 720th |
Battalion Time Line ~ 1973 ~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association History Project ~ This Page Last Updated 8 April 2008 |
 5th Army |
 III Corps |
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 If you recognize any of the events listed on this page and would like to contribute Information, personal stories, documents, media articles or photographs pertaining to them, please take a moment to contact the History Project Manager at the Email Link provided above. Your contributions are important and always welcomed. |
In 1973 the 720th MP Battalion was headquartered under the Command of III Corps, at Fort Hood, Texas. |
January |
The Battalion’s primary mission at Fort Hood, Texas was discipline, law and order, involving highway patrol, traffic control, money escorts, gate duty, and prisoner transports. During this time Fort Hood suffered from flooded roadways during the rainy season, May through June and, in October. The Battalion MPs would be dispatched to known problem areas and set up barricades, detours and defiles to aid the traffic flow. |
22 January President Lyndon Baynes Johnson, age 64, suffered a heart attack at his ranch just outside of Johnson City, Texas. He was pronounced dead on arrival at 4:33 P.M. central time, at San Antonio International Airport, where he had been flown in a family plane on the way to Brooke Army Medical Center. |
Operation TEX-WASH-TEX (Texas-Washington-Texas) SP/4 John M. Hyde, A Company (December 1971-June 1972), 615th MP Company (June-August 1972) Vietnam, 401st MP Company, 720th MP Battalion, September 1972-March 1972 Fort Hood, TX. |
President Johnson's Funeral Security Detail SSG Fred “Scooby” Stevens,401st MP Company, 720th MP Battalion, III Corps, 5th Army, Fort Hood, TX. |
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23 January, Peace With Honor Speech President Richand M. Nixon announces the U.S. and North Vietnam reached an agreement to end the hostilities in Vietnam. The official cease fire is scheduled for 27 January. Click on radio tower icon |
23-24 January Services for President Johnson were held at the National City Christian Church in Washington. The President laid in state at the Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas with an honor guard, comprised of eight MPs from the 401st MP Company, and was then taken to Washington, where he laid in state at the Capitol rotunda. |
25 January Elements of the Battalion's 401st and 411th MP Companies provided a discreet security detail on the grounds of the Johnson family ranch for the funeral of President Johnson, then deployed to Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, TX and an alert force until the dignitaries and members of the Johnson family departed. |
The President was buried in the Johnson Family Cemetery at his ranch in the afternoon of a cold and rainy day. The burial service was the first presidential burial to feature a eulogy, and the eulogies were delivered by former Texas Democratic governor John Connally, an LBJ protege and fellow Texan, and by the minister who officiated the services, Rev. Billy Graham. Anita Bryant closed the services by singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," paying tribute to her friendship with the former president, at his own request. Photo Right: Luci Johnson Nugent (hands on son Patrick Lyndon's shoulders), Lady Bird Johnson, Lynda Johnson Robb, and Chuck Robb (holding daughter Lucinda) with other family members and friends. Courtesy of LBJ Library photo by Frank Wolfe. |
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| WANTED: Personal stories, official documents, photographs from the MPs that were assigned to the presidential funeral security detail. Please use the Email Link above to contact the History Project Manager. |
September |
| The 720th MP Battalion changed from the 5th Army patch to the III Corps patch. |
1973 Photograph Index |
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