The Kentucky Army National Guard has a long history in Barbourville, and they have been an important part of the community for over two centuries. Men from Knox county are believed to have "...fought in the Revolutionary War defending the western frontier, and in the War of 1812 they played a part in the decisive battles of the northwest and at the Battle of New Orleans." Knox Countians also served in both the Civil and Spanish-American Wars in the later half of the nineteenth century.
"In the interval between the Spanish-American War and World War I the local company was designated Company B, 2nd Infantry. In 1916, a Knox County company saw service on the Mexican border as Company M, 1st Kentucky Infantry. During World War I, this unit was designated Company C, 113th Ammunition Train, 38th Division, and saw service in France."
Following World War I, the local company was reorganized and federally recognized as Company G, 2/149th Infantry in 1921. In 1928, the company was reorganized again. On January 17, 1941, the unit was called up for active duty in World War II, and was reorganized as Company C of the 149th Infantry, and the 113th Quartermaster Medical detachment. The two companies served in the Pacific Theater with the 38th Division. The men that made up the Division were known as the "Avengers of Bataan" in memory of the famed 192nd Tank Company out of Harrodsburg, which was the first Kentucky unit to participate in World War II. The men from Harrodsburg were captured by the Japanese and forced to endure the infamous "Bataan Death March", during which many of the men died. All of the men from Barbourville did not serve together. Upon arriving at training camp in Louisiana, some of the men were split off to serve with other companies. All of the men served in the Pacific theater. The Kentucky Army National Guard in Barbourville suffered several losses during the war.
When the men returned from World War II, the unit was disbanded (as were all other National Guard units in the state), until some men in the community decided to re-organize a unit. The men drilled at Frazier Garage, address unknown, before the 1951 armory/ motor storage building was constructed. The unit was reorganized as an Armored Tank unit in 1955-1964, and in April, 1964, it was reorganized as 1/149th Infantry unit. In February of 1968, the unit was again reorganized, this time as 223rd Military Police. In May of 1974, the unit was reorganized back to its first designation, that of the Headquarters Company of the 1/149th Infantry (Mechanized), of the 35th Division, which it remains to the present. The National Guard from Barbourville has not been involved in any other major overseas conflicts since World War II, but some men from the unit volunteered for service in Desert Storm. Approximately 35-40 men from the Battalion served.
The National Guard in Barbourville has participated in a wide range of state active duty missions, including snowstorms in 1993, 1994, 1997, and 1998. During the most recent snowstorm in February of 1998, the Guard cleared roads, made emergency medical runs (such as taking dialysis patients to the hospital), and assisted the civil authorities. The armory was used as a Red Cross shelter for two nights during the storm, with some National Guard members staying overnight.
The U.S. Forest Service trained the men in fire-fighting techniques, enabling them to assist in fighting forest fires. The Guard helped with floods in the late 1950s, and in 1973 and 1977 in Bell and Knox counties, with the flood of 1977 being the largest state active duty served to date.
The National Guard has also been of assistance during civil and labor disturbances in the state. In 1956, the Barbourville unit was activated to provide security during a segregation strike in Western Kentucky, and the unit was also on hand during a coal strike in Whitesburg. In 1968 they provided security during race riots in Louisville. In 1974 the National Guard escorted truckers during the Teamsters strike.
The current armory is the third building used as an armory in Barbourville. The first armory was located on Cumberland Avenue in a leased downtown three-story commercial building that is believed to have been a grocery at one time. The building appears to have been constructed in the late 1910s or 1920s. The National Guard drilled on the second floor, which was a large open space with a hardwood floor. Mr. Larry Hammons, a retired member of the Kentucky National Guard Army, remembers drilling in this building when it was the armory. The front porch of the building has since been removed, but Mr. Hammons remembers that "...the porch columns had what looked like mortar shells embedded in them, and that the drill area was a full-sized gym. " This building is now home to a pallet mill, and has been severely altered. Mr. Hammons remembers that it "served as a furniture store for a while, and then it was divided into apartments. The drill area was actually two stories tall" although the building appears to have three floors from the outside. The specific dates in which the Guard used this building are unknown, but they were there in 1938, as evidenced by a picture in the 1938 Historical Annual of the National Guard of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In 1951, a new one-story, gable-roofed brick building was constructed, and it served as both a vehicle storage garage and armory. Currently, this building, located on Hinkle Street, serves as OMS #2A and as offices for the Eastern Kentucky Training Site in Artemus.
In 1962, the current armory was built, and the Guard moved in, continuing to use the 1951 building as a maintenance garage and storage building. The current armory sits on approximately eight acres. The 1951 maintenance building is still owned by the state.
Photos and information courtesy Kentucky Heritage Council -- Report No. 25" Inventory and Evaluation of National Guard Armories in the State of Kentucky" - 1999 by Kate Carothers.