This is the largest single deployment of the Connecticut National Guard since 2009.
Six hundred members of the Connecticut National Guard are preparing to ship out to Africa.
Nearly 600 soldiers boarded a plane and headed to Texas before going to Africa where theyâll be assisting with an ongoing mission.
Theyâve been battling the pandemic in Connecticut and now theyâre facing another challenge.
âJust over a year ago, the same unit was helping with the hospital surge capacity building additional capacity at Central and at Southern,â said Major Gen. Francis Evon, Adjutant General and Commander.
From one mission to the next, the National Guard soldiers with the 1-102nd Infantry have had a busy year battling COVID and their job isnât done yet.
The battle is called the “Miracle at Gapyeong.” The heroic incident took place on May 25, 1951, in South Korea when a small battalion of 240 brave young soldiers from small-town southern Utah Latter-day Saint homes found themselves suddenly under attack by 4,000 Chinese and North Korean soldiers. It was a terrifying and completely unexpected attack. They were given the understanding that they were to provide artillery support to allied soldiers positioned ahead at the North Korean enemy line. But there were critical miscommunications and in fact, there was no buffer between the Utah soldiers and the enemy.
They were shocked and terrified to discover that they were being directly attacked, and drastically outnumbered. The battle is accurately described as “a ferocious hand-to-hand battle fought in the early morning darkness.” At dawn, Lt. Frank Dalley and Captain Ray Cox led their Latter-day Saint battalion into battle. They courageously fought their way through the Gapyeon