This was sent to me by my friend Chris Stevens. His father was a 36th Combat Engineer.

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I dont know if anyone remembers Dad's stories of Oleg Cassini from his Fort Reilly days.Cassini died yesterday,so I thought I would pass this along.

Cassini was Dads Lieutenant and once ordered a cavalry charge on a tank battalion during training.The tank commander ordered a volley to be fired,and the entire unit was bucked off from the noise.

More recently Cassini was involved in harness racing and had a barn full of American Standardbreds. He also founded an organization that found homes for retired race horses.

Oleg Cassini (born Count Oleg Cassini Loiewski, April 11 1913, Paris, France, died March 17, 2006) was an American fashion designer.

He was raised in Italy, and moved to the United States in 1936, where he designed clothes for various Hollywood studios. He became a second lieutenant in the Army in World War II, at Fort Riley, Kansas, and later returned to New York, where he designed ready-to-wear dresses while continuing to design for television and Broadway.

Cassini's first wife was cough-syrup heiress Merry Fahrney. They were married from September 2, 1938 until February 5, 1940. Cassini then married actress Gene Tierney on July 11, 1941. As Tierney's parents didn't approve of the union, the couple eloped to Las Vegas, and used earrings as wedding rings. The couple had two daughters, Antoinette Daria Cassini (born October 15, 1943) and Christine "Tina" Cassini (born November 19, 1948). Tierney contracted German measles during her first pregnancy, and their daughter, Daria, was born deaf, blind and mentally retarded. Tierney had an affair with John F. Kennedy, and the couple were divorced on February 28, 1952. At one time, Cassini was engaged to Grace Kelly.

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I also found this on a forum.

“In My Own Fashion, an Autobiography,†by Oleg Cassini

From Cassiniâ€s autobiography:

“Our basic-training class was composed primarily of New Yorkers who’d only seen horses pulling carriages in Central Park, and also a few cowboys. To my surprise, the cowboys had almost as many problems as the novices. They rode Western style, slouched back in their saddles.â€

(P. 144)

“The army had its own equestrian style, which, happily coincided with what I had learned in Italy (where Cassini grew up after escaping from Russia): the weight was kept forward to ease pressure on the horse (it was called the “forward†or Chamberlain seat) using the cumbersome wood and leather McClellan saddle. Naturally, this was much to my advantage. I was promoted to corporal and named an instructor in horsemanship when basic training ended–quite an honor, I thought, and certainly one of the best jobs attainable for a noncommissioned officer at Fort Riley.â€

(P. 144)

“...after I became an officer, Gene (Tierney) and I felt quite at home in Fort Riley society–a term that I do not use lightly, since the very best horsemen and polo players from all over the country had congregated at the cavalry school (and it had some of the best horses–Darryl Zanuck, Jock Whitney, and others had donated their strings of polo ponies to the cause for the duration). Our neighbors were the Bostwicks, the Van Stades, and others of the horse set. Paul Mellon was there, and Cappy Smith, who was one of the finest equestrians in the country. Nor was Gene the only celebrity wife in camp. Gloria B. Vanderbilt was there, married then to my friend and fellow man-about-town Pat De Cicco....â€

(P. 146)