US Cavalry Association

09/04/2026

🐎 It’s coming up sooner than you think! 🎉

Have you gotten your VIP Attendance or Competitor tickets yet?

The U.S. Cavalry Association’s 50th Anniversary National Cavalry Competition is almost here, and this year is going to be one for the history books!

⭐ Don’t miss our 50th Birthday Bash Friday night!
We’ll be celebrating 50 years of the U.S. Cavalry Association with great food, good company, and both silent and live auctions.

🍽️ And come hungry! Our meals are catered by Primo's Restaurant, Bar, & Catering, and let me tell you, their food is top notch!

Whether you’re competing, joining us as a VIP, or coming to celebrate 50 years in the saddle, we’d love to have you there.

🎟️ Get your tickets now before Nationals is here!

https://uscavalryassociation.org/product-category/events/

🇺🇸🐴 50 years. One unforgettable celebration. Come be part of it!

09/04/2026

FIGURE IT OUT FRIDAY

🌈 Four stars. One tiny rainbow. A whole lot of history.

This small ribbon has been sitting quietly on a U.S. Army uniform for more than a century's worth of history.

But what is it?

And here's the harder question:
⭐ What do the four bronze stars tell us about the soldier who wore it?

Take your best guess in the comments.

Extra bragging rights if you can identify both the ribbon and the meaning of the stars.

We’ll reveal the answer later if you all are stumped.

Hint: This soldier's story reaches back to the era when American cavalrymen were watching warfare change from horses and sabers to machine guns, trucks, and tanks.

09/02/2026

WHAT HAPPENED WEDNESDAY
September 2, 1945: Cavalrymen Enter Japan

On September 2, 1945, Japanese representatives formally surrendered aboard the USS Missouri, bringing World War II to an end. That same day, troopers of the 1st Cavalry Division moved into Yokohama as part of the American occupation force.

Only a few years earlier, the division had been a mounted formation training on horseback at Fort Bliss, Texas. After giving up its horses, the 1st Cavalry fought dismounted throughout the Pacific, campaigning in the Admiralty Islands, Leyte, and Luzon. Its troopers were first into Manila in February 1945, helping liberate thousands of civilian internees.

Six days after arriving in Yokohama, the division entered the Japanese capital and earned another proud distinction: “First in Tokyo.”

September 2 marked more than the end of a war. It demonstrated how the U.S. Cavalry had adapted from horses and open country to amphibious landings, jungle warfare, and occupation duty while carrying its cavalry identity across the Pacific.

While U.S.C.A. did not have photos of these events in our archives, we did have a photo collection uncatalogued of Fort Bliss circa 1943. As you can see a dramatic difference compared to what the 1st Cavalry Division moved into a few years later.

Sources:
National Archives and Records Administration
U.S. Army Center of Military History
National Diet Library of Japan, World War II Operations Reports
1st Cavalry Division Association

09/01/2026

Trooper Tuesday: Colonel Philip L. Hooper

Born December 27, 1914, Philip L. Hooper began his Army career in the horse cavalry.

Before World War II, Lieutenant Hooper served as commandant of the ROTC program at Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas. In 1940, he left the classroom to join the 112th Cavalry’s Special Weapons Troop. After training at the Advanced Cavalry School at Fort Riley, he rejoined his regiment along the Texas-Mexico border.

Hooper carried his cavalry training into the Pacific, serving 42 months overseas and participating in six campaigns. He rose from troop commander to regimental executive officer and ultimately commanding officer of the 112th Cavalry.

The regiment fought from Woodlark Island and New Britain through New Guinea, Leyte, and Luzon. It protected the flank of the 1st Cavalry Division during the advance toward Manila and later served among the first American troops to enter Japan.

At the war’s end, Hooper brought the 112th Cavalry’s colors home to Texas. A contemporary newspaper described him as the regiment’s last original member and one of the youngest cavalry officers to attain the rank of colonel.

Hooper later served in the nation’s Atomic Energy Program and as chief of staff of the 1st Infantry Division. Yet his leadership was grounded in the practical lessons of the cavalry as he once remarked about himself:

“I have the ability to emphasize and encourage the practical.”

From the saddle to the Pacific, Colonel Philip L. Hooper represented a generation of horse cavalrymen who adapted their training to a rapidly changing form of warfare.

Sources:
U.S. Cavalry Association Archives, Philip L. Hooper Collection
Woodrow Wilson High School student newspaper
Contemporary Dallas newspaper clipping
U.S. Army Center of Military History
Department of the Army General Orders
Military Times Hall of Valor
Pacific Wrecks

08/31/2026

Museum Monday: Protection Against an Invisible Enemy

Today’s Museum Monday takes us into our World War I room to examine an important piece of protective equipment: a World War I Small Box Respirator-style gas mask and its canvas carrier.

Chemical warfare became one of the defining horrors of the First World War. American troops arriving in France initially used French and British gas masks before American-made respirators became available. The U.S. Army eventually produced its own Corrected English Small Box Respirator, with American production beginning in 1917.

The respirator consisted of a facepiece connected by a fabric-covered breathing hose to a metal filter canister. The entire apparatus was carried in a canvas bag, allowing a soldier to quickly reach his mask when a gas alarm sounded.

The example in our collection still retains its distinctive corrugated breathing hose and canvas carrier. More than a century later, these surviving materials provide a sobering reminder of the rapidly changing conditions American soldiers encountered when they entered the fighting in World War I.

You can see this artifact and more from the era in our World War I Room at the U.S. Cavalry Association Museum at Fort Reno.

Sources:
• U.S. Army Center of Military History
• Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Smithsonian National Museum of American History

08/28/2026

Figure It Out Friday

These cavalrymen were assigned to a place where they performed an important job for nearly four decades, yet their contributions were largely forgotten.

Can you identify:

Where this photograph was taken?
Which cavalry regiments these soldiers represented?
What unusual role they performed there?

This one is for our serious historians. Place your best guess in the comments, but no searching!

08/27/2026

📬 Last chance to get the September 2026 U.S. Cavalry Journal delivered to your door!

The September issue of the U.S. Cavalry Journal will be mailed next week, which means this weekend is the final opportunity to join the U.S. Cavalry Association and be added to the mailing list for this issue.

Your membership does more than bring the Journal straight to your mailbox. It also helps support our Museum, Library, Archives, educational programs, and our mission to preserve and share the valuable history of the United States Cavalry for future generations.

🐎 Join this weekend to receive the September Journal!

📞 Call the USCA office Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. CST

🌐 Or join online anytime at:
www.uscavalryassociation.org/join/

Become part of the U.S. Cavalry Association and help us keep Cavalry history alive, preserved, and accessible.

08/26/2026

What Happened Wednesday: Buffalo Soldiers at the Battle of Ambos Nogales

On August 27, 1918, soldiers of the 10th U.S. Cavalry, the famed Buffalo Soldiers, went into battle on American soil along the Arizona-Mexico border.

But the Battle of Ambos Nogales did not erupt out of nowhere.

For nearly a decade, the Mexican Revolution had created instability along the border. Rival factions fought for control of Mexico, weapons crossed the international line, and American troops regularly patrolled the region. In 1915, Mexican authorities erected an eleven-wire fence along International Street in an effort to control movement and prevent weapons from reaching enemy forces. It was removed later that year, but tensions continued.

Those tensions grew even sharper after the United States entered World War I in 1917. The intercepted Zimmermann Telegram had revealed Germany's proposal for an alliance with Mexico if Mexico entered the war against the United States. American military intelligence also received reports of German activity around Nogales, although historians continue to debate the extent of direct German involvement in the fighting.

By August 1918, the border situation was increasingly volatile. Mexican troops had established positions overlooking the American side, armed men were gathering around Nogales, and U.S. forces were closely watching the international line. The 10th Cavalry was among the units assigned to patrol and defend the region.

At approximately 4:10 p.m. on August 27, a Mexican civilian attempted to cross the international boundary without stopping for inspection. A U.S. customs official ordered him to halt. The confrontation quickly escalated into gunfire.

Within minutes, the international boundary had become a battlefield.

Lieutenant Colonel Frederick J. Herman of the 10th Cavalry rushed his Buffalo Soldiers forward, while elements of the 35th Infantry joined the fight. Troops of the 10th Cavalry advanced against positions overlooking Nogales. During the battle, Captain Joseph D. Hungerford of Troop C was killed while leading his men, and First Sergeant James T. Penny assumed command of the troop.

The fighting continued until Mexican officials requested a conference and a cease-fire was arranged. By the following day, American and Mexican commanders had resolved the immediate confrontation.

The Battle of Ambos Nogales also had a lasting physical consequence.

Although Mexican authorities had briefly erected a fence between the two Nogales communities in 1915, the violence of August 1918 helped lead to the construction of a permanent border barrier, creating a much more visible division between Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora.

The Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry are often remembered for their service during the Indian Wars, but their story continued far beyond the nineteenth-century frontier. At Ambos Nogales, they were still serving on America's western border, this time amid the Mexican Revolution and the global tensions of World War I.

That’s what happened this week in U.S. Cavalry history.



Sources:

U.S. Army, Fort Huachuca Museum, The 10th Cavalry and the Battle of Ambos Nogales, historical publications on the 10th Cavalry and border service.

National Park Service, historical materials on the Battle of Ambos Nogales and the U.S.-Mexico border during World War I.

Arizona Memory Project, Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, historical records and newspaper material concerning Ambos Nogales.

Library of Congress, materials concerning the Mexican Revolution, U.S.-Mexico border relations, and the Zimmermann Telegram.

National Archives and Records Administration, records relating to U.S. military operations along the Mexican border during the Mexican Revolution and World War I.

08/25/2026

08/25/2026

Trooper Tuesday: Dr. Wilbert Fred Wilson

Today we remember Dr. Wilbert Fred Wilson, one of the last surviving veterans of the historic Buffalo Soldier regiments.

Born on October 25, 1920, in Stamps, Arkansas, Wilson entered the U.S. Army in 1941 and served with the 10th U.S. Cavalry during World War II. He worked as an Army medic during the final years of the regiment’s horse-mounted era and served at a time when the U.S. military was still segregated.

The 10th Cavalry helped defend the American Southwest, including the California-Mexico border region, where troops guarded transportation routes, communications facilities, water systems, and other critical infrastructure against the threat of enemy attack or sabotage.

Wilson was honorably discharged from active duty in 1943 and reportedly continued serving in the Army Reserve, later attaining the rank of captain.

His experience as a medic helped inspire a second remarkable career. Wilson became a physician and practiced medicine in California before retiring to Tulsa, Oklahoma, around 1975.

In retirement, he devoted much of his time to preserving Buffalo Soldier history. Through public programs, school visits, and his involvement with the Ninth and Tenth Horse Cavalry Association, Wilson helped ensure that younger generations understood that the Buffalo Soldier story did not end on the nineteenth-century frontier.

Dr. Wilbert Fred Wilson died on July 9, 2007, and was buried with military honors at Fort Gibson National Cemetery.

His life connected the Buffalo Soldiers, World War II, medicine, and public history in one extraordinary journey of service.

Trooper Tuesday honors Dr. Wilbert Fred Wilson, 1920–2007.