Mexican Border

March 09, 2011

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When trouble broke out along the Mexican border in 1916, the Delaware men were, as always, among the first to answer the call. Since the State did not have a full regiment by Federal standards, the Delaware troops went to New Mexico in July as two separate battalions of infantry. Much to the regret of the regiment's senior officers, the regimental headquarters and band were not accepted for service.

The Delaware troops' service on the border, like that of the rest of the nation's National Guard, turned out to be more significant for its training value in preparation for World War I than for its actual accomplishments as an army in the field.

Of the men who received their first military training in the ranks of the Delaware battalions, the most famous is Lt. Gen. John W. (Iron Mike) O'Daniel, USA (ret.), who was a private and later supply sergeant in Newark's Company E. Among the officers were two later adjutants general of Delaware, J. A. Ellison and William Berl, Jr., and a future commander of the Delaware regiment, John P. LeFevre.

Some of the officers who were to lead the 198th Coast Artillery in World War II had just started the climb up through the enlisted ranks including Brig. Gen. George J. Schulz and Lt. Cols. S. B. I. Duncan and Henry C. Ray. Delaware's present (1957) State Director of Selective Service, Brig. Gen. Harry B. Van Sciver, was a second lieutenant in Company C.

Another prominent Guardsman who was on the border was First Sgt. (now Major, retired) Frederick L. Manion of Company F, one of the nation's outstanding marksman, who brought added laurels to the Delaware National Guard that year by placing second in the national championships with the highpower rifle at Camp Perry, O.

By early 1917 the Mexican border situation was well under control, and the National Guardsmen returned to their homes. Older residents of Wilmington still recall the memorable "welcome home" banquet at the Hotel DuPont on Feb. 7, 1917, the largest ever held up to that time in Wilmington, and one seldom equaled since then.

The Delaware men were glad to be home. Few of them realized that within two months they would be back in service, and this time it was to be the real thing.