Wise Old Man not so Wise after all...

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Wise Old Man not so Wise after all...

Postby David » Sun May 20, 2012 1:20 pm

The Wise Old Man asked me what was George A. Custer's horse's name with hint C_______ . Claimed the answer was Comanche. But while legend holds Comanche was the only US survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn, he was Capt. Keogh's horse. Custer had two horses named Dandy and Vic (short for Victory) and he rode Vic into battle where he was lost and presumed killed, while Dandy was left at the fort and eventually returned to his wife.

They did make a movie titled "A Horse Named Comanche", and the facts are that approximately hundred 7th Calvary mounts survived the battle along with a yellow bulldog. He was one of only two horses to receive full military honors at a US military funeral service though the remains afterward were sent to the University of Kansas where they are on display to this day. So while all the rest may be long gone, only Comanche remains in one sense at least.

The only other horse to ever receive full military honors at a US military funeral service was named Black Jack. Black Jack was named in honor of General "Black Jack" Pershing and served as the commander's horse at full honors funerals most of which were held at Arlington National Cemetery where he served with the Old Guard. In such a funeral the casket is taken to the grave by an army caisson (a tradition that arose out of the US Civil War when caissons full of ammo for the artillery would be offloaded at the battlefield and then sent back full of wounded and dead), followed by the commander's horse which is empty and has the fallen leaders boots jammed into the stirrups facing backward. Traditionally such a horse would then be sent on its own and would return to headquarters where they would realize that a leader had fallen. Such funerals at Arlington these days are reserved for officers and holders of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Black Jack was the commander's horse for over a thousand such funerals to include the funerals of General Douglas MacArthur and Presidents Kennedy, Hoover and Johnson (LBJ). Unlike Comanche, Black Jack after his funeral was cremated and buried at nearby Fort Myer.
David
 
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Re: Wise Old Man not so Wise after all...

Postby e rock » Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:20 pm

This borders on obsessive and geeky, but I still applaud the effort. Well done sir.
chaos /ˈkāäs/

Noun:
1. Complete disorder and confusion.
2. Behavior so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions.
e rock
 
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