NY National Guard marks National Guard's 386th birthday with Latham ceremony on Dec. 13

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Army National Guard Master Sgt. Jerry Swan and Air National Guard Airman 1st Class Emma Davignon cut the ceremonial National Guard birthday cake during a ceremony at National Guard headquarters.

LATHAM, NY (12/13/2022) (readMedia)-- A 60-year-old Soldier who joined the military in 1981, and an 18-year-old Airman who just finished her training last week, marked the 386th birthday of the National Guard during a ceremony at New York National Guard headquarters in Latham on Tuesday, Dec. 13.

New York Army National Guard Master Sgt. Jerry Swain, from Mount Morris, joined New York Air National Guard Airman 1st Class Emma Davigon, a Cobleskill resident, in cutting a National Guard birthday cake during the ceremony.

Traditionally the oldest Guard member is joined by the youngest Guard member in cutting the cake. The older servicemember represents the history and traditions of the National Guard, while the young Soldier or Airmen represents the future of the Guard.

The National Guard claims Dec. 13, 1636, as its birthday. On that day the legislature of the Massachusetts Bay Colony approved a law organizing separate volunteer militia companies into an organized militia of three regiments.

Swain serves as a chaplain's aide, or religious affairs non-commissioned officer, in the National Guard's Joint Force Headquarters in Latham.

Davignon is assigned to the security forces squadron of the 109th Airlift Wing, based at Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia.

"Being the youngest and representing the future is a real honor," Davignon said.

She just completed training at the Air Force Security Forces Academy at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas on Dec. 7 and is looking forward to joining her unit, Davignon said.

Swain, who assists Army chaplains in counseling Soldiers, began his military career in the Navy in 1981. He served in the Navy Reserve as well before joining the New York Army National Guard.

"Representing the history and traditions of the Guard is a fantastic honor," Swain said.

"But I'm still kind of conflicted about being the oldest guy around, though, "he added.

New York Army National Guard Command Sgt. Major David Piwowarski, and Air Guard Chief Master Sgt. Greg Mihalko, served as masters of ceremonies for the event, teaming up to discuss New York National Guard history.

"Since the National Guard is really all about people, I want to say happy to all of you," Piwowarski told the audience.

In New York, the first citizen-soldiers were members of the Burgher Guard, organized by the Dutch East Indian Company in 1640 to help protect New Amsterdam from their English neighbors in Massachusetts and Virginia or from hostile natives.

After New Amsterdam became the English colony of New York in 1665, a militia modeled on the system used in Massachusetts and other English colonies was put in place.

Citizen Soldiers of the militia and National Guard have fought in all of America's wars from King Philips War against Native Americans in the New England Colonies in 1675 to Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are 10,000 members of the New York Army National Guard and 5,800 members of the New York Air National Guard.

Currently 1,800 members of the New York Army National Guard are deployed, securing U.S. installations in the Horn of Africa, providing support and airlift to U.S. forces in the Middle East, and training Ukrainian soldiers in Germany. The New York Air National Guard currently has 340 Airmen deployed, including 200 supporting research in Antarctica.

Some notes from New York National Guard history include:

• New York gave the country the term National Guard for its militia forces when the 2nd Battalion, 11th Regiment of the New York Militia renamed themselves the National Guard to honor the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolutionary War who had commanded a force called the "Guard de National" in the early days of the French Revolution.

• The 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry was portrayed in the 1940 movie "The Fighting 69th" starring Jimmy Cagney and Pat O'Brien. The movie was based on the historic unit's service in World War I.

• The New York Army National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division was given its nickname "The Rainbow Division" during World War I by General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur, then a colonel, was charged with organizing a division of National Guard troops from across the country to deploy to France in 1917. He described the division as reaching across the country "like a rainbow."

• The band of the New York National Guard's 369th Infantry Regiment, an African American unit originally formed as the 15th New York, is credited with introducing jazz music to Europe during World War I. The 369th became known as the Harlem Hell Fighters.

• The oldest Air National Guard unit in the nation is part of the New York Air National Guard. The 102nd Rescue Squadron of the 106th Rescue Wing traces its history back to the 1st Aero Company organized in the New York National Guard in 1908 as a balloon unit.

• The Soldiers of the New York National Guard's 105th Infantry Regiment faced the largest Japanese "Banzai" attack of the Second World War on 7 July 1944 on the Island of Saipan. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 105th Infantry had 650 men killed and wounded but killed more than 4,300 Japanese Soldiers. Three regimental Soldiers earned the Medal of Honor posthumously in that battle that day.

• The New York Air National Guard's 138th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, based at Syracuse, was one two Air National Guard units assigned to provide aircraft for the defense of the United States on March 1, 1953. Today the unit operates the MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft.

• New York Air National Guard fighter units flew combat missions during the Vietnam War and during Operation Desert Storm.

• The New York National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division served in Iraq in 2005 and was the first National Guard division headquarters to deploy to a combat zone since the Korean War in 1953.

• In 2020 the 42nd Infantry Division headquarters commanded Spartan Shield, the 10,000 Soldier Army force on duty in the Middle East.