Guard Airman participates in Lewis and Clark bicentennial

  • Published
  • By Army Master Sgt. Bob Haskell
  • National Guard Bureau
HARTFORD, Ill. (AFPN) --  When Lewis and Clark began their expedition 200 years ago, the National Guard, as colonial militias, was already 167 years old.

To help with the bicentennial celebrations, the Montana Air National Guard’s Tech. Sgt. Al Garver will portray an early 19th century Soldier for the National Guard Bureau.

Sergeant Garver, 41, is the historian for the 120th Fighter Wing and the bureau’s "then and now" expert for major bicentennial celebrations of the Lewis and Clark Expedition scheduled countrywide through September 2006.

He and several Army Guard Soldiers will talk to audiences in the Dakotas, Montana, Oregon and Washington state about soldiering in the early 1800s and the 21st century.

Sergeant Garver will be in full regimental dress of yesteryear -- blue coat with the bright red trim, round hat with bearskin pelt, white leggings and black shoes. He wore that May 15 and 16 during a bicentennial festival here, where the “Corps of Discovery” began its epic journey to explore the American West.

His counterparts, Sergeant Garver said, will wear the green battle dress or desert camouflage uniforms of today's Soldiers.

The differences they are bound to discuss include the uniforms and how the technology and rations have changed, Sergeant Garver said.

"They used sextants to plot their locations,” Sergeant Garver said. “Now we use [the] Global Positioning System. The Lewis and Clark explorers ate off the land -- venison and buffalo. Now we eat (packaged meals)."

Similarities include the fact that the Lewis and Clark Expedition contained an American-Indian woman named Sacagawea and a black slave named York and how, now, people of all races and ethnic backgrounds routinely serve together in the U.S. military.

Sergeant Garver brings his own diverse military background to the title role he will portray during the presentations of "America's National Guard -- Service Then and Now."

He was a security forces policeman during his eight years in the active Air Force, and earned an associate's degree in criminal justice from the Community College of the Air Force. He has been a chaplain's assistant in the Army and Air Guard and became a historian in September 2002.

"This sounded like a fun project to get involved with," said Sergeant Garver.

About 10 years ago he portrayed a pioneer for the La Grande, Ore., Chamber of Commerce during the 150th anniversary celebration of the Oregon Trail.

Sergeant Garver is reading everything he can get his hands on about the Lewis and Clark Expedition to learn about that adventure and to accurately depict the Soldier he portrays, Pvt. Joseph Whitehouse.

Private Whitehouse was a tailor from Kentucky. He sewed the double-soled moccasins the men used to walk through patches of prickly pears along the route.

"It's easier to focus on one of the Soldiers than it is to try to relate what all of them did," Sergeant Garver said.

He said he may have to answer many questions and address many of the myths about the 200-year old expedition. Questions like: “Did every member of the ‘Corps of Discovery’ really eat 9 pounds of meat every day?”

Ask Sergeant Garver.