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Half-section cannon
stuck in the mud
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No description of Parsons'
Mounted Cavalry would be com
plete without discussing John
Gunter’s protracted struggle to put
together a cannon half-section.
The half section consists of a
1902 gun, fired during “We’ve
Never Been Licked," and later
found embedded in mud during a
‘74 Bonfire cutting weekend. The
section also includes a limber,
which is a two-wheeled cart, that
holds some artillery shells and
serves as a seat for the gun crew.
A six-horse team is supposed to
pulled the limber, to which the can
non is hooked.
Gunter, class of 79, spent so
many hours searching for a limber
for the gun that he actually bombed
out of school for a semester.
Nonetheless, the Muleshoe native
did not cease his efforts.
He mooched wheels off of the
cannons sitting in front of Allen Mili
tary Academy in Bryan and
scraped together enough money to
partially restore both the 3” gun
and limber.
The Association of Former Stu
dents provided money to have the
limber, which was found on a
ranch, and the gun, restored by the
Lewis Brothers in Georgetown.
Harnesses were purchased in
Ohio and authentic McLellan sad
dles were bought in Maryland.
Gunter figures the project is
$10,000 short of completion. New
wheels have to be built and a
6-horse team needs to be pur
chased and trained.
A special trailer would also be
needed to haul the equipment on
trips.
The fly in the ointment is that the
entire half-section project is actu
ally independent of Parsons’
Mounted Cavalry.
“The Cav didn’t support me in
any way or fashion,” Gunter said.
“It was just a pull-out on my part.”
He said others assumed it was a
cavalry project because he was a
cav trooper.
Maj. Henderson, the Cav ad
visor agreed.
“It was a John Gunter thing,” he
said.
The half-section sits in a side
bay of PMC’s new tack room,
visited on occasion by curious Cav
members. Some of the juniors
have expressed interest in reviving
the project.
All they need is more manpower
and $10,000.
members come from both out-in-the-country and big-city backgrounds.
IWC is only six years old
Story by Doug Graham
Photos by Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
tended March-ins and won honors
in parades and rodeo grand entries
in towns as small as Mercedes to
cities as large as Houston.
Originally the horses were kept
out at the old Bryan Airfield Annex.
The long drive tired the juniors who
had to, as they do now, feed the
horses every morning. The horse
pen was small, which led to fighting
among the animals.
because I was in a horseback club
at NTSU,” he said.
Working with the troop has been
a learning experience for the
major, he said, especially as the
unit works to overcome problems.
“What we lack in skill, we make
up in enthusiasm.”
Later, during the 77-78 year,
Hernia Hill, a plot of land owned by
several former students, was
loaned to PMC. The area was
much larger, and only about 5
miles from campus.
Texas A&M’s new president, Dr.
Jarvis Miller lent a hand the next
year and gave the Cav a plot of
land on FM 2818. The University
also built a $25,000 tack room.
That is a step up from the days
when Cav members used to carry
all of their equipment in their own
vehicles.
The cavalry is currently upgrad
ing the facilities. It built new fence
lines and is building feedstalls. The
defunct Pin Oaks stables in Hous
ton, which housed the troopers dur
ing Houston trips, has donated one
of its barns to the cavalry.
Reese is currently trying to fig
ure out a way to dismantle as much
of the structure as possible, haul it
up to College Station and then
reasemble it.
The unit advisor, Maj. Hender
son. is not an Ag. He is a graduate
of North Texas State University.
“I semi-volunteered for the Cav
Completing a turning maneuver during practice, the PMC members look a striking, varied group.