BERLIN, Wisconsin – The Wisconsin Army National Guard closed a chapter of its history that dates back to 1957 during a Sept. 12 ceremony marking the closure of the Berlin Armory.
A detachment of Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 120th Field Artillery officially held its final drill period at the Berlin Armory before its planned move to Marshfield, Wisconsin.
The armory’s closure and the detachment’s consolidation with the rest of the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery are part of a larger modernization effort across the Wisconsin Army National Guard that will ultimately consolidate operations, improve command and control, and increase organizational efficiency.
While the armory’s closure will have its benefits for the state, saying goodbye to a supportive community like Berlin is difficult, Guard leaders said at the ceremony.
“I just extend my appreciation to all the members of the community that have been supportive of us,” Maj. Christopher Brown, the detachment’s commander said.
Brown expressed appreciation for the community the unit has called home and noted that two of the unit’s current members hail from Berlin.
He pointed out the three memorials dedicated to military service members in Berlin, a town of approximately 5,000 people.
“Once a year, I like to take the unit on a run where we visit each of those memorials, and talk about what each represents, why they’re there, and how it’s a representation of what the community thinks of us,” he said. “And every time we do that run, members of the community will come out of their homes, when they hear us calling formation and applaud as we go by.”
Berlin’s Mayor Catrina Burgess said the closure was bittersweet.
“When we think of the armory, we naturally think first of military service,” she said. “For many years, this building was home to the men and women who trained here and answered the call to serve our state and our country. Within these walls, Soldiers prepared for their duties, friendships were formed, families gathered, and generations of Berlin residents watched their loved ones serve.”
She described the pride Berlin’s residents had for its armory and the many other non-military uses it served in the community over the years – as a polling location, community event space, space for civic groups, schools, and more.
“Buildings themselves are bricks, mortar, steel,” Burgess said. “What gives them meaning are the people and the memories created inside of them.”
She recalled fond memories of seeing a full parking lot – a sure sign to local residents that drill weekend was afoot, and formations of Soldiers running through the streets.
“But as we say farewell to the armory as we have known it, we do so with gratitude for those who served here, gratitude for the many ways the building served and gratitude for the many generations of memories that will remain long after this chapter closes,” she said.
Retired Col. John Morgen, who spent 30 years in the Wisconsin Army National Guard and served in multiple units that called the Berlin Armory home over the years, said the armory and the community will always hold a special place in the hearts of those who served here.
“The community didn’t just tolerate the Guard’s presence here,” he said. “They treasured it. You could feel it.”
Morgan first arrived to the armory in 1993 as a newly commissioned second lieutenant and platoon leader in the 1157th Transportation Company. The unit had returned from Operation Desert Storm just over a year before when Berlin residents turned out to welcome the unit home.
The Guard was in the midst of another major transformation as it shifted from a strategic reserve to an operational reserve – a shift that became more pronounced after the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the Global War on Terrorism.
Morgen returned to Berlin as part of the 332nd Rear Area Operations Center and deployed to Iraq in 2006-07 as part of that unit and served as the unit’s final commander before it cased its colors in 2013.
Berlin, he said, was always there supporting the Soldiers who served in its community.
“That support is what let us do our jobs,” he said. “Whether that meant responding here at home, deploying to Iraq, Japan, or Korea. Every Soldier who walked through these doors carried a piece of this town with them wherever they went.”
Morgen closed by reflecting on the many relationships and memories he and other generations of Guard Soldiers shared with the town.
“So today as we close these doors, don’t think of it only as an ending, recognize it as decades of a promise kept,” he said. “A community that opened its arms to strangers in uniform and turned them into neighbors. Despite all the historic changes in the National Guard and the world we live in, the community of Berlin always stood with us, always stood for us, generation after generation.”
The unit paid tribute to the community by firing three rounds from a 120th Field Artillery 105 millimeter howitzer as a final salute.