I should like to extend my great thanks to the many individuals, organizations and institutions that gave so freely of their time and resources during the research and writing of this book.
Firstly, a great many thanks to Vito Spadafino, one of the last veterans who took part in Operation Cowboy, as a sergeant in Troop A, 42nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized, for taking the time to answer my many questions. Thanks also to his sons Joseph and John for assisting with the interview process.
I am indebted to the relatives of the heroes who took part in the rescue of the horses at Hostau for assisting me in this project, sending me documents and precious family photographs and sharing their memories of their fathers’ war, as well as providing practical assistance in tracking down living veterans and other sources. They are: Cary LaPlante, daughter of Captain Carter Catlett, commanding Troop A, and Gary McCaleb, son of First Lieutenant Robert McCaleb, commanding Troop C.
Archival assistance is vital on a project such as Ghost Riders, and I have received outstanding advice and practical support from a variety of kind individuals and institutions. Many thanks to Ryan Meyer, Curator and Historian of the Second Cavalry Museum in Vilseck, Germany, and his successor Lance T. Dyckman, for their outstanding efforts in providing me with archival material, contacts and photographs; Colonel Bryan Denny, Historian and President of the 2nd Cavalry Association; Mike Constandy of Westmoreland Research in Alexandria, VA, for his fantastic assistance at the National Archives; Chris Golden, 2nd Cavalry historian; Katerina Chodova, 2nd Cavalry liaison for the Hostoun area; Patrick Biddy and Dave Gettman, 2nd Armored Cavalry veterans and 2nd Cavalry Association members; Len Dyer, Director, National Armor & Cavalry Museum, Columbus, Georgia; Alexis Adkins, Archivist, University Library, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Jeanne Brooks Abernathy, Director, W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Carol R. Mori, Patton Family Archives, South Hamilton, MA; Robin Cookson, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C.; Mary Burtzloff, Archivist, Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, Abilene, Kansas; and Andrea Kerssenbrock of the Spanish Riding School, Vienna.
Many thanks to Karen Jensen and Stephen Harding of World War II magazine; Martha Cook at Trafalgar Square Books, Vermont; Frank Westerman, author of Brother Mendel’s Perfect Horse; and Gillian Tidmus-Whiting, widow of renowned author Charles Whiting.
Many thanks to Bob Pigeon, my superb editor at Da Capo, for recognizing that the full story of Operation Cowboy needed to be told, and to my excellent literary agent Andrew Lownie, for his sound advice and enthusiasm. Thanks also to my UK publishers, Icon Books, and in particular my editor Robert Sharman for his excellent work. As always, I cannot thank my incredible and accomplished wife Fang Fang enough for all of her generous support, from acting as a sounding board for ideas, reading rough material, and working as my unpaid research assistant during field work undertaken for this book in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. My writing takes me far and wide, but always with my soulmate by my side.