OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Described by their commanding officer as “Oklahoma patriots,” the almost 10,000 soldiers who serve in the Oklahoma Army and Air National Guard were saluted Tuesday by the state Legislature and Gov. Mary Fallin.
An oversized image of the mythical Thunderbird - the insignia patch worn by members of the Oklahoma Army National Guard - stood in the House chamber as Maj. Gen. Robbie L. Asher, Oklahoma’s adjutant general, praised the newest generation of National Guard members “who serve our great state in a time of peril.”
“We all know freedom is never free,” Asher said during a joint session of the House and Senate. Asher recalled that National Guard veterans who were members of the state’s former 45th Infantry Division served with distinction during World War II and the Korean War.
Asher said that in a few weeks he will lead a small delegation of Oklahoma National Guard members to Germany to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 45th Infantry Division’s liberation of the Dachau concentration camp.
Oklahoma National Guard members “walked up to and through the gates of hell” to liberate the camp’s more than 30,000 prisoners, Asher said.
Created in 1923, the 45th Infantry Division remained on active duty for five years during that conflict, capturing 103,367 enemy prisoners and fighting in Sicily, Italy, southern France and Germany.
A few years later, Oklahoma citizen soldiers were deployed to Korea, the first National Guard division to enter combat during the Korean War. Soldiers of the 45th served in four campaigns during 429 days of combat, including engagements at Old Baldy, Pork Chop Hill and Heartbreak Ridge.
Thousands of Oklahoma National Guard soldiers have also served in more recent conflicts, including 19 who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers of the Army and Air National Guard are “strong, committed men and women” and “Oklahoma patriots,” Asher said.
“The National Guard is always ready, always there,” Asher said.
Hundreds of National Guard members were mobilized following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing to assist in search and rescue efforts. And the state’s National Guard was deployed to New Orleans following the devastation and civil unrest that followed Hurricane Katrina 10 years ago.
Fallin, commander in chief of the National Guard, thanked its members for a “job well done.”
“You can always depend on the National Guard to be there and ready,” the governor said.
The division was retired in 1968 and reorganized into three separate commands; the 45th Infantry Brigade, the 45th Field Artillery Brigade, later redesignated as the 45th Fires Brigade, and the 90th Troop Command.
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