Howdy. I am working with the men at the Ft. Clark museum to try and locate some items. Each year the Army would take group pictures of each Troop at Ft. Clark. They would take two pictures.....one with hats on and one with hats off. They would then give each Trooper two of each of these, one for him to keep and one for his family.
I am looking for any of these pictures of 5th Cav. "E" Troop from the years 1938 - 1941. The pictures were your typical looking class picture of the Troop and are about 24"-36" long and about 8"-10" tall, typically rolled up in a tube.
In addition they also took yearly pictures of the entire 5th Cavalry, all Troops, mounted on their horses. This was a panoramic picture taken on the parade grounds at Ft. Clark. Years needed are also 1938-1941.
Please contact me and I would like to be able to make copies or such.
Also any items from the 5th Cav at Ft. Clark and Troopers there would be of interest as well.
Thanks

Hey, I used to be the CSM for 2-5 CAV, which would have been B Troop back in those days. We had a large binder of historical photos and information at our headquarters on Ft. Hood, and 1-5 Cav (who also holds the Regimental Colors), who is also headquartered there, has a good deal of historical items too. You are going to have a hard time finding anything that is exclusively E Troop, as when each Troop morphed into a battalion or squadron, there was little need to stand up all the way to a 5th battalion, and if they did, it did not last long when the Army started downsizing after WWII.

Edit: Since 1-5 holds the Regimental Colors, they would probably have the majority of artifacts that does not belong to the only other active 5th Cav unit, the 2nd Battalion.

Sergeant Major, when were you CSM of 2-5 CAV? I was in 2-8 CAV from 1990-1993. I was XO of B Co., 2-8 CAV when we were attached to 2-5 CAV for Desert Storm.

clarythedrill said:

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Hey, I used to be the CSM for 2-5 CAV, which would have been B Troop back in those days. We had a large binder of historical photos and information at our headquarters on Ft. Hood, and 1-5 Cav (who also holds the Regimental Colors), who is also headquartered there, has a good deal of historical items too. You are going to have a hard time finding anything that is exclusively E Troop, as when each Troop morphed into a battalion or squadron, there was little need to stand up all the way to a 5th battalion, and if they did, it did not last long when the Army started downsizing after WWII.

Edit: Since 1-5 holds the Regimental Colors, they would probably have the majority of artifacts that does not belong to the only other active 5th Cav unit, the 2nd Battalion.

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" You are going to have a hard time finding anything that is exclusively E Troop, as when each Troop morphed into a battalion or squadron, there was little need to stand up all the way to a 5th battalion, and if they did, it did not last long when the Army started downsizing after WWII."
Help me out here in what you are saying..what does little need to stand up all the way to 5th battalion mean and if they did, it did not last long when the Army started downsizing after WWII?
We have lots of E troop pictures like we are looking for multiple years up to 1937. ( have the individual Troop pictures back to 1920's) Most of these were given to the museum from families, descendants, etc. of troopers from E troop. Same goes for F, etc. We are just trying to complete the collection with the years missing. Specifically 1938-1941.
Thanks for the info though.

CBattBQ87 said:

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Sergeant Major, when were you CSM of 2-5 CAV? I was in 2-8 CAV from 1990-1993. I was XO of B Co., 2-8 CAV when we were attached to 2-5 CAV for Desert Storm.

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CBatt,

I left 2-5 in February of 2017 after 30 months in position. I too was in Desert Storm, but in Bco, 3-66AR, which was attached to 1-41INF, all in 3rd BDE, 2nd Armored Division, which was attached to 1ID for the deployment.

Gunny456 said:

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clarythedrill said:

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Hey, I used to be the CSM for 2-5 CAV, which would have been B Troop back in those days. We had a large binder of historical photos and information at our headquarters on Ft. Hood, and 1-5 Cav (who also holds the Regimental Colors), who is also headquartered there, has a good deal of historical items too. You are going to have a hard time finding anything that is exclusively E Troop, as when each Troop morphed into a battalion or squadron, there was little need to stand up all the way to a 5th battalion, and if they did, it did not last long when the Army started downsizing after WWII.

Edit: Since 1-5 holds the Regimental Colors, they would probably have the majority of artifacts that does not belong to the only other active 5th Cav unit, the 2nd Battalion.

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" You are going to have a hard time finding anything that is exclusively E Troop, as when each Troop morphed into a battalion or squadron, there was little need to stand up all the way to a 5th battalion, and if they did, it did not last long when the Army started downsizing after WWII."
Help me out here in what you are saying..what does little need to stand up all the way to 5th battalion mean and if they did, it did not last long when the Army started downsizing after WWII?
We have lots of E troop pictures like we are looking for multiple years up to 1937. ( have the individual Troop pictures back to 1920's) Most of these were given to the museum from families, descendants, etc. of troopers from E troop. Same goes for F, etc. We are just trying to complete the collection with the years missing. Specifically 1938-1941.
Thanks for the info though.

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Gunny,

When the Army pretty much did away with the Regimental system, they took individual Troops (or Companies or Batteries) and they became Battalions. So, A Troop 5th Cavalry became 1st BN, 5th Cavalry, and B Troop became 2nd BN, 5th Cavalry, and so on and so forth. So, E Troop would have been the parent organization, as far as lineage is concerned, for the 5th BN if one existed, and I don't think one did, but not sure.

Generally the numbered battalions stopped at about the 4th BN in any given regiment, as that was enough Soldiers for the Army's needs, because that Troop of about 100 became a battalion or squadron of over 350 or more. You still have some Cavalry Battalions/Squadrons that number into the 5s and 6s. I know that the 7th, 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments have active units such as 6-9 Cav, 6-10, and 5-7 Cav, but there may not be an active lower numbered battalion in all cases.

The numbered battalion that stays alive depends on its battle history and history of service to a Division. The 7th Cav is still pretty much intact with the 1st thru 5th Battalions/Squadrons because it is assigned to both the 1st Cav and the 3rd ID. 9th Cav only has the 1st Battalion, and the 4th and 6th Squadrons, and they all belong to 1st Cav. The other numbered battalions/squadrons in the 9th are inactive and do not exist.

Go to the 1st Cav website and find out the contact info for the 1st Cav museum and for 1-5 Cav (who currently carries the Regimental Colors due to it being the lowest numbered active battalion in the 5th Cavalry Regiment), they will have some information I am sure.

Thank you sir for all your info on this and the explanation. I got involved with this project as my dad was in E Troop, 5th Cav at Ft. Cark from 1937-1941. He was only 14 years old when he went in because he and his brothers were orphaned. He was discharged in June 1941 but re- enlisted in the Army Air Corp in June 1942. He served in Guam and New Guinea till end of the war.
He really enjoyed the Horse Cav and told many stories about it. Before he was deployed overseas he married a woman but as was typical she met someone else while dad was overseas and the marriage ended when he got back home. She had destroyed most of my dads pictures from his Ft. Clark days and they were forever lost. He remarried in 1947 to my mom and I was there only child.
He tried to be active in the preservation of Ft. Clark history but until 1977 they did not have anything organized as far as museum etc. Dad died in 1992 and his last request was for me to continue to work at preserving that time of history at Ft. Clark as it was the end of an era or twilight of the horse cav. So I am trying to do as wished.
Again thank you for all your help. I have actually contacted both Ft. Hood and Ft. Bliss but they just blow us off as they will talk all day about stuff about WWII but nothing before that time.
I am really hoping to find a family member who had someone in the 5th Cav that might still have some of these pictures etc.

Awesome, Sergeant Major. It's good to meet you. So to speak.

Gunny456 said:

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Thank you sir for all your info on this and the explanation. I got involved with this project as my dad was in E Troop, 5th Cav at Ft. Cark from 1937-1941. He was only 14 years old when he went in because he and his brothers were orphaned. He was discharged in June 1941 but re- enlisted in the Army Air Corp in June 1942. He served in Guam and New Guinea till end of the war.
He really enjoyed the Horse Cav and told many stories about it. Before he was deployed overseas he married a woman but as was typical she met someone else while dad was overseas and the marriage ended when he got back home. She had destroyed most of my dads pictures from his Ft. Clark days and they were forever lost. He remarried in 1947 to my mom and I was there only child.
He tried to be active in the preservation of Ft. Clark history but until 1977 they did not have anything organized as far as museum etc. Dad died in 1992 and his last request was for me to continue to work at preserving that time of history at Ft. Clark as it was the end of an era or twilight of the horse cav. So I am trying to do as wished.
Again thank you for all your help. I have actually contacted both Ft. Hood and Ft. Bliss but they just blow us off as they will talk all day about stuff about WWII but nothing before that time.
I am really hoping to find a family member who had someone in the 5th Cav that might still have some of these pictures etc.

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Gunny,

One of my good friends takes over as the CSM for 1-5 Cav this summer. Once he is in position, I will contact him to see what the battalion has with regards to the horse cav days. If they have anything, maybe I can at least get a scan of photos or any documents that might reference the E Troop days.

That would be outstanding sir. Thank you so much. My email is rowdyboy041@gmail.com
Again, Thanks for taking the time to respond and for the help.

My grandfather, Roy Boutwell, was in B Troop 5th Cavalry. Was very active in the reunions in the 90's before his death.

Rabid Cougar said:

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My grandfather, Roy Boutwell, was in B Troop 5th Cavalry. Was very active in the reunions in the 90's before his death.

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2-5 still has a large reunions, one for the Vietnam vets and one for the Sadr City group. Both occur in the April timeframe. The Vietnam guys are pretty pissed that the Cav is no longer a helicopter based organization. They complain about it every visit, and have no desire to have anything to do with a Bradley. Each Bravo Company Bradley was named after a Vietnam battle, and it was painted on the turret. Not sure if they are doing that since I left or not.

clarythedrill said:

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Rabid Cougar said:

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My grandfather, Roy Boutwell, was in B Troop 5th Cavalry. Was very active in the reunions in the 90's before his death.

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2-5 still has a large reunions, one for the Vietnam vets and one for the Sadr City group. Both occur in the April timeframe. The Vietnam guys are pretty pissed that the Cav is no longer a helicopter based organization. They complain about it every visit, and have no desire to have anything to do with a Bradley. Each Bravo Company Bradley was named after a Vietnam battle, and it was painted on the turret. Not sure if they are doing that since I left or not.

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Ha! And the old Cav troopers are/were still pissed they took away their horses and sabers! That is the reason my grandfather didn't re-enlist.

He volunteered to go back the Army in 1944 and was in M-18 Tank Destroyers at Fort Hood.

Sometimes on EBAY you can find find old military pictures of Fort Clark.