Vet broke horses for Army

CHADRON, Neb. — A few months shy of his 90th birthday, Ed Bieganski of Chadron can still fit into his military uniform. In fact, he still does it when called upon to serve.

While much of the nation’s focus has been on “The Greatest Generation” — veterans of World War II — Bieganski’s service began even before then. He served in the Remount Detachment Unit at Fort Robinson, enlisting in 1938 at age 18.

“I always tell everyone that I am a pre-Pearl Harbor soldier,” Bieganski said, “and most people don’t get it. But there are very few of us left.”

He remains an active member of the U.S. Cavalry Association and Color Guard, participating in military funerals, ceremonies and parades.

Bieganski grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and hitchhiked to western Nebraska during the Great Depression, as did many young adults in search of work and better times. He worked briefly for a local farmer before enlisting. At the time of his enlistment, Fort Robinson had approximately 120 soldiers. But during World War II more than 400 soldiers and 8,000 to 10,000 horses made their way to the station.

Since its inception as a frontier cavalry outpost, Fort Robinson continually expanded and became one of the largest military installations on the northern Plains. The post survived the frontier period and was used by the U.S. Army during WWII. The fort served as a supply point for horses, which were still used in warfare, and Bieganski’s duties involved classifying and riding the horses until they were reasonably broke — with an emphasis on reasonably.

“Sometimes the horses were still pretty wild,” Bieganski said with a laugh.

The Remount Division was supplied with mares from ranchers from Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado, and stallions were purchased from racetracks. Often the stallions were leased to area ranchers and then the fort would purchase the offspring.

The Remount Division was particular about using only bay or sorrel horses and straying away from gray, white and black horses to avoid drawing attention to the soldiers.

Classifying the horses required documentation, such as pedigree, height and weight, and every horse and its file were numbered, and the horses were branded with their file number for identification.

Toward the end of the war, horses were no longer needed. They were auctioned off in 1947 before the closing of the fort in 1948.

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