JFHQ-MN provides personnel, intelligence, operations, logistics, and resource guidance and support to the Major Commands in the Minnesota National Guard: 34th (Red Bull) Infantry Division; 1/34th Brigade Combat Team; 34th Combat Aviation Brigade; 84th Troop Command; 347th Regional Support Group; 175th Regional Training Institute; 133rd Airlift Wing; and the 148th Fighter Wing at Duluth Air National Guard Base.

In 1923, the airport was renamed Wold-Chamberlain Field in honor of two local pilots, Ernest Wold and Cyrus Chamberlain, who lost their lives in combat during World War I.

The unit's mission was to organize, coordinate and supervise the movement of cargo and passengers travelling though the airport by contract airlines and to and from Ferrying Command.

Personnel from the Alaskan Wing, Air Transport Command arrived at the airport on 29 December 1942 to organize a control detachment.

[5] The airport became a key stop on what was designated the "Alaskan Route", in which aircraft were ferried north to Edmonton Airport in Northern Alberta on the Alaska Route, to support the Alaskan Campaign against the Japanese, and also for eventual transport to Siberia as part of Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.

With the end of the war in September 1945, the military mission of the airport was changed on 1 January 1946 to be a supply depot for Air Transport Command cargo aircraft throughout the upper Great Lakes region and to serve as a terminus for transcontinental planes and their upkeep.

It was called to active duty on 1 May 1951 and inactivated four days later with its personnel and equipment being reassigned to other units as a result of the Korean War.

After its federal service ended in January 1953, it was reactivated and after a short period as a Fighter-Bomber Group, it transitioned to C-119 Flying Boxcars in 1954.

The 514th was redesignated as the 475th Fighter-Interceptor Group (Air Defense) on 18 August 1955 as part of an ADC program to reactivate notable World War II combat units.

In late 1957, Air Defense Command began to wind down operations at Minneapolis, due to the expansion of the civilian airport and jet noise of the interceptors over the urban area surrounding the facility.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, the 109th Fighter Interceptor Squadron was providing active air defense commitments with 24-hour alert status.

During the Vietnam War, although never officially mobilized, the Air Guard flew hundreds of supply and transport missions to Southeast Asia.