Clarke County residents will have the opportunity to see a caravan of the new National Guard as one of two units touring the state will make a stop in Osceola on Saturday, Nov. 8.
The tour is making up a part of one of the biggest National Guard recruiting programs ever undertaken in the state, with anywhere 12 to 15 units included in each caravan.
The drive is known as “Operation 88,888,” with its goal being to add that many men to the National Guard before Nov. 1.
More than 2,500 miles will be covered by the two units. Among the military equipment allocated to the caravan is a 155-mm howitzer hauled behind a new high speed prime mover tracker and new, six-wheel armored scout cats.
There will be ordinance and engineer repair trucks to accompany the caravan unit, as will models of the Army’s newest recoil-less weapons including the 75-mm recoilless rifle, which can be fired from a man’s shoulder.
New arms and signal equipment now in the hands of the National Guardsman will be demonstrated and displayed. P-51 fighter planes of the Iowa Air National Guard will fly over each caravan. - 1947