In 1907, yielding to Federal pressure, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts reluctantly gave up the title of Massachusetts Volunteer Militia," and was the last to adopt the term "National Guard." 1916 saw the mobilization for the Mexican border troubles. The regiment saw nine months of active duty and, more importantly, the organization and the U.S. Army received valuable training in what happens when citizen-soldiers are mobilized. Listening to the grumblings of the soldiers, many newspaper reporters concluded that the National Guard would not fight in an actual war. Many of these same soldiers who were demobilized in February 1917 were mustered back in during April of the same year. Their record in World War I easily refutes any concern these journalists may have The glorious record won by the organization during World War I was not done under the name 6th Massachusetts or 181st Infantry. At the outbreak of the war the War Department redesignated all units under a new numbering system. Under this system, regular army units were given the divisional numbers from 1 to 25 and the regimental numbers from 1 to 100. The first National Guard division received the designation "26th,' and the regiments in this square division were numbered from 101 to 104. Most of the units which now comprise the 181st were then assigned to the 104th Infantry, the 181st being based in Natick.The exception was the Emmett Guards. As a traditional Irish company, they were assigned to the l01st Infantry, the descendants of the "Irish Ninth" Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry of Civil War Fame. All of these units shared in every battle of the 26th Infantry Division during World War I. This includes the famous charge of the 104th Infantry during the battle of the Meuse-Argonne. The regiment charged THROUGH the German barrage singing "Hail, Hail, The Gang's All Here." They spent 210 days in combat with only 10 days rest. At the battle of the Marne, they earned the nickname "The Saviors of Paris. The one complaint lodged against them by our allies was that "in the attack, they move too fast. It was during the Great War that the 328th Infantry Regiment was formed and assigned to the (then) 82nd Infantry Division, nicknamed the All-American. This regiment, which was later to merge its lineage with that of the 181st, produced the greatest hero of World War I. On 7 October, 1918, Corporal Alvin C. York, on a patrol with seven privates of his squad, captured 132 German soldiers during the battle of the Meuse-Argonne. This is not to detract from Corporal Homer Wheaton, member of the Emmett Guards and, in civilian Life, a reporter for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. On seeing a live grenade land amongst his buddies, Corporal Wheaton threw himself on it, thus saving the lives of his comrades, ending his own, and winning the Distinguished Service Cross. The end of the war saw the inevitable reorganization of the National Guard. The notable event of this period was the transfer of the 181st from Natick to Worcester in 1930. This was the beginning of the 181st Infantry as we know it. The regiment spent this period training very much as we train today, with the same hindrances and shortages that we face today. But the 181st was ready, in January 1941, when President Franklin D Roosevelt ordered it mobilized for one year owing to the situation in Europe. The regiment responded, took part in the Carolina maneuvers, and returned to Camp Edwards on 6 December 1941. All the soldiers were in a joyous mood, anticipating their release from active duty the following month, when they went to bed that night. The next morning they woke up, found the telephones ripped out, and MPs guarding the gates. The Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor and they were in World War II for the duration. Sadly, the 181st was not to carry its peacetime camaraderie into the war. It was broken up, and the individual members were sent to every theater of the war, from China to the Normandy beaches. However, it was replaced by the 328th Infantry, whose lineage we bear to this day. The 328th was reactivated at the same time the 181st was dissolved, and - for the only time in World War II - was cadred by a complete battalion each from the 101st and 104th Infantry. It joined these two regiments to make up the 26th Yankee Infantry Division. They landed in Europe in September 1944 and were attached to General George S. Patton's Third Army. It sliced across France and was the first to enter Germany, just prior to being pulled out of the line on 13 December 1944 for a thirty day rest period. They never got their thirty day rest; on 22 December they were informed that a massive German attack, later to be known as the Bulge, had been launched. The 101st Airborne was encircled at Bastogne; somebody had to rescue them. Somebody was Patton's Third Army and the 26th Division. In a smashing attack they fought through to Bastogne, saved the 101st, and decided the course of the war in western Europe. Incidentally, having been informed of the massacre of American prisoners at Malmedy, Colonel Ben Jacobs of the 328th ordered that no SS were to be taken prisoner, but instead shot on site. Though months of hard fighting which would take the regiment from France to the heart of Austria and Czechoslovakia lay ahead, the war was won. The end of the war brought yet another reorganization. The so-called "small" wars have come and gone without a call: for fifty years the colors have not been called to Federal service. Not for Korea, nor Vietnam, nor for the Gulf. This is the longest period in its history. What lies ahead? Who knows. But this Battalion embodies, second to none, the National Guard motto, "Here then, here now, here always when you need us". And so we say, as has been said for over 360 years