Frank T. Carmody

At the time of his interview, Frank T. Carmody was a retired veteran who had served in the New Jersey Army National Guard from December 1963 until August 1996, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. During his career, he served in Military Police, Finance and Transportation units of the 50th Armored Division, as well as participated in “anti-riot” operations in Newark and Plainfield.

Carmody was born in 1941 and raised in Passaic, New Jersey. He had two uncles who served In World War II, one as an army photographer and the other as a combat engineer. As a child, Carmody witnessed what the aftereffects of war can do to a person. One night at dinner, a plane flew over the house, and his uncle George dived under the table to take cover.

Rather than wait to be drafted, while a college student, Carmody enlisted in the New Jersey National Guard’s 50th Military Police Company headquartered in Passaic, to perform military service close to home. He went to Fort Dix for basic training, then to Fort Gordon, Georgia, for military police training. Once home, Carmody traveled to Camp Drum, New York, with his company for two weeks of annual training. As an MP, he was detailed to save the soldiers from getting arrested by local police for being disorderly and consuming excess alcohol. Carmody recalled having to break up a riot on one occasion, and he did so without using force.

After Officer Candidate School, Carmody was promoted to second lieutenant, and became Platoon Leader commanding 30 men. His job, at this point, was mainly training and traffic control work. He claimed that his unit had advance warning of the July riots in Newark. Carmody stated that his company commander, Captain Donahue, had heard that a riot was brewing in the city as early as January, and began training the unit in riot control.

The riot occurred in Newark in July 1967 after city police arrested an African American cab driver for a minor infraction then beat him badly. The victim was hospitalized with broken ribs There were rumors that he was killed, which were not true. The story led to a major riot, as smoldering resentments and frustrations regarding police racism, as well as “real estate redlining” that led to ghettoization, that in turn led to limited opportunities for the city’s Black citizens, boiled over.

New Jersey Governor Richard Hughes called National Guard Chief of Staff General James Cantwell in the afternoon of July 14, and ordered him to prepare to send National Guard soldiers into Newark to assist the NJ State Police, who had already been dispatched, in controlling the disturbances. In total, three brigade headquarters and headquarters companies, four infantry battalions, one reconnaissance battalion, one artillery battalion and Carmody’s military police company were mobilized at their home stations then sent to Newark.

The civil disturbances that occurred following the incident were used as distractions to loot stores. Carmody recalled that his riot training was ineffective, and that the riot seemed more like a guerrilla war. His platoon was stationed at the East Orange Armory, along with state police officers, then deployed to Newark to arrest looters and possible snipers and others who were involved in the riot, and to restore civil control.

Chief of Staff Cantwell and other officers, as well as police, state and local political leaders, including Governor Hughes and Newark Mayor Hugh Addonizio, set up headquarters at the Roseville Avenue Armory. A reconnaissance determined that the “greatest volume of disorder centered along three principal east-west through streets – South Orange Avenue, Springfield Avenue and Clinton Avenue.” The activated Guardsmen, acting with state police, blocked off the area, and were ordered to conduct joint patrols with the state police. A newspaper retrospective a decade later, however, reported that “there was almost no coordination among soldiers and police.” The Guardsmen had had no significant training for the situation they encountered in Newark.

The first assignment for the Guard’s military police was to rescue firefighters who were supposedly under fire on Springfield Avenue by snipers, although other sources claim there were no snipers, and the gunfire was coming from police and Guardsmen on the other side of buildings. Carmody recalled rioters splitting record albums into triangles with sharp edges and tossing them out at troops. He recalled seeing Newark in flames, with the sound of guns piercing the air as being very surreal. It looked like a real war, one which was only 30 minutes from his home.

In the end, twenty-six civilians were killed in Newark, many by random return fire from city and state police. One twenty-four-year-old man who stole a six-pack of beer from a liquor store with a shattered window was shot and killed by Newark police, who also accidentally wounded a nearby twelve-year-old boy. By Monday, July 17, the rioting had ended, and the National Guard and state police pulled out of Newark. National Guard casualties were light – one man got a hernia from lifting ammunition boxes.

Carmody recalled that the average citizen was not happy with the riots, and just wanted to be protected from harm. He also recalled that sometimes the police would get overly aggressive with the rioters. On one occasion, an officer assaulted a soldier. Carmody said his unit did not have casualties, because “their aim was bad” and, although some rioters were shooting at the soldiers, they were never hit.

A decade later, Richard Hughes, then Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, was asked if he had any regrets about how the disturbances were handled. His response was: “The unfortunate thing about it was, the National Guard were young people from non-urban areas. They are not trained to handle snipers in high-rises. That’s how the lives were lost. I never blamed anybody for it. It was just a tragedy.” Although there were other civil disturbances in New Jersey during that troubling era, the National Guard was not deployed to actively contain them.

Once Carmody’s platoon left Newark, they were ordered to Plainfield to assist with another riot. A police officer had been killed, and there were firefighters reportedly pinned down in the firehouse by snipers. The platoon was stationed at Westfield High School, along with the 102nd Armor Regiment which was also sent to Plainfield to help with the riots. Guardsmen did not actively engage rioters, as they had in Newark. The Plainfield Arms Factory was robbed, and forty-two M1 Carbines were taken. The police came up with a plan to get the weapons back, but they were told to back off by Governor Hughes.

After Plainfield and Newark, nothing much changed in Carmody’s platoon. He was an MP until 1972, when he realized that, due to the organization of the New Jersey National Guard, his chances of promotion were very limited, due to the size of his unit. Carmody interviewed to become the DISCOM veteran commander. He got the job, and was sent to the Elizabeth Armory for five years, and then went on to the Division Materiel Management Center. At the DMMC, Carmody was promoted to major in 1977. He then was transferred to Lawrenceville as a deputy finance officer, and became the first commander of the 50th Armored Division’s finance support unit. Carmody and his unit were activated during the Gulf War, and sent to Fort Hood Texas. They were not deployed overseas, but Carmody said it was a good learning experience for him and his men.

After Lawrenceville, Carmody was selected for troop command in Atlantic City, and become an executive officer. His final assignment was in movement control, making sure that troops would not be on the road at the same time, and blocking traffic.

Carmody learned many different lessons in the military, one being, “It’s not what you do, it’s what the people around you do”. He was very proud of his achievements in the National Guard, and he had no regrets of any decisions that he made. Carmody took pride in the finance unit, and what it had become by the time of his interview. Overall, Frank Carmody, who retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel, had a good experience in the military, and he was happy that the military was a part of his life.

Among his service awards he received were Meritorious Service Medals, Army Service Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, NJ Merit Award, NJ Distinguished Service Medal, NJ State Service Award and NJ Unit Strength Award..