Troopers Down
Dallas Ray Manning. Dallas Manning, a retired electrical instrumentation technician for Riverwood International Paper Mill and member of the Road Home Fellowship of Bastrop, passed away May 30, 2020 at Glenwood Regional Medical Center. He was a resident of Swartz, Louisiana.
Dallas served his country in Germany, and he was a Blackhorse Trooper in the 11th ACR in Vietnam. He also served in the Army National Guard for 15 years in Panama and other locations. Dallas was a member of all Masonic fraternities, serving as Past Master of the Mer Rouge and Swartz Masonic Lodge. He was also a charter member of the Barak Shriners, a member of Bikers for Christ, and an avid sportsman and motorcyclist.
Mr. Manning is survived by his wife of 29 years, Wilma Arant; daughters Jessica DeLaRosa and husband Mark of Del Rio, TX, and Michelle Marquez of West Monroe, LA; and sisters Peggy Jean Hutto of Alabama, Linda Nell Scott of Mangham, LA, and Faye Jarreau and husband Robert of Mangham, LA.
He is also survived by 18 grandchildren, including Bryan Currington, Joshua Reinninger, Nathan Marquez, Logan Marquez, Joseph Gonzalez, Lance Gonzales, Ryan Gonzalez, Rome Gonzalez, Alonzo Gonzalez, Mason Ablebay, Maddison Ates, John Ates, Jenna Taylor, Melissa Currington, Peyton Currington, Abby Currington, Macy Hardy, Hadden Hardy; numerous great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. He is survived as well by special niece Diane Reinninger and husband Patrick Jiles of West Monroe, LA; special niece Amy Hodge of Columbus, OH; and a special nephew, Richard Currington and wife Nicole of Hartsville, TN.
He is preceded in death by his parents, George Dallas and Mattie Mae Taylor Manning, and his half-brother, Ed Taylor. Bikers for Christ served as pallbearers at his service.
Command Sergeant Major Richard E. Morgan
A celebration of life will be held for CSM (Ret.) Richard E. (Dick) Morgan in DeRidder, LA after the social distancing restrictions are lifted. Dick Morgan, who served our Army and our Nation faithfully, was a leader whose greatest contributions were the young soldiers, noncommissioned officers, and officers whom he touched and mentored throughout his career.
CSM Morgan was born in Decatur, Indiana on September 11, 1943 to Charles and Luella Morgan. Growing up in Decatur, family and friends nicknamed him Dick, a name he would carry for the rest of his life. Dick was one of four children growing up with brothers Paul, Leon and sister, Ruth. He graduated from Decatur High School in the summer of 1961. After high school, Dick went to work at the B.F. Goodrich tire factory in Dayton, Ohio. Always looking for opportunities to improve himself, he later went to work for an insurance company in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he worked until he was drafted by the United States Army in March 1969.
Following initial entry training as an Air Defense Artillery Crewman, Dick served with the 2nd Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery, 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) in Homestead, Florida. This initial assignment set the stage for what would become a long and successful Army career. Rising quickly through the ranks, Dick demonstrated a natural leadership ability resulting in an early promotion to Sergeant. The end of the Vietnam War drove Congress to reduce the size of the Regular Army by nearly 50%.
The drawdown of forces brought about a huge realignment and reduction of many Army units and an exodus of hundreds of thousands of soldiers as the Nation’s focus shifted to the Cold War. Dick had become a part of the Army and wanted to continue to serve. Transitioning to the Tank Corps was an easy and wise career choice as these mechanized units became an Army focus for the immediate and long-term future.
The focus of the Army in the early 1970s was Western Europe and the defense of the West German border with East Germany and Czechoslovakia. Dick’s first assignment in Europe was with the 4th Battalion, 69th Armor in Mainz Germany where he served as a tank commander. While new to tank gunnery, tank maneuver and tank maintenance, Dick learned quickly and demonstrated his expertise through many training opportunities, becoming well known among the battalion leadership. His accomplishments in the tank company resulted in his assignment to the headquarters as an Operations Sergeant and later the Headquarters and Headquarters Company Executive Officer. Following his years of service in Germany, Dick returned to stateside duty as a drill sergeant at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Serving as a Drill Sergeant for Basic Training and Infantry, Dick rose through the ranks of the organization by promotion and responsibility to also serve as a Senior Drill Sergeant and later as a First Sergeant.
After several years of service at Fort Knox, the Army assigned Dick to the 1st Battalion, 33rd Armor in Gelnhausen, Germany as a platoon sergeant. With the continuing focus on the Cold War, Dick built a powerful and lethal tank platoon that distinguished itself on the tank gunnery range and during force-on-force maneuvers across the German countryside. Following another very successful tour in Germany, Dick returned to Fort Knox to serve as a tank gunnery instructor in the famed Weapons Department of the United States Army Armor School. Again, Dick distinguished himself as an instructor, resulting in his appointment as senior instructor, where he was responsible for training and developing newly assigned noncommissioned officers to serve as tank gunnery instructors. With increased responsibility, Dick was promoted early to the rank of Master Sergeant. Simultaneously, Dick taught the lecture-type classes for both officer and noncommissioned officers attending their professional development courses. He was instrumental in the development of doctrine, tactics and training for the initial work on Close Combat Heavy Forces and the M1 Tank Bore Sight and Calibration Procedures; Field Manuals (FM) FM 17-12 Tank Gunnery and FM 17-12-1 M1 Tank Gunnery; and tactics, techniques and procedures for the Armor Force.
After distinguishing himself as a tank gunnery expert in the Weapons Department, Dick returned to Germany for another tour of duty. This time he was a First Sergeant assigned to G Troop, 2nd Squadron, 11th Cavalry Regiment (Blackhorse) based in Bad Kissingen, Germany. The role of the 11th Cavalry Regiment in Germany was to patrol the East/West German border. The units of the Regiment maintained a vigilant watch on the Soviet forces stationed on the eastern side of the border, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. G Troop was one of four units responsible for an approximate 50-mile section of the border. In this tough and demanding assignment, Dick stood out as an expert trainer, a beloved leader, and a distinguished soldier. The senior leadership recognized the need for Dick’s training expertise to influence all of their units,
and they moved him to the Squadron level to serve as their tank Master Gunner. When opportunity presented itself, Dick was the obvious choice to move up in responsibility to serve as both the Squadron’s Operations Sergeant Major and as the Acting Command Sergeant Major.
Leaving Germany to return stateside to Fort Polk, Louisiana, Dick joined the 3rd Battalion, 70th Armor where he served as the Headquarters and Headquarters Company First Sergeant, responsible for more than 300 assigned soldiers. A career of developmental assignments and outstanding performance resulted in his early selection for promotion to Sergeant Major. Dick served as the Operations Sergeant Major for the 4th Squadron, 12th Cavalry at Fort Polk where he was responsible for all daily operations and the planning of all training events for the unit. In just a short period of time, the Army appointed Dick as the Command Sergeant Major of that Squadron. The Command Sergeant Major serves as the most senior enlisted noncommissioned officer in the unit responsible for the professional development, training, and discipline; and the CSM serves as the senior advisor to the unit’s commander. Dick achieved the ultimate promotion of any enlisted career, which is the opportunity to wear the chevrons of a Command Sergeant Major. But more importantly in Dick’s life was during this assignment at Fort Polk in 1988, he met Miss Linda, the love of his life. When Dick first met Miss Linda in a brief encounter, it was love at first sight. Not really knowing who she was or where she lived, he managed to “track her down” on that bright April day where their love for each other blossomed into a life of love.
Following a successful tour of duty at Fort Polk, Dick and Linda headed to Fulda, Germany, where he would serve as the Command Sergeant Major of the famed 1st Squadron, 11th Cavalry Regiment. Like his tour of duty years prior in the 2nd Squadron, Dick found the mission of the 1st Squadron equally demanding. On November 9th, 1989, the Iron Curtain fell and Dick and the soldiers of the Squadron witnessed history at Observation Post (OP) ALPHA. All along the border, citizens of East Germany and Czechoslovakia poured into West Germany, seeking freedom and to reunite with family and friends. While peace was breaking out in Europe, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The Army immediately began deploying thousands of soldiers to Saudi Arabia in their defense in the fall of 1990. While the 11th Cavalry was not deployed in support of Desert Shield or Desert Storm, the 1st Squadron had the mission to train Individual Ready Reserve soldiers as replacements for the ground war. Desert Storm ended swiftly and the 11th
Cavalry was called to duty at the end of the ground war in February 1991 for Operation Positive Force, to provide security for U.S. forces withdrawing from Iraq, reestablish the border between Kuwait and Iraq, reopen the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, and provide security for the oil well firefighters as they extinguished hundreds of oil well fires. This 6- month deployment was a mission success and mission well executed for the 1st Squadron, which returned to Fulda in the fall of 1991.
After Germany, Dick and Linda returned stateside to Fort Hood, Texas where he would serve as the Command Sergeant Major for the 3rd Battalion, 70th Armor. Looking for new and challenging opportunities, Dick retired from the Army on August 31, 1992 with more than 23 years of distinguished service. Returning to Fort Polk, Louisiana and the
home they left behind, Dick and Linda were together and enjoying military retired life. But Dick wanted to work, and he loved challenging assignments; he found this as a Department of the Army Civilian working as the Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise Officer at the Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk. The installation leadership quickly learned who Dick Morgan was and saw first-hand, his leadership, intellect, and training abilities. Dick moved upward by promotion and responsibility as a civilian, just as he did in uniform, to serve as the Operations Officer and finally as the Deputy G3, Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk.
Dick’s awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit; the Meritorious Service Medal, Sixth Oak Leaf Cluster; Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; National Defense Service Medal; South West Asia Service Medal, with Bronze Star; Expert Rifle and Pistol Badges; and the Drill Sergeant Badge. He was a Distinguished Honor Graduate of the Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course and a graduate of the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy Non-Resident Course of 1986. Dick was a recipient of the Order of St. George Medallion from the Cavalry and Armor Association, a lifetime member of the Blackhorse Association, and a lifetime member of the United States Army Brotherhood of Tankers (USABOT), where he was inducted into the fraternal order of the Spur in 1984. He was a member of the National Rifle Association and Adams Post 43 of the American Legion. He was an accomplished author of a fiction novel entitled, The First Sergeants.
Dick and Linda have four children: Richard Leon Morgan, Rhonda Brown, Shanda Morales, and Jason Swartz. They also have four grandchildren and two great- grandchildren.
Blackhorse Scholarship Updates
The Blackhorse Association is proud to announce the scholarship winners for 2020; the scholarships will be used to fund the 2020-2021 academic year for some deserving students.
The Blackhorse Association and Blackhorse Scholarships were born of a promise made by Colonel George S. Patton and Sergeant Major Paul Squires (both now deceased) to a dying L Troop trooper on May 2, 1969 on a battlefield in Vietnam. The vow to “not let people forget us” and “take care of our kids” became the inspiration to form the Blackhorse Association and its scholarship program in 1970 at Fort Knox, KY.
Since the founding of our association, we have provided over $857,000 to help educate the children of our Troopers. To be eligible for a scholarship, a candidate must be a child or step-child of a present or former member of the Regiment. Selection preference is given to children who lost a parent or step-parent in service of the Regiment or who had a parent or step-parent incapacitated by wounds or injury while serving the Regiment. The scholarship amount is $3000, and it’s payable annually at the beginning of the Fall Semester each year for no more than a total of four years.
There were 20 qualified applicants this year, and 19 will be awarded scholarships. Ten of these students are multi-year recipients. We could spend a lot of time discussing the amazing attributes of our 19 recipients, but here are just a few details. One of our recipient’s father was wounded while serving in the Blackhorse in Vietnam. The average GPA is 3.64, so this is a smart group of students. Four are majoring in political science, two in chemistry, and two in mechanical engineering. One of these aspiring engineers is in Air Force ROTC with a desire to become a fighter pilot.
We continue our newest tradition of named scholarships this year; this started in 2015, and we hope it will continue. Blackhorse Association members can designate a scholarship with a $3000 donation.
This year we launched two initiatives.
Our very best candidate is awarded the Colonel George S. Patton Scholarship. Because this scholarship represents the impetus behind our program and the recipient is our very best student, it is funded for $5000.
We will continue to support the Troopers in the Regiment, and we will open up a limited opportunity for Spouses of 11th ACR Active Duty Soldiers to apply for either a full-time or part-time scholarship. These scholarships are intended to support the spouses as they continue their education while their Soldier serves in training America’s Army at the National Training Center.
The Eight named scholarships are awarded as follows.
The other scholarship winners are listed in alphabetical order.
- Kylee Barnes
- Abigail Brandl
- Grace Brandl
- Lauren Buzzell 5. Victoria McCune 6. Stephen Ponder 7. Amanda Snyder 8. Mayah Taylor
- Dean Wagenheim 10. Jennifer Westbrook
Thank you to our Scholarship Committee members for their dedication and hard work in rating our candidates. And we give many thanks to all of you who support this important scholarship effort, and we ask for your continued support and commitment in the months ahead.
For those association members who have not yet supported the scholarship fund, please go to our website and look at the many opportunities through which you can contribute to support the academic and career dreams of our deserving children.
