Page 17 - The Dispatch December 2019

TEXAS MILITARY DEPARTMENT

helped 50 women and children seeking shelter at the
THE FIRST BIG TEST Houston Light Guard Armory.

The 22nd Battalion braved wind, rain and flooding to
make dramatic rescues near the Houston Municipal
Airport. Two Guard members drove 50 miles to rescue
a woman trapped in her home. Notified that a family
was stranded in a car two blocks from the airport, five
Guard members went into action. Combating the 95
mph wind and tying themselves together, they pushed
forward on foot. As they made their way down the
road, they saw a man trying to hold on to a tree branch
to keep from drowning in a flooded ditch. One Guard
member put the man on his shoulders and carried him
back to the airport. The rest continued on, having to
crawl as the force of the wind made walking impossi-
ble. They finally reached the family of nine men, wom-
en and children. They could not take all of them at
once. The Guard members made two trips during the
rescue, carrying four children on their shoulders on
the first rescue and on the second carrying two wom-
en and two elderly men while a younger man held on
to the ropes of the Guard members.

In another rescue near the airport, Guard members re-
ceived a message that a family was in grave danger as
flood waters rushed into their home six blocks away.
Guard members struggled down the road on foot in
rain so heavy and wind so fierce that they could not
see or breathe. This rescue team first stopped to res-
cue a boy and his grandfather who had suffered a
heart attack. Putting the old man on his shoulders, one
Guard member with the boy holding onto his belt re-
turned to the airport. Once there, the Guard member
administered first aid while waiting for the ambulance
to arrive. The rest of the rescue team, wading through
flooded prairies and roads in waist-high water, found
the house and brought the family members to the air-
port. In all, the 22nd Battalion at the airport rescued
100 people between Sept. 23 and 24.

(Page 12) An officer in the Texas State Guard conducts commando tactics
during the Texas State Guard Training Camp held at Camp Bullis near
San Antonio, Texas in July of 1943 (Courtesy of: The Texas Guardsmen
Magazine, June 1943)

(Page 13) Pvt. James Barrow guards a pile of aluminum cookware gath-
ered during a donation drive to support the war effort during World War
II. Doners visited Peter Smith Park in Fort Worth, Texas, to drop off the
items with members of the Texas Defense Guard who turned them over
to the Department of Defense. (Courtesy of: University of Texas Arlington
Digital Archive)
www.tmd.texas.gov 17