[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 8, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S70-S72]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 11--HONORING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF FORT SILL IN 
                            LAWTON, OKLAHOMA

  Mr. INHOFE (for himself and Mr. Lankford) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services:

                               S. Res. 11

       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 garrison 
     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;
       Whereas, in 1877, Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper, the first 
     African American to graduate from West Point, was assigned to 
     the 10th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Sill;
       Whereas, in 1898, the Fort Sill garrison was down to 27 
     officers 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 
     settlement 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 
     nearby 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 
     established 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 
     artillery, 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--
       (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 (Robinson 
     Barracks);
       (5) the Air Service Flying School;
       (6) the Army Aviation School;
       (7) the School of Fire (now known as the Field Artillery 
     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 
     observation of artillery fire and, in 1916, was sent into 
     combat with General Jack Pershing on an expedition into 
     Mexico;
       Whereas, in 1917, the Henry Post Army Airfield was 
     constructed for aerial artillery observation and spotting;

[[Page S71]]

       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;
       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 Kansas and 
     Missouri;
       (2) included 3 machinegun battalions, 3 field artillery 
     regiments, 4 infantry regiments, 1 engineer regiment, 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 September 
     20, 1918, moved into forward positions in preparation 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 battery 
     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 
     commandants 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, introduced new 
     fire-direction techniques so fire support could be more 
     responsive;
       Whereas Major Orlando Ward, the next Director of the 
     Gunnery Department after Major Carlos Brewer, developed the 
     fire direction center to centralize command and control and 
     to facilitate massing fire;
       Whereas Major Brewer, Major Ward, and Lieutenant Colonel 
     H.L.C. Jones encouraged replacing horses with motor vehicles 
     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 
     graduates, 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;
       Whereas other Field Artillery Officer Candidate School 
     graduates 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 Infantry 
     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 reassigned 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 Division 
     through Germany, finishing the war just inside the Czech 
     border at Kienberg;
       Whereas, to best use new long-range guns and improve 
     response times, the Field Artillery School championed the use 
     of organic air observation to control field artillery 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 
     between 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 
     ``Thunderbirds'', participated in its first of 4 amphibious 
     landings during World War II, landing in Sicily;
       Whereas the Thunderbirds served 511 days in combat, 
     fighting 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''--
       (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 
     Infantry ``Polar Bears'' was activated at Fort Sill to help 
     train artillerymen in joint-combat tactics;
       Whereas, although the Polar Bears unit was called 
     ``infantry'', 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 program''), 
     which brought together infantry, armor, field artillery, 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 
     reactivated 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 
     development of the Field Artillery Digital Automated 
     Computer, which was introduced in 1966 to compute fire 
     direction data and made the Field Artillery a leader in 
     computer developments for the Army;
       Whereas, in 1963, the 1st Aerial Artillery Group 
     (Provisional) 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 
     involved 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 personnel;
       (3) trained, equipped, and validated reserve component 
     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 personnel 
     with all classes of supply, medical, dental, maintenance, 
     personnel, finance, training, and transportation services 
     prior to deployment;
       Whereas Fort Sill immediately implemented its force-
     protection 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 targets 
     and hardened major entries with concrete and water-filled 
     blocks, while at the same time continuing its primary mission 
     of training officers, new soldiers, and noncommissioned 
     officers;
       Whereas Fort Sill supported Operation Enduring Freedom in 
     Afghanistan--

[[Page S72]]

       (1) by serving as a mobilization station for--
       A) the 5045th Garrison Support Unit (Military Police), 
     which augmented installation security efforts;
       (B) the 1st Battalion, 379th Field Artillery, which 
     augmented the training base; and
       (C) the 2nd Battalion, 379th Field Artillery, which 
     augmented the training base; and
       (2) by mobilizing the 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry from 
     the Texas Army National Guard to staff the entry gates of the 
     installation;
       Whereas, although the 5045th Garrison Support Unit, the 1st 
     Battalion, 379th Field Artillery, the 2nd Battalion, 379th 
     Field Artillery, and the 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry were 
     eventually deactivated, Fort Sill mobilized and deployed 
     numerous additional units and improved force protection 
     during Operation Enduring Freedom;
       Whereas Fort Sill supported Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 
     by deploying more than 5,000 active duty soldiers and 400 
     reserve component soldiers, including--
       (1) C Battery, 3rd Battalion, 13th Field Artillery, the 
     first unit to deploy from Fort Sill;
       (2) the 75th Field Artillery Brigade, which deployed more 
     than 200 soldiers;
       (3) the 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery, which deployed 
     approximately 300 soldiers;
       (4) the 2nd Battalion, 18th Field Artillery, which deployed 
     approximately 300 soldiers;
       (5) soldiers from the 17th Field Artillery Brigade;
       (6) soldiers from the 212th Field Artillery Brigade; and
       (7) additional soldiers and units;
       Whereas Fort Sill is--
       (1) the only active duty Army installation of all the forts 
     on the South Plains built during the Indian Wars;
       (2) the second-oldest continuously serving military 
     installation west of the Mississippi River; and
       (3) designated as a National Historic Landmark;
       Whereas Fort Sill serves as home of--
       (1) the United States Army Field Artillery School;
       (2) the United States Army Air Defense Artillery School;
       (3) the 428th Field Artillery Training Brigade;
       (4) the 30th Air Defense Artillery Training Brigade;
       (5) the 434th Field Artillery Basic Combat Training 
     Brigade;
       (6) the Marine Corps Field Artillery Military Occupational 
     Specialty School;
       (7) a Marine Corps detachment;
       (8) the 75th (Forces Command) Fires Brigade; and
       (9) the 31st (Forces Command) Air Defense Artillery 
     Brigade;
       Whereas thousands of soldiers and Marines have been trained 
     for service in the Field Artillery at Fort Sill, including 
     former President Harry S. Truman, who, during World War I, 
     became the commander of Company D, 129th Field Artillery, 
     entering combat in the last few months of the war, moving his 
     horse-drawn battery to engage the enemy and support the 
     infantry, and firing his last shot on the day of the 
     Armistice at 10:45 a.m.;
       Whereas the people of Oklahoma take great pride in the 
     history of Fort Sill and in the continuing critical role the 
     Field Artillery plays in the defense of the United States;
       Whereas Fort Sill is known as the birthplace of military 
     combat aviation, where the 1st Aero Squadron, under Captain 
     Benjamin Foulois--
       (1) uncrated new, unassembled airplanes and put those 
     planes together in 1915;
       (2) pushed the Curtiss JN-3 planes (known as ``Flying 
     Jennies'') to Polo Field; and
       (3) on Aug 10, 1915, flew the planes for the first time;
       Whereas Henry Post Army Airfield is the oldest airfield in 
     the Army, having been surveyed and established by Captain 
     H.R. Eyrich in August 1917;
       Whereas Henry Post Army Airfield is named after Second 
     Lieutenant Henry B. Post, who was killed in a plane crash in 
     California in 1914;
       Whereas several individuals associated with Fort Sill have 
     received the highest honor for their bravery and sacrifice, 
     including--
       (1) Captain Gary M. Rose, who received the Medal of Honor 
     for action in Laos in 1970 and attended the Field Artillery 
     Officer Basic Course and Field Artillery Officer Advance 
     Course in the 1970s;
       (2) First Lieutenant Lee R. Hartell, who posthumously 
     received the Medal of Honor for action in the Korean War; and
       (3) Sergeant First Class Jared Monti, who received the 
     Medal of Honor for heroic action in Afghanistan;
       Whereas the Fires Center of Excellence consists of--
       (1) the United States Army Field Artillery School;
       (2) the Air Defense Artillery School;
       (3) the Directorate of Training Development and Doctrine;
       (4) the Capabilities Development and Integration 
     Directorate;
       (5) the Army Multi-Domain Targeting Center; and
       (6) additional tenant units;
       Whereas Fort Sill is a large military installation in the 
     United States, covering approximately 94,000 acres, with--
       (1) a $2,261,000 economic impact to the Lawton-Fort Sill 
     region of Oklahoma in 2016; and
       (2) approximately 10,000 military and civilian personnel as 
     of 2016; and
       Whereas the people of the Lawton-Fort Sill region of 
     Oklahoma fought to establish Fort Sill and have continued to 
     support Fort Sill from its inception: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) honors Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma, on its 150th 
     anniversary;
       (2) commends the thousands of men and women who have worked 
     and trained at Fort Sill;
       (3) honors the people of the Lawton-Fort Sill region of 
     Oklahoma for their continued support of Fort Sill; and
       (4) encourages Fort Sill to continue its instrumental role 
     in preparing the brave men and women of the United States for 
     the battlefield.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Dakota.

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