Monday to Friday, Franklin Ho Jr. and Maui Quizon wear digital tiger-stripe camouflage with the Hawaii Air National Guard.

Today they’ll be drilling as part of a unit that wears wool, dons pith helmets instead of Kevlar and is equipped with swords and post-Civil War Springfield rifles.

For 50 years the ceremonial Royal Guard has re-created the troops who guarded Hawaii’s monarchy in the latter half of the 19th century.

In November 1963 the Hawaii Air Guard’s ceremonial Royal Guard made its debut at Iolani Palace to commemorate King David Kala­kaua’s birthday.

The Royal Guard has posted the guard at Iolani Palace every year since for ceremonies marking Kala­kaua’s birthday. The Royal Guard is also a fixture at public events honoring veterans and the U.S. military in Hawaii, the National Guard said.

The unit traces its more recent lineage to a famous name in Hawaii: Judd — in this case, Col. Walter F. Judd, who served in the Hawaii Air Guard. But it’s also a bridge for members connecting past and present Hawaii armies through a turbulent history.

"It’s certainly a balance of emotions for me, personally, appreciating my Hawaiian heritage and the history of our ancestry and what it led up to at that time with the overthrow," said Quizon, a 49-year-old senior master sergeant in the Hawaii Air National Guard.

"By the same token, (there is) my appreciation for being a member of the U.S. armed forces — of course defending the country and our states," Quizon said.

Quizon said he is "first and foremost proud" to wear the Royal Guard uniform, even if it is a bit uncomfortable. "We persevere," he said.

The Air Guard ceremonial unit has about 22 members. Just about all are Hawaiian, officials said.

Ho, 48, is a chief master sergeant. Both he and Quizon work full time for the Air Guard.

Uniforms and accoutrements worn by the unit are exact replicas of King Kala­kaua’s Royal Guard, and all commands are given in Hawaiian, the National Guard said.

A ceremonial review will take place today from 11:30 a.m. to noon. From noon to 3 p.m., Royal Guard members will be posted at Iolani Palace gates.

The present Hawaii National Guard was established by an act passed by the executive and advisory council of the provisional government on Jan. 27, 1893, after Queen Liliu­oka­lani was deposed, according to the state Department of Defense.

Judd, who re-created the Royal Guard, was a great-grandson of Dr. Gerrit P. Judd, a physician and missionary who came to Hawaii in 1828.

Gerrit Judd served as an adviser to King Kamehameha III, and Walter Judd’s grandfather Albert served as an officer in King Kame­ha­meha V’s army from 1866 to 1871, the National Guard said.

Walter Judd enlisted as an infantryman in the Hawaii National Guard in 1940. During World War II he served as a navigator with the Army Air Corps’ 8th Air Force in Europe.

Following the war he returned to Hawaii and was one of the founding members of the Hawaii Air National Guard in 1946, officials said.

He also led the effort to preserve Iolani Barracks, used to house the Royal Guard, which was built in 1871 on the grounds of what is now the state Capitol.

The barracks, which were set to be demolished, were instead moved to their current location adjacent to Iolani Palace.

Ho said Judd "felt an allegiance back to the Hawaii kingdom, that they lost this piece of the militia, and the militia today happens to be the Air National Guard, the Army National Guard, people that take up arms to protect the sovereign land that they live in."

Judd died at age 81 in 2000.