California Military Department State Military History & Museums Program

Thanks to the US Property and Fiscal Office for California and the skilled restoration team at the Estrella Warbirds Museum in Paso Robles, our very rare Japanese Type-97 37mm Light Tank (or "Tankette") has been repaired, repainted, and delivered to the Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos.

It will soon be installed inside the Headquarters of the 40th Infantry Division as a memorial to the division's service in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

This is one of five examples in the Western Hemisphere, with the other four located across the country, including the US Army Armor Center and School, Fort Benning, GA, and the remaining seven located in Europe and Asia.

In addition to the 37mm main gun version, machine gun and chemical warfare variants were also manufactured.

Shown here is volunteer Bernice Leslie test-driving our new document/book/photo digitization workstation at our Museum Support Center-North, Sacramento Okinawa Street Armory Complex.

Thanks to an anonymous donor, we received a CZUR ET-16 overhead, high-speed book and document scanner, a large format (11 x 17-inch) flatbed scanner, and a new laptop computer and monitor.

We also received a Kodak 35mm slide and negative scanner, which we will use until we acquire an Epson V-800 high-resolution scanner that will be requested through the state supply system next state fiscal year.

From our partners at the Clovis Veterans Memorial District

A battery of M2A1 howitzers (105mm) conducts a fire mission targeting Japanese positions located in the village of Bamban. These soldiers are assigned to the 164th Field Artillery, 40th Infantry Division fighting during the Philippines campaign.
World War II. Pacific Theater of Operations. Luzon, Philippines. 26 January 1945.

Photograph of an aerial view of Camp Roberts, California in 1962.

California Military Department Historical Collection.

Last week, the program acquired an AAI Corporation RQ-7B "Shadow" Unmanned Aerial Reconnaissance Vehicle. This was previously used by the California Army National Guard's San Diego-based Company D, 578th Brigade Engineer Battalion of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

It is planned to be installed at the Headquarters, 40th Infantry Division, Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos.

Many thanks to the Supply and Service Branch, US Property and Fiscal Office, for facilitating this transfer.

The California National Guard remembers the three members of the 251st Coast Artillery Regiment who were the first casualties of the Imperial Japanese Navy's attack on Hawaii.

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