Photo By David Howell | Twelve intrepid Georgia Army Guardsman pose briefly before beginning their 101-mile...... read more read more
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CLAY NATIONAL GUARD CENTER, Ga. - The Georgia Army National Guard's long range surveillance unit will again, "fill the boots" of their World War II predecessors and commemorate the 118-mile march from Toccoa to Atlanta by the Army's 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, in December 1942.
About 17 Citizen-Soldiers of Atlanta's 3rd Squadron, 108th Cavalry, will begin the estimated 101-mile march at the Guard's armory in Toccoa during the early morning hours of Nov. 4. Moving at an estimated 33-mile per day, they'll arrive two days later at Atlanta's Oglethorpe University. On the morning of Nov. 7, the Guardsmen will travel an additional six miles along Peachtree Street and join in the Atlanta Veteran's Day Parade scheduled for Nov. 7.
Among the locations the group, carrying 35-pound backpacks and M4 carbine "training rifles," will pass on their way out of Toccoa will be Col. Robert F. Sink Memorial Trail up Currahee Mountain, named for 506th regimental commander, and the memorial marking the original location of Camp Toccoa -now an industrial park- where the 506th and Easy Company of the 'Band of Brothers fame' came into being.
The last time 3rd Squadron, 108th Cavalry-formerly Company H, 121st Infantry re-enacted the march was in 2008. Previous re-enactments were conducted in 2002 and 2005. World events and deployments in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007 prohibited the Georgia Guardsmen re-enacting the march during those years.
In December 1942, shortly after having completing its basic training at Camp Toccoa, the 506th was about to move to Fort Benning in Columbus to begin its parachute training. Sink, who'd read a Reader's Digest story about a Japanese Army unit that had broken the world record for marching (about 100 miles in only a few days). Believing his men, including those of Easy Company, could do better, Sink ordered 2nd Battalion and its commander Maj. Robert L. Strayer 118 miles south to Atlanta.
The march was conducted over 75 hours and 15 minutes, with 33.5 hours per day being used for marching. When the battalion reached Atlanta's Five Points area, it was greeted by crowds of cheering civilians and news media who'd lined the streets in anticipation of the unit's arrival.
| Date Taken: | 11.06.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 11.06.2009 14:04 |
| Story ID: | 41202 |
| Location: | CLAY NATIONAL GUARD CENTER, US |
| Web Views: | 2,425 |
| Downloads: | 346 |
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