Benning, Georgia. It was at that time called the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion. The skeleton organization was made up of trained key personnel drawn from cavalry and reconnaissance units located throughout the United States. On 24 July 1940, the first cadre, consisting of 89 men, arrived from the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, Fort Knox, Kentucky, a similar organization formed a few days previously
from the 7th Cavalry Brigade. Eight men came from the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry, at Fort. Meyer, Va., and eight from the 1st Squadron, 3rd Cavalry, at Fort Allen, Vt. The 3rd Cavalry Regiment began its famous career in 1846, when it was formed as a " Regiment of the Mounted Riflemen". Through many campaigns the 3rd Cavalry has lived up to its motto, " Brave Rifles, Veterans, you have been baptized in fire and blood and come out steel"... the immortal words of General Winfield Scott after the battle of Chapaultepec. Twenty six men later arrived from the 2nd Cavalry at Fort Riley, Kansas. The 2nd, was one of the oldest cavalry in the United States Army, has a long and brilliant record dating back to 1836, when it was formed by an act of Congress as the 2nd Dragoons. Twenty-three men whose parent organization was the 11th Cavalry Regiment completed the cadre on 11 August 1901. The 11th Cavalry, formed at Fort Meyer, Virginia, distinguished itself in the Spanish-American war, and in General Pershing's punitive expedition against Mexico in 1914. Proud of its distinguished lineage, the 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, the "eyes and ears" of the Second Armored Division, has already added new battle honors to those handed down to it by its parent units. The 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, formed from a cadre supplied by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 11th, 13th, and 14th Cavalry Regiments, was activated as an organic unit. Its first commanding officer was Major, later Major General) Isaac D. White, who as a brigadier general, commanded the division from 19 January 1945 to 8 June 1945. ( more on Gen. White in the Generals section) When the division was reorganized on 8 January 1942, following the Carolina maneuvers, the 2nd was redesignated the 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. During those maneuvers the battalion made national headlines by its first notable feat of arms-the capture of Lt. General Hugh A. Drum, CG of the First Army. An interesting point, most all of the generals to command the 2nd Armored Division were from the New England States. Three platoons of the 82nd were a part of the initial landing force which forced the capitulation of French North Africa. On 8 November 1942, one platoon of Co. "C" landed at Safi, with Combat Command "B" another platoon landed at Fedala, near Casablanca, with the 9th Infantry Division and a third landed at Mahdia Plage, near Port Lyautey, with the 3rd Infantry Division. The 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion landed at Gela, Sicily on 11th July 1943. The battalion took a major part in the capture of Butera and the tank company participated in the battle of Mazzarino. The battalion reconnoitered in front of the division during the advance on Palermo, brushing aside the enemy road blocks at San Guisseppe Pass. On 22 July the attack on Palermo began with elements of the battalion covering the division's flank. After the capture of Palermo, the 82nd was a part of the Palermo Military District administering prisoners of war. On 9 June 1944, reinforced by Co. "D" of the 17th Armored Engineer Battalion, the battalion landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy as a part of Combat Command "A". During the St. Lo breakthrough in July 1944 the battalion was attached to Combat Command "B" and performed in an outstanding manner, pushing rapidly across Cherbourg peninsula to secure crossings over the Seine river. The 82nd with a tank company of the 67th Armored Regiment attached, took Domfront during the last part of the division's action against the German counterattack in the vicinity of Mortain, France. Company "A", 2nd Platoon, 82nd Reconnaissance closed the gap in the Ardennes to link the Ninth U.S. Army with the 11th Armored, from the 3rd U.S. at 0900A, 16 Jan 1944 near Houffalize
