U.S. 6th Cavalry Regiment
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 6th Cavalry Regiment | |
|---|---|
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| Active | August 1861- |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | Regular Army |
| Type | Cavalry |
| Nickname | Figthing Sixth |
| Motto | Ducit Amor Patriae {Led By Love of Country};
Silent Thunder |
| Colors | Yellow |
| U.S. Cavalry Units | |
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| Previous | Next |
| U.S. 5th Cavalry Regiment | U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment |
The 6th Cavalry is a historical organization within the United States Army that began as a regiment of cavalry in the American Civil War; vestiges of this historic unit remain in the modern army.
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[edit] 19th Century
The 6th U.S. Cavalry was organized in August 1861, where it took to the fields of the Eastrn Theater as part of the Union Army of the Potomac. The regiment took part in sixteen campaigns, among them the Maryland Campaign, Gettysburg Campaign, Overland Campaign and the Appomattox Campaign.
From 1865 to 1871 during Reconstruction, the regiment was stationed in Texas {see Fifth Military District for reports of soldiers of the 6th Cavalry killed and wounded in various incidents of 1867–68). It also took part in the Indian Wars. The "Fighting Sixth" sailed to Cuba during the Spanish-American War and took part in the battle for San Juan Hill along side of Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Riders." {In 1900 the 6th was in the Boxer Rebellion}.
[edit] 20th Century
The 6th Cavalry, which became part of George S. Patton's Third Army during World War II, had one of the most outstanding combat records to come out that conflict, starting in October 1943 where it embarked on the Queen Elizabeth bound for northern Ireland.
In January 1944, the 6th Cavalry Regiment was disbanded and reorganized into the 6th Cavalry Group and assigned to XV Corps. The unit spent the first part of 1944 in intense basic, small unit, and special combat training. Finally in July 1944, the unit set sail across the English Channel to land at Utah Beach (Sainte-Mère-Église, France). Throughout WWII, the Sixth was part of most of the major campaigns, some of which included "Task Force Polk," the engagement in the Ardennes, and the Battle of the Bulge. It was also responsible for the screening and protection of the corps in the Bastogne area, defending the Our River, breaching the Siegfried Line, and the big job of crossing the Rhine River and the drive to the east.
Toward the end of hostilities, the Sixth was left with the detail of mopping up enemy stragglers to its final battle with the capture of Adrof & Mark Neukirchen. The Sixth Cavalry was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation (Army), for its valor during World War II.
On 20 December 1948, the former 6th Cavalry Regiment was reorganized and redesignated as the 6th Armored Cavalry. The Regiment returned to the United States from Germany in 1957 during Operation Gyroscope, and was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Inactivated in 1963, the regiment reactivated four years later at Fort Meade, Maryland, where it served through 1971 when it was again inactivated.
In the summer of 1974, the Army decided to implement one of the recommendations of the Howze Board, and created an air cavalry combat brigade. The 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division, commanded by Col. Charles D. Canedy, was redesignated as the 6th Cavalry Brigade (Air Combat). While at Hood, the brigade was a test bed for new concepts involving the employment of attack helicopters on the modern battlefield. In the fall of 1990, two of the brigade's subordinate units were deployed in Iraq during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.
In late 1995, the 1st and 4th Squadrons were again deactivated, leaving only the 3rd Squadron at Fort Hood.
[edit] 21st Century
In 2005 and 2006 as a part of the Army Transformation, squadrons of the regiment were again reorganized, as the Army eliminated from its rolls those OH-58 Kiowa Warrior units designated as Attack Battalions. As a result, what is left of the historic 6th U.S. Cavalry currently consists of entirely OH-58D Kiowa Warrior units. These include the following:
- 1st Squadron, 6th Cavalry - 4th Infantry Division - Fort Carson, Colorado
- 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry - 25th Infantry Division (Light) - Schofield Barracks, Hawaii
- 4th Squadron, 6th Cavalry - 2nd Infantry Division - Fort Lewis, Washington
- 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry - 10th Mountain Division (LI) - Fort Drum, New York
