My grandfather was an old pre-war horse cavalry sgt. in the 1st Cav. They took away his horse and put him into a recon platoon -- he was with the division when they shipped to Australia and had enough points at the end of the war to go home thus avoiding occupation duty.
My question is this: What was the planned role of the 1st Cavalry Division in the planned invasion of Japan from D-Day forward?
If you can find it, the Center for Military History at Ft Leavenworth put out a book on Operation Downfall/Olympic that goes into great detail. Rather a dry read unless you are a military historian. Might try online - lots of the Center's material is available. I got my copy years ago when at Leavenworth