Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is an outstanding and unique guidon from the pre-Vietnam War to Vietnam War period, used by the commanding officer of the Headquarters Troop of the 10th Cavalry Regiment, or “Buffalo Soldiers”. The guidon has great embroidery with a mean-looking buffalo in the center.

The guidon measures 8¾ x 10¾” and is designed with the correct cavalry guidon colors, red and white. There is a small header, likely for attachment to a pole on a staff vehicle or something else.

On 25 June 1958, D Troop was reconstituted in the Regular Army and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 4th Reconnaissance Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment. On 1 September 1963, the unit was redesignated as Troop D, 10th Cavalry and assigned to Fort Knox, Kentucky, and on 15 April 1968 the Troop became part of the 5th Battalion, 33rd Armor Regiment of the 194th Armored Brigade.

The guidon has some staining as shown and shows real service use. It is embroidered:

C O
HQ TROOP
(BUFFALO)
10TH CAV

This denotes the flag of the Commanding Officer, Headquarters Troop, 10th Cavalry Regiment. This guidon requires a lot more research and is a very interesting artifact from the Vietnam War period. Ready for display!

In the later part of 1966, the 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry (Armored Reconnaissance), went to the Republic of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War (1966–1972) operating in the II Corps Area as part of the 4th Infantry Division. It received its first Valorous Unit Award in May 1969 for actions at LZ Oasis against a battalion sized enemy force. The 1st Squadron of the 10th, with the 4th Infantry Division, earned 12 campaign streamers and other awards in Vietnam.

In April 1972, Troop H/10th Air Cavalry was formed (with assets from the disbanding Troop C, 7th Squadron-17th Cavalry Regiment) and placed under the 17th Aviation Group at Pleiku. The troop was located at Lane Army Airfield near An Son (14 km west of Qui Nhơn in Bình Định Province). H Troop aircrews conducted aerial reconnaissance, hunter/killer, and search & destroy missions using OH-6 Cayuse (Loach), AH-1 Cobra (Snake), and UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) helicopters and ground troops from the Republic of Korea's 2nd Infantry Division and the various South Vietnamese Army units. The unit disbanded shortly after the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973. Specialist 4 Robert Frakes, the last American combat casualty of the Vietnam War, perished in a post-crash fire after his OH-6 helicopter was lost to enemy fire on 26 January - the last day of US combat operations.