Thomas W. Herren - Inter-war Years

Inter-war Years

After World War I, he was troop commander (Troop A) in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, and then a recruiting officer in Springfield, Massachusetts. His area included all of New England within the First Corps Area, headquartered in Boston.

Herren attended the Troop Officer Course at the United States Army Cavalry School in 1926-27. After graduation he returned to Fort Bliss, assigned to the 8th Cavalry Regiment, serving as a troop commander and regimental adjutant. Additionally, he was captain of the horse show team and a noted member of the post's pre-war polo team. He participated in maneuvers in the Big Bend area of Texas, trained remounts and cavalry recruits and assisted in the care and feeding of thousands of Mexicans whose homes has been inundated in the 1927 flood of the Rio Grande. It was while serving here that he met and married his wife, Lillian Hague Corcoran, the daughter of a cavalry officer.

From 1930 to 1935 he was assigned to the 6th Cavalry Regiment at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, again as a troop commander (Troop F) and regimental adjutant. He continued his participation in this regiment’s horse show team (as its captain) and polo team. He participated with his troop in annual maneuvers with the United States Army Infantry School students at Fort Benning, Georgia.

In 1933, during the Great Depression, the U.S. Army provided logistical support to the federal Emergency Conservation Work program, later known as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Herren, as part of that effort, moved to Gatlinburg, Tennessee where he organized and supervised the construction, supply and operation of 17 CCC camps in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At the Smokies, local citizens or “local experienced men” (LEM) were employed to cut the dead chestnut timber and snake it clown the mountains, saw it into lumber and construct the camps for young male enrollees from urban areas. After the camps were built and occupied, he returned to Fort Oglethorpe to become CCC district supervisor for Tennessee and North Carolina. During this period he attended short courses in Chemical Warfare, Sanitation, Food Service, Public Relations and other subjects of value to military officers. His sons, Thomas W Herren Jr., and John D. Herren, were born during his tour at Fort Oglethorpe and would both later go on to graduate from the United States Military Academy. In 1935, he was promoted to major and attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Upon the completion of that course in 1936 he returned to the United States Army Cavalry School, at Fort Riley, Kansas as an instructor in the Department of Tactics from 1937 to 1938. At that time “Mechanization” was introduced into the school curriculum and the tactics and techniques developed by Herren’s department were later used by General George Patton and his armored units in World War II

During the summer of 1938 Herren was assigned to the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia where he was a cavalry instructor and chairman of the animal management and transportation committee. At the school, he was responsible for all activities involving the use of horses and reconnaissance vehicles, developing and demonstrating tactics of scout cars and light reconnaissance vehicles of all types. He worked with infantry instructors to develop the use of light tanks, armored cars and other mechanized equipment. The use of anti-tank battalions was first introduced at this time. The Infantry School had a stable of horses used for tactical rides and mobility in heavy terrain and its horse show team and polo teams provided recreation for students and members of the regular garrison.