired adjutant general, the Guard was developed into an important unit in America's first line of defense. General Rich enlisted as a private in the Utah National Guard in 1932 and received an appointment as second lieutenant in 1934. In World War II, he commanded a field artillery battalion in Europe and rose to lieutenant colonel. For his service in Europe he received, among other citations, the Silver Star and the French Croix de Guerre. When General Rich was appointed brigadier general in 1953, he was only 40 years old, the youngest brigadier in the history of the Utah National Guard. In 1960-61 he served as president of the Adjutant General's Association of the National Guard of the United States. Upon General Rich's retirement in November 1964, Major General Maurice L. Watts, assistant adjutant general, was elevated to the top position.
Along with its growth and expansion, Camp Williams has been put to many different uses. The Guard's officer candidate school has been held at Williams, and the Utah State Prison located its honor camp at the base and maintained it there for several years. For many years, the American Legion held its annual Boys' State at Williams, and the Fish and Game Department often uses the facilities for training its staff and giving gunsafety instruction to boys. Since 1960 Camp Williams has been a yearround home base for the civil defense instruction conducted by the Utah State Civil Defense Academy.
A notable program inaugurated in 1961 was the annual "Freedom Foundation Academy," in which the top two or three students of the various high schools in the state participate. The object of the Freedom Academy is to inform students of the history of America and its political and economic institutions, and to awaken their patriotism. The Guard also sponsors a series of seminars on "Americanism Up Front," in which invited speakers seek to build up respect for America and its heritage. Citizen interest in the National Guard has been fostered through the appointment of a number of honorary colonels. These include prominent business, political, and religious leaders in the state. Finally, the Guard sponsors a "Bantam Basketball League," in association with local businesses, with games being played at National Guard armories.
The Utah National Guard and Utah Air National Guard now own about $5.6 million in property — including Camp Williams, facilities at the Salt Lake Airport, and 28 National Guard armories. A $1.5 million construction program has been recently completed in Salt Lake City which will house the supply and maintenance facilities for the state.
In spite of local autonomy, the federal government, by virtue of the large appropriations for the support of the Guard, has control over many of its activities. Guardsmen are trained according to federal specifications, with federal equipment, clothing, and manuals. Should the need arise, they can be placed into any position in the United States Army for which they have been trained. Federal authority was again exercised in October 1961, when a flare-up in the Berlin crisis prompted the mobilizing of several units of the Utah Guard, involving 1,500 men.
The state and federal governments now hire some 450 full-time civilian employees. Beyond this, most of the members of the Guard are young men between 17 and 35, and a large number are under 20 and unmarried. Many consider their Guard paycheck a bonus to be spent for things they would not ordinarily be able to buy; and while the Guard cannot be compared with an installation like the Defense Depot Ogden, which hires more than 3,000 workers full-time, these citizen-soldiers receive a full-day's pay for each of 48 drills per year, and 15-days' pay for summer camp. With almost 5,000 men in the Guard, the payroll is about as large as with 1,000 men working a five-day week.
In a reorganization ordered by Secretary of Defense Robert S. Mc- Namara, on December 11, 1964, the 150,000 Army Reservists in the nation on drill-pay status were directed to be shifted into the National Guard. The remaining 150,000 Reservists were dropped into a standby manpower pool to be tapped only in case of national emergency. A similar reorganization order is expected to move the Air Force Reserve into the Air National Guard. The purpose of this move was to eliminate duplicate headquarters and other administrative units, duplicate armories and training facilities, and in general to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
At the time of the order there were some 5,000 Reservists in Utah, most of whom were members of the 96th Command Headquarters, Salt Lake City (which incorporates 59 Reserve units in Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon) ; and the 191st Brigade, with headquarters in Helena, Montana. Utah Guard strength at the end of 1964 was 4,348, and the expected addition of Reserves to the Guard could push this number up to 7,000 or higher. The plan is expected to be executed soon after encampments in the summer of 1965. Those men who have completed six-month basic training, and are serving the remainder of their military obligations as Reservists, will now be sworn into the Guard or enlist in Reserve branches of other services. Others may be placed on the inactive list.
Thus, for statutory, historical, and political reasons, the backup for the regular Army will now be concentrated in an expanded and streamlined 550,000-man National Guard. Although the federal government pays 97 per cent of their costs, National Guard units normally remain under control of the governor of the state, and thus they represent a check against the usurpation of power by a strong, centralized federal government.
The 38 years of continuous use of Camp Williams has contributed to the stability and security of both Utah and the nation, and the indicated growth in the Guard will insure the same for the future.
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