MY CAVALRY UNIT WAS INDUCTED IN LATE 1939. THE HORSES WERE EITHER SOLD OR DESTROYED AND WE WERE ACTIVATED AS COAST ARTILLERY. WHEN WE ARRIVED AT FORT SHERIDAN THE BARRACKS WEREN'T FINISHED YET. MUD GALORE. I'LL TELL YOU IT WAS A MESS.
WE HAD LITTLE OR NO EQUIPMENT. DURING THE COURSE OF THE NEXT FEW MONTHS THE EQUIPMENT CAME IN A LITTLE AT A TIME. WE WERE SUPPOSE TO HAVE FOUR ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS, 3 INCH OR 90 MM CANNONS AND FOUR 50 CALIBER MACHINE GUNS PER BATTERY. WE HAD NONE.
ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF 1940 WE TOOK A CONVOY TO PICK UP GUNS AT THE UNIVERSITIES. ONE FROM URBANA,IL. ONE AT CHAMPAGNE.IL. AND TWO AT ANOTHER UNIVERSITY I CAN'T REMEMBER WHICH ONE IT WAS. THESE FOUR 3 INCH GUNS WERE CONDEMNED IN 1918 AS UNFIT FOR SERVICE. BUT THAT'S ALL WE HAD. INSTEAD OF EACH BATTERY HAVING FOUR GUNS THEY ONLY HAD ONE. THE SAME WITH THE FIFTY CALIBER MACHINE GUNS, ONE TO A BATTERY INSTEAD OF FOUR. WHEN WE WENT ON TRAINING MISSIONS WE HAD ONE THREE INCH GUN AND THREE LENGTHS OF EVE-TROUGH DOWN SPOUT ON A WOODEN TRIPOD. AND THE MACHINE GUN SECTION HAD ONE GUN AND THREE PIECES OF TWO BY FOUR ON A TRIPOD. THIS AS YOU CAN SEE WE WERE NOT PREPARED FOR EVEN A LIMITED WAR OF ANY KIND.
IT WAS EARLY 1941 WHEN WE GOT SOME EQUIPMENT THAT WAS IN ANY KIND OF SHAPE AT ALL.
WHEN THE JAPS ATTACKED PEARL HARBOR WE WERE SENT TO WASHINGTON STATE, I BELIEVE EVERETT WAS THE AREA. THERE WERE THREE REGIMENTS OF COAST ARTILLERY AT THE STAGING AREA AND NOT ONE OF US HAD ENOUGH EQUIPMENT TO GO OVER-SEAS AND FIGHT ANY KIND OF BATTLE.
THE THREE REGIMENTAL COMMANDERS GOT TOGETHER AND WITH THE FEELING THAT EVERYONE WANTED TO KILL JAPS. HOW WERE THEY GOING TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM. WE ALL WANTED TO GO... THIS IS THE WAY THE PROBLEM WAS FINALLY SOLVED. EACH COMMANDER WOULD FLIP A COIN AND THE ODD MAN WOULD BE THE ONE TO GO OVERSEAS FIRST. ALSO HE WOULD GET ALL NECESSARY EQUIPMENT FROM THE OTHER TWO UNITS. WE SPENT THE BETTER PART OF TWO WEEKS TRANSFERRING OUR EQUIPMENT TO THE 202ND COAST ARTILLERY, I MAY BE WRONG ON THE NAME BUT I BELIEVE THE ENTIRE UNIT WAS FROM A CITY IN NEW MEXICO. ALL 2000 OF THEM..
WE WERE HEART BROKEN THAT WE DIDN'T WIN THE TOSS, BUT THAT'S THE WAY IT WENT.
NOW THE SAD PART OF THIS STORY. THIS UNIT AFTER GETTING ALL THE EQUIPMENT IT NEEDED WAS SENT TO BATTAN. AND WERE CAPTURED BY THE ENEMY. AND THAT'S WHERE THE DEATH MARCH OCCURRED.
2000 YOUNG MEN OUT OF ONE CITY. THE ARMY LATER CHANGED ALL THIS AND SPLIT THE UNITS UP SO THEY WOULDN'T ALL BE FROM ONE AREA.
WE WERE LATER MOVED TO THE COAST AND FOR ABOUT A YEAR WE PROTECTED BOEING FIELD, THEN TO DUTCH HARBOR AND FINALLY TO ADAK.