Unlike other National Guard units however, prospective recruits had to be sponsored by a current member and were interviewed by a special committee before final acceptance in the Corps.

Drill pay was turned in to the unit fund to support the Armory and the many social, athletic and ceremonial activities of the Corps.

There was a great deal of discussion that President Roosevelt had decided to mobilize the entire National Guard for one year of intensive training.

On 16 September the 211th Coast Artillery Regiment (AA), under the command of COL. Stuart G. Hall, entered federal service at the Armory of the First Corps of Cadets in Boston.

The Corps' stay was only temporary and in late October the regiment changed station to Camp Hulen, Texas, which became one of the Army's primary antiaircraft artillery training centers.

The First Motor Squadron began organizing in October 1940 and was accepted as a unit of the Massachusetts State Guard in February 1941.

By this time in the war, hundreds of Cadets had either been commissioned after attending Officer Candidate School or had been reassigned as cadre for new antiaircraft battalions.

The Corps was quick to reorganize after its World War II service; in order to keep its identity and history, it decided to organize as a separate battalion.

During the next 47 years, the Corps would have to be redesignated and converted to another branch in order to remain in the National Guard force structure.

In 1964, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 220th Infantry, the only remaining element of the Corps in the Cadet Armory, moved to Cambridge.

However, despite the 220th Infantry located in Cambridge and Somerville, the physical separation from the museum and the veterans resulted in no loss of regimental pride, identity and esprit.

With the concurrence of the Army's Chief of Military History the state consolidated elements of the 220th Infantry with the 126th Signal Battalion.

While the intent to save the history of the First Corps of Cadets was admirable the shotgun marriage with the 126th Signal Battalion was not initially happy.

From 1993 to 1996 the VAFCC worked with the Adjutant General to insure that there would be a place for the Corps in the new force structure of the Massachusetts National Guard.

The Corps' traditional federal number 211 was restored on 26 July 1996, and a formal military parade was held on the Newton Town Green.

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Spicer was presented with the colors of the 211th along with the Bowdoin sword signifying his assumption of command of the First Corps of Cadets.

The men and women of the 211th Military Police Battalion proudly wear the Corps' distinctive unit insignia inscribed with the motto Monstrat Viam "It Points the Way."

On 11 September 2001 after the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City members of the 211th MP Battalion, the Active Unit of the First Corps of Cadets, reported to their respective armories without waiting for formal notification from the governor of the state of Massachusetts or a formal state of emergency being declared by federal authorities.

The men and women of the 211th Military Police Battalion proudly wear the Corps' distinctive unit insignia inscribed with the motto Monstrat Viam "It Points the Way."

The heraldic items approved for the 211th Military Police Battalion (First Corps of Cadets) consists of a coat of arms and a distinctive unit insignia.

It is based on the star of the Order of the Garter, which King William III authorized for use on the colors of the Coldstream Guards in 1696.

The Corps' insignia is a red cross on a yellow disc, with a blue garter belt bearing the motto and date Monstrat Viam 1741 resting on a gold six-pointed star.

The First Corps of Cadets' first distinctive unit insignia, based on its coat of arms, was approved for the 211th Coast Artillery in 1923 and was worn until 1944.

As Captain Reed's Company, the unit was in federal service in September 1814 as a guard against British attack during the War of 1812.

The 772nd Military Police Company is one of only nineteen Army National Guard units with campaign credit for the War of 1812.

The battery was ordered into federal service in January 1941 when the 26th Infantry Division began intensive training prior to World War II at Camp Edwards.

In 2002 the 772nd Military Police Company was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Bagram and Kabul Afghanistan providing base security.

In 2009 the 772MP Co was deployed to Al Kut, Iraq, where they spent the year training the local police forces and assisted in Military operations.

The unit served as Battery A, 102d Field Artillery, 26th Division in World War I earning six campaign honors.

Since 9/11, the 972nd has been called upon for federal service in support of the War on Terrorism in the Middle East including a deployment to Qatar in 2012.