26th Cavalry Regiment (Philippine Scouts)

Formation

The 26th Cavalry Regiment was constituted in the Regular Army on 1 October 1922 and assigned to the Philippine Department. It was concurrently activated at Fort Stotsenburg by transfer of personnel from the 25th Field Artillery Regiment (PS) and 43rd Infantry Regiment (PS), with equipment and horses taken from the 9th Cavalry Regiment when that regiment transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas, on 12 October 1922. The entire regiment was based at Fort Stotsenburg, with the exception of Troop F, which was based at Nichols Field. In addition to the horse-mounted troops, the regiment had a Headquarters Troop, Machine Gun Troop, and a platoon of six Indiana White M1 scout cars, and trucks for transporting its service elements. The regiment was reorganized on 1 December 1927 as a three-squadron regiment. Troops C and G were inactivated on 6 March 1928 at Fort Stotsenburg. Concurrently, the 2nd Machine Gun Troop was redesignated the Machine Gun Troop, 26th Cavalry. The regiment conducted a river crossing exercise in May 1933 on the Rio Grande de Mindanao and Hagonoy Rivers. Troops C and G were activated on 15 March 1941 at Fort Stotsenburg. The 26th Cavalry was the primary reconnaissance force for the Philippine Department, and was assigned the task of performing the covering force mission from Lingayen Gulf to the Bataan Peninsula. On 30 November 1941, the regiment had 787 enlisted men and 55 officers, and its commander was Colonel (later Brigadier General) Clinton A. Pierce (USA).

World War II combat history

Northern and central Luzon

Following the 1941 Japanese invasion, the 26th participated in the Allied withdrawal to the Bataan Peninsula. In doing so, the unit conducted a classic delaying action that allowed other, less mobile, units to safely withdraw to the peninsula.{{Cite book | access-date =31 January 2008

Bataan

The 26th Cavalry Regiment, consisting mostly of Philippine Scouts, was the last U.S. cavalry regiment to engage in horse-mounted warfare. When Troop G encountered Japanese forces at the village of Morong on 16 January 1942, Lieutenant Edwin P. Ramsey ordered, for that time, the last cavalry charge in American history. It would not be until 22 October 2001, when American Soldiers would enter combat on horseback again, when members of the 12-man Operational Detachment Alpha 595 (Green Berets), accompanying members of the Afghanistan Northern Alliance, rode into battle at Cōbaki in Balkh Province.

During the retreat to Bataan, the 26th was heavily outnumbered by an infantry force supported by tanks. They drove off the surprised Japanese. Due to a shortage of food, they found it necessary to butcher their mounts and the regiment was converted to two squadrons, one a motorized rifle squadron, the other a mechanized squadron utilizing the remaining scout cars and Bren carriers.

Order of Battle 1942

• Headquarters, 26th Cavalry Regiment (PS) - Captain Paul Montgomery Jones
  • 1st Scout Car Platoon - 1st Lieutenant Carol I. Cahoo, USA
  • Recon Patrol - Captain Charles Bowers
• 1st Squadron - Major Hubert Ketchum | Captain William E. Chandler
  • Troop A - 1st Lieutenant Hugh Stevenson
  • Troop B - Captain Theodore Hurt, Jr. | Captain Joseph Rhett Barker
  • Troop C - 1st Lieutenant William Gordon Bartlett | Captain Ralph Praeger
  • Troop D
• 2nd Squadron - Major Thomas Trapnell, USA
  • Troop E
  • Troop F - 1st Lieutenant William Gordon Bartlett
  • Troop G - 1st Lieutenant Edwin Ramsay
  • Troop H

Guerrilla activities

Following the delaying action down the central Luzon plain, Troop C was cut off from the rest of the regiment, having been ordered into Northern Luzon in an attempt to defend Baguio by Major General Wainwright in late December 1941. In January 1942, the unit, with assistance from 71st Infantry and elements of the 11th Infantry, raided Tuguegarao Airfield, destroying several planes, and killing multiple Japanese soldiers.{{cite book |title=The Intrepid Guerrillas of North Luzon

The regiment was inactivated in 1946 and disbanded in 1951.

Decorations

Notes

References

References

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2. Selby, John. (2012). "The US Cavalry". Osprey Publishing.
3. (2006). "The Fall of the Philippines". Center of Military History.
4. Steve Shaw. (4 September 2008). "The Last U.S. Cavalry Charge". Western Shooting Horse Magazine.
5. Headquarters, Department of the Army. (1961). "Unit Citation and Campaign Credit Register". Department of the Army.
6. Clay, Steven E.. (2010). "U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Volume 1. The Arms: Cavalry, Field Artillery, and Coast Artillery, 1919-41". Combat Studies Institute Press.
7. Rottman, Gordan. (2011). "World War II US Cavalry Units: Pacific Theater". Osprey Publishing.
8. Gluekstein, Fred. (July 2005). "The Last Mounted Cavalry Charge: Luzon 1942". Army.
9. Clay, Steven E.. (2010). "U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Volume 1. The Arms: Cavalry, Field Artillery, and Coast Artillery, 1919-41". Combat Studies Institute Press.
10. Gregory J. W., Urwin. (1983). "The United States Cavalry: An Illustrated History, 1776-1944". University of Oklahoma Press.
11. (2006). "The Fall of the Philippines". Center of Military History.
12. (2006). "The Fall of the Philippines". Center of Military History.
13. Fredriksen, John C.. (2010). "The United States Army: A Chronology, 1775 to the Present". ABC-CLIO.
14. Elaine Woo. (17 March 2013). "WWII cavalry officer in the Philippines". Los Angeles Times.
15. Phil Davison. (3 April 2013). "Lieutenant-Colonel Edwin Ramsey: Soldier who led the last cavalry charge by the US army". The Independent.
16. John Skow. (23 November 1987). "In Kansas: Echoing Hoofbeats". Times Magazine.
17. Zimmerman, Dwight Jon. (16 September 2011). "Operation Enduring Freedom: The First 49 Days".
18. "Ralph Praeger".
19. "Guillermo Nakar". Republic of the Philippines.
20. (2002). "The Intrepid Guerrillas of North Luzon". Defense Journal.
21. "Bataan Diary: Research". Chris Schaefer.
22. Guardia, Mike. (2010). "American Guerrilla: The Forgotten Heroics of Russell W. Volckmann: The Man Who Escaped from Bataan, Raised a Filipino Army Against the Japanese, and Became 'father' of Special Forces". Casemate Publishers.
23. (2010). "Guerrilla Warfare in the Philippines". [[Association of the United States Army]].
24. (6 March 2003). "Last of cavalrymen a true hero". Wake Forest University.
25. "Records of the 26th Cavalry Regiment (Philippine Scouts): A Descriptive Inventory of Documents in the U.S. Cavalry Memorial Research Library". U.S. Cavalry Memorial Research Library.
26. (North Luzon Force, United States Army Forces in the Far East. Cited; War Department General Order # 14, 1942).
27. (Army Troops, United States Army Forces in the Far East. Cited; War Department General Order #32, 1942.)
28. (Military and naval forces of the United States and Philippine Governments. Cited; War Department General Order #22, 1942, as amended by Department of the Army General Order #46, 1948).