Photo B0087-1of 9:  Rioters dropped railroad ties from this railroad bridge on Highway 6 in Oxford, Mississippi onto passing military police vehicles of A Company, 503rd MP Battalion during their deployment to the University Campus during the civil rights unrest to prevent the admission of Air Force veteran James H. Meredith as their first African American student. To prevent further assaults the bridge was immediately established as a Task Force ECHO military police highway checkpoint. Courtesy of The Armored Sentinel Newspaper, (Temple, Texas) Vol. 20, No. 28, 19 October 1962.

     The deployment of 720th MP Battalion Task Force ECHO and its subordinate units served in Oxford from 1 to 21 October 1962. The photographs in this series show members of the 720th Military Police Battalion’s Task Force ECHO comprised of HQ Detachment, Headquarters & Headquarters Company, Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Company, and subordinate unit elements from the 501st (1st Armored Division) and 502nd (2nd Armored Division) MP Companies, 47th Medical Battalion (2nd Armored Division), elements of the 501st Military Intelligence Detachment and members of the Fort Hood Post Information Office.