Jan Feb '09 Saber.indd - First Cavalry Division Association

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY, 2009SPC Battisto, C Trp., 4-9 CAV, steadieshis aim while zeroing his M-14 rifle at arifle range near Camp Buehring, KuwaitJan. 14. (Photo by SSG Jason Douglas,2nd BCT PAO)Division DoingsContinued from pg. 3.go back home you show a lot more love to your own kids.”The 1st Cavalry Division, which encompasses approximately 19,000 troops,expects to have most of its brigades’ Soldiers in Iraq by mid-February with theexception of Soldiers in the division’s 1st Air Cavalry Brigade who will haveboots on the ground by early summer 2009.4-9 Cav Marksmen ‘Aim’ to Improve Skills by SSG Jason Douglas, 2nd BCT,1st Cav. Div. Public AffairsCAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait—To most regular movie fans, theword “sniper” brings to mind a veryspecific image: a Soldier dressed ina ghillie suit, face covered in warpaint, with weapon in tow -- lowcrawlingacross the jungle floorstalking his prey under cover ofdarkness.However, one of the overlookedweapon experts are Squad DesignatedMarksman -- not quite a sniperbut not just an average infantrymanor scout.A Soldier is selected as a SDMbased on his marksmanship skills;he must qualify as an expert on hisassigned weapon as well as haveextensive weapons knowledge. Soldiers can be selected or volunteer for thisposition.The SDM fulfills the duties of their primary military occupational specialty aswell as provide mid-range shots to achieve the squad’s objectives.While regular Army snipers receive formal training at Fort Benning, Georgia,SDMs attend a two day class at their respective installations which consist of oneday of classroom instruction and weapons zeroing, and the second day designatedfor weapons qualification.One such marksman is Chicago native SPC Stephen BATTISTO, a cavalry scoutfor over three years assigned to Troop C, 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment,2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division.According to Battisto, he never picked up a rifle prior to joining the Army andeven had difficulties qualifying at the range while attending basic training.“The drill sergeant took me to the side after failing to qualify several timesand told me to take a break and relax,” Battisto said. “After that, I hit 39 out of40 targets.”There was no holding back for Battisto when he arrived to 4-9th Cav. Hebecame a SDM and was assigned the M-14 carbine rifle.According to Battisto, although SDMs and snipers seem to have very similarfunctions, the two are separated by small differences.“[SDMs] don’t look for high value targets like snipers, we operate within asquad and can carry up to two weapons,” Battisto said.Even after cataract surgery, Battisto is still able to fire well and takes great pridein being blessed with a special talent.Battisto said it’s an honor to apply his skills to benefit his unit, his country andhelp his fellow brothers.Another SDM is SSG Michael LASHUA a cavalry scout from Troop B, 4-9thCav. Lashua of Walker, Louisiana, a 12-year veteran and a former Marine, grewup as an avid hunter and marksman who relished the idea of being an Armymarksman.“I like the precision that’s required and doing something and doing it well,”Lashua said.Continued on pg. Lashua doesn’t mind working the extra hours to qualify onthe extra weapon.“You have to be willing to give an extra effort and do extra training,” Lashuasaid.Lashua, who is even considering applying to the U.S. Army sniper school,believes that SDMs are a huge asset on the battlefield.IT’S THE LAWby Richard Cohen, Esq.Attorney at LawP.O. Box 771Morgantown, WV 26507-0771(304) 413-0838 or Fax (304) 423-0849vetlaw@wvajustice.comhttp://www.wvajustice.comMEDICAL OPINIONSIn a groundbreaking case the Veterans Court put a stop to the VA’s practiceof rejecting private exams for based on the failure of the private doctor to havereviewed the entire claims file.In the appeal of Nieves-Rodriguez v. Peake dockret 06-0312, decided December1, 2008, the Veterans Court was faced with a typical situation where the VA rejectedthe opinions of a treating physician and of an examining physician both of whomconcluded that he developed depression as a result of his Guillain-Barre syndromewhich was treated in service. The reason given for rejecting those opinions wasthat neither private psychiatrist performed an in depth claims file review.In rejecting the VA’s reasoning the Court noted that the VA sought to set upa situation where the absence of the claims file would operate as an automaticpenalty against an opinion offered by a private physician. The Court specificallydecided that when the Board uses facts obtained from review of the claims fileas a basis for crediting one expert opinion over another, it is incumbent upon theBoard to point out those facts and explain why they were necessary or importantin forming the appropriate medical judgments. Additionally, claims file review,as it pertains to obtaining an overview of the claimant’s medical history, is nota requirement for private medical opinions. The Court concluded that a privatemedical exam may not be discounted solely because the opining physician didnot review the claims file. And, the Board may not prefer a VA medical opinionover a private medical opinion solely because the VA examiner reviewed theclaims file1st CAVALRY DIVISION MUSEUM NOTESW. Terry Maddox522 County Road 3371Kempner, TX 76538Executive Trustee, 1st Cavalry DivisionAssociation Museum FoundationTerryandKelly@embarqmail.comPage 22In my last article I mentioned submitting a grant request to purchase a 6 passengergolf cart to carry disabled individuals around the outside displays at themuseum. We are in the process of submitting the grant paperwork to the ArmyHistorical Foundation. We will not get feedback until after March. We are stilllooking for other organizations to support this grant request.The museum has received a new weapon to add to its collection. Amber providedthe information that follows.The 1st Cavalry Division Museum has welcomed numerous new artifacts toits collection recently. Amongst those new items is a Type 94 Japanese pistol.This pistol is in great shape and belonged to MSG (Ret) Loyd C. Belcher. Loydwas assigned to the 1st Medical Battalion during World War II and died in 1984.His family recentlymade the donation tothe museum in honorof Loyd.The Type 94 pistolis an 8mm weaponwith a 6-round detachablebox magazine.This is thefirst of its kind to beadded to the museumcollection. The finaldesign of the Type94 was approvedand adopted by theImperial JapaneseArmy in 1934 andreceived its namefrom the Japanese calendar year, 2594. This pistol was fashioned after the Type14, which came out in 1927, and is more familiarly known as the “Nambu” pistol.The Type 94 differs from the Type 14 in that it is a locked-breech design with aninternal hammer. Despite the fact that the initial acceptance of the pistol was verypoor, the Japanese military decided to continue the usage of the Type 94 due tothe increased involvement they faced on the world stage. Further supporting themilitary use of the Type 94 pistol was the fact that the Type 96 machine gun farexceeded performance expectations and the military rewarded the Kijiro Nambumanufacturing company with special orders for the Type 94 pistol. This wasdone to stabilize and ensure that the Nambu company maintained its commercialsuccess and for continuity of military supply production.World War II saw the use of many Type 94 pistols. This particular model ofthe Type 94 was manufactured in the Showa 20.3 period, which dates the pistolto 1945. What differentiate’s this pistol from its earlier models is the smoothwood grips and the hot salt bluing process utilized on the finish.Near the end of its production span, the Type 94 was being produced at a rateof 900 pieces per month and over 70,000 pieces were made by the Nambu-Seisakushoin the period 1937-45. Because of its unique design, sales outside of themilitary had been poor. Therefore, the Japanese military was able to purchasethe pistols in high volume at a low cost.The Type 94 pistol is a greatly welcomed addition to the 1st Cavalry DivisionMuseum’s weapons collection, as it holds much significance and insight into thetechnological advances of Asia, and the world as a whole during the mid-20thcentury.First Team!RULE OF PREJUDICIAL ERROROnce again the VA has evaded its responsibility to provide notice to a veteranby hiding behind the prejudicial error rule.In Gallegos v. Peake docket 05-2920, decided December 31, 2008, the VeteransCourt agreed with the veteran that the VA failed to provide the notice requiredby 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f) concerning the alternate forms of supporting evidencewhich might be submitted to support a claim for benefits based on PTSD resultingfrom in-service personal assault. Notwithstanding the VA’s failure to followits own regulations the Court did not send the case back for new notices. Rather,the Court decided that the error did not prejudice the veteran because his submissionof some alternate types of evidence showed and because his representativereferred to the regulation at a hearing, that he knew what was required withoutreceiving notice from the VA.SYMPATHETIC READING OF PLEADINGSThere is some good news and some bad news in Acciola v. Peake docket 06-0542, decided December 5, 2008 regarding claims alleging clear and unmistakableerror.The good news is that veterans will not be penalized for being representedbecause the Court accepted the VA’s concession that all pleadings are to be readsympathetically regardless of the type of representation. However, the bad newsis that the Court ruled that the VA need not fill in the gaps to infer a theory oferror which is not clear in the pleadings. So if the pleading could encompassnumerous theories the Court concluded the VA must dismiss the pleading withoutprejudice to reallege a specific theory.Applying that law, the Court decided that the veteran had not asserted as errorthat the VA failed to decide his claim on a direct service connection basis.Rather, the Court found that the veteran’s argument was directed to presumptiveservice connection and entitlement to direct service connection was mentionedby “paraphrasing of the basis entitlement statute”. Accordingly the veteran’s“CUE claim” was dismissed without prejudice to reassert the claim.
Page 23SANTO TOMAS RAID by Peter R. Wygle*One of the most awe-inspiring yet historically little remembered missions ofWorld War II in the Pacific were the four rapid-fire prisoner of war liberation raidsin the Philippines. These four raids, Bilibid, Cabanatuan, Santo Tomas, and LosBanos, all took place in a one-month period between late January and the end ofFebruary, 1945, and the men who planned them faced many of the elements ofpotential failure; the raids, with the exception of the Bilibid liberation in Manila,were independently planned in very restrictive time-frames by at least three differentheadquarters; they involved every branch of the American military, withenormously important help from, and sacrifice by, the Filipino people and theirguerrilla Army; and they employed practically every method of attack and meansof transportation known to man. In spite of all this potential for confusion andfailure, each of the rescues was pulled off without a hitch. These prisoner raidsAerial view of Santo Tomas– collectively – killed, wounded, or scattered about a thousand enemy troopsand resulted in freedom for almost eight times that many allied prisoners of war,including the largest number of American civilian internees ever taken prisonerby an armed enemy in the history of our nation. All of this while sustaining relativelylight – though certainly not insignificant – causalities among the Americanforces and their supporting Filipino guerrillas.Legend has it that General MacArthur was so impressed by the Cabanatuanraid by elements the 6th Ranger Battalion – which was still in progress at the time– that he went immediately to MG Mudge’s 1st Cavalry Division headquartersin Guimba. There he ordered the formation of a ‘Flying Column’ to accomplishthe same thing with the 3,700 civilians interned at the University of Santo Tomasin Manila. Nobody knew about the 1,300 or so military and civilian prisoners atthe old Bilibid prison which was only a few blocks from Santo Tomas.The oratory attributed to the general during this conference was typically MacArthur:“Go to Manila! Go over the Japs, go around the Japs, bounce off the Japs,but go to Manila! Free the prisoners at Santo Tomas and capture MalacanangPalace and the legislative buildings.”Two-thirds of this grandiose mission was practicable from where the 1st CavalryDivision sat. Santo Tomas and Malacanang Palace were in the north end ofManila, the same side that the 1st Cav was on, but the legislative buildings wereon the south side of the Pasig River. This large river runs east-to-west throughthe middle of Manila and there were only three or four bridges across it. Thechances of the Japanese destroying the bridges and turning the river into a majorobstacle were pretty good. If the Japanese managed to do this, it would makethe legislature buildings relatively hard to reach.When MacArthur decreed the formation of the ‘Flying Column’ the 1st Cavtroops, to whom he had decreed it, had come ashore at Lingayen Gulf on 27January. 1945 after 72 days of continuous combat in the mountains of Leyte,and the division had just completed its move 35 miles south from Lingayen toGuimba, arriving there on the 30th. As fierce as the combat on Leyte had been,the memory that usually gets shared by the 1st Cav troopers that were there isthe fact that during 40 of those 72 days, 35 inches of rain fell. The troopers hadearned some rest, but there was to be none. They received “MacArthur’s FlyingColumn” decree on the day after they arrived at Guimba. MG Mudge spent therest of the 31st gathering the troops he thought it would take to accomplish hisnew mission. These troops included, in addition to parts of the 5th Cavalry and8th Cavalry Regiments and some miscellaneous support people, the 44th TankBattalion, a bunch of air cover from Marine Group 24 and 32 and – luckily - aNavy demolitions expert, Lieutenant (JG) James Patrick Sutton. MG Mudgedivided the Column into three serials, assigning missions to each, and, at oneminute past midnight on the morning of 1 February, 1945, led them out of Guimba.The race to Manila was on!The Column, carrying only four days’ rations and the absolute minimum inarms, ammunition and fuel, had to tread carefully for the first few miles becausethe Cabanatuan prisoners were still being evacuated across its path. Once in theclear, however, it fought its way at top speed down Highway 5, slowing for a dayof heavy firefights at Cabanatuan and Gapan. An ambush at a road intersectionduring the fight at Gapan cost the life of LTC Tom Ross, commander of the thirdserial. This was the serial with most of the 44th Tank Battalion assigned to it.After this fierce early fighting the Column sped south, depending totally uponthe Marine flyers for flank security. The 1st Cav moved toward Manila, pausingJANUARY/FEBRUARY, 2009only to bypass blown bridges and to engage the Japanese in hit-and-run fighting.It hit a snag however, at the Novaliches Bridge just south of a road junctionthat became known as “the Hot Corner”. They were still about ten miles shortof Manila.Mines had been set, the fuse was lit, and the Japanese were laying down heavysniper fire on the bridge to discourage all efforts to prevent its destruction. Bypassingthis particular bridge was not an option because the gorge was deep andthe river was swift. It was here that having Pat Sutton along turned out to be astroke of good fortune. He, apparently protected by some sort of a providentialStar Trek force field that seemed to repel sniper bullets, ran out on the bridge andcut the demolition fuse, enabling the Column to cross the river with dry feet.LT Sutton also helped in clearing a path through a minefield further south onthe approach to Manila. His next running – with his brand new DistinguishedService Cross – was for Congress where he won a Tennessee seat in the Houseof Representatives.After the Column crossed the river at Novaliches it moved down Quezon Boulevardstraight toward Santo Tomas Internment Camp and Malacanang Palace.Inside the prison camp, 3,700 apprehensive civilian men, women and childrenwere watching the approach of the tracer-bullet fireworks in the evening sky witha strange mixture of excitement and dread. After three years in the “protectivecustody” of the Japanese Army, they were excited that SOMETHING was happening– even if they didn’t know what it was – but mixed in with this excitementwas dread of the possibility that the pyrotechnic display was, in truth, being causedby the bad guys headed their way with malice in their souls. Rumors had beenrampant for some time that the Japanese intended to kill all of their prisoners.Late on 3 February, 1945, after a couple of wrong turns and some heavy fightingin the mixed-up outskirts of Manila, the Santo Tomas column picked up CPTManuel Colayco, a Filipino newspaperman and clandestine intelligence officer,who guided them to the main gate of the prison camp. At about nine in the evening,after a brief flurry of resistance by the Japanese guards during which CPTColayco was fatally wounded by a grenade explosion, the 44th Tank Battalion’sM-4 Sherman “Battlin Basic”, closely by the “Georgia Peach” knocked downthe gate and the war was nearly over for the internees.The Flying Column was 66 hours into its mission. With time out for the fightsat Cabanatuan and Gapan, and delays in bypassing some of the blown bridges,it had covered 100 miles. The 1st Cav had toeholds – tenuous as they mightactually have been – at Santo Tomas and at the Malacanang Place.For the Santo Tomas internees, their liberation was followed by a night of delirioushappiness, a standoff and hostage crisis in one of the campus buildings,and two or three days of murderous artillery dueling.The artillery battle resulted when the few hundred men of the 1st Cav, nothaving all that much Manila real estate under their control, had to set up theirartillery inside the Santo Tomas complex and begin making enough noise todiscourage thoughts of counterattack in the minds of Admiral Iwabuchi and histwenty thousand marines defending Manila. The good news was that no counterattackmaterialized; the bad news was that the presence of American artilleryin the front yard invited counterfire from the Japanese, and the internees werein the middle. This several day artillery duel caused the only prisoner causalitiesof the Santo Tomas liberation – with the possible exception of a couple ofinternees who reportedly ate themselves to death in the first day or so. Seventeeninternees and several 1st Cav troopers were killed in this exchange of fire andmany more were injured.Brigadier General Chase and men of his headquarters repelling Japaneseforces in Manila on the evening of February 3, 1945. Photoflash picturetaken by Tom Shafer of Acme News-pictures who accompanied thetroops.After the shooting died down, only a couple of months of stomach achesfrom the unaccustomed good food and headaches from the seemingly endlessinterminable processing stood between the ex-prisoners and, for many of them,repatriation.*This was an excerpt from a paper by Peter R. Wygle entitled “Jeb Stuart WouldHave Loved It!” that covers the four mentioned POW camps. Pete Wygle was acivilian internee at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp, a boy of about ten or 11years old at the time. He also authored the book, “Surviving a Japanese POWCamp”, served on active duty in Korea and later in the Army National Guard retiringas a Colonel. He was also very active in the American Ex-Prisoners of WarAssociation. Pete died of cancer in September 2003. Pete’s window, Nancy, hasgraciously provided a copy of this paper for inclusion in the 1st Cavalry DivisionMuseum archives. Edited by R. W. Tagge, Member of the Board of Governors,1st Cavalry Division Association.Make a tax-deductible donation to the of the 1st Cavalry DivisionAssociation Museum Foundation to preserve the history of theFirst Team or donate to the Foundation of the 1st Cavalry DivisionAssociation to support the children of our fallen Troopers.
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