Dan
07-06-2006, 18:26
RELEASE NUMBER: 060706-01
DATE POSTED: JULY 6, 2006
Special Forces Soldiers memorialize Battle of Little Bighorn
10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Public Affairs Office
CROW AGENCY, Mont. (USASOC News Service, July 6, 2006) — Arriving at the invitation of Crow Tribe leaders and local National Park rangers, a group of Army Green Berets impressed audiences here by parachuting in to help honor the 130th anniversary of the Battle of Little Bighorn June 23-25.
About a dozen Soldiers from the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), based at Fort Carson, Colo., provided three military free fall parachute demonstrations during memorial events to pay tribute to the famous battle, which on June 25, 1876, pitted U.S. cavalrymen against victorious American Indian forces here, including Sioux and Cheyenne Indians.
More than 260 members of the U.S. 7th Cavalry died on the Little Bighorn battlefield here, including the unit commander, Lt. Col. George A. Custer in his famous “Last Stand.”
With support from two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters of the Montana Army National Guard’s Company A, 1-189th Combat Support Aviation Battalion based in Helena, the 10th SFG Soldiers parachuted from an altitude of 9,000 feet into three related events. On June 23, they jumped into a veterans’ remembrance ceremony at Apsaalooke Veterans Park here as part of the Crow Native Days celebration. Then, on June 25, they parachuted again to mark the 130th anniversary of the Battle of Little Bighorn at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Their final jump, that same day, commemorated Custer’s Last Stand at Medicine Tail Coulee on the battlefield.
During the ceremony at the national monument, the Soldiers also placed a memorial wreath at the cemetery there to honor the fallen fighters of Little Bighorn, both U.S. Army and American Indian. The Soldiers were recognized individually for their service and received a special blessing from the Crow during the veterans’ ceremony on June 23.
The Green Berets are uniquely suited to help memorialize the Battle of Little Bighorn, in part because the U.S. Army’s Special Forces is the only organization in the U.S. Army that traces its lineage back to the legendary U.S. Army Indian Scouts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, said Lt. Col. Rick Steiner, the deputy commander of the 10th SFG, and one of the Special Forces Soldiers present to mark the occasion.
“Since they have their roots with the Indian Scouts who served with the U.S. cavalry … it’s very special to have (Special Forces Soldiers) here to participate in the 130th anniversary,” said Darrell Cook, superintendent of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.
Steiner added that modern-day Special Forces heraldry features many American Indian tributes, including the crossed arrows that represent the Special Forces branch and the arrowhead-shaped shoulder patch of the Army’s Special Forces groups.
-usasoc-
DATE POSTED: JULY 6, 2006
Special Forces Soldiers memorialize Battle of Little Bighorn
10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Public Affairs Office
CROW AGENCY, Mont. (USASOC News Service, July 6, 2006) — Arriving at the invitation of Crow Tribe leaders and local National Park rangers, a group of Army Green Berets impressed audiences here by parachuting in to help honor the 130th anniversary of the Battle of Little Bighorn June 23-25.
About a dozen Soldiers from the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), based at Fort Carson, Colo., provided three military free fall parachute demonstrations during memorial events to pay tribute to the famous battle, which on June 25, 1876, pitted U.S. cavalrymen against victorious American Indian forces here, including Sioux and Cheyenne Indians.
More than 260 members of the U.S. 7th Cavalry died on the Little Bighorn battlefield here, including the unit commander, Lt. Col. George A. Custer in his famous “Last Stand.”
With support from two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters of the Montana Army National Guard’s Company A, 1-189th Combat Support Aviation Battalion based in Helena, the 10th SFG Soldiers parachuted from an altitude of 9,000 feet into three related events. On June 23, they jumped into a veterans’ remembrance ceremony at Apsaalooke Veterans Park here as part of the Crow Native Days celebration. Then, on June 25, they parachuted again to mark the 130th anniversary of the Battle of Little Bighorn at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Their final jump, that same day, commemorated Custer’s Last Stand at Medicine Tail Coulee on the battlefield.
During the ceremony at the national monument, the Soldiers also placed a memorial wreath at the cemetery there to honor the fallen fighters of Little Bighorn, both U.S. Army and American Indian. The Soldiers were recognized individually for their service and received a special blessing from the Crow during the veterans’ ceremony on June 23.
The Green Berets are uniquely suited to help memorialize the Battle of Little Bighorn, in part because the U.S. Army’s Special Forces is the only organization in the U.S. Army that traces its lineage back to the legendary U.S. Army Indian Scouts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, said Lt. Col. Rick Steiner, the deputy commander of the 10th SFG, and one of the Special Forces Soldiers present to mark the occasion.
“Since they have their roots with the Indian Scouts who served with the U.S. cavalry … it’s very special to have (Special Forces Soldiers) here to participate in the 130th anniversary,” said Darrell Cook, superintendent of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.
Steiner added that modern-day Special Forces heraldry features many American Indian tributes, including the crossed arrows that represent the Special Forces branch and the arrowhead-shaped shoulder patch of the Army’s Special Forces groups.
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