Wyoming National Guard Museum. Signed Into Law on February 14, 2019

ORIGINAL House 

Bill No. HB0039

ENROLLED ACT NO. 4, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SIXTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING

2019 General Session

AN ACT relating to defense forces and affairs; designating the historic Wyoming national guard armory as a museum; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1.  W.S. 19‑14‑112 is created to read:

19‑14‑112.  Description and declaration of Wyoming national guard museum.

The lands in Laramie county, Wyoming, described as follows are hereby declared to be the Wyoming national guard museum to be managed by the military department: All of Block 8, Replat of Airport Addition to the City of Cheyenne, Wyoming, as shown by the Replat of said Airport Addition on file and of record in the office of the County Clerk and Ex-Officio Register of Deeds, in and for said Laramie County, said replat being filed on October 1, 1935, as No. 287212; LESS the Southerly ten (10) feet of said Block 8, Replat of Airport Addition quitclaimed to the City of Cheyenne by the Wyoming Army National Guard, as filed June 15, 1995, in Book 1400, Page 461, in the records of said Clerk of Laramie County, Wyoming.

Section 2.  This act is effective July 1, 2019.

(END)

Speaker of the House			President of the Senate

	Governor
	TIME APPROVED: _________
	DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the House.

Chief Clerk

Wyoming National Guard Headquaters Displays, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

F86D at Wyoming National Guard Headquarters, Cheyenne Wyoming

M7 105 Howitzer Carriage

These displays are at the Wyoming National Guard Headquarters in  Cheyenne, Wyoming. Both displays commemorate the Wyoming National Guard, Air and Army, during the 1950s.

Wyoming Army National Guard Museum

These photographs illustrate the location of the Wyoming Army National Guard Museum.  As I was taking this photo in an effort to illustrate the older, cavalry related, part of this structure, I failed to get a really good photo of the front of the museum.

The building was built in 1936, during a period of time during which cavalry was actually receiving increased attention in the American military.  The Wyoming National Guard (there was only an Army Guard at the time, as of course there was no Air Force at all, that being part of the Army) was cavalry at the time, being the 115th Cavalry Regiment.

Some may wonder about the "AL" below the AD on the corner stone.  The AL is the date used in Masonry for the creation of the earth, and many buildings of this type during this era were dedicated with the participation of Masons.

This shows the front of the building. This structure was used as a National Guard Armory from the 1930s until some time until the 1970s, but I suspect hte brick structure was a latter addition.   These small armories became very unsuitable for continued use by the 1960s, and were replaced in quite a few instances during the 1970s to contemplate the need for much larger armories.  Compounding this need was the fact that in some instances, such as in Casper and Cheyenne, the old armories were well within the city limits by the 1960s making their use for military purposes difficult.

M7 105 Gun Motor Carriage. The Wyoming Army National Guard's 300th Armored Field Artillery used these during the Korean War, during which they won a Presidential and a Congressional Unit Citation for an action in which they directly engaged attacking Communist forces.

 This is a M59 Armored Personnel Carrier, two of which are on display at this museum.  I'm not aware of any Wyoming Army National Guard unit using these, but some must have as the other items on display here were definitely used by the Wyoming Army National Guard.  Wyoming's units included the 115th Mechanized Cavalry, the descendant of the 115th Cavalry and the 115th Cavalry (Horse Mech), in the 1950s and perhaps onto the 1960s, at which point the cavalry was phased out and the 115th lineage was carried on by the 115th Artillery Regiment.  The former cavalry units became battalions of the 49th Field Artillery along with the 300th AFA.  Today, those units are smaller and are once again the 300th AFA.

This is a USS M777 155mm howitzer, which is a gun still used by the US military.

115th Cavalry Regiment Armory Monument, Casper Wyoming

This unusual monument commerates the 115th Cavalry Regiment's armory in Casper, Wyoming. The Wyoming Army National Guard armory was built in 1930 and was one of several housing individual units of the National Guard's 115th Cavalry Regiment. After the Korean War the unit later housed the HHB 3d Bn 49th FA until some date in the 1970s. The building then passed into the ownership of Casper College, and it was ultimately torn down in 1987. This monument stands in a park where party of the armory's grounds were located.

Photographs of the armory are also located here. More about the 115th Cavalry Regiment, which was federalized in 1940 and served in World War Two, can be found on the Society of the Military Horse website, a link to which is provided in our link list.

Photographs of the armory coming down are provided below.