Brigadier General Charles J. Hodge

Brigadier General Charles J. Hodge

102nd Cavalry Group Commander 1946 – 1949

Captain of the Essex Troop Polo Team in 1939

General Hodge enlisted into the NJ Army National Guard on 1 December 1927, he entered the officer training course in 1934 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on 20 March 1935. His promotion to Captain was on 13 June 1940 and he assumed command of Troop E, 21a Squadron located on West Orange.

He was fast-tracked for promotion, attaining the rank of Major on 27 May 1942 and appointed as Executive Officer of the 2nd Squadron. In September 1942, the 20d Squadron was detached to North Africa, Major Hodge assumed command of the 2nd Squadron on 24 December 1942 and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 19 November 1942. The 2a Squadron would be redesignated as the 117th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron on November 23, 1944, one of only three separate reconnaissance squadrons of World War II.

Lieutenant Colonel Hodge would lead the 117h Squadron through North Africa, Italy, and Southern France and returned to the United States in January 1945 when he was appointed as Chief of Cavalry Tactics at the Cavalry School, Ft. Riley, Kansas.

After World War II, Lieutenant Colonel Hodge assumed command as the first post-war commander of the 102nd Cavalry Group from 1946 through 1948, with the 102nd and 117th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons assigned. In 1949 he was assigned as the 50th Armored Division Field Artillery Officer and promoted to brigadier general that same year.