Today in Guard History

March 21, 1969

Phan Thiet, Vietnam — Seventeen members of the 116th Engineer Battalion (ID) were staying overnight in a compound which came under intense enemy attack. The only heavy machine gun, located in a guard tower, was knocked out by a rocket but one of the men of the 116th got it back in action. Other members of the unit manned jeep-mounted machine guns and due to their determined efforts, the attack was repulsed costing the enemy 110 confirmed dead. Of the 17 engineers involved, none were killed but 16 were wounded. This unit, Idaho's oldest Guard organization, saw service in the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection (1898-1899), Mexican Border (1916), World War I (1917-1919), World War II (1941-1945), Korean War (1950-1955) and Vietnam War (1968-1969).

--National Guard Bureau