Twice in Lassen County’s history there have been local militia units of the California National Guard. The first was the Honey Lake Rangers of the 1860s. The last time was during World War II. Initially, there was to be one large unit for Lassen and Modoc counties. That plan was neither feasible or practical and was dropped.
A new strategy was drafted. Inside each county, especially in large rural counties like Lassen, several local militia units would be formed. There duties were to protect the area in case of enemy invasion. Their involvement was confined to the boundaries of the county. Uniforms, guns and ammunition would be provided to each unit. They would also be trained in guerilla warfare. In Lassen County it fell upon the Farm Advisor (T.S. Brown) to organize these units.
On May 20 1942, the first organization meeting was held in Susanville. Local units were created for Susanville, Bieber, Doyle, Janesville and Standish. By the first of June, the Susanville Militia had 70 members. It became known as Thomas Tucker Militia—named after Thomas Tucker the first casualty from Susanville in World War I. Fortunately, this volunteer force never had to be activated. At the conclusion of the war, each individual’s enrollment in the militia was automatically cancelled.
Wondering when the guard unit at the Susanville Fair Grounds Armory formed and disbanded that existed during the Vietnam war? It was the 1401st combat engineer company, and the 112th dump truck company in the late 1960’s when I served under Marion “Jack” Jenkins, and later Del Gorbet.