MIDDLEBURY — On Sept. 12, 1969, the 184 members of the 131st Combat Engineers of the Vermont National Guard attended a ceremony at the Guard’s Camp Johnson. There, most of them took off their uniforms for the final time. They had completed 17 months of active, full-time duty that began with an April 12, 1968, call-up that had long been rumored. That duty included four months of training at Virginia’s Camp Belvoir from May to September 1968. It ended in September 1969 after the 131st Engineers had spent a ye … (read more)
