07/14/2026
On this day in 1945, the cover of the US Army's magazine featured horseshoer T-4 Norman Skala from Elgin, Illinois at work shoeing a horse. It looks simple enough, but Norman was a long, long way from home. He was part of an expedition sent into China to act as technical horse advisors to the Chinese, who were fighting desperately to prevent further Japanese expansion..
Japan controlled eastern China and most of the ports, highways, and railroads. Americans had to depend on airplanes to both aid in military operations and to boost the Chinese infrastructure and provide humanitarian services.
One of the first suggestions from the newly-landed Americans was to shoe the local horses; only 10% of the horses wore shoes when the "Yanks" arrived, and the Americans feared that the horses wouldn't hold up for pulling supply wagons on the long marches ahead of them that would be needed to push the Japanese back.
But there was a big problem: horseshoes were too heavy to fly over the Himalayas from India or the mountainous backbone of Burma, where war was still waging against the Japanese.
What the planes *could* carry at high altitude was horse nails; the Army ordered 10,000 pounds of nails per month for this Chinese project in 1945. This is a fascinating part of the history of that war; they even built a horseshoeing school and a horseshoe factory.
We know what happened next: In August, two atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japan soon surrendered on all fronts.
And PS: Norman made it home at the end of the war and he was a true hero. He earned The Bronze Star, Four Bronze Battle Stars, and The WWII Victory Medal. He had loved horses from childhood and learned to shoe when he joined the army, probably at Fort Riley in Kansas. So, after the war he continued to shoe and train horses, and worked as a rodeo announcer.
Norman died from Covid in 2021 at the age of 97.
But on this day in 1945, he was the face of the American military. Well done, and thank you, Norman.
