The 149th Armored Regiment was an armored regiment that was part of the California Army National Guard. Its lineage dates back to a cavalry unit organized in 1895 in Salinas. As Troop C, the unit's first major action occurred when it deployed to help in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. In 1916, still as Troop C, the unit served along the MexicoUnited States border near Nogales, Arizona to deter further border incursions, due to events surrounding the Pancho Villa Expedition. The following year, Troop C was activated then reorganized and redesignated as Company B, 145th Machine Gun Battalion upon the United States' entry into World War I; as part of the 40th Division, the battalion deployed to France in 1918, and returned to the United States in 1919.
In 1924, the unit converted from cavalry into armor, receiving its first tanks, and becoming the 40th Tank Company. In 1934, the company deployed again to San Francisco due to the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike. In February 1941, as Company C, 194th Tank Battalion, the unit was activated for training at Fort Lewis, Washington; later that year in September, the battalion was deployed to the Philippines. When the United States was drawn into World War II by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, from December 1941 until April 1942, the battalion fought against Japanese forces. The company conducted a fighting withdrawal in Southern Luzon; then it fought on Bataan until they were ordered to surrender. As prisoners of war (POW), soldiers of the unit suffered through the Bataan Death March, and were later sent individually to various POW camps throughout the territories controlled by Japan; following the surrender of Japan, surviving soldiers returned to the United States in mid-September 1945.
In 1946, the unit was inactivated, before being redesignated as the 199th Tank Battalion. It was redesignated as the 149th Tank Battalion in 1949, becoming the 149th Armor Regiment a decade later. In 1965, the regiment was sent to Los Angeles in response to the Watts Riots. The unit returned to Los Angeles later in the 20th century, in response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Following the September 11th attacks, the unit was activated for Operation Noble Eagle in 2003. Then in 2005, it deployed to Europe for peacekeeping in the Kosovo Force. In 2007, the regiment ceased to be an armored unit via consolidation with the 340th Brigade Support Battalion, retaining the latter unit’s name.
History Cavalry and World War I
Troop C of cavalry, the first unit on the Central Coast region of the National Guard of California, a state militia, was organized on 5 August 1895. The troop's first activation was when it was called up to provide law and order in San Francisco following the earthquake in 1906, using Golden Gate Park as its base of operations. In 1911, the troop was incorporated into the 1st Squadron of Cavalry.
In the early 1910s tensions between Mexico and the United States were high, due to the impact the Mexican Revolution had on the border; this resulted in several events which led to loss of life of citizens of both nations. These tensions came to a head in March 1916, with the attack on Columbus, New Mexico by Mexicans under Pancho Villa. As a result, a punitive expedition by the United States Army was sent into Mexico, and National Guard units were activated in neighboring border states for federal service. With the regular United States Army busy pursuing Pancho Villa, being unable to defend the rest of the border with Mexico, the National Defense Act of 1916 was passed in June, allowing for the activation of additional National Guard units throughout the United States for federal service. In June, the unit was activated for federal service on the Mexican border near Nogales, Arizona. As the threat of cross border hostility abated, the troop was deactivated later that year.
Before, and while the troop was serving on the Mexican border, World War I was being fought. After the United States entered into World War I, the troop was activated into federal service in August 1917 at Camp Kearny in San Diego. There it was redesignated as Company B of the 145th Machine Gun Battalion, as an element of the 40th Division. During this period the battalion was part of the 80th Infantry Brigade of the 40th Division.
The brigade departed for France in August 1918, where it spent the majority of the time training replacements. In late October 1918, the machine gun battalion was sent to Saint-Dizier, then to Baudonvilliers in November. During November 1918, the battalion supported First Army, when it was moved to Marne for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Beginning in mid-December, the 40th Division began the process of returning to the United States, ultimately embarking through Bordeaux. In May 1919 it was demobilized at the Presidio of San Francisco.
40th Tank Company The unit was reorganized as the 40th Tank Company for the 40th Division in 1924 and it was equipped with eight French Renault light tanks (M1917); it was California's first tank unit. It conducted its first annual training at Camp Del Monte in 1925. On Thanksgiving Day 1927, two of the units tanks were tasked to respond to a riot at the Folsom State Prison. The company was first activated in response to the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike of longshoremen during which it was sent to San Francisco for eight days. M2A2 light tanks replaced the Renaults in 1937. During the 1930s, training with the unit's tanks did not involve ammunition, and utilized Ford Model T automobiles to simulate enemy tanks. Training was often conducted in association with the 159th Infantry Regiment. April 1937, the company participated in activities on Crissy Field at the Presidio of San Francisco. In August 1937, along with other units of the Fourth Army, the tank company was assigned to the brown force (national guard units) that simulated combat against the blue force (regular army units) in the area between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo.
194th Tank Battalion In 1940, the company was designated as Company C, 194th Tank Battalion; other tank companies in Brainerd, Minnesota (Company A, formerly the 34th Tank Company), and Saint Joseph, Missouri (Company B, former 35th Tank Company), formed the rest of the battalion. A large number of men in Company C were Salinas High School graduates from the classes of 1938 and 1939. The battalion was mustered into federal service on 10 February 1941, and began training at Fort Lewis, Washington; there, on 22 February, the battalion finally assembled as an entire unit. Rated among the best tank battalions in the Army, the battalion was equipped with 54 new M3 Stuart light tanks.
Deployment Company B was detached from the battalion and sent to Alaska; the rest of the battalion boarded the in San Francisco on 8 September, bound for Manila. It was the first U.S. armored unit to deploy overseas, during World War II. On 26 September 1941 the 194th, along with the 17th Ordnance Company, arrived in Manila, and was then assigned to Fort Stotsenburg, in Sapangbato, Angeles City. There the unit found supplies to be unavailable, especially gasoline and spare parts; worse, ammunition for the tank's main gun was never shipped to the Philippines causing the tankers to improvise ammunition in the following campaign. The ammunition would only be armor-piercing, with high-explosive being unavailable. The 192nd Tank Battalion arrived in the Philippines on 20 November; joining with the 194th and the 17th, they formed the 1st Provisional Tank Group, under the command of Brigadier General James Weaver; this unit would go on to become the first organization of the United States to engage enemy tanks in combat.
World War II
Clark Field and withdrawal When the United States was drawn into World War II by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Company C was in defensive positions around Clark Field, where on 8 December the first Japanese attacks occurred leading to the destruction of half of the Far East Air Force; of the nine Japanese fighters shot down that day, Private Earl G. Smith of Company C was credited with downing one of them. Due to this action, the unit became the first California National Guard unit to see combat. Initially, General Douglas MacArthur was confident that the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) would be able to defend the entire archipelago under war plan Rainbow Five. Detached from the rest of the battalion on 12 December, Company C was attached to the South Luzon Force. On 13 December, Company C moved to Tagaytay Ridge, attempting to apprehend fifth columnists who had been launching flares near ammunition dumps at night; this would continue until Christmas Eve. On 23 December, with the advances of Japanese forces after landing at Lingayen Gulf dashing his confidence, General MacArthur ordered a reversion to War Plan Orange, ordering all forces to withdraw to the Bataan Peninsula.
Company C was assigned to the area east of Mount Banahao and attached to the Philippine Army 1st Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division. The commanding general of the South Luzon Force, Brigadier General Albert M. Jones, heard from a motorcycle messenger from Company C on Christmas Day that the 1st Infantry Regiment had prematurely moved westward away from their position at Sampaloc. He then instructed Company C to engage the Japanese who had landed at Mauban. He decided to conduct a reconnaissance himself using a half-track from Company C, and they were engaged by a Japanese patrol north of the town of Piis. During the engagement the half-track became immobilized in a ditch, however the crew was able to disperse the patrol allowing Jones and the crew to carry the half-track's machine guns back to friendly lines. For their action, Jones recommended the crew members receive the Distinguished Service Cross; by the April 1946, when the recommendation was finally processed, the awards were downgraded to Silver Stars and only one of the five crew, Sergeant Leon Elliot, was still alive.
The next day the second platoon of the company was ordered by a Major Rumbold, senior American instructor of the Philippine Army 1st Infantry Regiment, to attack the Japanese, who were in Piis, down a narrow mountain trail. The platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Robert F. Needham, suggested that a reconnaissance be done before the attack but was told it was unnecessary. Due to the firefight the night before, a roadblock had been prepared by the Japanese, consisting of anti-tank guns, artillery, and several machine guns. The Americans advanced as a column and the lead tank, commanded by Needham, was hit first. The second tank, commanded by Staff Sergeant Emil S. Morello, drove around Needham's disabled tank and ran over a roadblock and an antitank gun behind it, firing upon other Japanese positions before his tank was disabled; in the end five tanks, an entire platoon, were immobilized and lost and five tankers were killed. The Japanese settled in around the tanks that night, believing all the Americans to be dead; as the front moved past them, with the Japanese advancing away from them, which allowed Morello to gather the wounded. Having collected them, he escaped with the help of Filipino guides to Manila, where he left one wounded tanker in a Catholic hospital; with the remainder of the wounded he was able to reach Corregidor by the end of the month. In 1983, Morello was awarded the Silver Star for his actions; he later rejoined the company in Bataan. This action also led the War Department to change from rivets to welding in new tank production.