Paying Back

Retired Maj. Gen. James K. “Red” Brown says contributing to the National Guard Educational Foundation’s is his way of happily paying back a big debt of gratitude.

“The Guard gave me practically everything I have,” said Brown, who served 39 years in the Texas Army Guard, much of it part time.

“It broadened me so much,” he said. “The Guard enabled a young man from East Texas to go all over world. It enabled me to work with people from all walks of life and every socio-economic group. And it gave me the skills I needed to build my business.

“It was also great for my kids,” Brown added. “They had the chance to meet so many people who didn’t sound and look like me.”

The ledger isn’t completely one-sided. Brown had multiple leadership positions, including as commander of a brigade combat team in Iraq and later as commander of the 36th Infantry Division. He retired in 2019 after serving as deputy commanding general-Army National Guard, Army Forces Command at then-Fort Bragg, North Carolina. “Whatever I gave to the Guard, the Guard gave back tenfold,” he said.

Brown and his wife, Jane, were among 10 donors recognized during a reception March 16 at the National Guard Memorial, the NGAUS headquarters in Washington, D.C. Each contributed through the foundation’s Legion de Lafayette program, which is reserved for gifts of $10,000 or more.

He said the contribution, the Brown’s second LdL gift, was made in honor of Jane.

“She has impacted countless soldiers and their families, and she is an exceptional Guard wife,” Brown said. “I have been blessed to travel this journey with her.”

He added that this contribution won’t be his last though the LdL.

The major-donor program is the leading revenue source for the foundation, which preserves and shares all 388 years of the Guard story. Among its programs is the National Guard Memorial Museum, which includes 5,600 square feet of artifacts, images and interactive exhibits.

Two other two-star couples were among those honored: retired Maj. Gen. James Hoyer and wife, Amy; and retired Maj. Gen. Tim Orr and his wife, Suzanne, a retired lieutenant colonel.

“Our family has been proud to be a part of the West Virginia National Guard for over forty years with both of our sons also serving the Guard,” said Hoyer, a former NGAUS and NGEF chairman (2016-2018) and the adjutant general of West Virginia (2011-2021). He continues to contribute to the association as chairman of the NGAUS finance committee.

“Suzanne and I are so honored to have been a part of the National Guard family for so many years,” said Orr, a former adjutant general of Iowa (2009-2019) and advisor to the National Guard Bureau chief for intergovernmental affairs (2020–2023). “It has been a big part of our lives and now it is only fitting that we give back to the NGEF to support those who have served, and to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our states and nation.”

Both Hoyer and Orr are first-time contributors through the LdL program.

Acuity International was the only new donor of the six corporate contributors recognized. BAE Systems, Boeing, Shepard Exposition Services, the Armed Forces Benefit Association and New York Life — the NGAUS Insurance Trust’s carrier — have previously donated to the NGEF.

The Nevada National Guard Association, the lone association honored, made its gift in the name of Dan Morgan, the president of the Nevada Military Support Alliance, which supports the state’s service members, veterans and their families. Morgan is the Nevada Guard’s honorary commander.

“Dan has a longstanding passion for, and commitment to, the military service men and women of our great nation and the state of Nevada,” the NVNGA said.

Those honored received a replica of an 1832 medal the New York militia presented to Marquis de Lafayette, after whom the LdL program is named. A French aristocrat who served in both the American and French revolutions, he played a major role in the development of the state militias, which are now collectively known as the National Guard.

Lafayette commanded the famous Garde Nationale de Paris in France. During his visit to New York in 1824, the militia unit that provided his honor guard adopted the designation National Guard out of respect to his unit in France. The name stuck, growing in popularity until it became the official name of the organization of militias nationwide in the early 20th century.

Additionally, the NGEF stencils the name of every donor, or that of the person they wish to memorialize, on a wall outside the G.V. Montgomery Room in the National Guard Memorial.

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PHOTO ABOVE

Top Row (from left) Maj. Gen. James K. “Red” Brown (Ret.), Texas Army National Guard; Brig. Gen. Robert V. Taylor (Ret.), Armed Forces Benefit Association; Priya Ghosh Ahola, Executive Director, Legislative Affairs, Boeing; Torrey Hubred, Senior Business Development Representative, Acuity International; Michael Graham, National Sales Manager, Shepard Exposition Services; Dan Morgan, Honorary Commander, Nevada National Guard; Dan O’Brien, Vice President, Sales, Marketing & Account Management, New York Life

Front Row (from left) Jane Brown; Maj. Gen. James Hoyer (Ret.), West Virginia; Brig. Gen. Keith Klemmer (Ret.), Business Development Director, BAE Systems; Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn (Ret.), President, NGAUS & NGEF; Lt. Col. Suzanne Orr (Ret.), Iowa Army National Guard; Maj. Gen. Tim Orr (Ret.), Iowa Army National Guard

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A BIG FOCUS FOR THE NGEF this year is events marking the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy, France, which led to the liberation of Western Europe during World War II.

Elements of the 29th Infantry Division, a Guard unit from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, were among the first ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Rough seas, high bluffs overlooking the beaches and hardened German defenses made the assault difficult. Casualties were high in what was the fiercest fighting of the operation. But by the end of the day, U.S. forces had a toehold on the French coastline.

D-Day veterans, heads of state and others commemorate D-Day every five years. Many of the events are on Omaha Beach or at the Normandy American Cemetery that overlooks the beach. The World War II cemetery is the resting place for nearly 9,400 war dead, and nearly 1,600 names on the Walls of the Missing.

NGAUS has sent a delegation to commemorate the Guard's role in D-Day every five years since 1949. This year, Maj. Gen. Janson D. Boyles, the association and foundation chairman, and retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, the president, led the small group, which held a ceremony at the National Guard Monument on Omaha Beach at sunrise June 6, 2024.

NGAUS owns and the NGEF maintains the monument, which sits atop a former German bunker on the edge of the beach.

Other events included parachute drops, parades, concerts, historical re-enactments, fireworks, static displays and exhibitions.

While the events were expected to draw a few D-Day veterans, most who saw action that day and survived the rest of the war are now gone.

In November, only 119,550 World War II veterans remained of the 16.1 million Americans who fought in the war, according to 2023 Department of Veteran Affairs statistics. The youngest of those left are pushing 100 years old, and an average of 131 of them die each day, per the VA.

Which makes it more important for the NGEF to preserve and tell their story for future generations.

John Goheen, the NGAUS director of communication, can reached at john.goheen@ngaus.org.

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A Monument on Omaha Beach

THE NATIONAL GUARD EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION maintains one of the most-visited monuments on Omaha Beach, the site of the fiercest fighting during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France.

The National Guard Monument pays tribute to the hundreds of thousands of Guardsmen who fought in Europe during both World War I and II.

It sits atop an old German bunker that inflicted heavy casualties on the 29th Infantry Division, a Guard division, as it landed on the Dog Green sector of the beach June 6, 1944. The bunker still contains the 88mm gun that U.S. troops silenced.

The U-shaped concrete monument includes black inscription that details in English and French the extent to which Guardsmen served and shed their blood in the two conflicts.

Steps away is the town of Vierville-sur-Mer and a draw that provides a critical passageway up though the bluffs and cliffs that overlook most the beach.

Town officials in 1964 gave NGAUS the land on which the old bunker sits. The association built the monument and dedicated it June 6, 1969, the 25th anniversary of D-Day.

In 1979, the Historical Society of the National Guard and the Militia, now the NGEF, took over responsibility for monument maintenance of and improvements of the monument.

The harsh weather of the English Channel means the monument needs regular maintenance, says Will Roulett, the foundation’s deputy director.

In preparation for this year’s 80th anniversary commemoration, the mortar between the monument’s stones will be removed and replaced and the deteriorating range-finding painting drawn by the German defenders of the beach will be stabilized and restored.

Additionally, the three flag poles next to the monument will be replaced. The poles fly the U.S., French and Army National Guard flags.

By John Goheen