IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 29 
Honoring the 150th anniversary of Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 8, 2019 
Mr. COLE 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; 
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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— 
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(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; 
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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; and 
(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-
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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; 
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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 
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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’Amour, 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’’— 
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(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 
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