MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — With the arrival of National Guard troops in Memphis, Joe Calhoun vividly recalls the deployment of thousands of armed soldiers with bayonets and tanks in 1968. During that time, he marched with sanitation workers and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the streets.

King’s support was aimed at over 1,300 predominantly Black sanitation workers who were striking against inhumane conditions, following the death of two workers in a faulty garbage truck accident. Although King organized a protest in late March, police and protestors clashed, leading to the death of a 16-year-old boy, and prompting the swift deployment of the National Guard.

“Daily life was very unsettling, particularly at night,” Calhoun recounted. “They halted cars and randomly selected individuals.”

Al Lewis, then just 14, clearly remembers a week later when Walter Cronkite announced on TV that King was shot and killed in his city. Almost instantly, he heard gunfire erupt, a sound he had only heard on New Year’s before. The National Guard quickly returned, with military vehicles and troops visible downtown during the daytime and patrols through neighborhoods at night.

Last month, President Donald Trump announced the deployment of the National Guard to assist in crime reduction in Memphis, in conjunction with numerous federal agency authorities. Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, supported the initiative, stating the troops would be deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service to significantly support local law enforcement, and the city confirmed the troops would not have tanks.

On Friday, at least nine armed Guard members in fatigues were spotted near the Pyramid, a famous landmark in Memphis, and at a visitor welcome center along the Mississippi River. They wore protective vests labeled “military police” and carried guns in holsters.

While state and federal authorities have been increasingly visible, troops have yet to be seen in large numbers. It was unclear how many Guard members were on the ground or expected to arrive later.

For years, Memphis has dealt with high violent crime, including assaults, carjackings and homicides. While this year’s statistics show improvement in several categories, including murders, many acknowledge that violence remains a problem.

The city is a majority Black epicenter for civil rights, where residents like Calhoun and Lewis remember the Guard responding during more than one period of unrest. A decade after King’s assassination, troops were in Memphis during a strike by firefighters and police when parts of the city were set ablaze.

Calhoun, 75, remains an activist and recently marched against the current deployment. He had hoped he would never again see the National Guard in his city.

“I’ve got four grandchildren, so much of what I do is to help make a better world for them, so they don’t have to go through the same thing. But it’s taken a lot longer than I thought it would,” he said.

Memphis is at ‘key moment,’ the governor says

Lee has previously said he doesn’t expect many more than 150 troops in Memphis, though he’s since said there is no estimate.

“You talked about the National Guard being in Memphis at key moments; I think this is a key moment for that city,” Lee said in responding to a reporter’s question. “They’ve been plagued with violence.”

Memphis was among several places in the South where the National Guard was deployed during the Civil Rights Movement, including Little Rock, Arkansas; Oxford, Mississippi; and places in Alabama.

A ‘show of strength’ in 1968

Looking back at 1968, Calhoun recalled sleeping in the Clayborn Temple and making the now-famous “I AM A MAN” signs for sanitation workers. And he remembers officers throwing tear gas into the church.

Associated Press accounts document the ensuing military presence, including this description from March 30, 1968: “Heavily armed police and 4,000 national guardsmen, sent to preserve order … patrolled the area around historic Beale Street. Plyboarded shop fronts and broken glass stood as testimony to the Thursday violence.”

As demonstrators emerged from Clayborn Temple for another mass march, AP documented how “the National Guard roared past in a show of strength which included four armored personnel carriers with mounted .30 caliber machine guns, six jeeps and several trucks filled with personnel.”

King blamed violence surrounding the marches on a “small group of young militants.”

“I wouldn’t have come if I had known the outbreak of violence was possible,” King said in an AP account. “I would have held up the march.”

Calhoun said the soldiers, some armed and others in armored vehicles, presented “a very imposing sight for young kids to see that on the way to school, to see that on the way to church or whatever. So, we do not want to see that at all.”

Additionally, he said Guard members at checkpoints targeted and harassed people who attended the 1968 marches downtown.

Troops return after King’s killing

A week after the violence, King was back in Memphis, where he promised to lead a second, peaceful march despite a federal court order against it. But he was killed by a sniper while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on April 4.

The assassination sparked civil unrest in Memphis and other U.S. cities.

Some 4,000 National Guard troops were reactivated in Memphis and a curfew reimposed, according to AP reports.

Lewis, now 71, saw Guard vehicles and armed Guard members on foot in the downtown area, but he never saw them fire their weapons or get physical with anyone. He did see some young men throw Molotov cocktails into a furniture store, setting it ablaze.

“I didn’t know what was happening. It was like an invasion of sorts,” Lewis said. “I felt fear and excitement, if you can understand the two happening at once. I didn’t know what was going to happen and how far it was going to go.”

Once used to put out fires, today’s Guard may be ‘beautifying’ Memphis

In 1978, Lewis was working for the U.S. Postal Service when local police and firefighters went on strike. Because of his job, he was allowed to drive home from work and pass through Guard checkpoints in the early morning darkness, despite a curfew. He recalls Guard members putting out fires.

“The police and the fire department were on strike, and there were a lot of fires being set and a lot of looting going on,” Lewis said. “Still, I didn’t feel the same menace that I felt like I did when King got killed.”

Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, has listed some roles he thinks the Guard could help with now. They include monitoring police cameras, “beautifying” neighborhoods, or helping homeless people.

Young has referenced the deployment after King’s assassination, saying he understands community fears about the upcoming action.

“We don’t want to invoke those same images here,” Young said.

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Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee. Associated Press corporate archivist Sarit Hand in New York contributed.