Georgia National Guard History

1st Lt. Louie Mikell
54th Fighter Wing, Ga. ANG

Louie Avery Mikell was born April 19, 1922, to Louie and Alva Mikell of Statesboro, Ga. After graduating from Savannah High School with honors, Mikell worked at the shipyard in Savannah before enlisting in the Army. Mikell volunteered for the Air Corps at Hunter Field and completed pilot training before his assignment as a B-25 pilot with the 5th Air Force in the Pacific Theater. Through World War II, Mikell completed 39 missions and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross and five Air Medals. He left the Air Corps as a captain after the end of the war and joined the Georgia Air National Guard as a lieutenant. On June 1, 1948, Mikell and other Georgia National Guard pilots were in Michigan to assist in the filming of the motion picture Fighter Squadron. Mikell was flying a P-47 over lake Oscoda when his aircraft when into a tailspin. Mikell successfully bailed out of the aircraft and had swum approximately 300 yards when he disappeared under the waves. He rests in the Greenwich section of Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah.

Pvt. Fred Hester
Battery F, 179th Field Artillery Regiment

Fred Austin Hester was born in Roanoke, Ala. to James and Bernice Hester. He enlisted in the Georgia National Guard's Battery F, 179th Field Artillery Regiment May 21, 1940, at the age of 24. On February 24, 1941, Hester was assigned to Company D, 738th Military Police Battalion at Fort Sheridan, Ill. He died of a brain tumor May 31, 1942 in Fort Benjamin Harrison Hospital. He rests in Cedarwood Cemetery, Roanoke, Ala.

Cpl. Ben Weeks
Company B, 121st Infantry Regiment

Ben Terrell Weeks was born September 10, 1889, to farmers Abel and Dorcas Weeks of Jones, Dodge County, Ga. Weeks enlisted in the Georgia National Giard’s Company B, 121st Infantry Regiment, September 19, 1917, as a private and was soon promoted to corporal. Weeks was killed in an automobile accident May 31, 1918, while stationed at Camp Wheeler in Macon, Ga. He rests in Ryals Cemetery in Dodge County, Ga.

Ben’s brother George was killed in action July 25, 1918, while serving with the Georgia National Guard’s Company C, 151st Machine Gun Battalion.

2nd Lt. Cecil Walkley Jr.
Battery C, 101st Separate Battalion, Coast Artillery Corps

Cecil Conniff Walkley Jr. was born October 17, 1917, to Cecil and Alice Walkley of Mobile, Ala. His family moved to Duval County, Fla. in 1920 and by 1926 had moved to Atlanta where Walkley graduated from Fulton County High School. In 1940, Walkley was working as a bank teller and had completed three years of college when he entered federal service December 17, 1940, with Battery C, 101st SP BN CAC, formerly Troop C, 1-108th Cavalry Regiment. After mobilizing to Camp Stewart in 1941, Walkley volunteered for the Air Corps and was commissioned a second lieutenant. Following his pilot training at Maxwell Field, Ala. he was assigned to the 472nd Bomber Squadron based in Greenville, S.C. On May 20, 1943, Walkley and five crewmembers died when a B-25 piloted by Walkley crashed at Ellington Field Texas. He rests in West View Cemetery, Atlanta.

May 18, 1963:

Captain Ben Penton of the Columbus-based 560th Engineer Battalion, Georgia National Guard, renders honors during the armed forces parade down Broadway in Columbus, Georgia. Penton served as commander of the Headquarters Company and adjutant of the 560th Engineer Battalion. The 560th continues in service today as the 110th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, an element of the 78th Troop Command.

Today we honor and remember Master Sgt. Davy Weaver of the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team who was killed in action May 18, 2008 in Afghanistan.

May 16, 1947:

Brigadier General Alpha Fowler, Georgia’s Adjutant General, announced that Forsyth, Georgia would be the home of the 190th Tank Battalion, the only tank battalion authorized in the post World War II reorganization of the Georgia National Guard. Colonel Wesley D. Willingham, former commander of the Forsyth-based 30th Tank Company, accepted a reduction in rank as lieutenant colonel to command the new unit

Staff Sgt. Hilton Horton
Company I, 121st Infantry Regiment

Hilton Jackson Horton was born March 19, 1920, in Thomasville, Ga. He was the oldest son of Roy and Katie Horton. He enlisted in Company I, 121st Infantry Regiment, Georgia National Guard May 2, 1938, at age 18 after completing high school. Corporal Horton was employed as a superintendent at a dairy when he entered federal service with the 121st Infantry Regiment in September 1940. On September 4, 1941, Horton volunteered for service in the Army Air Corps. After completing training, he was assigned to the 27th Bomb Squadron, 30th Bomb Group as the crew chief of a B-24 Liberator based in the Marshall Islands. On May 14, 1944, Horton was killed in an accident while aircraft were taxiing. He rests in Laurel Hill Cemetery Thomasville, Ga.

Pvt. Aubie Goins
Company E, 121st Infantry Regiment

Aubie Eugene Goins was born in Covington, Ga. December 24, 1895, to farmers Walter and Georgia Goin and grew up working on the family farm. On October 29, 1917, Goins was inducted into federal service in the 1st Company, 157th Replacement Depot, at Camp Gordon, Ga. He was subsequently assigned to the Georgia National Guard’s Company E, 121st Infantry Regiment, which was training at Camp Wheeler near Macon, Ga. Goins was killed in an automobile accident May 13, 1918. He was 22. He rests in Starrsville Cemetery in Newton County, Ga.

Staff Sgt. Kenyon Miller
Company G, 121st Infantry Regiment

Kenyon Orville Miller was born July 15, 1922, to Robert and Uldene Miller of Valdosta, Ga. He enlisted in the Georgia National Guard as a member of the Valdosta Videttes, Company G, 121st Infantry Regiment, in 1939. He was activated September 16, 1940, and mobilized to Fort Jackson, S.C. After completing initial training, Miller volunteered for the Army Air Corps and was assigned to the 447th Bomb Group, 709th Bomber Squadron as a tail gunner on a B-17 in the European Theater. On May 12, 1944, Miller’s aircraft was hit by flak and ditched in the English Channel. His body was never recovered. He is memorialized on the Luxembourg American Cemetery Tablets of the Missing.