On this day in Capital Guardians history: April 13, 1918, Soldiers and officers of the D.C. National Guard’s 1st Separate Battalion of Infantry arrived in France for service in World War I. The unit’s origins date to Reconstruction but it was formerly organized in the D.C. Militia in 1891, during the early Jim Crow era, as a segregated (“separate”) and all-black unit. Re-designated as the 1st Battalion, 372nd Infantry Regiment in January 1918, the D.C. Guardsmen served with a distinction and bravery that rivaled the famed “Harlem Hellfighters.” The proud legacy and lineage of the 1-372nd Infantry Battalion survives today in the 372nd Military Police Battalion, D.C. Army National Guard.  

On this day in Capital Guardians history: April 13, 1918, Soldiers and officers of the D.C. National Guard’s 1st Separate Battalion of Infantry arrived in France for service in World War I. The unit’s origins date to Reconstruction but it was formerly organized in the D.C. Militia in 1891, during the early Jim Crow era, as a segregated (“separate”) and all-black unit. Re-designated as the 1st Battalion, 372nd Infantry Regiment in January 1918, the D.C. Guardsmen served with a distinction and bravery that rivaled the famed “Harlem Hellfighters.” The proud legacy and lineage of the 1-372nd Infantry Battalion survives today in the 372nd Military Police Battalion, D.C. Army National Guard.