The Virgin Islands National Guard held celebrations on St. Thomas and St. Croix Thursday to remember the day the territory’s militia began 50 years ago.
Receptions held to mark the Guard’s beginnings took place at the Leonard Francis Readiness Center on St. Thomas and the 210th Regional Readiness Center on St. Croix. Thursday’s events took place in a week capped on each end by military galas.
A former official of the Guard was among the gathering at a “small reception” on St. Croix. “To mark this day, we had a cake and we had some light refreshments,” said retired Lt. Col. Beresford Edwards. Edwards said he joined the Guard after serving four years of active duty in the Army, starting his local duties with the 661st Military Police Corps.
He is currently the president of the Virgin Islands National Guard Association and chair emeritus of the Virgin Islands Committee for the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.
Those who joined the reception also heard remarks from VING Joint Staff Director Colonel Glenda Mathurin-Lee, Chief of Staff Colonel Ivan Udell, and Command Sergeant Major Kent Bellot.
St. Thomas-St. John Senator Dwayne DeGraff — a former guardsman — appeared as well but did not speak. Edwards said he, too, had a chance to offer his congratulations.
Earlier this year, members of the V.I. Legislature drafted Bill No. 35-0170: “A Resolution Honoring and Commemorating the Virgin Islands National Guard on the Commemoration of its 50th Anniversary.” The bill’s language includes details of how the Guard began in 1973 with two units, one establishing its headquarters and the other made up of the 661st Military Police Company, stationed on St. Croix.
They were first called up for duty in 1974 by then-Gov Cyril E. King. Since then, Edwards said, VING has responded to the assistance in the aftermath of every major natural disaster in the Virgin Islands. They also deployed to Honduras to assist with disaster-related wreckage in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and in Honduras after Hurricane Michael.
Members of the Guard have also been deployed overseas to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Guantanamo Bay, and Germany, among other places.
Edwards also noted that cooks from VING have been sent to duty at Camp David, a favored retreat where U.S. presidents sometimes confer with foreign leaders.
Fiftieth-birthday festivities continue with a gala ball on Saturday at the Westin Resort & Spa at Frenchman’s Reef.
