3rd Bn 126th Infantry Detroit City Riot Merch

On 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King Jr., a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, was assassinated. The Michigan National Guard was ordered to state active duty the next day, to prevent possible outbreaks of violence similar to the previous summer (such as those in Detroit, Newark, Tampa, Buffalo, Plainfield). Headquarters Forty-sixth Brigade and Third Battalion, 126th Infantry proceeded to Detroit and established round-the-clock patrols to prevent any incidents.

The Third Battalion 126th Infantry was ordered to state active duty on 31 August 1966, following four nights of racial violence at Benton Harbor, Michigan. A total force of four hundred officers and men were assembled. On 23 July 1967, the Grand Rapids Guard was called to active state duty once again, this time in response to rioting in the city of Detroit where arsonists and sniper fire had caused extensive damage from fires, resulting in deaths to both rioters and civilian authorities.