The 6th Rangers history begins with a mule-drawn pack artillery unit, the 98th Field Artillery Battalion. The 98th Field Artillery was formed at Camp Carson, Colorado in 1942 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Callicut. In December 1942, the battalion embarked for Brisbane, Australia, but due to Australian animal importation laws, the Battalion was redirected to New Guinea, arriving at Port Moresby on 17 February 1943.
The Battalion spent the next 12 months in training, but saw no combat. In February 1943, US Sixth Army decided that the battalion was obsolete, and removed the unit's 800 mules, as well as its commander, who was transferred to the 1st Cavalry Division. The battalion's new commander was Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. Mucci.
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Famous quotes containing the words field and/or artillery:
“Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
Through the windows—through doors—burst like a ruthless force,
Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation;
Into the school where the scholar is studying;
Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride;
Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, plough his field or gathering his
grain;
So fierce you whirr and pound, you drums—so shrill you bugles blow.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“Another success is the post-office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentiment in mankind; so that the power of a wafer or a drop of wax or gluten to guard a letter, as it flies over sea over land and comes to its address as if a battalion of artillery brought it, I look upon as a fine meter of civilization.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)