FLORIDA GUARD AND STATE GUARD THE SECOND WORLD WAR










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106th Quartermasters undergo training in gas warfare, 1941.


diately after the war to protect prisoners from mobs and federalized in November of 1940. On the 25th of that
to-alleviate the distress and suffering caused by hurri- month, all Florida Guardsmen, with the exception of
canes. The Florida State Guard was able to perform its the 265th Coast Artillery as previously noted, were or-
many official and unofficial tasks with efficiency and dered to report to their armories for physical and to be
considerable skill, due primarily to the intense patriot- formally inducted into the service of the United States.
ism and sense of community service displayed by its As in the First World War, they took the federal oath as
members and to the quality of its leadership. Perhaps individuals rather than as members of specific units.
there was no regular National Guard in wartime Flor- Eventually, this would result in the dispersal of Florida's
ida, but there was a Guard; a true citizens' militia, and soldiers into many different units as had occurred in the
it responded to real needs, and did it well. previous World War.
 But it was the regular federalized Florida National In 1940, the 31st, or Dixie Division, was composed
Guard that would face the ultimate rigor of war. During of National Guard units from the Deep South states of
most of 1941, America was a nation at peace, but hardly Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. In De-
peaceful. Under the conditions of the declared National cember of 1940, all the composite units of the Division
Emergency, the Army and Navy began training, equip- began converging on the Division's new home, Camp
ping, and expanding to the war strength it was hoped Blanding, a newly established base near the town of
would never be used. Starke in northcentral Florida. Since its land was lower
 This extra year of grace before America was forced than the water level of a nearby lake, the camp was a
into the war was to prove crucial to the success of its ul- huge swampy sponge. Its dreadful and unfinished con-
timate mobilization for total war on a global scale. Flor- edition eventually became the subject of a congressional
idea's Guard, as part of the 31st Division, had been investigation, but the continually arriving soldiers
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