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Cavalry officer group with some interesting history


mvmhm
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Week before last, we received a large donation (amassed over 31 years), which included the uniform(s) named to a Lieutenant Colonel John J. Davis; this week the donor brought in a substantial portion of Colonel Davis' personnel file which revealed some pleasant surprises.

(Then) LTC Davis graduated from West Point in 1933 as a Cavalry officer. When WWII started, he was rapidly promoted to light Colonel and served in the Italian Campaign. He played a role in one of the major events of the end of the war in Northern Italy - the surrender of the SS Security Service in Milan, for which he was awarded a second Bronze Star Medal and received the Medal of Valor and the Order of the Crown of Italy from the Italian government.

 

 

After the war, he was appointed the Commanding Officer of the Cavalry Detachment and Chief of Equitation at West Point. He was there for a short period of time before being reassigned to be the Army Attache in La Paz, Bolivia. During his time in Bolivia, he taught Bolivian Army officers Cavalry tactics, and was beaten and nearly killed by striking miners....he also played a major role in protecting American's lives during the Bolivian Revolution.

After that assignment, he served as the Army Attache in Peru, finally retiring in 1964 as a full Colonel.

You never know what kind of neat history an artifact is waiting to tell!

Here's his Ike (which needs a little restoration) which has a nice hand sewn ribbon rack. The BSM ribbon has lost it's devices...and note the lower two for his Italian awards.

 

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Would be curious to know what the air medal was for, very cool ike! Definitely want to see the rest of the group, what year was he sent to South America?

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After the war he was the Cavalry Detachment C.O. at West Point. While there he bought a horse from the Quartermaster Corps, but received orders to Bolivia and had to sell it - whcih created a ruckus:

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His assignment to Bolivia (and later Peru) was as the Army Attache. There are a number of his SITREPs he saved during those years...he saw the Bolivian revolution and played a role in safeguarding American lives....there was also rioting by miner and in that episode, he was beaten pretty badly and survived an attempt to kill him and other Americans with a bomb. This doco details the revolution and his checking on his horses (he also taught Bolivian Cavalry officers).

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Next is the citation for his 2nd Bronze Star Medal. He was one of the two officers who went into Milan and negotiated the surrender of SS General Rauff, and 200 SS officers and men (and civilians) at the Hotel Regina. he also kept the Italian crowds at bay in order to prevent unnecessary bloodshed.

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These are stills from Signal Corps footage showing the surrender. LTC Davis is behind the blonde in the crowd photo, and he's ;oolng directly at the camera as he stands behind SS General Rauff.

 

Here's a link to a video...you can see him with his back to the camera with a sub-machine gun slung over his shoulder:

 

https://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675059074_Colonel-Norman-Fiske_terms-of-surrender_German-officers_Hotel-Regina?fbclid=IwAR2vD06sengC3NS982cNDwzAcjl9x7Zwt4Y2LP2cgnrFGqzkyCQkaGodpR8

 

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The doco for his Air Medal; note the award of the DFC to an RAF officer and the BSM to a French officer...Beneath his citation is the posthumous award of the Legion of Merit to an enlisted man.

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He also kept his materials when he taught Equitation at West Point. Note answer "e" on the quiz - "Make the enlisted guy do it." Some things never change!

 

 

Mark sends

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Would be curious to know what the air medal was for, very cool ike! Definitely want to see the rest of the group, what year was he sent to South America?

He was sent there in 1947.

 

 

Mark sends

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Captainofthe7th

Excellent uniform and one of the more interesting histories I have seen recently. It appears fairly humble, but those two Italian awards say a lot.

 

Rob

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