Mr. William Marcine Cannon was my Father-in-Law. This information is provided in his honor based on personal knowledge and research data obtained thru various sources.

Mr. Marcine, like many of the local boys joined the Georgia National Guard in Bainbridge, Georgia, in 1940-1941 as things were heating up in Europe. Their unit was Battery D of the 101st Coastal Artillery Battalion. Members of the 101st were inducted into Federal Service by Executive Order 8633 dated January 14, 1941, and signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt who received Congressional authorization to federalize the Guardsman for 1 year of training. It was the largest mobilization of the National Guardsman in the nation’s history to that time.

The unit was commanded by Capt. Samuel Marvin Griffin, who later became a Governor of Georgia. The unit completed training at Fort Stewart, Georgia and in South Carolina and returned to Fort Stewart on Dec 2, 1941. On Dec 6, 1941 many of the unit were given weekend passes. Things changed quickly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Feb 16, 1942 the Battalion loads aboard a ship, the Queen Mary, in Boston Harbor, many not knowing yet their destination. They trained while enroute to Australia arriving there March 28, 1942, 38 days after departing Boston. After stopping in Australia where training was continued the first of the unit began arriving in New Guinea on May 3 1942. They defended the island against the raiding Japanese Aircraft until late February 1945 when they left New Guinea for the Philippines where they provided protection from aerial attack until the end of the war.

Upon being released from the service Mr. Marcine returned home and began farming and continuing doing so until retirement about 1975. He passed away in 1982 from compilations of lung cancer. He is interred in the Jakin Cemetery, in Jakin, Early County Ga. See Find A Grave memorial # 54756011.

Lamar Miller

William Cannon