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FOR RELEASE: Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011

New York National Guard Celebrates National Guard’s 375th Birthday

Media Advisory

LATHAM, NY (12/12/2011)-- Major General Patrick Murphy, the Adjutant General of New York, will be joined by New York State Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Elizabeth Glazer for a traditional military cake-cutting ceremony at Division of Military and Naval Affairs Headquarters Dec. 13 to mark the 375th birthday of the National Guard. Three National Guard Soldiers who share the same birthday with the National Guard will be part of the cake-cutting event. WHO: New York’s Adjutant General, Major. Gen. Patrick A. Murphy, New York State Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Elizabeth Glazer, and New York Army National Guard Soldiers Sgt. Major David Smith, from Malta; Sgt. Joseph Dumas from Chenango Forks; and Spec. Justin Phillips from Whitehall. WHAT: Commemoration of the National Guard’s 375th Birthday. The National Guard is the oldest armed service in the United States, predating the American Revolution. WHERE: New York National Guard armory, 330 Old Niskayuna Road, Latham, N.Y. 12210 WHEN: Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011 at 2 p.m. The ceremony will last approximately 30 minutes. Members of the media interested in covering this event should contact the Division of Military and Naval Affairs Public Affairs Office at 518-786-4581 for access to this secure facility. Coverage Opportunities: Media members can obtain photographs and vide of the cake-cutting ceremony and interview senior National Guard leaders and participants in the ceremony. BACKGROUND: The National Guard, a force composed mostly of part-time Citizen Soldiers, traces its birthday back to Dec. 13 1636 when the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law establishing formal militia companies in the colony. These companies were made up of all adult males older than 16 and were expected to meet and train in military skills regularly. 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. New York gave the country the term National Guard for its militia forces when the 7th 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. 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 the struggle in Afghanistan today. Currently more than 1,000 members of the New York Army and Air National Guard are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations around the world while more than 200 Soldiers and Airmen are on State Active Duty performing a security mission in New York City.
© NYS DMNA Press Release:New York National Guard Celebrates National Guard’s 375th Birthday
URL: https://dmna.ny.gov/pressroom/?id=1323720884
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Page Last Modified: Dec 12, 2011