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Have you hiked in Ft Ord and wondered "Who was Sgt MacDonald?" Or did you come across that grave marker and ask "Who was Comanche?" Cameron Binkley, the Defense Language Institute's Command Historian has the answer to this and many other Ft Ord history questions. Here's his report:
Sgt. 1st Class Allan MacDonald learned to ride after enlisting in the horse cavalry as an underage teen during the Great Depression. His grandfather had ridden in the Civil War – he followed that tradition. First assigned to the 5th US Cavalry, MacDonald went on to a 30-year career, fighting in three wars.
The Army mechanized during World War II, but MacDonald wound up as General Douglas MacArthur’s stable sergeant in postwar Japan, helped break horses on their way to Turkey in the 1950s, and later worked a pack mule unit that the Army somehow still needed.
MacDonald took a civilian job at Fort Ord in 1965 and founded an equestrian club at today’s Marina Equestrian Center. He became a beloved figure while riding during numerous Army reviews attired in the uniform of a 19th century cavalryman, even taking center stage during Fort Ord’s closure ceremony.
MacDonald named his horse after a famous 7th Cavalry steed who survived the Little Big Horn. When “Comanche” passed, the Army buried her at Fort Ord near a forgotten trough the cavalry had once used. MacDonald passed in 2016. A trail from the Marina Equestrian Center to Comanche’s grave is named to honor the old horse soldier.
Do you have other Ft Ord history questions? Let us know!
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