Originally posted: March 18, 2011
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From Battlefields to Olympic heights
I stumbled upon this story through a simple email to the United States Equestrian Foundation for some background about horse jumping in the 1940s. One woman mentioned they had a member from the last Army team who competed in the 1948 Olympics who might be willing to share some of his experiences.
How could I turn down that opportunity? What I found was more than I’d ever imagined.
Major General Jack Burton was indeed one of several riders who represented the United States at the first Olympics since Berlin in 1936. He’d served in the Pacific during World War II and trained horses for the army during and after the war years as well. But his story didn’t end there.
There was so much more to Jack Burton than could fit into one email between the USEF and myself.
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