80 years ago this week. 23 October 1944. Ramgarh, India, CBI theater.
“Man Bites Mule. Although it’s only a slight variation on the popular prescription for ‘news,’ it isn’t news when man bites mule, unless you aren’t acquainted with the ways of muleskinners, Sgt. Fred Parker of Ozona, Tex., bites the ear of a mule to take the animal’s mind off branding operations. Lt. Carl W. Shultz, Independence, MO, of the Army Veterinary Corps, wields the branding iron, and Sgt. R. Sterling (right), Crawford, Neb., assists. The mule is one of a group of new arrivals at Ramgarh in the C.B.I.”
U.S. Army Signal Corps photo from the Allison collection, MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.
A reliable four-legged means of cargo transport in out-of-the-way areas used by the Army going back to Washington’s Days, the U.S. Army’s Pack Service was only formally established in 1871 for use during the Indian Wars.
And, while the Army tried to retire the beasts in 1931 in favor of wheel and track, the need for them in WWII saw something of a big comeback.
5307th Composite Unit Provisional (Merrills Marauders) use mules to help pack supplies in the CBI
Army Mules are tied in a long picket line at the docks in Palermo, Sicily, before being loaded on a U.S.T. boat for the invasion of Italy. 20 September 1943. SC 180044
Mules carry supplies for the 3rd Bn., 87th Inf. Regt., 10th Mtn. Div., going up the road towards Tole, Italy. 16 April 1945.
While upwards of 3,000 mules were used in the CBI by the Army, 5,000 in Italy, and another 10,000 in Greece, the final two U.S. Army mule pack units– the 35th QM Pack Coy and the 4th Field Artillery Battalion (Pack)– were deactivated on 15 December 1956 at Fort Carson, Colorado, ending an 85-year run. The 322 remaining mules on hand were sold or transferred to other agencies including the National Park Service and the Forest Service. (The British Army held on to theirs until 1966.)
However, that isn’t the end of the story.
West Point, in a tradition dating back to 1899, keeps a few mules (and Mule Riders) on hand as mascots.
Further, the U.S. Army Special Forces annually send teams to the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center in California to learn the use of pack animals– just in case.
And some are a little moody.