The Army announced Tuesday that it will resume using horse-drawn caissons for a limited number of funerals at Arlington National Cemetery this summer, three years after it suspended the tradition following the deaths of two of its horses.
Beginning the week of June 2, soldiers, their horses and the caisson will carry caskets for two funerals a day and a maximum of 10 per week.
Caissons are wagons that had been used to carry artillery to the front and fallen soldiers from combat. At Fort Myer, adjacent to the cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington, the caisson detachment had been performing the solemn, stately ceremony since 1948.
By 2022, behind the spit-polish sheen of soldiers, horses and carriages, however, the unit had been worn down by too many funerals, underinvestment and poor care. The Army euthanized two of the horses, Mickey and Tony, after sand and gravel had damaged their guts. The caissons stopped rolling in 2023, and the remaining horses retired to Florida.
The Army “pulled out all the stops” to ensure the new caisson detachment has new horses, custom gear and expert training needed to conduct the ceremony safely, Army Maj. Gen. Trevor Bredenkamp, commanding general of Joint Task-Force National Capital Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, told reporters.
In 2022, the Army spent about $1.2 million on operations and maintenance for the caisson detachment, Bredenkamp said. This year it will spend about $10 million.