Last Hoofbeats: The 124th Cavalry from the Rio Grande to Burma

Last Hoofbeats: The 124th Cavalry from the Rio Grande to Burma

By Tom Fort

June 1944, Fort Riley, Kansas. In the midst of World War II, the Army’s last horse-mounted cavalry regiment turns in its mounts. Headed for overseas duty, the 124th Cavalry takes mules and machines instead of horses. An era extending back to Revolutionary War days has ended.

Originally part of the Texas National Guard’s 56th Cavalry Brigade, the 124th Cavalry went into full U.S. Army service in November 1940. With war raging in Europe and the Far East, Washington had ordered a nationwide buildup of military forces and installations and a tightening of border security. Occasional turmoil still flared in Mexico, echoes fromRevolution days. In addition, there was a pro-fascist element in the country’s politics. With German agents active in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, tensions increased along the international boundary. In 1941, the 124th was sent to the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

As it had for almost one hundred years, the “horse cavalry” guarded the border. By then, the U.S. Army’s conversion of its cavalry to motor vehicles was well underway. But along the Rio Grande, many troopers still rode horses, adept at navigating the region’s rugged landscape and brush, and often went where military vehicles could not go. (Today, theBorder Patrol often uses horses along the Rio Grande for thesame reason.)

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, plunging the United States into World War II. Overnight, the 124th Cavalry went to war.“Cav” units, some with machine guns, rode out to guard the Brownsville airport, the bridges across the Rio Grande, and other key points. In those frantic first weeks of war, rumors flew about enemy threats to South Texas. There were whispers of a Nazi army massing south of the Rio Grande, ready to invade. People swore they heard German and Japanese bombers overhead.

By the spring of 1942, early war jitters finally eased, but the threat of attacks from across the border was considered too serious about relaxing surveillance. In addition, German submarines or U-boats prowled the Gulf of Mexico, reminding everyone that the enemy was all too near. The cavalry troopers stayed on alert. Stationed at Fort Brown in Brownsville and Fort Ringgold near Rio Grande City, they continued the routines of “horse cav” life, held combat drills, and patrolled the region from Starr County to the Gulf with horses, armored cars, and jeeps.

The 124th’s “stateside” duty ended in 1944. Deciding finally that the border was safe from attack, the Army tapped the regiment for combat duty in the CBI — the China-Burma-India Theater, where Allied forces struggled to hold back the Japanese in China and fend off enemy attempts to invade India. At that time, Japan occupied Southeast Asia, including Burma, which bordered India. Through Burma ran China’s vital lifeline, the “Burma Road.” Opened in 1939, it ran from Kunming, China, southward through the eastern Himalayas and into Lashio, Burma. There, it connected with a railroad to Rangoon. Through that port came supplies and fuelrequired in China’s war against the Japanese invaders, whohad taken the seaports of eastern China.

Determined to cut China off, the Japanese invaded Burma in 1942 and severed the Burma Road. Now the only lifeline to China was by air from India over the Himalayas—theSOCIALIFERGV HISTORYLast Hoofbeats: The 124th Cavalry from the Rio Grande to BurmaBy Tom Fortnotorious “Hump,” one of the world’s most dangerous air routes. Thousands of tons of cargo went over the Hump to China, but airplanes alone could not bring in the amount of supplies needed to keep China in the war. If China fell, Japanese forces there could be withdrawn and used against the Allies in India and the Pacific. To prevent that from happening, the Burma Road had to be reopened. The campaign to retake Burma began late in 1943 and lasted into 1945—its final phase involved the 124th cavalry.

Sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, in the summer of 1944, the troopers turned in their horses and headed overseas. Arriving in Bombay by ship, the 124th went first to Camp Ramargh in northeast India, then by river steamer and railroad to Ledo, on the Burmese border. By this time — October 1944 — a jointoffensive by Chinese, British, and American forces had driventhe Japanese from northern Burma, pushing them southward. Near the city of Myitkyina was Camp Landis, a growing Allied base for the coming offensive into southern Burma.

To Camp Landis, the 124th’s troopers came in late October 1944. They were part of the 5332nd Brigade, or “MARS TaskForce.” Its members called themselves “Marsmen.” Threecombat teams made up the force — the Americans’ 124thCavalry and 475th Infantry and the Chinese 1st Regiment. Later, the Chinese troops were separated from the Americans and saw no combat with them.

The buildup and conditioning of the MARS Task Force continued through November. The 124th, having lost their horses, would fight as foot soldiers. But they still had “animal power”: mules. Able to navigate Burma’s mountainous terrain, Army pack mules went where motor vehicles couldn’t. The Marsmen relied heavily on their mules, whichcarried everything from supplies and ammunition to lightartillery pieces.

In December, the 124th’s war began for real, as the Marsmentook on the Japanese. Supplied by their mule trains and airdrops, they ranged southward into rugged jungle and mountain regions, driving back the enemy with rifles, pistols, machine guns, and other weapons. The Marsmen took a heavy toll on the Japanese, but not without cost. Over 120 Americans were killed in combat or died from wounds. Among them were 64 cavalrymen, including Lt. Jack Knightof Texas, who was posthumously awarded the CongressionalMedal of Honor — the only U.S. land-forces soldier thushonored in the China-Burma-India theater.

After 17 days of combat, the job was done by early February. With their grip on Burma broken, the Japanese melted away. The Burma Road was open once more. In March, the 475th Infantry redeployed to China to help train that country's forces. The troopers of the 124th followed via several different means. The unit turned in its mules at Lashio in Burma. The animals were then driven to Myitkyina, a number of them went on land to China. Some of the cavalrymen drove cargotrucks to China over the Burma Road; others were flownacross the Hump in transport planes, starting on April 26. The last Marsmen landed in China on May 14.

In June 1945, orders were issued to inactivate the regiment, and on July 1, the 124th Cavalry officially ceased to exist. With the war’s end later that year, the troopers returned home. Some came back to live in the Rio Grande Valley, completing an odyssey unique in the annals of World War II.