Does anyone know if it was easy to transfer from the Naval Reserve to the Minnesota National Guard back in 1950?

2017-07-30T15:57:57-04:00

My belated Father, Corporal Stephen J. Conway MNARNG, went to St. Thomas Military Academy High School in Minneapolis St Paul Minnesota. He graduated in 1948 and his High School counted as basic training and PLDC/BLC so he was enlisted in the MNARNG as a Corporal in 1950-51. His NG Division was mobilized for Korea in 1950 and trained into 1951. Though the Division never deployed, many units and/or individuals went as fillers and my Dad's yearbook has lots of crosses of his High School buddies that died in Korea. One company even went to Nellis to witness and suffer the after-effects of a Nuclear Bomb blast.

He also served in the Naval Reserve for a brief time, probably in 1949, and went on a ship to Bermuda and back. He was medically discgarged due to severe asthma in 1951. Some CRBN training he took after going to Cavalry Scout School started giving him asthma that hospitalized him and this led to his honorable medical discharged in 1951. He was once rated 100% then down to 10% until about 1999 when his efforts to forward documentation and decades of asthma proved to the VA it was service-connected and he then started getting 100% disability. He was diagnosed lung cancer in early 2002 and by July, 2002 it had metastazed to the brain.

He never smoked or worked around hazardous materials after the Army and its possible all the steroids and inhalers he took to breathe caused the cancer to form at age 72.

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made Jul 30 at 2017 4:17 PM

2017-07-30T16:17:08-04:00

That's a good question LTC Private RallyPoint Member - way before my time, but I would imagine going from one of the reserve services to another could have happened like it does today, just not sure how complicated it was. Why do you ask such a question?

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 30 at 2017 4:51 PM

2017-07-30T16:51:33-04:00

http://www.mnmilitarymuseum.org/files/6013/2249/8759/47th_Infantry_Division_Viking.pdf

47th_Infantry_Division_Viking.pdf

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Response by LTC Stephen F. made Jul 30 at 2017 6:27 PM

2017-07-30T18:27:07-04:00

LTC Private RallyPoint Member I expect underservice transfers within the Reserve components were not unusual. There was a shortage of combat personnel in the Army in 1950. I expect any able bodied reserve component personnel who wanted to transfer to combat formations would have less problems than today since the nation needed soldiers and marines in Korea.
Background: in the immediate aftermath of WWII the Army and Navy which includes the Marines went through the biggest reduction of force this nation has ever seen.
When the UN called for action in Korea the US military had to scramble to meet the force requirements - No more task Force Smiths became a rallying cry.
1. The National Guard as you well know has both state responsibilities and federal [USC 10 and 32].
2. The Reserve is a Federal force.
3. Both the National Guard and Reserve are part of the Reserve Components.
4. The vast majority of the combat divisions in WWII were National Guard Divisions with Reserve Divisions just behind. [it wasn't until after Vietnam, that the Reserve component of USAR especially shifted to combat support and combat service support.]
5. The USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947.
6. I found no specific reference to the transfers process so I am using my knowledge of the times as the basis for my answer.
Thanks COL Mikel J. Burroughs for tagging me.

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 30 at 2017 7:07 PM

2017-07-30T19:07:39-04:00

I think there was quite a bit of transferring during that era Sir. Take Audie Murphy, he was in the Texas Army National Guard, Army Reserves, and Active Army throughout his career.