Original Item: Only One Available. This is an absolutely beautiful photo album of a young US soldier’s time stationed aboard Camp Malakole, Hawaii, with the 251st Air Defense Artillery Regiment. Unfortunately there are many names listed in the first few “autograph” pages, but none defining as to which Soldier the album belonged to. Not knowing who the album belonged to doesn’t take away from the beauty of this pristine album!

There are approximately 67 pictures featured in this leatherbound album. The pictures show what local life was like in Hawaii, as well as life with a Coastal Air Defense Artillery Regiment. They show various pictures of different types of gun positions, spotlighting, firing of the guns and a few pictures of aircraft that were collocated with the regiment.

This beautiful, personal photo album is truly a wonderful example of a wartime service album. It is not very often that you come across these leather albums undamaged with the leather still soft. Comes ready to display in your collections!

251st Air Defense Artillery Regiment
The 251st Coast Artillery was a coast artillery regiment in the California National Guard, constituted in 1924 as a harbor defense regiment for the 9th Artillery District and re-designated in 1930 as an anti aircraft regiment. It served in World War II in that capacity.

Constituted 1 November 1924 in the California National Guard as the 251st Coast Artillery (HD) (Harbor Defense) (Coast Artillery Corps) as follows-

• HHB from ?
• 1st Battalion HHB from new
• A Battery from E Battery 250th Coast Artillery
• B Battery from F Battery 250th Coast Artillery
• C Battery from H Battery 250th Coast Artillery
• D Battery from new
• 2nd Battalion from new

As a harbor defense unit, until 1930 the 251st was the California National Guard component of the harbor defenses (HD) of Los Angeles and HD San Diego (Fort MacArthur and Fort Rosecrans were the main forts) parts of the 3rd Coast Artillery Regiment were the regular army components of these defenses.

Redesignated and reorganized as 251st Coast Artillery (AA) (Antiaircraft) 1 January 1930.

• inducted into Federal service 16 September 1940 at home stations
• boarded ships for Hawaii on 17 November 1940, arrived at Fort Shafter, Hawaii on 23 November 1940, said to be the first National Guard unit shipped overseas in World War II
• moved to Camp Malakole, HI on 27 January 1941, assigned to the air defense of Pearl Harbor
• engaged during the attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941
• departed Hawaii for Fiji 22 May 1942
• 3rd battalion constituted 27 May 1942 at Nadi, Fiji Islands

• moved to Guadalcanal 23 November 1943
• moved to Bougainville 4 December 1943 assigned to XIV Corps

• HHB as HHB 251st Antiaircraft Artillery Group
• 1st Battalion as 746th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion
• 2nd battalion as 951st Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion
• 3rd Battalion as 140th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion (Gaines and Stanton list 3rd Battalion as disbanded 1 March 1944, Stanton lists 140th AAA Gun Battalion as existing stateside 10 July 1943 to 25 January 1945)

The 746th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion moved to the Philippines on 9 January 1945, returned to San Francisco Port of Embarkation 13 January 1946, inactivated 15 January 1946 at Camp Stoneman, California.

The 951st Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion moved to the Philippines on 9 January 1945, returned to San Francisco for inactivation 26 December 1945.

The 251st Antiaircraft Artillery Group departed Bougainville on 11 December 1944, stopped at Lae, New Guinea and Manus, Admiralty Islands, arriving at Lingayen Gulf, Philippines on 9 January 1945. Moved to Manila 8 March 1945; returned to San Francisco 26 December 1945 and inactivated at Camp Stoneman 29 December 1945.

Later the regiment became an air defense artillery regiment, and was equipped with the Nike-Hercules missile. Elements which were to become part of the 251st Air Defense Artillery were under control of the Regular Army's 47th Artillery Brigade (Air Defense), part of Army Air Defense Command. The brigade's command post was at the Fort MacArthur Direction Center in San Pedro, Los Angeles. In May 1959, the 720th ADA Battalion was redesignated as the 4th Missile Battalion (Nike-Hercules) 251st Artillery, California Army National Guard.

The lineage of the regiment's headquarters continues on in the form of the headquarters company of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.