Frank Allen Ramsey - Office of Medical History - U.S. Army

Frank Allen Ramseywriting, was to load them on an airplane and fly them back to the United Statesand let the military here dispose of them. But we transferred a number of themarginal horses to the U.S. Army down in France, and they went down thereand later on were disposed of there.The procurement in Berlin was interesting. Most of the facilities were stillWorld War II or pre-World War II vintage. The bullet holes were still obviousin all the walls, the artillery shell holes and the machine gun holes. TheVeterinary TO&E Unit there was a good unit. We were stationed in a militarykaserne which had been the headquarters of the SS [Schutzstaffel] MedicalSupport Unit; red sandstone buildings, Gothic construction, beautiful facilities.Q: So when you were finished with that tour, you went back to Fort LeonardWood?A: I went back to Fort Leonard Wood.The Decision to Stay in the ArmyQ: General Ramsey, before we leave Europe and go back to Fort Leonard Woodis there anything else you want to mention?A: Yes, there is. Going back to about 1958—at that time the Veterinary Corpswas under study with the objective being to abolish the Veterinary Corpsbecause the last unit in the U.S. Army that had horses had been disestablished,so why do we need a Veterinary Corps when there are no longer any horsesand mules in the U.S. Army—a study was ongoing, and as a resultcommissions in the Veterinary Corps were being held in abeyance.I was a lieutenant at that time, a promotion to captain was being held. RegularArmy commissions were being held in abeyance. I came back to the UnitedStates from Berlin to report to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. I had leavebefore reporting, and I visited college classmates who were practicing in SanAntonio and Dallas. I was offered full partnerships in two veterinary practices.I talked with these men long and seriously about going into partnership with21