“How did they [the Lipizzaners and Phil’s thoroughbred, Tuckern] get out [of Hitler’s secret horse farm in Czechoslovakia]?” Phil asked incredulously.[1]

[Col. McGarr] “It’s a story that can be told over drinks at the Officer’s Club some evening, but to make a very long story very short, after I reported your findings up the chain of command, I’m not sure it was believed.

“Then General Patton’s 2nd Cavalry Group, which had advanced west of Czechoslovakia in late April of ’45, was contacted by the ranking German at the horse farm, a Colonel Holters.

“Most of the 2nd Cav’s officers were horsemen, including the unit’s commander, Colonel Charles M. Reed.  Reed and Holters negotiated the groundwork for a surrender.

“Then Reed sent a message to General Patton at Third Army headquarters requesting permission to save the horses. After giving a wink and a nod, I was told that Patton’s immediate response was, and I quote, ‘Get them. Make it fast!”’

“That makes sense,” Phil interjected. “Patton was known to be a lifelong horseman.”

“It took until four days after Germany’s surrender to work out the details and approvals. But on twelve May, 300 of the most prized horses, including all the Lipizzaners and Tuckern, were either trucked, ridden, or herded safely over the border to Bad Kotzting, Germany, thirty-five miles away. Miraculously, only two horses didn’t survive the two-day march.

“Saving those horses, particularly the Lipizzaners, was a gutsy-as-hell move. I’ve heard there was no legal or historical precedent. All over Europe, we had soldiers and art historians whose mission was to protect cultural arti­ facts and recover stolen art.  But the horses did not have the same official protection.”

“What happened to the horses after they safely reached Germany?” Phil asked.

“The military decided to ship some of the horses, which had been declared ‘spoils of war,’ back to the States. Last fall, 151 of the world’s most beautiful stallions, mares, and foals were loaded onto a liberty ship, the Stephen F Austin. When they arrived in Newport News, most were transferred by train to the Army’s Pomona Remount Depot in California. But Patton’s Lipizzaners and one ugly-headed and mostly blue-blooded Thoroughbred were sent here.”

McGarr turned to Phil. “General O’Daniel intervened on your behalf, along with one of Patton’s staff officers, a Colonel Fountain, and a German officer, a Captain Rudolph Lessing. All helped us get Tuckern on that shipment.”

Once again, Phil couldn’t believe his ears. Now he knew what Colonel Fountain had been referring to when he’d visited Marilyn’s family in Des Moines at Christmastime. And, of course, he never forgot meeting Captain Lessing from the Hostau stable. Oh, my goodness, he thought.

“Remember that the boss said he had three reasons he wanted you here as XO, Phil?” Ross said. “Tuckern is the third.”

“And,” Phil whispered, stroking Tuckern’s neck, “the best of all.”

“I’ll have Tuckern put on the next transport trailer back to Fort Myer,” the colonel said, smiling. “The Army officially owns him, but I’m having him assigned to us. You’ll be able to train and ride him as long as you’re at the post.”

Phil could not believe his good fortune. He and Marilyn were an item again, and now this.

Life, he decided, was really looking up.

~~~~~

[1] Larimore, At First Light, 315.

[2] Larimore, At First Light, 315-316.

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December 24, 1945M