News from California State Military Museum

Front and Center

The Monthly E-Newsletter of the California State Military Museums
Part of the United States Army Museum System

Issue 23, August 2011

Welcome to our latest issue of Front and Center.

MUSEUM UPGRADES: Thanks to funding provided by the California State Military Museum Foundation, we have taken delivery of our fifth new Oak display case built by Richard Crumley at the Military Department's Carpentry Shop. This new case has improved security and energy saving LED lighting.

We are also installing new lighting in the basement gallery that will be completed in early August thanks to some "end of fiscal year" state money provided by the Military Department..

And finally, we have replaced the carpet in the museum store. The new coffee brown carpet tiles are more durable and easier to maintain than the old light gray carpet. This was also funded by our foundation.

OLD SACRAMENTO'S GOLD RUSH DAYS: Yes, it is that time of year when Old Sacramento turns the clock back to the mid 19th century. Thanks to sponsorship by Wells Fargo Bank, admission to the museum (as well as the the State Railroad Museum and the Sacramento History Museum) will be FREE! Gold Rush Days fall on the Labor Day Weekend. September 3rd through the 5th , 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

MUSEUM MEMBERSHIPS: We are now accepting memberships in the museum for calender year 2012, You can join the museum by clicking on the individual annual or life membership links to the right or visit our membership page

Dan Sebby
Sergeant Major (CA), Curator

Sacramento Assemblymember Visits the Museum

Left to right: Mr. Pete Conaty, Sgt. Maj. Dan Sebby, Assemblymember Richard Pan, Lt.Col. Tony Palumbo at the California's Global War on Terrorism Wall of Honor

On Wednesday, July 20th, 5th District (Sacramento) Assemblymember Dr. Richard Pan, Vice-Chair of the Assembly Veterans Affairs Committee paid a visit to the Museum. Dr. Pan and staff received a tour of the museum as well as a thorough briefing on the museum and the state's military history and museum programs.

Meet the Author Event: 17 September 2011, 1:00 pm

The Kunar ADT and The Afghan COIN Fight: How National Guard Agribusiness Development Teams Support Battle Space Commander's Counter Insurgency Operations

by LTC David M. Kelly by AuthorHouse

The Kunar Agribusiness Development Team (ADT) was created from volunteers from the 40th Infantry Division and Task Force Warrior of the California National Guard. ADTs are special units, which only exist in Afghanistan. The Kunar ADT supported Battle Space owners in the Kunar and Pech River valleys in north eastern Afghanistan. During the Kunar ADT's deployment between September 2009 and August 2010 they saw combat 19 times while working in remote villages. This book is the chronicle of the Kunar ADT's deployment and operations in support of counter insurgency (COIN) operations by working with farmers to stabilizing the economies of remote villages.

Woodland's National Guard and the Punative Expedition of 1916 (Company F, 2nd Infantry Regiment, California National Guard)
by Larry Schapiro

Nearly forgotten is the California National Guard's participation in the 1916 Mexican Punitive Expedition. The call up of the California National Guard, along with the militias and National Guards of all the other states, came about as the result of Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa's attacks on U. S. soil, including a March 9, 1916 assault on Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18 Americans and setting part of Columbus on fire. (Columbia Encyclopedia, "Francisco Villa (1975); James P. Finley, "Buffalo Soldiers at Huachuca: Villa's Raid on Columbus, New Mexico" Huachuca Illustrated, A Magazine of the Fort Huachuca Museum (1993).)

The initial military response by the United States was, beginning March 16, 1916 and ending February 14, 1917, to send a force of about 14,000 Army troops under the command of Brigadier General John J. Pershing to northern Mexico under orders to disrupt Villa and put an end to the border raids. In addition, approximately 158,000 National Guard troops, including Woodland's Company F, were activated to patrol the American side of the border with Mexico for the purpose of protecting against any more border raids and to prepare for possible war with Mexico. (A. Axelrod, America's Wars, p. 364 (2002).) Continued...

Sir Francis Drake in Central California, 1579
by Junstin M Ruhge

The voyage of the Englishman Sir Francis Drake in 1578 from England to South America and then by way of the Straits of Magellan, discovered by the Captain of that name in 1521, was the second circumnavigation of the world, which made a profound impression on the haughty and overly secure Spanish. It led eventually to a total breakdown of English-Spanish relations and to the Spanish Armada against England in 1588. Drake was only the second European in history to visit the northern latitudes of the west coast of California, the Spanish explorer Cabrillo being the first in 1542. Drake returned to England in 1580.

During that voyage, Drake explored well to the north on the American continent to learn if there was any evidence of a "northwest" passage to the east. Having failed to find this, Drake prepared to return to England by crossing the Pacific Ocean using the many charts confiscated from the Spanish earlier during his removal of treasure from their ships in South America. To prepare for this perilous voyage, Drake spent five weeks in California cleaning and provisioning his ship and consolidating his Spanish treasure. While at a "Good Baye", diaries of the voyage tell us that Drake had his men build a fort with a wall and to place in it his ship's cannon. They built a tent village behind the walls so as to protect themselves from the Native Americans. While this was a temporary fort, it was nevertheless the first fort in California built by Europeans. Continued...

Camp Roberts Museum Artifacts on the Move
by CW3 Mark Walton, Regional Training Site-Maintenance, Camp Roberts

And away we go... An M88A2 "Hercules"s Recovery Vehicle begins its trip towing an M55 8-Inch Self Propelled Howitzer from the Camp Roberts Range Control complex, where it sat on display for over 40 years, to the Camp Roberts Museum Annex.

In response to a request from Mr. Don Avery, Docent to the Camp Roberts Military Museum, SFC Jeffery Blanks and SSG Raul Gutierrez, Instructors for the Regional Training Site-Maintenance and their students moved this vehicle as a class project, while still training on skills that are part of the course curriculum. These students are all Active Component soldiers attending the Additional Skill Identifier (ASI) H8, Track Recovery Class. The equipment being used is M88A1 Recovery Vehicle Full Tracked and the Hercules M88A2 Recovery Vehicle Full Tracked. The class performed drivers training, hoisting operations of both the M55 Howitzers spade and the M114 Armored Personnel Carrier that had to be moved to make room for the "Widowmaker"; towing operations and operations under unusual conditions.

This class willingly took on this task after hearing the history of the equipment from Mr. Avery and his rich stories of when he was a young Artilleryman. While the vehicle had been recently repainted it got one more shot of Camp Roberts dust on its trip to its "final" resting place at the Museum Annex at Camp Roberts. It has now been cleaned up yet again by Mr. Avery and is ready for viewing by the public.

The Regional Training Site-Maintenance is a Combined Arms Sustainment Command (CASCOM) Accredited "Institution of Excellence." We provide Military Occupational Specialty Training, Noncommissioned officer Education System Training and Additional Skills Identifier training to all three components, Army National Guard, United States Army Reserve and Active Component. The institution opened in 1989 and has graduated over 14000 soldiers from courses conducted there. The RTSM provides a venue to the Army G3 and G4 for New Equipment Training (NET) and Equipment Fielding Site de-processing, directly impacting the Equipping and Readiness of the California National Guard.

Additional images can be seen on the Regional Training Site and California State Military Museum's Facebook page.

Regional Training Site-Maintenance

California State Military Museum

Call for Articles and Book Reviews

The California State Military Museum is soliciting articles for its website. If you are a professional historian or a talented amateur history buff, we want to hear from you. Articles should be no longer than 3,000 words and should be limited to the military history or military biographies as they relate to California. That is a pretty wide net. All articles should be footnoted or at least list references.

We are also going to ask that those of you practically live at Barnes and Noble or who get Christmas thank you cards from Amazon.com to consider writing book reviews for Front and Center. Please limit yourself to Military History or National Security topics. Reviews should be no longer than 1000 words.

In both cases, please include a two or three paragraph biography of yourself.

Museum Honors Longtime Board Member

Ed Faust being presented a plaque honoring his service by California State Military Museum Foundation President, Dr. Roger McGrath.

On July 13th, the President of the California State Military Museum Foundation, Dr. Roger McGrath, presented long serving board member, Mr. Ed Faust, a plaque that commemorated his more than 20 years of service (1991-2011) as a member of the foundation's Board of Directors. Ed, who retired from the California State Military Reserve as a major, was one of Sacramento's leading gun dealers and helped the museum with its small arms acquisition and maintenance program.

Veterans Serice Organizations (VSO) Night at the Museum

Attention American Legion, VFW, DAV, AMVETS and other VSO's! Looking for a way to spice up your monthly meetings? Why not have one your meetings at the museum? We can seat up to 70 in our multipurpose room. You can hold you normal business meetings and follow up with a guided tour of the museum. Call the museum curator at (916) 854-1904 for more information or book your own "Night at the Museum".

New Museum Members and Contributions

The museum would like to recognize our latest members and thank those who made financial contributions.:

Family Life Members:

The Arthur Borgquist Family of Calabasas

Individual Life Member:

Ms Janet Thor of Phoenix, AZ (Granddaughter of Maj.Gen. Wallace Mason)

Individual Five Year Member

Mr. Robert Morris of Roseville

Annual Members:

Mr. Thomas Olson of Berkeley
Brig Gen Ronald Frye of Fresno
Mr. Burton Anderson of Morgan Hill
Mrs. Mary Camacho of West Sacramento

Other Contributions:

Sons of Confederate Veterans of Sacramento, $25.
Veterans Affiliated Council of Sacramento, $100

Major Artifact Acquisitions to the Museum

The museum has received the following major donations since last month's issue:

Naval officers' uniforms from the 1970's. Donated by Tim and Lynn Buescher of Rocklin.
M1902 Officers Saber and a Presentation Saber belonging to Capt. John R. Sawyer, Brooklyn City Guard, Company G, 23rd New York Infantry. Donated by Ms. Jackie Groff of Roseville and Mr. David Shaw of Gold River.

If you are considering making an artifact donation to the museum, please contact the museum curator prior bringing items in. As the World War II and Korean War II generations are passing on, the museum is being flooded with common uniform items such as "Ike Jackets", service caps, etc.

The museum does not mean to diminish any veterans service, but the museum has a limited amount of storage and display space. So, please contact us first before making the trip to the museum. The curator's telephone number is (916) 854-1904 or email [email protected]

Image Library Update

Major acquisitions or discoveries:

California State Military Reserve: 2nd Brigade, 1985-1999, Brig Gen (CA) Donald Riach Collection
Vietnam War: Gilbert D. Camacho Collection

To find out what is in our collection, go to our image library finding aid,

CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARDSMEN! Is your spouse telling you it's time to clean out that footlocker in your closet? Don't know what to do with all your photo albums of you time at the garden spots of Camp Roberts and Fort Irwin? Got tons of digital images on your computer from your last deployment to Iraq? Well, then send them to the museum's image library. We are cataloging and preserving the California National Guard's history through images. This also includes the State Guard and Militia of World War II, State Military Reserve, and Naval Militia.

Please provide us with as much information about your images as possible. This could be a photo log or simply writing with a soft pencil on the reverse of the "hard copy" photograph.

Digital copies can be sent on a CD, DVD, memory stick, or memory card.

Whatever the media, please send your images to:

California State Military Museum Image Library
1119 2nd Street
Sacramento, CA 95814-3203

Library and Archives Update

The library would like to acknowledge major donations made by the following:

Book Donations:
- Mr. Ron Moran of Denair
- Mrs. Paula Whelchel of Sacramento
- Mr. Steve Dakota of Sacramento
- Colonel James Kohnen of Dublin
- Mrs. Leneve Ochoa of Woodland
- Mr. Robert Wada of Fullerton
- Mr. Richard Anderson of Sacramento
- Mr. David E. Villasenor of Sacramento
- Sun City Veterans Club of Roseville
- Mr. Charles Smith of Arlington, TX
Documents pertaining to the World War II Merchant Marine service of Frances E. Gerard of Hayward. Donated by Mr. Michael Kirkpatrick of Sacramento.
Two (2) photo albums/scrap books pertaining to the State Military Reserve service of BG Donal Riach, Commander, 2nd Brigade, California State Military Reserve. 1985-1999. Donaled by Col Fred Rutledge of Orinda.

Currently the library is actively looking for new books to fill its shelves. Current hardcover, non-fiction military history and national security volumes are, of course, the most desired titles.

Books can be sent to:

The MG Walter P. Story Memorial Library

1119 2nd Street

Sacramento, CA 95814-3202

Any duplicates received will be given free to other libraries and or museums or sold in our used book store to raise funds for the library.

This is a great time to clean out some of your old military history, intelligence and national security studies books.

The Museum is also accepting gift cards from major book sellers such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Borders so that we can choose those books that fill holes in our catalog.

If you're interested in adding to you personal library, please come down and shop in our new and used military history book shop!

Upcoming Events

September 3-5: Old Sacramento Gold Rush Days. FREE ADMISSION! Sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank
September 17: Meet the Author, Michael Kelly, author of The Kunar ADT and The Afghan COIN Fight: How National Guard Agribusiness Development Teams Support Battle Space Commander's Counter Insurgency Operations, 1:00 p.m.
November 8-11. Veterans Week: FREE ADMISSION
November 11. Veterans Day: The museum's 20th Anniversary.

Making History

Learn how your California National Guard is making history around the world every day. CLICK HERE to read the latest issue of the Grizzly magazine.

Attention Gun Collectors and Law Enforcement Agencies

The museum is looking to expand its weapons collection for future planned exhibits in Sacramento and other locations including a new 40th Infantry Division museum at the Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos. We are seeking specific weapons listed below:

American

M1833 Hall Carbine
M1837 Hall North flintlock Horse Pistol
M1847 Springfield Musketoon
M1842 Aston Pistol
Colt Dragoon Revolver
Colt Navy Model 1851 Revolver
Remington Model 1858 Revolver
Colt Army Model 1860 Revolver
Smith and Wesson Model 3 "Schofield" .44 S&W with US Ordnance Corps markings.
Colt M1873 Single Action Army Pistol (7-1/2 inch barrel) .45 Long Colt with US Ordnance Corps Markings
Colt M1895/1914 "Potato Digger" Machine Gun: Tripod only
Browning M1917 Machine Gun: Water can and Hose only
Browning M1919A4 with Tripod
Browning M1919A6 with bipod
Johnson M1944 Light Machine Gun
M60 Machine Gun
M60D Aircraft Machine Gun
M240D Machine Gun
M249 Squad Automatic Weapon
M16A1, A2, and A4 Rifles
M9 Pistol (Beretta 92F)
M4 Carbine
M79 Grenade Launcher
M16A1 with M203 Grenade Launcher
Stoner M63 or XM22
M40 Sniper Rifle with Scope
M1D Sniper Rifle with Scope
Winchester Model 70 with Scope. Military Issue only.
XM177E2 Carbine
Armalite AR10
Bayonets:

M5 series (M1 Garand)
M6 (M14)
M7 (M16, M16A1)
M9 (M16A2, M4 Carbine)

Turret/Cupola for M114 Recon Vehicle

British and British Commonwealth Nations

Number 3 (India Pattern) Flintlock Musket (Brown Bess) Original or reproduction. With or without Mexican Army markings.
Vickers Mark I Heavy Machine Gun (.30-06 or .303)
British, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand issue Browning Hi-Power (P35, Mark 1, No. 2 Mark 1 or L9A1)
Enfield No. 2 Mark 1 Revolver
Webley No. 4 Revolver
Rifle No. 4 Mark 1 (T): Scope and mount only.
Rifle 7.62 L1A1 Self Loading Rifle . Lithgow Small Arms Factory, Australia or New Zealand issue preferred
Australian F1 Submachine Gun

German

Mauser C96 Pistol
MG 08/15 Light Machine Gun: Magazine and Water Can with Hose only
MP18 Submachine Gun
MG42 Machine Gun with Bipod or Tripod
Fallschirmj�gergewehr 42 Assault Rifle
Gewehr 43 Assault Rifle
Walther PP pistol with military markings
Occupation made weapons with Wehrmacht proof marks

Japanese

Type 44 Carbine
Type 92 Heavy Machine Gun with Tripod
Type 96 Light Machine Gun: Magazines only.
Type 99 Light Machine Gun: Magazines only.

Russian or Warsaw Pact/Chinese copies

DShK 1938 Heavy Machine Gun: Wheeled carriage or tripod only
DP Light Machine Gun
Mosin Nagant Model 1891/30
Nagant M1895 Revolver
Maxim PM M1910 Heavy Machine Gun on Wheeled Carriage

California law enforcement agencies can transfer weapons to the museum under the provisions of Section 12030, California Penal Code and Section 179, California Military and Veterans Code. Weapons governed under the National Firearms Act (NFA) may also be transferred to the museum. The donating agency or individual is required to initiate the BATFE Form 5. NFA weapons may be accessed to the collection of the United States Army and may become property of the United States of America.

Weapons must be military issue, not civilian copies or reproductions.

Weapons should not be demilitarized per Army Regulation 870-20. However demilitarized weapons may be accepted for "hands on" educational programs.

Need a Place for an Event?