(AP) -- Members of the South Carolina National Guard are celebrating the national organization's 375th birthday with a ceremonial cake-cutting and oral history rendition.
The guard commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Livingston, is addressing soldiers and airmen at the armory in Columbia.
The event features a ceremonial cutting of the birthday cake with a sword from the 1670s used in the defense of the city of Charles Towne.
Lt. Col. Les Carroll says current and retired National Guard members are performing an oral history about citizen-soldiers dating back to 1636.
There are about 11,000 members of the South Carolina Army and Air National Guard.
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