Military museum celebrates National Guard?s 375th birthday

In celebration of the National Guard?s 375th birthday, the Iowa National Guard will host an observance at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Iowa Gold Star Military Museum, Camp Dodge, Johnston.

The origin of the National Guard began with its first muster of Citizen-Soldiers forming the Massachusetts colonial militia Dec. 13, 1636, in Salem, Mass.

Tuesday?s festivities include a program about the history of the Iowa National Guard, followed by a birthday cake-cutting ceremony. Period re-enactors will display uniforms representing the 172-year history of the Iowa National Guard, from its early days as a constitutionally mandated state militia to its present community, state and federal missions. The event is free and open to the public.

In addition, the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum will hold a sneak peak of its new exhibit, ?From Frontier Soldiers to Global Guardians: The History of the Iowa National Guard,? which uses interactive displays, photographs, artifacts and a mock-up of an Iowa National Guard supply room from the mid-1970s to tell the history of the Iowa National Guard.