VIDEO: National Guard Celebrates 379th Birthday On Dec. 13, Founded In 1636

By  //  December 14, 2015

Organized to better ‎defend the colony

DOD Service members wish the National Guard a happy 379th birt…Just one more day until our 379th birthday. Hear what Service members throughout the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) have to say about the National Guard’s legacy.

Posted by The National Guard on Saturday, December 12, 2015

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – On December 13 in 1636, the first militia regiments of the national guard in North ‎America were organized in Massachusetts.

Based upon an order of the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s General Court, the colony’s militia was organized into three permanent regiments to better ‎defend the colony.

The descendants of these first regiments – the 181st ‎Infantry, the 182nd Infantry, the 101st Field Artillery, and the 101st Engineer Battalion of the Massachusetts National Guard — The Nation’s First share the distinction of being the oldest units in the U.S. military.

December 13, 1636, thus marks the beginning of the organized ‎militia, and the birth of the ‎National Guard’s oldest organized units is symbolic of the founding of all the state, territory, and District of Columbia ‎militias that collectively make up today’s National Guard.

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National Guard Birthplace: First Muster, Spring 1637, Massachusetts Bay Colony. (Wikipedia image)

CLICK HERE FOR BREVARD COUNTY HISTORY