Date in History: 1898 to present
This past August, the Army National Guard unit stationed in Fort Atkinson was given a heartfelt sendoff by the citizens of Jefferson County. Unfortunately this was not the first war that called the young men of Fort Atkinson to foreign soil. In the old days, the site of many farewells for the guard was the Fort Atkinson depot where family and friends would gather for one last glimpse of the troops as they boarded the trains. In April 1898, Company B, of the 1st Wisconsin Volunteer was sent to Florida to prepare for fighting in the Spanish-American War. That same company left again 18 years later to protect the United States border from Mexican rebels in 1916 and again just two years later to fight in World War I.
This historic document aired on the radio as an Historic Minute on 09/19/2005.