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With the fall of France in the summer of 1940, President Roosevelt took the unlimited precedent of calling for the first peace-time draft in our nation's history. As part of this pre-war mobilization, he also called up almost a million national guardsmen. In December of 1940, the Kansas National Guard was federalized in this initial mobilization effort. Starting in January, 1941, the 137th, along with the rest of the 35th Division, underwent its initial shakedown phase of training. It was during this phase that the regiment and division lost most of its higher ranking officers in what many Guardsmen believed to be a purge by the Regular Army to find slots for its own officers. Over the course of the next few months, they lost their Major General, their Brigadier General, all five colonels, all 9 Lt. Colonels, 19 of 26 majors, and 25 of 79 captains. This, however, was mostly due to age and medical disability factors rather than any purge. What was left of the division proceeded to Arkansas where the troops built their own training facility, Camp Joseph T. Robinson, under army engineer supervision. After building their own cantonments, towers for field ranges, and post roads, they began regimental team training beginning in the summer of 1941.
From August through September, the division participated in the famed Louisiana Maneuvers being mostly in reserve. At the end of the maneuvers, though, in an effort to cover up the mistakes made by the Second Army commander, Ben Lear, Maj. General Truman was relieved of his command. What was unusual, though, for the 35th Division was they were one of the few divisions of the National Guard that received stocks of new equipment, including M1 Garand rifles prior to the maneuvers.

This was done even though the division still retained the old 'square' establishment of 4 regiments in two brigades as prescribed during WWI. Following the maneuvers, the division began intensive training when the it was transferred to the Western Defense Command following the debacle of Pearl Harbor. It was there, in California, in March of 1942, that the division underwent 'triangularization' losing two of its regiments and both brigade headquarters. From here the division moved north for further training as Camp San Luis Obispo where their third regiment was added to complete their three regiment organization which included the 137th(Ks.), the 134th(Neb.), and the 320th(draftees) Infantry Regiments.
In April of 1943, the division was shipped to Camp Rucker Alabama to participate in advanced divisional training and in November and December were part of the Tennessee Maneuvers, this time taking a more active role and attaining much higher proficiency ratings. In January, 1944, the 35th went to Camp Butner, North Carolina to undergo final training prior to overseas embarkation. In May, the division was sent to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey to await final debarkation orders. From there, they were shipped to England and landed on May 27th in preparation for the invasion and to meet their new commanding general, Major General Baade(pronounced 'body'.)

The 35th Division was originally created out of Kansas and Missouri National Guard units during World War One. In August of 1917, 10,000 Kansans and 14,000 Missourians were mated to form the Santa Fe Division since the trail had connected them together in the past. During the subsequent organization of October 1917, the Kansas Guard units were organized as the 137th Infantry Regiment of the 69th Brigade. Due to inadequate training the division had a spotty record in the Great War taking an inordinate amount of casualties for the relatively short amount of time spent in the trenches. However, during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, under the command of the Maj. Gen. Hunter Liggett's 1st Corps, the Santa Fe Division ultimately prevailed against 5 understrength divisions of the German Imperial Army which were heavily supported by artillery and had much more experience than the green Kansans and Missourians thrown against them. Upon cessation of hostilities, the division reverted to state duty and the soldiers resumed their peacetime existence.

The 137th's next duties were used in conjunction with the 114th Cavalry regiment as the Kansas Guard units gathered experience in riot control and strike breaking, disaster relief efforts, and armory construction. In Wichita in 1934, elements of the 137th were used to control relief riots during the worst of the Depression. In June of 1935, the 2nd Battalion's Company G was used to break a strike by protecting scabs during the Cherokee County mining strikes. The same year, other elements of the 2nd Battalion was used to provide disaster relief to individuals stricken by the Kaw Valley Flood which cause millions of dollars of damage in an already-depressed region. The National Guard also provided manpower and supervision for the numerous Works Progress Administration relief efforts in building armories throughout the state. Their valuable services were not ignored by the politicians of Kansas who constantly praised their efforts and ensured their continued existence up to the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in 1939.