Today in Guard History

March 10,1848

Washington, DC — The U.S. Senate ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the war with Mexico. America gains territory which will later become the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah and secured the southern part of Texas down to the Rio Grande River.

During the war, the Regular U.S. Army only numbered about 6,000 soldiers.

The vast majority of other men seeing service, totaling 115,000 troops, were in volunteer regiments, drawn mostly from the uniformed volunteers (Guard) of the states.

1942

Java, Dutch New Guinea — Guardsmen in the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery (TX) are compelled to surrender along with Dutch troops to the invading Japanese.

This unit had sailed from Hawaii bound for the Philippines just nine days before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Their convoy was diverted to Java because of enemy attacks on the Philippines. Of the nearly 500 men in the battalion, 166 died while prisoners of war of the Japanese.

This unit is often referred to as the "Lost Battalion" of World War II.

--National Guard Bureau