NY’s “Fighting 69th” unit has new commander

COLONIE, N.Y. (AP) - The Army has tapped an upstate New York officer to command the “Fighting 69th,“ one of the New York National Guard’s most historic and accomplished units.
    Lt. Col. John Andonie took charge of the Manhattan-based 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, at a change-of-command ceremony in Fort Pickett, Va.
    The 41-year-old West Point graduate leads a regiment whose history stretches to the Civil War when it was part of the Union Army’s “Irish Brigade,“ made up largely of Irish immigrants from New York City.
    The regiment has 983 men and women; it presently has 319 soldiers deployed in Afghanistan that are due back in February.
    Andonie will continue to be stationed at the state National Guard headquarters in Colonie, a suburb of Albany.