VIRTUAL
Lunchbox Lecture: The 102nd Cavalry: From Omaha Beach to Paris and Beyond
by Alex Jeyschune, 102nd Cavalry Regiment Association
Wednesday, January 5, 2021 | 11:00 a.m. (CT)

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Cost: FREE

Note: This Lunchbox Lecture is FREE and online only via Zoom Webinar. Register for access to the webinar at the link above.

The 102nd Cavalry was a New Jersey Army National Guard unit that was activated and mechanized just prior to America’s entry into World War II. After shipping off to England, the unit was reorganized as the 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Group, composed of the 102nd, 117th, and eventually 38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons.

The 102nd Squadron landed as part of the D-Day invasion on Omaha Beach and was fully engaged in combat missions until the end of the war. The Biddle Report, published in November 1945, provides an analysis of the employment of the 13 US Army cavalry reconnaissance groups that were deployed in the European theater of operations (ETO). That report shows that the 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Group spent more days on mission than any other US cavalry reconnaissance group in wartime Europe.

For some reason, the story of the US Army cavalry groups deployed in the ETO has so far been told in a piecemeal fashion, most likely due to how these groups were assigned, attached, and utilized. This presentation is designed to tell the story of the 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron in World War II, revealing numerous unit accomplishments that for the most part have been lost to history.

For more information, contact Maggie Hartley, Assistant Director of Public Engagement, at maggie.hartley@nationalww2museum.org.