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Few people know that the National Guard is the oldest branch of the military service in America — older by far than either the U.S. Army or Navy. The National Guard traces its beginning to Dec. 13, 1636, almost 400 years ago. In an act passed by the general court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, three regiments of citizen soldiers were created in towns around Boston to provide protection for the citizens of that area. There are active National Guard units today that can trace their history back to those original three regiments.

National Guard troops have served with distinction in every armed conflict in our nation’s history. However, its insignia, a colonial era citizen soldier with a musket in one hand and his other hand on a plow, speaks to the concept of local citizens training together and fighting together to protect their homes and families. Then, as now, it was understood that there would be no greater commitment than defending one’s own family and community.

Never was that commitment put to a greater test than on the early morning hours of April 19, 1775, when those citizen soldiers confronted the might of the British army on the village green of Lexington, Massachusetts. The British had marched the 10 miles from Boston to Lexington that night to search for and confiscate the gun powder, lead shot and firearms that had been hidden away by the local citizens. The British were concerned that those weapons would be used against them by the colonials, and the colonials were concerned that without those weapons, they would be powerless to defend their homes and families from the British or anyone else who wished them harm.

That confrontation on Lexington Green soon erupted into gunfire. Eight colonists were killed, and one British soldier was wounded. From there, the British marched to concord where the forces clashed again at Concord’s north bridge. On the return march to Boston, the British army was constantly harassed by the “minutemen,” as they were known, whose numbers eventually grew to more than 3,000 that day as word of the battle spread throughout the area.

Out of that beginning grew the nation that we have, whose spark was first ignited by the citizen soldiers of the original 13 colonies on April 19, 1775. Today, those citizen soldiers are being asked to leave their families, friends and communities and travel to a distant land, to put themselves into harm’s way to help defend their country and their way of life that others wish to destroy. This country, that those citizen soldiers spilled their blood to create on the village green at Lexington and the north bridge at concord and on Battle Road as the British marched back to Boston, owes these citizen soldiers a great debt. We can best repay that debt by showing them our love and appreciation, our confidence that they will accomplish their mission with valor and compassion, and our prayers for their safe return.

Don Lyons is the mayor of the city of Dowagiac. He prepared the following statement to deliver at a sendoff for a National Guard unit that was being deployed to Afghanistan. The sendoff ceremony was canceled, but Lyons still wished to share his remarks.