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DRAPER, Utah (AP) -- An intelligence unit for the Utah National Guard will hold a 50th anniversary reunion Saturday.
The U.S. Army created the 142nd Military Intelligence Linguist Company to make up for a lack of proficient linguists during World War II and the Korean conflict.
It based the company in Utah to take advantage of an unusually high number of foreign-language speakers here.
The company was formed at Fort Douglas, Utah, on Feb. 12, 1960.
Now based in Draper, the 142nd got big enough by 1980 that it was divided into two battalions, and together they were organized under a new brigade, the 300th Military Intelligence Brigade.
The brigade, also based in Draper, manages over 1,600 linguists in eight states, half of which reside in Utah. Together they speak more than 25 languages.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
