In 1950, the newly reorganized National Guard, many of its members Veterans of WWII, represented the Army’s best source of experienced manpower. At the outbreak of the Korean War, the Army produced a list of the 6 National Guard divisions best suited for mobilization. The first draft of this list included 5 Infantry divisions, the 28th (Pennsylvania), 29th (Virginia and Maryland), 31st (Mississippi and Alabama), 37th (Ohio), 45th (Oklahoma), as well as the 50th Armored (New Jersey). However, when the divisions were actually called to active duty in Korea, the list was modified to reflect broader geography, so California’s 40th Division replaced the 37th, and the 43rd Division (Rhode Island and Connecticut) replaced the 50th Armored.
In the late 1950s, continued Cold War expansion of the National Guard’s armored units resulted in the conversion of New York’s 27th Infantry Division into an armored one. But in the late 1960s, reorganization and downsizing of the National Guard resulted in the 27th Armored Division (“Empire”) into an armored brigade assigned to the 50th Armored Division. At the same time, the 36th Infantry Brigade from Texas and the 86th Armored Brigade from Vermont also became part of the 50th Armored Division. The “Jersey Blues” nickname no longer fit, and the division’s shoulder patch was redesigned to remove it.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the 50th Armored Division continued to conduct armored training and operations with the M-48 series main battle tank. In the mid 1980s, the 50th Armored changed its table of organization and equipment (MTOE), including the addition of a fourth armor company (D Company) to each armor battalion, and converted to the M-60 series tank.
In 1988 50th Armored Division was deactivated during another consolidation of National Guard units. Its lineage and honors passed to New Jersey’s 50th Armored Brigade, which became part of the 42nd Infantry Division. At the same time, the 86th Brigade rejoined the 26th Infantry Division, and the 36th Infantry Brigade joined the Texas National Guard’s 49th Armored Division. During the 1990s the 26th Division was also deactivated as part of the post-Cold War downsizing of the National Guard, and the 86th Brigade became part of the 42nd Infantry Division.
Prominent members of the 50th Armored Division include Leonard Wing, Jr., the last commander of the separate 86th Armored Brigade before it became part of the 50th Armored Division. This Leonard Wing’s father, Major General Leonard Wing Senior served as commander of the 43rd Infantry Division during World War II. After the 86th Brigade became a part of the 50th Armored Division, Leonard Wing, Jr. served as assistant division commander, and retired from the National Guard as a brigadier general.
Drew University President and former New Jersey governor Tom Kean, who chairs the commission investigating the federal government’s security preparations before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, also served in the 50th Armored Division when he was a member of the National Guard. Actor John Amos, famous for his roles on the TV shows Roots, Good Times and The West Wing, as well as his roles in films including Die Hard II, served as a radio operator and tracked vehicle driver in the 50th Armored’s Headquarters Battery, 199th Armored Field Artillery Regiment.
Today, in addition to the 50th Armored Brigade, other National Guard units trace their heritage through the 50th Armored Division, including the 42nd Infantry Division’s Division Support Command (DISCOM), the 36th Infantry Brigade of Texas’s 49th Armored Division (Lone Star), and Vermont’s 86th Armored Brigade, 42nd Infantry Division.
