Company G
Snyder, Scurry County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Composed of National Guardsmen from Scurry County, Company G originally organized and fought in France during World War I. Reorganized in 1924 and mobilized in 1940, Company G was part of the 142nd Infantry of the celebrated 36th Division during World War II. The unit fought in some of the fiercest battles on the European front including Salerno and Cassino. It also saw action in North Africa, in southern France, and in Austria. A heavily-decorated unit, Company G was an important element in the Texan contribution to the Allied Forces during World War II. (1984)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Drawn from the National Guardsmen of Scurry County, Company G first organized and fought in France during World War I. Reorganized in 1924 and mobilized in 1940, it joined the 142nd Infantry of the famed 36th Division in World War II, fighting through some of the war's fiercest actions—Salerno, Cassino, North Africa, southern France, and Austria—as a heavily decorated unit.
Why it matters
Local Guard companies like this one show how small-town Texas communities sent the same neighbors into both world wars, carrying an outsized share of the nation's fighting.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the early twentieth century, Scurry County was ranch and farm country on the edge of the West Texas plains. Snyder was its county seat, a small town where most people knew one another. That is where Company G came from: a National Guard unit made up of local men who trained close to home and could be called up when the nation needed them.
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Guard units from Texas and Oklahoma were brought together into the 36th Division. Those troops went to France, and Company G went with them. The inscription records that the company fought there before coming home.
The unit was reorganized in 1924 in a country that wanted to believe it would never fight another great war. By 1940, with war raging in Europe and Asia, the United States began getting ready, and National Guard divisions were called into federal service. Company G was mobilized that year, well before Pearl Harbor pulled the country fully into the fight.
People & events
In World War II, Company G served in the 142nd Infantry Regiment of the 36th Division, a division with deep Texas roots. After training at home, the division went overseas and spent time in North Africa. Then, in September 1943, it landed at Salerno in southern Italy. The 36th was among the first American forces to invade the European mainland, and the fighting on those beaches was fierce.
In Italy the division fought its way north through mountains, mud, and winter weather, and into the long and costly battles around Cassino. That stretch of the Italian campaign was among the hardest fighting American soldiers faced in the war.
The company's war didn't end in Italy. In August 1944 the division landed in southern France and pushed north and east through France. By the end of the war in Europe, Company G was in Austria. That is thousands of miles of fighting for a group of men from a West Texas county.
The marker calls Company G heavily decorated. Behind that phrase are real people from Snyder and the surrounding area. Some came home with medals, some came home wounded, and some never came home.
Its place in the American story
Company G's story shows how the National Guard worked in both world wars. America's armies were not only built from distant strangers. Whole communities sent their neighbors, brothers, and classmates overseas together, and small towns felt the weight of every battle.
The 36th Division became one of the best-known divisions of World War II. Its fighting at Salerno, in Italy, in France, and into Austria made it part of the Allied campaign that defeated Nazi Germany in Europe. Texas took great pride in the division, and units like Company G were its foundation.
This marker also connects two wars in one company's history. Some families in Scurry County saw one generation go to France in 1918 and the next go to Italy and France again a generation later. That echo was repeated in towns all over the country.
If you visit
Read this marker slowly and trace the map in your mind: Snyder to France in one war, then North Africa, Italy, France, and Austria in the next. It's a long way from the West Texas plains.
Snyder is a good stop on a road trip across West Texas, and the marker gives you a way to see the town as a place that sent its own people into history. Many Texas towns have memorials to their veterans. If you're interested in military history, watch for them as you travel.
If you're traveling with family, this is a good place to talk about what it meant for a small town to send its young people to war together. The marker names places and battles. The people it honors were neighbors.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related events
- · World War I
- · World War II
- · Battle of Salerno
- · Battle of Monte Cassino
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Women Airforce Service Pilots
Sweetwater, TX
Pressed for pilots in World War II, the Army Air Forces embraced aviator Jacqueline Cochran's plan to train women fliers, and in 1943 the program settled at Avenger Field in Sweetwater—the first and only all-female military flying school in the world. Of 25,000 applicants, only 1,830 were accepted and 1,074 earned their silver wings, going on to ferry aircraft and fly non-combat missions for more than 60 million miles; thirty-eight died in service. Classed as civilians during the war, the WASP did not win military recognition until special legislation passed in 1977.
W.A.S.P. Training Base: Avenger Field
Sweetwater, TX
From February 1943 to December 1944, Avenger Field trained the Women's Airforce Service Pilots, the first women to fly American military aircraft, freeing male pilots for combat overseas. Under director Jacqueline Cochran and General 'Hap' Arnold's program, more than a thousand of the 25,000 applicants earned their silver wings and went on to fly some sixty million miles of noncombat missions; thirty-seven died in service. Though they flew as civilians, the WASPs were later made eligible for reserve commissions—and the field itself finished its service as a missile base.
W.A.S.P. (Women's Airforce Service Pilots) Training Base: Avenger Field
Sweetwater, TX
At Avenger Field near Sweetwater, the Women's Airforce Service Pilots trained during World War II — the only coeducational military flying field in U.S. history. From 25,000 applicants, 1,830 were accepted and 1,074 earned their wings, flying 60 million miles for the Army Air Forces under director Jacqueline Cochran. Living under military discipline yet holding only civil-service status, WASPs ferried planes, towed gunnery targets, tested aircraft, and flew countless support missions; thirty-seven died in service.
Site of U. S. Army Air Corps Plane Crash
Sweetwater, TX
At dawn on April 20, 1945, a C-47 transport carrying 25 Army Air Corps officers and enlisted men left Midland Army Air Field bound for Nashville, Tennessee. Sweetwater cab drivers spotted the plane afire in mid-air, and it disintegrated and crashed 0.6 miles east of this spot, scattering wreckage along a two-mile line and killing all aboard — men aged 20 to 37 from across the nation. Investigators concluded the aircraft, worn from 4,000 hours of glider-towing duty, had broken apart in a thunderstorm's severe turbulence while flying on a single engine.