Georgia National Guard History

06/08/2026

Sgt. Martin Lane
Company E, 121st Infantry Regiment

Martin Earl Lane was born November 19, 1924, in Brunswick. Ga. He was the oldest son of William and Minnie Lane and grew up with two sisters and a brother. William died in 1934 and Minnie followed two years later leaving Martin and his older sister Isabel to care for the family. Martin worked as a machinist in an auto repair shop.

On September 16, 1940, at the age of 15, Lane entered federal service with the Brunswick Rifles, Company E, 121st Infantry, Georgia National Guard, having given his date of birth as November 19, 1921. Lane mobilized to Fort Jackson, S. C. where he completed initial training with the 121st. On June 7, 1942, while home on leave, Lane and Sgt. Samuel Herring, also of Company E, were driving on St. Simon’s Island when their car left the highway and overturned on a sharp curve. Lane was killed and Herring was seriously injured.

Lane rests in Palmetto Cemetery, Brunswick, Ga. beside his parents. He was 17 years old.

06/05/2026

On this day we remember Maj. Kevin Jenrette, Sgt. 1st Class John Beale, and Sgt. Jeffrey Jordan of the 1st Squadron, 108th Cavalry Regiment, who were killed in action in Afghanistan June 4, 2009 while deployed with the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

06/03/2026

Happy birthday to Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion 121st Infantry Regiment, which was federally recognized on this date in 2010. This article looks back at deployments of 3-121 from 1916-2024.

National Guard, Military History, Georgia History, Army, Air National Guard, WWI, WWII, Korea, Army History, National Guard History,

06/03/2026

Happy birthday to Companies B, C, and D, of the 3rd Battalion 121st Infantry Regiment, 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team which were federally recognized June 2, 2010, as elements of the 3rd Squadron, 108th Cavalry Regiment Georgia National Guard. The 3-108 was reorganized to form the elements of the 3-121 September 1, 2016, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3-121, carrying on the lineage of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 560th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade. Photo courtesy of the 3-121 Infantry Regiment.

06/03/2026

One hundred years ago today:

The Atlanta-based Gate City Guards of the Georgia National Guard's 122nd Infantry Regiment prepare to depart for Philadelphia June 2, 1926, to participate in events commemorating the Sesquicentennial of the United States of America. Click the photos for more information on the Soldiers and the M1921 service coat that belonged to an officer of the Gate City Guards.

06/02/2026

1st Lt. Louie Mikell
54th Fighter Wing, Ga. ANG

Louie Avery Mikell was born April 19, 1922, to Louie and Alva Mikell of Statesboro, Ga. After graduating from Savannah High School with honors, Mikell worked at the shipyard in Savannah before enlisting in the Army. Mikell volunteered for the Air Corps at Hunter Field and completed pilot training before his assignment as a B-25 pilot with the 5th Air Force in the Pacific Theater. Through World War II, Mikell completed 39 missions and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross and five Air Medals. He left the Air Corps as a captain after the end of the war and joined the Georgia Air National Guard as a lieutenant. On June 1, 1948, Mikell and other Georgia National Guard pilots were in Michigan to assist in the filming of the motion picture Fighter Squadron. Mikell was flying a P-47 over lake Oscoda when his aircraft when into a tailspin. Mikell successfully bailed out of the aircraft and had swum approximately 300 yards when he disappeared under the waves. He rests in the Greenwich section of Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah.

06/01/2026

Pvt. Fred Hester
Battery F, 179th Field Artillery Regiment

Fred Austin Hester was born in Roanoke, Ala. to James and Bernice Hester. He enlisted in the Georgia National Guard's Battery F, 179th Field Artillery Regiment May 21, 1940, at the age of 24. On February 24, 1941, Hester was assigned to Company D, 738th Military Police Battalion at Fort Sheridan, Ill. He died of a brain tumor May 31, 1942 in Fort Benjamin Harrison Hospital. He rests in Cedarwood Cemetery, Roanoke, Ala.

05/31/2026

Cpl. Ben Weeks
Company B, 121st Infantry Regiment

Ben Terrell Weeks was born September 10, 1889, to farmers Abel and Dorcas Weeks of Jones, Dodge County, Ga. Weeks enlisted in the Georgia National Giard’s Company B, 121st Infantry Regiment, September 19, 1917, as a private and was soon promoted to corporal. Weeks was killed in an automobile accident May 31, 1918, while stationed at Camp Wheeler in Macon, Ga. He rests in Ryals Cemetery in Dodge County, Ga.

Ben’s brother George was killed in action July 25, 1918, while serving with the Georgia National Guard’s Company C, 151st Machine Gun Battalion.

05/20/2026

2nd Lt. Cecil Walkley Jr.
Battery C, 101st Separate Battalion, Coast Artillery Corps

Cecil Conniff Walkley Jr. was born October 17, 1917, to Cecil and Alice Walkley of Mobile, Ala. His family moved to Duval County, Fla. in 1920 and by 1926 had moved to Atlanta where Walkley graduated from Fulton County High School. In 1940, Walkley was working as a bank teller and had completed three years of college when he entered federal service December 17, 1940, with Battery C, 101st SP BN CAC, formerly Troop C, 1-108th Cavalry Regiment. After mobilizing to Camp Stewart in 1941, Walkley volunteered for the Air Corps and was commissioned a second lieutenant. Following his pilot training at Maxwell Field, Ala. he was assigned to the 472nd Bomber Squadron based in Greenville, S.C. On May 20, 1943, Walkley and five crewmembers died when a B-25 piloted by Walkley crashed at Ellington Field Texas. He rests in West View Cemetery, Atlanta.

05/19/2026

May 18, 1963:

Captain Ben Penton of the Columbus-based 560th Engineer Battalion, Georgia National Guard, renders honors during the armed forces parade down Broadway in Columbus, Georgia. Penton served as commander of the Headquarters Company and adjutant of the 560th Engineer Battalion. The 560th continues in service today as the 110th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, an element of the 78th Troop Command.