you don't want to leave die service until it is all over. Would you
be interested in going to Europe as the theater provost marshall?"
General Reckord's reply was: "I'll go anywhere you want me to go. "
That, in effect, was what he was saying to me when I asked him if
he would continue to serve under me as adjutant general. "I will go
where you want me to go; I will do what you want me to do. " This
attitude of the good soldier, willing and prepared to do what he
is called upon to do, has been the most pronounced trait of this man
who has served his State and his nation with such great distinction
for so many years.

It is the fashion nowadays to give men nicknames associated with
jobs they have performed. We hear of "Mr. Republican, " Mr.
Democrat, " "Mr. Community Chest, " "Mr. Advertising Club, " and
so on. No one we know is so deserving of the title, "Mr. National
Guard, " as the man who is known as that—Major General Milton A.
Reckford, and not just "Mr. Maryland National Guard, " but "Mr.
National Guard, " without qualification. His service as a guardsman
dates back almost to the beginning of this century, when, in 1901,
he enlisted in Company D of the 1st Maryland Infantry in Bel Air....

According to the record, we find he accepted General Marshall's
call and went to Europe as theater provost marshall.

After World War II, he took over the chairmanship of the general
staff committee which drew up War Department policies affecting
the National Guard and the reserve corps. Then, at the age of 66,
he was released from active duty. He returned to Baltimore and took
off his uniform, to which were attached the Distinguished Service
Medal with two oak-leaf clusters and the French Croix de Guerre
with palms.

He assumed again the duties of adjutant general of Maryland, and
today we find him, to the gratification of all of us, in the same
position, still fighting in the interest of his State, his country and—of
course—the National Guard.

In one of his citations, General Reckord is acclaimed for the
"untiring ardor and energy, " he exhibited in the command of his
troops in France. He is also praised for possessing "the finest military
qualities. " It has been 40 years since those plaudits were written
and those of us who are privileged to know him and to claim him
as friend know that his "untiring ardor and energy" has not waned
with the passing of the years. We know also that he possesses not

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