The 30th Armored Division was a Tennessee-based unit of the Army National Guard from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Activation and service In 1954 the 30th Infantry Division was reorganized, with units in North Carolina and South Carolina constituting the 30th Infantry Division, and units in Tennessee forming the nucleus of the new 30th Armored Division.John B. Wilson, Center of Military History, Armies, Corps, Divisions, and Separate Brigades, 1988, page 604
Though never federalized during wartime, the 30th Armored Division (called "Volunteers," for Tennessee's "Volunteer State" nickname) was activated for support to law enforcement, including responses to civil disturbances in Memphis and Nashville after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1968 the headquarters of the Mississippi Army National Guard's 108th Armored Cavalry Regiment was reorganized as 1st Brigade, 30th Armored Division. (The brigade was subsequently designated the 155th Separate Armored Brigade.)Global Security, 155th Armored Brigade (Separate) (Heavy), 2011 In addition, in 1968, units from the Florida Army National Guard and Alabama Army National Guard formerly part of the 31st Infantry Division also became part of the 30th Armored Division.Jeffrey Lynn Pope, Leonid E. Kondratiuk, editors, Armor-Cavalry Regiments: Army National Guard Lineage, 1995, pages 41, 48
The 30th Armored Division was inactivated in December, 1973.Tennessee Secretary of State, Blue Book, 1980, page 312
Commanders
The following officers served as commander of the 30th Armored Division:
MG Paul H. Jordan, 1954-1957Kingsport Times, Gen Paul Jordan to Speak Here, 10 February 1956 MG Robert E. Frankland, 1957-1959Kingsport News, Change of Command, 11 December 1959 MG Warren C. Giles, 1959-1962Tennessee Secretary of State, Tennessee Blue Book, 1961, page 130 MG Clarence B. Johnson, 1962-1963National Guard Association of the United States, The National Guardsman, Volume 16, 1962, page 67 MG William R. Douglas, 1963-1966National Guard Association of the United States, The National Guardsman, Volume 18, 1964, page 30 MG Thomas G. Wells Jr., 1966-1968U.S. Army, General Orders Number 44, 22 August 1968, page 11National Guard Association of the United States, The National Guardsman, Volume 21, 1967, page 38 MG Hugh B. Mott, 1968-1969 MG Glynn C. Ellison, 1969-1971 MG Carl M. Lay, 1971-1973 MG John M. Calhoun, 1973
Lineage During its existence the 30th Armored Division was never deployed as an organization, and received no combat honors. Several members volunteered individually to join regular Army units during the Vietnam War.Tennessee National Guard, History, Tennessee National Guard , 2012
The 30th Armored Division's lineage was carried by the Tennessee Army National Guard's 30th Armored Brigade until the brigade's inactivation in 1996.Timothy S Aumiller, United States Army Infantry, Artillery, Armor/Cavalry Battalions 1957-2011, 2007, page 25
References