NCNGA Weekly Guardsman for August 25, 2022
August 25th, 2022
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IN THIS EDITION:
Registration Now Available for NCNGA Convention and NCNG Military Ball NCNGA
The Connector: A Weekly Newsletter of Veterans Bridge Home Veterans Bridge Home
First female Sapper Leader Course instructor paves the way for others Army.mil
Scholarship Spotlight: Weldon E. Holcomb & Lt Col William C. Polk Memorial Scholarships NCNGA
Read the latest edition of the Tarheel Guardsman NCNGA
Highlighting EANGUS and NGAUS’s upcoming conferences NCNGA
Tickets-At-Work: Members get Discounts on Tickets NCNGA
This Week in NCNG History NCNG Museum
August 25th — Today in Guard History National Guard
Registration Now Available for NCNGA Convention and NCNG Military Ball NCNGA 
Registration is now open for the 2023 NCNGA Convention and NCNG Combined Ball!
Event Details:
March 10-11, 2023
Twin City Quarter
501 W. 5th St., Winston Salem, NC 27101
Book your room now for $119/night at the Winston Salem Marriott
The Connector: A Weekly Newsletter of Veterans Bridge Home Veterans Bridge Home
What’s new? Our team continues to grow. We now have three teammates in the Triad and five in the Triangle. We hope to add a few more in the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you are a service member, Veteran, or family member in the Carolinas and need assistance, or know someone who does, we can help.
STAT OF THE WEEK The number one disability in Veterans is tinnitus and 14% of American adults have been diagnosed with the condition. According to recent studies, tinnitus is now as common as migraines and chronic pain afflicting 740 million adults worldwide. Do you need help with your VA claim or getting connected to the VA healthcare system? We can help.
ICYMI Last week was a busy one for our Charlotte area team and the community.
Our Executive Director, Blake Bourne and VP of Employment, Aaron Harper co-hosted a networking event with the Veterans of Wall Street (VoWS) and led by Victor Perez (USN) of Wells Fargo. There were representatives from Wells Fargo, Truist, Ally, Bank of America, TFX, and USAA.
First female Sapper Leader Course instructor paves the way for others Army.mil
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — Sapper Leader Course Instructor Staff Sgt. Ariana Sanchez never set out to make history or be the example she is today.
Originally from Ecuador, she moved to New Jersey when she was 17. As high school ended, Sanchez was interested in the Army but was unsure of her future. After speaking with Army recruiters, she joined the New Jersey National Guard, setting her off on an unexpected path.
She completed Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Lee, Virginia, in 2014, to become a Water Purification Specialist. During Initial Entry Training, Sanchez realized she not only loved the Army life — she was good at it.
Her two-year transition from the Army National Guard to active-duty status began after arriving at her first unit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. To become a full-time Soldier, she was required to reclass to a different military occupational specialty, she said. Having spent most of her short career on the quartermaster side of the Army, she couldn’t picture herself sitting in an office.
“They asked me what I wanted to be, and I told them I wanted to be in a combat MOS,” she said.
Scholarship Spotlight: Weldon E. Holcomb & Lt Col William C. Polk Memorial Scholarships NCNGA
Scholarship Spotlight:
Weldon E. Holcomb Memorial Scholarship
Mr. Holcomb joined the military and 1942 as part of the 28th Infantry Division. He participated in D-Day invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944. He was captured by the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944. He was a POW for nine months before escaping and making his way back to the American lines to be released in May 1945. Mr. Holcomb joined the NCNG in 1947 as a full-time unit administrator in Winston-Salem. He serves as Division Food Service Chief and Battalion Administrative Officer for the 230th Support Battalion, 30th Infantry Division, Winston-Salem. Upon his death in 1973, Mr. Holcomb had attained the rank of Chief Warrant Officer Four.
Lt Col William C. Polk Memorial Scholarship
Lt Col Polk enlisted in the US Army in February of 1943 in September of that year he entered duty as an aviation cadet in the Army Air Corps ultimately serving as a bomber pilot. He flew the A-26 over “The Hump” in the Burma-China Theater at the age of 21. He was reassigned in April of 1946 to the Army Air Corps Reserves where he served until joining the North Carolina Air National Guard, 156th Fighter Bomber Squadron in 1954 as a pilot flying the F86A. He was seriously injured in the crash of his T-33 at Savannah, Georgia during exercises. He was employed as the full-time Base Civilian Engineer for the NCANG. Many changes on the base were the result of his efforts. His last large design and construction project was the base operations building. He retired from as a full-time technician and from the NCANG on April 30, 1981.
Click here to learn more and apply!
Read the latest edition of the Tarheel Guardsman NCNGA 
The latest edition of the Tarheel Guardsman is now available online at https://ncnga.org/tarheel-guardsman/
Tickets-At-Work: Members get Discounts on Tickets NCNGA 
Tickets at Work: The benefits are endless when it comes to being a NCNGA member! Check out our Tickets-At-Work program, where members can get discounts on tickets from Busch Gardens all the way to Disney. For more information, visit https://ncnga.org/discounts/
This Week in NCNG History NCNG Museum
If you know of anything significant to the NCNG that occurred on any of these dates, and would like it added to our records, please email 1LT Dearie at kory.k.dearie.mil@mail.mil
August 25th — Today in Guard History National Guard
1944
Paris, France – “Dammit colonel, I’m looking up at Notre Dame!” became the battle cry of an on-going feud between two former Guard units as each claim the bragging rights as to which American unit was the first to actually enter the city of Paris just as the Germans abandoned it. The statement was made by Captain William Buenzle, a New Jersey Guardsman, commanding Troop A, 38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron to his commander, Colonel Cyrus Dolph III, commander of New Jersey’s 102nd Cavalry Group, the famous “Essex Troop” to which the 38th was assigned. The 38th was organized in 1942 from former Guardsmen of Iowa’s 113th Cavalry Regiment. After the 38th was assigned to the 102nd in England it gained some New Jersey Guardsmen (including Buenzle) too. The other half of the 102nd Groups’ compliment was it’s own 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, also from New Jersey. Ever since landing on Omaha Beach on June 8th (D+2 after “D-Day”) the Group had been an important part of the scouting ‘eyes’ of the Allied advance through Normandy. On this date each squadron was scouting ahead for major components of the Allied armies. The 38th was patrolling for the 4th U.S. Infantry Division and the 102nd scouting for the French 2nd Armored Division. Both entered Paris at about the same time by two different routes. While Buenzle’s statement gives strength to the 38th’s claim, and the veterans of each claim to this day that their squadron was the ‘first,’ its safe to say that Guardsmen were indeed the “first in Paris.”
The Weekly Guardsman
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