1955: A Look Back
County’s National Guardsmen Moved
Local News, Rockland Maine, Thursday, April 21, 1955
Walking through the aisles of the Maine Military Museum at Camp Keyes, I found myself looking
through old scrapbooks, and pieces of history, that have been all but forgotten. Here is a look back
at one of the earlier National Guard Emergency Management Tests from 1955. I can’t tell what paper
the article came from, but it is written here exactly as I found it, with the photographs taken directly
from the scrapbook itself.
provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity”- Cicero
Operation Minuteman
In 1955, in order to test the readiness of National Guardsmen to respond
to a crisis, the National Guard Bureau created a nationwide test named
“Operation Minuteman.”
throughout the United States, and territories could be ready for service in the
event of a national emergency.
A second purpose of the event was to give the American public a chance to
see the National Guard in a training scenerio.
The mission, of which the exact date and location were kept secret, was
to be executed at the discretion of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau.
Sometime after April 1, of 1955, he would issue the alert. State Governors
would then put the soldiers of the units on orders, and begin the alert
process.
enlisted men in uniform, equipped, and in position in the most effective and
shortest time possible.
The above photographs were taken
Wednesday evening as Battery D 703rd
AAA Maine National Guard moved to take
its assigned part in Operation Minuteman.
In the photo on the left, Robert Kent of
Chatto shortly after the alert was sounded.
Moments later, he was in uniform and
part of a patrol moving out to a defense
assignment.
Second from left, Sergeant Linwood
Silver of Thomaston leads his patrol out
of the armory. Following him are Thomas
Molloy, William Robbins and William
Pinkerton, all of Rockland and Arnold
Thompson of South Thomaston.