; and (3) from late January to March 1945, held defensive positions before driving west with the 26th Infantry Division through Germany, finishing the war just inside the Czech border at Kienberg; Whereas, to best use new long-range guns and improve response times, the Field Artillery School championed the use of organic air observation to control field artillery fires, with the War Department approving organic field artillery air observation in 1942 and the field artillery air observers adjusting massed fire and performing liaison, reconnaissance, and other missions during World War II; Whereas, in 1942, Fort Sill stood down the last horse-drawn field artillery unit, ending 73 years of the partnership between soldiers and horses that helped fuel the military strength of Fort Sill; Whereas horses did not reappear at Fort Sill until 1963, when the commanding general authorized a special Half Section of Field Artillery , which names the horses after Fort Sill commanders; Whereas, on July 10, 1943, the 45th Infantry Division, which trained at Fort Sill and was known as the Thunderbirds , participated in its first of 4 amphibious landings during World War II, landing in Sicily; Whereas the Thunderbirds served 511 days in combat, fighting across Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany; Whereas celebrities made appearances or received Army training at Fort Sill during World War II, with humorist Will Rogers and motion-picture star Gene Autry making numerous trips to entertain the troops there; Whereas Louis L'Amour, before becoming a writer of western novels, was a boxing instructor at the famous Artillery Bowl at Fort Sill in 1943; Whereas, following World War II, Fort Sill adapted to the atomic age and the Cold War, and the War Department consolidated all artillery training and development under the United States Army Artillery Center at Fort Sill in 1946; Whereas the 45th Infantry Division Thunderbirds — (1) deployed to South Korea in 1952; (2) was 1 of only 2 National Guard divisions to see combat in the Korean War