Military police war casualties honored

Military Police, April, 2004 by Dennis Ryan

The Military Police Corps recently dedicated a memorial plaque at Arlington National Cemetery to honor the more than 200 military police officers killed in action since World War I. About 150 people were present at the ceremony.

The site chosen--in an area at the corner of McClellan and Eisenhower drives--has held special significance to military police and provost marshals since World War II. Colonel David Patton, a retired military police colonel and former Fort Myer, Virginia, garrison commander, uncovered the connection--it was once the location of the U.S. Army Military Police School. Though the exact location has not been identified, the school is believed to have been located on what was the Fort Myer South Post. The plaque was placed at the approximate location of the South Post main gate, an area that is now part of the cemetery.

Military police have been part of the Army since the American Revolution and have served in all of our nation's wars. But the Corps was not officially established until 1941 and did not earn combat support designation until the bloody battles of the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam, where it fought the Vietcong on the grounds of the American Embassy in Saigon.

During the Battle of the Bulge, Colonel Jack Hyde (Retired) served as a military policeman with the 9th Armored Division. It is there that he met the legendary General George Patton. Hyde, then a second lieutenant, stopped Patton from going through a roadblock. The general--famous for his temper--objected strenuously, but the young officer refused to let him through. That morning, Hyde had captured two Germans less than 100 yards from the roadblock. General Patton asked for his name, and Hyde figured that he would be reprimanded. Two weeks later he received a letter of promotion. Colonel Hyde later became the bridge control officer at the famous bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen. Military police helped defend the bridge from a furious German counterattack. The capture and holding of the bridge enabled American forces to cross the Rhine.

Today, there are about 38,000 military police in the Army. In addition to performing standard police functions, they provide convoy security in Iraq; detainee handling in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, and Iraq; and area security operations all over the world.

Mr. Ryan is a writer for the Pentagram, a civilian newspaper for the Fort Myer, Virginia, community. He is a recipient of the Keith L. Ware Journalism Award.