A resolution honoring the 150th anniversary of Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma.

III 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. RES. 11 Honoring the 150th anniversary of Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 8, 2019 Mr. INHOFE (for himself and Mr. LANKFORD) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services RESOLUTION Honoring the 150th anniversary of Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. Whereas January 8, 2019, marks the 150th anniversary of Fort Sill, a military installation operating in the Lawton- Fort Sill region of Oklahoma; Whereas the site of Fort Sill was staked out on January 8, 1869, by Major General Philip H. Sheridan, and the gar- rison was first called ‘‘Camp Wichita’’; Whereas Fort Sill is named after Brigadier General Joshua W. Sill, who was killed in the American Civil War and was a friend to Major General Philip H. Sheridan; Whereas the first post commander at Fort Sill was Brevet Major General Benjamin Grierson; VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jan 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR11.IS SR11 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •SRES 11 IS Whereas, in 1877, Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper, the first Af- rican American to graduate from West Point, was as- signed to the 10th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Sill; Whereas, in 1898, the Fort Sill garrison was down to 27 offi- cers and soldiers as the cavalry left for battles in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, and Lieutenant Allyn Capron, Jr., who had joined the ‘‘Rough Riders’’, was the first officer killed in Cuba; Whereas the last Indian land in Oklahoma opened for settle- ment in 1901, and 29,000 homesteaders registered at Fort Sill during July of that year for the land lottery; Whereas Fort Sill played a major role in expanding the near- by city of Lawton, which was named after Major General Henry W. Lawton, a Fort Sill quartermaster who was killed in the Philippines in 1899 and was a Medal of Honor recipient; Whereas, on August 6, 1901, the town of Lawton was estab- lished and quickly grew to become the third largest city in Oklahoma, later becoming part of the greater Lawton- Fort Sill community; Whereas, with the disappearance of the frontier, the mission of Fort Sill gradually changed from cavalry to field artil- lery, with the first artillery battery arriving at Fort Sill in 1902, and the last cavalry regiment departing in May 1907; Whereas, the School of Fire for Field Artillery was founded at Fort Sill in 1911 and continues to operate as the United States Army Field Artillery School; Whereas, throughout its history, Fort Sill has served as home to— VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jan 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR11.IS SR11 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •SRES 11 IS (1) the Infantry School of Musketry, which was later renamed the Infantry School and moved to Camp Benning, Georgia; (2) the Gas Defense School; (3) the School for Aerial Observers; (4) the Artillery Officers Candidate School (Robin- son Barracks); (5) the Air Service Flying School; (6) the Army Aviation School; (7) the School of Fire (now known as the Field Ar- tillery School); and (8) the Air Defense Artillery School; Whereas, in 1915, the first air unit in the history of the United States Armed Forces, the 1st Aero Squadron, was stationed at Fort Sill for experiments in the aerial obser- vation of artillery fire and, in 1916, was sent into combat with General Jack Pershing on an expedition into Mex- ico; Whereas, in 1917, the Henry Post Army Airfield was con- structed for aerial artillery observation and spotting; Whereas, with the start of World War I in 1918, the post expanded quickly, and the Army established Camp Doniphan on the northwest edge of Fort Sill in order to assemble, house, and train entire divisions before sending the divisions to Europe; Whereas, during World War I, Fort Sill found itself with a unique new training mission, as the War Department was unprepared to train officers and soldiers for the threat of weapons of mass destruction posed by the wide-scale use of chemical weapons in Europe, and soldiers had to be equipped and trained for the new threat; VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jan 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR11.IS SR11 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •SRES 11 IS Whereas the 35th Division was constituted in 1917 as 1 of the 17 National Guard divisions authorized for service in World War I; Whereas the 35th Division— (1) was organized from the National Guards of Kan- sas and Missouri; (2) included 3 machine gun battalions, 3 field artil- lery regiments, 4 infantry regiments, 1 engineer regi- ment, and 1 signal battalion, with a total strength of 26,373 soldiers; (3) trained at Camp Doniphan until April 1918, when the 35th Division embarked to Europe; Whereas, on September 15, 1918, the 35th Division moved to the Meuse-Argonne front and, during the night of Sep- tember 20, 1918, moved into forward positions in prepa- ration for the Meuse-Argonne offensive; Whereas, on September 26, 1918, the 35th Division launched an attack and, for the next 4 days, kept up the attack against heavy German resistance; Whereas the 35th Division returned to the United States in April 1919 and was demobilized on May 30, 1919; Whereas President Harry S. Truman was a captain and bat- tery commander of 1 of the field artillery units of the 35th Division and ran a canteen at Camp Doniphan for a period of time; Whereas, after World War I, the Field Artillery School com- mandants began a long-range program to improve field artillery mobility, gunnery, and equipment; Whereas Major Carlos Brewer, the Director of the Gunnery Department in the late 1920s and early 1930s, intro- VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Jan 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR11.IS SR11 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •SRES 11 IS duced new fire-direction techniques so fire support could be more responsive; Whereas Major Orlando Ward, the next Director of the Gun- nery Department after Major Carlos Brewer, developed the fire direction center to centralize command and con- trol and to facilitate massing fire; Whereas Major Brewer, Major Ward, and Lieutenant Colonel H.L.C. Jones encouraged replacing horses with motor ve- hicles for moving field artillery guns; Whereas the 45th Infantry Division, made up of National Guardsmen from Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas— (1) was ordered into Federal service for 1 year in September 1940 to engage in a training program that began at Fort Sill; and (2) participated in the Louisiana Maneuvers; Whereas the Field Artillery Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill— (1) was opened by the Army in 1941 to help meet the need for leaders in a rapidly expanding Army; (2) was closed during the peace period between World War II and the Korean War; (3) was subsequently reopened and remained open until 1973; and (4) trained 57,500 field artillery officers for World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War; Whereas 2 Field Artillery Officer Candidate School grad- uates, First Lieutenant James E. Robinson (Class of 62– 43) and Second Lieutenant Harold B. Durham, Jr. (Class of 1–67), were awarded the Medal of Honor; VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jan 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR11.IS SR11 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •SRES 11 IS Whereas other Field Artillery Officer Candidate School grad- uates have made an impact on history, including— (1) H. Malcolm Baldrige (Class of 91–44), a former Secretary of Commerce; (2) Martin R. Hoffman (Class of 71–55), a former Secretary of the Army; (3) retired General Jack N. Merritt (Class of 35– 53), former senior military representative of the United States to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; and (4) John M. Shalikashvili (Class of 4–59), former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Whereas the 818th ‘‘Tank Destroyer Battalion’’— (1) was formed at Fort Sill on December 15, 1941; (2) deployed to Northern Ireland in 1943, equipped with towed guns; (3) landed in France 36 days after D-Day; and (4) after advancing through France with the 5th In- fantry Division, fought at Metz and along the Saar River, pushing into Germany in early December 1944; Whereas, the 5th Infantry Division— (1) moved north on December 18, 1944, to fight in the Battle of the Bulge; (2) was detached on December 20, 1944, and reas- signed to the 26th Infantry Division, which saw action in the Ardennes; and (3) from late January to March 1945, held defensive positions before driving west with the 26th Infantry Divi- sion through Germany, finishing the war just inside the Czech border at Kienberg; Whereas, to best use new long-range guns and improve re- sponse times, the Field Artillery School championed the use of organic air observation to control field artillery VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jan 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR11.IS SR11 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •SRES 11 IS fires, with the War Department approving organic field artillery air observation in 1942 and the field artillery air observers adjusting massed fire and performing liaison, reconnaissance, and other missions during World War II; Whereas, in 1942, Fort Sill stood down the last horse-drawn field artillery unit, ending 73 years of the partnership be- tween soldiers and horses that helped fuel the military strength of Fort Sill; Whereas horses did not reappear at Fort Sill until 1963, when the commanding general authorized a special ‘‘Half Section of Field Artillery’’, which names the horses after Fort Sill commanders; Whereas, on July 10, 1943, the 45th Infantry Division, which trained at Fort Sill and was known as the ‘‘Thunder- birds’’, participated in its first of 4 amphibious landings during World War II, landing in Sicily; Whereas the Thunderbirds served 511 days in combat, fight- ing across Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany; Whereas celebrities made appearances or received Army training at Fort Sill during World War II, with humorist Will Rogers and motion-picture star Gene Autry making numerous trips to entertain the troops there; Whereas Louis L’Amor, before becoming a writer of western novels, was a boxing instructor at the famous Artillery Bowl at Fort Sill in 1943; Whereas, following World War II, Fort Sill adapted to the atomic age and the Cold War, and the War Department consolidated all artillery training and development under the United States Army Artillery Center at Fort Sill in 1946; Whereas the 45th Infantry Division ‘‘Thunderbirds’’— VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jan 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR11.IS SR11 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •SRES 11 IS (1) deployed to South Korea in 1952; (2) was 1 of only 2 National Guard divisions to see combat in the Korean War; (3) was deployed with I Corps and participated in such battles as Old Baldy and Pork Chop Hill; and (4) participated in 4 campaigns during 429 days in battle; Whereas, during the Cold War, the 4th Battalion 31st Infan- try ‘‘Polar Bears’’ was activated at Fort Sill to help train artillerymen in joint-combat tactics; Whereas, although the Polar Bears unit was called ‘‘infan- try’’, it was a unique combined-arms team that included an armored tank company; Whereas the high-profile Polar Bears unit participated in combined-arms live-fire exercises (the ‘‘CALFEX pro- gram’’), which brought together infantry, armor, field ar- tillery, and Air Force assets; Whereas the CALFEX program was brought to an end by the drive for efficient use of money, with the end of the Polar Bears unit signaling the end of the high-profile CALFEX program; Whereas, as of 2019, the Polar Bears unit has been reac- tivated with the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York; Whereas, in 1963, the Field Artillery School tested aerial rocket artillery, which equipped helicopters with rockets; Whereas, as demonstrated during the Vietnam War, aerial rocket artillery was effective; Whereas the Field Artillery School cooperated in the develop- ment of the Field Artillery Digital Automated Computer, which was introduced in 1966 to compute fire direction VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jan 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR11.IS SR11 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •SRES 11 IS data and made the Field Artillery a leader in computer developments for the Army; Whereas, in 1963, the 1st Aerial Artillery Group (Provi- sional) was organized at Fort Sill to test equipping CH– 34 helicopters with rocket pods attached to each side, converting the transport aircraft, an easy target in most combat situations, into flying weapons capable of direct or indirect fires; Whereas modern helicopter gunships are descendants of the 1963 test program at Fort Sill; Whereas, on August 8, 1990, Fort Sill became actively in- volved in supporting Operation Desert Shield, with initial activities centered around the preparation of III Corps Artillery units for deployment; Whereas, during Operation Desert Shield, Fort Sill— (1) deployed 19 Active and 20 Reserve units; (2) processed 9,246 Active and 1,397 Reserve per- sonnel; (3) trained, equipped, and validated reserve compo- nent units and personnel; (4) supported active component units and personnel; (5) prepared and shipped equipment to ports for shipment to the battlefield; and (6) with help from Army Reserve units, expanded the training base for initial military training; Whereas, during Operation Desert Shield, Fort Sill agencies supported Active and Reserve component units and per- sonnel with all classes of supply, medical, dental, mainte- nance, personnel, finance, training, and transportation services prior to deployment; VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jan 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR11.IS SR11 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •SRES 11 IS Whereas Fort Sill immediately implemented its force-protec- tion plan the morning of September 11, 2001— (1) by opening its installation operations center to coordinate security measures around the clock; and (2) by activating its quick-reaction force— (A) to guard the outer perimeter roads; (B) to serve as roving security patrols; and (C) to perform other security duties; Whereas, in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, Fort Sill furnished security personnel for high-risk tar- gets and hardened major entries with concrete and water- filled blocks, while at the same time continuing its pri- mary mission of training officers, new soldiers, and non- commissioned officers; Whereas Fort Sill supported Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan— (1) by serving as a mobilization station for— (A) [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]