The Armory - Janesville, WI
N 42° 40.825 W 089° 01.662
16T E 333868 N 4727319
The Armory was the home of the National Guard 32nd Tank Company during the 1930's. It is located at 10 S High St in Janesville, WI and now serves as a dinner theater.
Waymark Code: WM2DG7
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 10/16/2007
Views: 81
The historical marker outside reads:
"During the 1930s, the Janesville National Guard armory was headquarters for the 32nd Tank Company, a unit of Wisconsin's famed Thirty-Second Division which had been reorganized after World War I and equipped with light tanks. In November 1940, as part of the mobilization ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the unit was melded with three other midwestern National Guard units and redesignated Company A of the 192nd Tank Battalion. Within a year, the Janesville tank company had been trained and dispatched to the Philippine islands.
Following the outbreak of war on December 7, 1941, members of Company A became the first of 330,000 Wisconsin residents to engage the enemy. During a harrowing four-month defense of the Bataan Peninsula, short of supplies and devoid of air cover, the Janesville tank unit fought bravely alongside other American and Filipino forces until surrendering on April 9, 1942. As prisoners of war, the Janesville men participated in the infamous Bataan Death March. Of the original ninety-nine members of the unit, only thirty-five survived imprisonment by the Japanese."
Era: WW II
Related web site: [Web Link]
General Comments: Not listed
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