A look at what happened this month in Georgia National Guard history

1942 – Richard W. Titus of Georgia's 101st Separate Coast Artillery Battalion deployed to Port Moresby, New Guinea, in WWII noted in his diary that the only refrigerated supply ship, the McDhui, which brought fresh food to the island was damaged in the harbor by Japanese heavy bombers during an attack. The McDhui, he wrote, was a very important ship to the 101st. For the next six months we had only a few items limited to bully beef, cheese, hard tack, mustard, canned fruit and peanut butter." However, he did note that on a rare occasion they would receive on a rotating basis among the 101st batteries fresh meat flown in by the air force for their messes in exchange for ice cream from the battalion's ice cream machine. Toward the end of the month he entered into his diary, "Oatmeal full of weevils, bread full of weevils." The Japanese bombing of Port Moresby was almost daily then. 

1961 – Recently converted to the 116th Air Transport Wing, Georgia Air National Guard, the 116th's first C-97 Boeing Stratofreighter was flown by a mixed ANG and adviser crew to Dobbins AFB. This was an historic occasion as Georgia's airmen began to convert their skills from that of jet qualified to conventional. These Stratofreighters had been converted from tankers for a new mission by removal of their huge refueling tanks. By the end of summer 1961, the Georgia Air National Guard had four of the planes.

1999 – The 48th Infantry Brigade became part of a reflagged 24th Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas. The 24th was the U. S. Army's first integrated active duty and National Guard division and Georgia's 48th Infantry Brigade was one of three National Guard brigades to be under its command.

Complied by Staff Sgt. Gail Parnelle, GaARNG Historical Section