Last Horse Cavalry charge/16 Jan 42

[BLUEHAWK]

Last US Cavalry charge (so it has been said) - 26th Cavalry Regiment (Mounted), 16 Jan 42:



Ordered by Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright to occupy a strategic coastal village on Luzon Island and hold it until American and Filipino troops arrived, Lt. Edwin P. Ramsey set out with two horse-mounted columns of the 26th Cavalry (Philippine Scouts) on January 16, 1942. Riding his powerful charger, Bryn Awryn, a chestnut gelding with a small white blaze on his forehead, Lt. Ramsey and his cavalry troopers rode into Morong, where they fought advancing Japanese infantrymen.
Military historians would later record the 26th Cavalry's engagement at Morong as the last horse-mounted charge in U.S. history.
On the eve of World War II, the 26th Cavalry Regiment (Philippine Scouts) was part of Gen. Wainwright's Northern Luzon Force, a force that was made up of 22,000 men, including U.S. soldiers and three newly inducted Philippine Army divisions. The 26th Cavalry was garrisoned at Fort Stotsenburg, adjacent to Clarke Field, 75 miles northeast of Manila.
The mounted unit was organized into two squadrons of three troops each, a total of 784 enlisted men and 54 officers, with an average length of service of 13 years. Gen. Wainwright, a former cavalry man himself, considered the troopers of the 26th Cavalry an elite regiment, one that was experienced, trained, disciplined and combat ready. The unit's missions were the same as traditional mounted cavalry units of the past-reconnaissance, security, raid, attack, pursuit, delay and defend.
On the muggy plains of Luzon, the horse soldiers of the 26th Cavalry trained on their mounting and dismounting skills. The troopers also practiced the mounted charge, the most famous military tactic of the cavalry, where with weapons drawn, men and horses hurled themselves against an enemy with surprise, speed and deadly force.
With the saber phased out of cavalry service in 1935, the primary weapon for the horse soldier in 1941 was the 45caliber semiautomatic, a magazine-fed pistol. A lanyard, which was worn from the left shoulder to right hip, was attached to the butt of the pistol and prevented the loss of the pistol if dropped while on horseback.
With war between America and Japan inevitable, President Franklin D. Roosevelt activated Douglas MacArthur back into the U.S. Army from retirement. On July 27, 1941, the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) command was created and all American and Filipino forces in the Philippines were placed under Mac Arthur's leadership.
By late 1941, MacArthur believed that the Japanese could be stopped on the beaches of Luzon; however, his forces were understaffed and lacked modern weapons. MacArthur had 80,000 poorly equipped Filipino troops and 22,000 American soldiers and Philippine Scouts. Japan had six million men under arms.
At 2:30 A.M. on December 8,1941 (8:00 A.M., December 7, Honolulu time), the operator at the U.S. Navy station at Asiatic Fleet headquarters in Manila intercepted a message that Pearl Harbor was under air raid. With that sobering news, MacArthur and his staff prepared for an attack on the Philippines.
Having just returned from patrol, two squadrons of B-17 Flying Fortresses and P-40 fighters of the 20th Pursuit Squadron were parked on the ground refueling and preparing to take off at Clarke Field. At approximately 12:15 P.M. (Philippine time) on December 8, 1941, 54 twinengine Japanese bombers from Formosa flew over Clarke Field in two formations and dropped their bombs. Then 34 Zero fighters flew in and attacked, totally destroying the gas-filled planes on the ground and adjacent buildings.
The 26th Cavalry was one of the first units to be sent north to defend against an expected Japanese invasion at Lingayen Gulf. With air and naval superiority, Lt. Gen. Masharu Homma of the Imperial Japanese Army landed most of his 14th Army, about 100,000 soldiers of the 16th and 48th Divisions and 65th Brigade plus support units, ashore at Lingayen Gulf, north of Manila, on December 22, 1941. Two days later, the rest of Homma's troops landed at Lamon Bay, south of the capital.
Forming a giant pincer movement, Homma planned to meet and destroy American forces on the central plain of Luzon. Afterwards, he planned to converge and capture Manila. In the face of well-armed enemy forces, MacArthur ordered the withdrawal of American and Filipino forces onto the Bataan peninsula. After declaring Manila an open city, MacArthur moved his headquarters to Corregidor on December 24,1941.
Meanwhile, the main body of the 26th Cavalry met the Japanese at Lingayen Gulf and fought them desperately for five days. In a heroic and gallant effort to delay the enemy while American and Filipino forces withdrew to new battle lines, the 26th Cavalry lost more than a quarter of its officers and men and more than half of its horses.
"Here was true cavalry delaying action, fit to make a man's heart sing," Gen. Wainwright wrote.
For almost a week, American and Filipino infantry, tanks, artillery, airmen and others withdrew from northern Luzon and streamed south into Layac Junction, where they crossed the CuIo River into the northern Bataan peninsula.

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[Robersabel]

Unfortunately, only a few of the members of the 26th werew fully recognized towards combat service. 1.2. Bronze Star Medal, Bronze Star Medal (OLC), and the Combat Infantryman badge, among other medals.

Today, civilian employees holding key positions of the U.S. Army refuse to follow applicable guidelines and are denying the CIB to former members of the 26th based on guidelines dated 1944, 1945, 1958 anf during the Vietnam era.

A violation of the U.S. Constitution, and getting away with it.

Robert