2nd and 3rd Battalions 185th Armor CA ARNG

Most of the tanks and other tracked vehicles at the Camp Roberts Historical Museum have been painted now. Here is one of them, like the ones that were stationed and used at the San Diego Armory on Mesa College Drive in the 1980s. It's an M60A3 Main Battle Tank. The markings indicate that it is from Charlie Company, Third Battalion, 185th Armor, CA ARNG, in San Diego, the unit that the museum's Chairman/Curator was Unit Administrator of for ten years in the 1980s, in the Mesa College Armory.

IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERANS: The museum is currently looking for copies of photos of soldiers and veterans who pre-mobilized at Camp Roberts, then served in Iraq or Afghanistan, for our exhibits. If you have photos of you or your unit in training or in country, please contact the curator at [email protected].

Wishing everyone a great Turkey Day!!

GENTLEMAN JACK. This nice gentleman, Jack who is 94, came with his son from the Bay Area to visit the Camp Roberts Historical Museum today. He was with the 40th Division in the Korean War then spent some time at Camp Roberts and Hunter Liggett. Here, he's looking at a scrapbook in the museum's Korean War Room, which is full of articles on the 40th in Korea. After his time as an officer with an AA unit in the Regular Army he joined the CA ARNG and was stationed at Ft. Rosecrans on Pt. Loma. He was moved to the main San Diego Armory on Mesa College Drive when it was built (like CSM Dorsey and others did). There, he was a unit administrator. It was a real treat for museum staff to talk to him today.

Sorry to hear that a former commander of the 3rd Bn 185th Armor just passed away. Sincere condolences to his family and close friends.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Armor Branch! (12 December). You know, the Tank Corps was organized when we entered World War I. The only thing was, we lacked one essential element. TANKS! So, we used French tanks. The British invented the first tanks, which were big cracker boxes, the Mark series, but a couple of years later the Renault automobile Company in France (which is still making cars) came up with a ground-breaking design, producing the Renault FT-17. It was the very first modern tank. It had the driver in the front, the engine in the rear, and a fully revolving turret with the main gun--the same configuration that has been followed in the design of every main battle tank since! It had a 2-man crew and a top speed of 7 mph. It could have either a 37mm Puteaux gun or a machine gun in the turret. This was the only tank we used in WWI. This was also the tank that Corporal Harold W. Roberts, the namesake of Camp Roberts, California, perished in during the Argonne Offensive of WWI. He was the second tank crewman to receive the Medal of Honor (posthumusly). Camp Roberts was named in his honor when it opened in 1941 as the US Army's largest basic training camp.

These were taken in the National City Armory in the mid-1990s. They show the work area of the Unit Administrator of HHC and the unit history display case he set up as well as the toy drive for Christmas.

The San Diego Armory on Mesa College Drive in the 1980s. Anyone remember what the event was to have a shark entrance?

CSM Charles Dorsey, assigned to HHC 2nd Brigade, 40th Infantry Division (MECH), in his office in the Mesa College Armory in the 1980s.

REMEMBER THESE? A morning necessity. Do you still have yours?