The Kentucky Active Militia was an official

state defense force In the United States, state defense forces (SDFs) are military units that operate under the sole authority of a State governments of the United States, state government. State defense forces are authorized by state and federal law and are unde ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. It was created to assume the stateside duties of the

Kentucky National Guard The Kentucky National Guard comprises the: * Kentucky Army National Guard * Kentucky Air National Guard See also * Kentucky Active Militia, the state defense force of Kentucky which replaced the Kentucky National Guard during World War I and Worl ...

while the National Guard was in federal service during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

History

During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the state of Kentucky passed legislation allowing for the state to maintain troops other than the National Guard; four companies of State Guard were raised to replace the Kentucky National Guard while it was deployed. During World War II, the Kentucky Active Militia was created by the Kentucky Active Militia Law, signed by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Keen Johnson. The Kentucky Active Militia was responsible for assuming the stateside duties of the Kentucky National Guard. This included policing the

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby () is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is run by three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of . Colt (horse), Colts and geldin ...

. Kentucky Active Militia members were armed with two foot long strips of rubber hose and given crowd control responsibilities. By 1944, the Kentucky Active Militia had a strength of 1,674 men.

Legal status

The authority of each state to maintain its own state defense force is recognized by the federal government of the United States under Title 32, Section 109 of the

United States Code The United States Code (formally The Code of Laws of the United States of America) is the official Codification (law), codification of the general and permanent Law of the United States#Federal law, federal statutes of the United States. It ...

. Approximately twenty-three states and the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

currently maintain state defense forces. Under Kentucky law, the

Governor of Kentucky The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; sinc ...

has the legal authority to activate the state defense force, to be known as the Kentucky State Defense Force, whenever any part of the Kentucky National Guard is in federal service.

References

{{State Defense Forces State defense forces of the United States Kentucky militia