Mexican Punitive Expedition. The 5th U.S. Cavalry passing near San Geronimo. Colonel Wilder of the 5th Cavalry in front on the left, Colonel Tate of the 11th Cavalry in front on the right, during the campaign against Villa, 15 May 1916. Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-102703
Some 110 years ago today, on 4 June 1916, the U.S. Army established the Veterinary Corps as part of the National Defense Act. While each field artillery and cavalry regiment had enlisted farriers and medical officers, they were part of the regiment itself or drawn from remount depots as needed.
Beginning with just 72 veterinary officers and no enlisted, the Corps was tasked with caring for a vast number of animals crucial to the Army’s operations at home, on campaign in Mexico and the Philippines, and, soon, on the battlefields of Europe.
By the end of the Great War, the Veterinary Corps numbered no less than 2,312 officers and 16,391 enlisted personnel, primarily supporting the American Expeditionary Force in Europe, which fielded over 165,000 mules and horses. Such personnel also took care of the myriad of unofficial mascot and casualty dogs adopted by units headed “Over There.”
Of note, the Fifth Avenue Uniform Company alone produced 377,000 American-made horse gas masks during the war.
Masked horse and rider, Western Front, 10 June 1918, Signal Corps Photo 165-WW-96H-1
The U.S. Army Veterinary Corps is still going strong and still specializes in horses, mules, and military working dogs. Their historical motto is “Militare Omnia Animalia Curant” (They Care for All Military Animals).
The Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum’s 50th year at Fort Worden State Park is its last; the independent, non-profit museum is closing its doors on Sept. 7, 2026.
Fort Worden was an active U.S. Army post from 1890 to 1953, serving most of that time as headquarters for the Harbor Defense of Puget Sound from its position on Point Wilson.
The Coast Artillery Museum’s roots date to 1976, when veterans of the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps’ 248th Regiment turned their 18th annual reunion into a mission to “preserve and interpret” why Fort Worden, in particular, existed and operated.
That year, a one-room museum was opened in Building 200. The much more expansive museum in Building 201 opened in 1985. Admission is by donation.
Earlier this year, CAM’s board of directors made the decision to close. Building 201 is the last of the Fort Worden barracks that has not been significantly updated since the state’s Diagnostic and Treatment Center for juveniles operated from 1958 to 1970. The building is old, but the museum’s larger issue has been the “aging out” of members and volunteers.
Museum visitation has always been strong. The CAM hosted an average of 12,000 visitors a year before the pandemic. The museum was closed for most of 2020 and reopened in 2021 with updated displays. Visitation reached 9,500 in 2025, including instructional tours for school children.
Capable of holding an amazing 450 cannon in its massive six-sided, double-tiered walls (although never even halfway armed), Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas required 16 million bricks to complete over 15 years and is the largest masonry structure in the Americas.
There were 42 principal masonry forts and dozens of smaller batteries built as part of the U.S. “Third System” of coastal defense between 1816 and 1867 to protect major harbors.
You know many of them as they are preserved as state or NPS parks. Forts Gaines and Morgan in Mobile Bay. Pickens and Barrancas in Pensacola. Massachusetts on Ship Island. Trumbull and Griswold in New London. Pulaski and Jackson in Savannah. Taylor in Key West. A dozen nearly forgotten forts around New Orleans. And so on, and so on.
Constructed using millions of bricks and likely billions of manhours of hard labor, many have been reclaimed by nature, abandoned in the 20th Century as relics made obsolete by better naval guns, aircraft carriers, and missiles.
Lucky Number Three! Belgium. 12 January, 1945. 42nd Tank Battalion, 11th Armored Division. They keep their fingers crossed as this is their third tank since the 29th of December. The other two were shot out from under them, but they sustained no injuries. Left to right: Cpl. Cecil M. Lindsey, Springfield, Mo.; Cpl. Walter P. Waymer, Seymour, Conn.; Capt. John Megglesin, Aurora, Ill., all of the 42nd Tank Battalion, 11th Armored Division. Photographer: MacDonald. SC 335399.
23 April represents the observed 1,723rd anniversary of the execution in Nicomedia (modern-day İzmit, Turkey) of Nestor of Cappodocia, a Roman Army officer, punished by the Emperor Diocletian for not renouncing his religious faith.
He came to be known as “Saint George” by the Catholic Church. Over the years, legends grew that he appeared on horseback to save a village by slaying a Dragon.
Saint George Killing the Dragon, 1434, Bernat Martorell
Centuries later, Saint George has become the patron saint of many, including England.
But most importantly for the U.S. Army Armor Branch, Saint George is the only saint depicted fighting on horseback and thus is the patron saint of Cavalrymen and now modern Tankers and Cavalry Scouts.
The U.S. Cavalry and Armor Association honors old Nestor through the Honorable Order of Saint George, which, established in 1986, recognizes exceptional Tankers and Cavalrymen.
An AIM-92 Stinger missile is fired down-range from the US Army’s new Interceptor launch platform at the Eglin Air Force Base range on March 23. The 96th Test Wing hosted the Army’s Stinger-Based Systems and Raytheon for two days to demonstrate the new launch platform’s capabilities. The interceptor can hold up to four missiles and can be mounted and launched from a variety of ground vehicles.(Photo: Samuel King Jr./US Air Force)
Via the Army University Press, this great 31-minute film covers the return of Short Range Air Defense, a doctrine and skill set thought all but dead after 1991, but now more important than ever.
It starts with some great Cold War footage of the old-school Vulcan Air Defense System (VADS) and M48 Chaparral system, then advances through Stingers, Avengers, C-RAMs, and current initiatives like Sgt Stout.
If you are a fan of U.S. military arms, especially of the 20th Century, you are well aware of Mr. Bruce Canfield.
The March American Rifleman has an article penned by Bruce on the Short Life of America’s Anti-Tank Rifles. Of note, he includes the early Browning .50-caliber AT variant, the Winchester Model 1918 .50-caliber High Power Bolt Action Swivel Gun, and the T1E1, a .60-caliber experimental design tested at Aberdeen Proving Ground in October 1942.
Official caption: “Pfc. V.L. Creswell, Newport, Ark., 25th Inf. Div., an ammo bearer on a quad fifty machine gun, rests while he waits to reload the blazing gun.”
Photographer: Cpl. Tom Nebia (ON), U.S. Army Signal Corps Archives SC 364044.
Creswell, shown with a 110-round belt of linked .50 cal draped over his flak vest, worked a motorized Maxson M45 Quad turret, thus:
Oh yeah
Known as “The Meat Chopper” from its use against infantry, the M45 was designed as an anti-aircraft gun. The electrically powered mount moved at about 60 degrees per second and could elevate to near-vertical and depress slightly less than the horizon for use against ground targets in enfilade. Two 6-volt batteries that were recharged by a small Briggs & Stratton gas engine, coupled to a generator, fed the electric motor on the mount.
Note wheels cranked out when stationary
That comfy gunner’s chair
Note the electronic solenoid for the M2s. Without electrical power via battery or engine, the Maxson was a lawn ornament
To this mount, the design added a central gunner’s seat of luxurious canvas, a large spiderweb-type graduated sight, and four Browning heavy machine guns arranged in a pair on each side, which provided .50 cal suppression in surround sound.
Fully equipped with 800 rounds of ammunition, an armor shield for the gunner, oil, fuel for the engine, and all accessories, the mount topped 2,400 pounds. This size fit in the rear of a large truck, half-track, or could be towed alone on a small M20-style trailer, and their firepower made them very popular with the Joes in the field.
As for Creswell, born one of 10 children in Independence, Arkansas, he was just over 20 in the top photo, his older brothers Bundt and Wimps serving in WWII. He made it out of Korea and returned home to marry Ms. Juanita M Higginbotham on 24 May 1952 before going on to work at National Standard for 26 years. Active in the VFW (Post 360), V.L. “John” Creswell passed in 1996 at the age of 65, leaving behind two daughters and five grandkids. He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, South Bend, St. Joseph, Indiana.
America’s last living “triple ace,” BGEN Clarence Emil “Bud” Anderson, was laid to rest this week at Arlington, having passed at age 102.
He was interred in section 38, joining his beloved wife of nearly 70 years, Eleanor Cosby, who was buried in 2015.
A horse-mounted honor guard draws the casket of retired Air Force Col. Clarence “Bud” Anderson during his interment at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., March 30, 2026. Anderson, a World War II fighter pilot, died May 17, 2024, at the age of 102. (Eric Dietrich, Air Force)
If you have ever seen a classic American war bird with an “Old Crow” nose art, an ode to the cheapest whisky of the time, it is a salute to Bud who used the moniker on his first aircraft at age 22, P-39Q, tail number 42-20746, then kept using it on three different P-51Bs during his first WWII combat tour with the 357th FG at Leiston Airfield, England, and famously on P-51D 44-14450, Code B6-S, on his second tour. Finally, on F-105D 60-5375 as Wing Commander of the 355th TFW stationed at Takli Air Base in Thailand during Vietnam.
He flew 116 individual combat missions that resulted in 16 downed German aircraft and one shared combat victory between March and December 1944, earning him triple ace status.
As a fighter pilot, test pilot, and combat and operational commander, Anderson logged over 7,500 flight hours and flew more than 130 types of aircraft. His many decorations include five Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Legions of Merit, 16 Air Medals, and the French Legion of Honor and Croix de Guerre.
Appropriately, Bud’s services this week saw a double flyover: first by four F-35s, followed by four World War II-era P-51 Mustangs, two of which bore Old Crow livery.
How about this Cold War moment frozen in time, when the M151 1/4-ton 4×4 utility truck, or MUTT, reigned supreme in the days before the adoption of the Hummer.
24 March 1986. Official period caption: “A member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division, drives an M151 light utility vehicle across a bridge during the joint U.S. and South Korean Exercise Team Spirit ’86. The M151 is equipped with a tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW) anti-tank missile launcher.”
Scene Camera Operator: Sgt Jimmie T. Dugans Jr., Agency-Assigned Identifier: DASC8705427. National Archives Identifier: 6411295
You just have to love the carefully applied face camo, how bright the M81 woodland camo BDUs are, as well as the new-issued K-pot Kevlar helmet with skrim camo, and the old-school M16A1 in the backseat. Oh yeah, and the unbuckled web gear. A man has to have some creature comforts between evolutions.
Out of all the above, only the TOW survives, where it no doubt still sees service with the 2nd ID, which is still in Korea.
Army Maj. Gen. Fox Conner ordered an armed military guard for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on 24 March 1926, and it has been maintained with honor ever since.
The Tomb, located at Arlington National Cemetery, was dedicated on Armistice Day (now Veterans Day) in 1921, but was at first unguarded. Responding to concerns that the site was not receiving the proper respect from tourists, Conner, then the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, ordered a guard drawn from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment at nearby Fort Myer (now Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall). The original day guard was extended to a round-the-clock watch in 1937.
Today, a single M14-armed volunteer Sentinel stands guard over the Tomb at any given moment, with two reliefs rotating on a 24-hour shift. The Sentinels are changed every hour (on the hour) in winter months (October through March), and every half hour during the warmer months from April through September.
U.S. Soldiers with the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) perform the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, Virginia, March 18, 2026. (Photo: Laura Buchta/U.S. Army)
In an ode to the 21-gun salute to the Unknowns, as described by Arlington National Cemetery, “The Tomb Guard marches exactly 21 steps down the black mat behind the Tomb, turns, faces east for 21 seconds, turns and faces north for 21 seconds, then takes 21 steps down the mat and repeats the process.”
The two relief Sentinels, along with two (E-5) Assistant Relief Commanders and a sidearm-carrying (E-6) Relief Commander, are on duty in their quarters under the Memorial Room of the Tomb’s Amphitheater. The pistol is loaded with a 21-round magazine.
Since 2018, the Relief Commanders have carried specially made ceremonial SIG Sauer P320 M17 9mm pistols that carry a high-polish DLC coating and are filled with details honoring their task– while still being functional. They replaced a set of Beretta-made M9s, which were used by the guard since 1988, walking on over 11,000 consecutive days.
Each of the current four pistols bears a name — Silence, Respect, Dignity, or Perseverance— which is featured on the dust cover. The wood grip panels come from the decking of the old cruiser USS Olympia, which brought the Great War Unknown from France in 1921. The removable optics plate is engraved with a copy of the Greek Figures featured on the east panel of the Tomb, representing Peace, Victory, and Valor, repeated on the magazine floor plates. The front sight contains a vial of marble dust collected from the Tomb of the Vietnam Unknown in 1998 when he was disinterred for identification. The cocking serrations on the slide are engraved “XXI” in an ode to the 21-gun salute. Further, they all use a serial number which includes “02JUL37”, the date the guard went 24-hours.
The four serial numbers are: LS02JUL37A21 (Silence), LS02JUL37B21 (Respect), LS02JUL37C21 (Dignity), and LS02JUL37D21 (Perseverance).
Silence. (Graphic by Staff Sgt. Oscar Toscano/U.S. Army.)
Dignity. (Graphic by Staff Sgt. Oscar Toscano/U.S. Army.)
Perseverance. (Graphic by Staff Sgt. Oscar Toscano/U.S. Army.)
Respect also contains a discreet internal engraving honoring MSG Jared Van Aalst, a Delta Force operator killed in action in 2009, and subsequently laid to rest at Arlington. (Graphic by Staff Sgt. Oscar Toscano/U.S. Army.)
The slides of the four Ceremonial M17s use a rear “XXI” cocking serration. (Photo: Staff Sgt. Oscar Toscano/U.S. Army.)
The optics plate is engraved with three Greek figures. As noted by the Army, “Peace holding a dove, Victory holding a palm branch, and Valor holding a sword. Victory stands between peace and valor to reward the devotion and sacrifice that went with courage to make the cause of righteousness triumphant.” (Photos: Staff Sgt. Oscar Toscano/U.S. Army.)
The grips feature the crest of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Identification Badge on one side and the 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment crest on the other. Note the engraved magazine base pads. (Photos: Staff Sgt. Oscar Toscano/U.S. Army.)
SIG has a fifth mock-up Tomb pistol in its museum in New Hampshire. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
