8/17/2019 The Giant (Dec 1967)

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P RSHING ON

P R DE

PERSHING

N

EUROPE

VOL.1 N0.8

DECEMBER 22. 1967

\ ' f ~ ~ ~ ~

A

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM

COLONEL

POWER

'

I

I

With Christmas

but

a few days away, and

the new

year

not

t r

beyond that,

J

should like to

take

this

opportunity to extend seasons greetings to

all mem

bers of t.h.e Pershing family. I sincerely ho

pe

t

hat it

will be a joyful Christmas for all of you.

The past

year

is hi

story

and we are proud of he

role

we played.

We c

an

say - "mission accomplished" and a "job

we

ll done ."

As we

enter

the countdown

of a new year we

ar

e in an

excellent position to look

back on the events of 1967.

Much like the pages of a book,

we

can see them in re trospect

as they unfold in orderly

fashion.

In the

case

of the

56 th Artillery

Group,

the

pages read like those of a

best

seller.

SIMULTANEOUS LAUNCH

Battery

B

of the 3rd

B

attali

on,

84th Artillery

under

the com

mand or Captain James H. Baclt

man, set the pace early

In

the

year at White

Sands

Mlsslle

Ran

ge. On March

28,

1967,

battery

B

became the first unit to conduct

a

simultaneous launch to occur In

any

maJor mlssUe system.

The

two

Pershings

were

flawlessly put

through

their

paces by the bat

tery that had only weeks pre

viously become the ft.rst battery

to win both the Collins and La ni

Awards at the same time. There

were other fl.rings of importance

too, and a second double launclt.

In Aucust, Delta Battery of

the

Isl Battali,on, 81st Artillery fired

two missiles at the same time.

There was a difference th is lime

however

. Delta B&ttery's minion

was of

an operational test (OT)

nature

and included use of field

equipment transported from Eu

rol)(l to the Bl andinc. Utah flrtnc

site. Thou&h theirs was

the

only

simultaneous OT launching,

it

was not the only OT

type

. Pre

viously, Battery D of

the 3rd Bat

talion, 84th Artillery had t

rans

ported Its men and equipment

to CONUS

for

a successful flrine.

A GIANT IS BORN

Spring in the 156th Group

saw

another Innovation.

At

the

di

rection of Colonel Rex H.

Hamp

ton, then Group Commander, a

56th Group

new

spaper was Ini

ti ated. t was the PERSHING

SI

ii,

the

l\rst

ever

in the Group.

In the Fall the Penhin~

Slr

and

the three

battali

on news papers

were incorporated into

the

new

GL\NT with

an

ann ual operatins

budget or

e soo

NEW FACES

IN HIGH

PLACES

Some

new

races made Lhelr de

but in t

he Group

also as July

saw cltanges In thr

of

t

he

fou.r

major command positions. First

Colonel Patrick W. Powors repla

ced Colonel Hampton

as

Group

Commander on J

uly

15th.

In

Colo

nel

Power

s' case It was not

altogeth

er a debut to

the

Pershln1t system.

As

a

lieutenant

colonel

be

had

commanded the

Army

's fl.rs  Per

shine battalion at

Ft

. Sill in

19

62.

The

4th

Battalion, U1t Artillery

and the 1st Battalion, 81st

Ar

tillery

al so weJcome:d new

com

manders ln Lieutenant Colonels

W

il

liam H. Goodwin and Walt

er

C. Phllllps.

THE WHEELS

ROLL

~y

or co

urs

e there wn

s •

ru sh or

important

visitors to the Pershing

(Cont.

Page

4. Col. I J

.

~.

he

new

year brings with

it

opportunities for

accomplishment and service. Whether it be military

mission,

fam

ily activities

or

commun

ity pr

ojects,

we

live with the reali

za

tion

that

each m

an

is

the

key

to

the success and ulflllment of our goals.

Twice I~ 198T Pertbinr Ml r 11" soared In pair• u 1tmultaneou1 laundles made btalory at Blanding, Ol

ah.

I hope that the coming

year

will be as fulfilling

for each of you as the past year has been for me.

I

~

PATRICK

w.

POWERS I

olonel, Artillery

Commanding

1/

81 SETS

HOLI

DAY ACTIVITIES

WACKERNHEIM J

9

p.;r he

Holiday Activit ie~•

~r

McCully Barracks, ~ of

the

1st Battalion, 81st

,rtil-

lery

, for

1967

will Include a

Christmas Party for depend-

ent children

at

the NCO Club,

a Holiday Basketb

all

Tour-

nament, a Holiday Bowling

(Cont. Page

4,

Col. 5)

4TH BATTALION CITES ACHIEVEMENTS

SCHWAEBISCH GMUEND

- Achievement awa rds were

present

ed

by 4th Battalion,

41st Artillery Commander

LTC Willi

am

H. Goodwin in

Command Retreat ceremonies

on

the

parade

field here

recently.

Sergeant First Class Roy H.

Baukol received the Bronze

Star

Medal for hi.s meritorious acltleve

ment In the Republic or Vietnam,

while CW3 Edward

L. Jenkins

was awarded the

Anny

Commen

dation Medal for his outstanding

service while stationed at Ft. Sill,

Oklahoma.

A Certificote

of

Achievement

went

to Master Serceant M

er r

il

P. Phillips

for

his services at Ft.

Sill. SpeciaHst Four Cross ot Ser•

vice Batlery accepted the Minute

man Award reco1nlzln1 the out

standlng

participation

o  his

ba

t

tery in the savi:nas bond pr ogram.

Sol

dier

or

the

Month awards

went to Private

First Class Fred

o.

McGee (November)

or

Head

quarters Battery. and Speciall,t

Four

Dennis

R. Lochndorf

D

e-

cember).

Each

received three

day

passes

from the Battalion Com-

man

d

er

.

Gerald Olivas, Ellwood Short

M

,l v

in

Grahn,

Herman

Wacters.

Rober t Badham. and Riley Morris

were all rtcognized as graduates

of the Army Equi

pment

Re

cords

Sys

tem (TAERS) Coune.

EXCHANGE OPENING

BEATS HOLIDAY RUSH

NECKARSULM The

Artillery Kaserne Po~t Ex

change re-opened recent  "

with LTC Max G.

Hor

ton .

Commanding Officer of th

8/17/2019 The Giant (Dec 1967)

2/2

Left

IA

Rlcbt,

General

Polk, Captain Bachman. and Secretary Resor

llattn u Lieutenant Colonel Horton

brier

, durlns the October vl11t.

(Cont.

from

P.

1,

Col.

5 I

system as most or t

he

chain or

command w·as

here

at oae time

or

another

.

Genera

l Harold

K. John

so

n. United

States Army

Chief or

Stall

\' sited.

the

site of

Battery

C.

~rd

Battalion

, 84th Artillery on

June 13th. The

sa

me month

saw

Ur.

:· .d States NATO Ambasador

Harlan

Cle1'eland at the

4th Bat

tal on. 41st Artillery.

)~·:Id E. McGlf'lert,

Under

secretary of the Army also took

a close l

ook

at the fltld

operations

of the 41st. October

was

a big

month

for Battery B,

3rd

Bat-

talion, 84th Artillery as

they

played host to S

ta

nley R. Resor,

Secretary of

the Army

.

INSPECTION SUCCESS

An achievement of significant

note

Is

the

outs

tondlnfl 58th

Ar

tlllcry

Gro

up record on Inspec

tions du ring

the year

. All

three

battalions

underwent either

a DA

or

USAREUR Technical Proft

clcncy Inspection

(TP

I) succc S

fully. Oct

ober

w.is

annual

Inspec

tor

General

ti

me with Head

quarters, 56th Artillery Group

leading the way

with

a superior

rating. November found the Head

quarters and Headquarters

Batteries or all

units

achieving

satisfactory ratings

during

USA

REUR

Command

Maintenan

ce

Management Inspections.

In December

the 4th

Battalion.

41st Artillery became the first

battalion ln

the Group

to

undergo

a NATO Tactical Evaluation.

The

results wer

e excellent

and set th

e

example

for

the other battalions

which have their evaluations In

early

1968.

SUCCESS

IN

SPORTS

Team

s and Individuals

repre

sentin&

the

56th Artillery Group

made

their

presence

known

in

championships

held

in

various

sp 0rts

during

the

yoar.

Of

parti

cular

note

are

Service

Battery,

4th of

the

41st

winning the

VII

Corps Softball Championships.

and Specialist Four Kaat and

Lieutenant

Colonel Milton L.

Haskin

winni

ng the Vil

Corps

Open

and

Senior divisions tennis

cha mpionships, N:spectlvely, Spe

cialist

Kast

went on to win the

Men's Open Singles Division of

the USAREUR Tennis

Cham-

- _

Sro :t.s

Seene

plonships.

In

October Battery

B of the

84th finished second in

the VII

Corps Touch football champion

sh

ips

to put the

final touch

on

Championships

t r

1967.

KP

ENDS AT TWO

KASERNES

Altogether there

was

a lot of

show and

shine

to keep all of us

busy

throuchout

1967. However

what

hit closest

lo home with the

troops was the elimination of KP

at two of

the

battalions. Artillery

Ka

se rn e Consolidated Mess paved

the way

Ln May

and th

e 4th of

the 41 st followed suit in October.

All considered

It was

an

event

ful

year

and one

which

hu been

much more extensive

than

this

review

ml h l Indicate.

But.

without question,

1967 was a

year

of procress. We accomplished

our ml

ulon

and met each chal

lenge

with detennination

and a

positive approad,.

Now

we

look forward to 1968

with great aspirations and expec

tations. I t Is never enough to

simply

look back on

a

job well

done.

TIGERS DEFEAT

HILTOPPERS

i~eialist

Four

l•ratl White, 1st Battalion,

Bisi

Artillery,

preparlnr

for

forthcomlnr

USAREUR

tourneys.

ARTILLERY CHAMPION

JOINS

FORCES WITH INFANTERY

W ACKERNHEIM - SP4

Is r

e

al Wihite, t r.e

22 year

ol:I

USAREUR

light

middle

weight

champion from the

1st

Battalion, 81st Artillery is

now

boxing

as a member

of

the

8th

Division boxing team.

White has

been interested

in

boxing since

he

was

14 years

old.

Th

e

champ has

been excep

tionally

busy tor the past three

weeks as ht

has

fought bouts In

Berlin, Switzerland and Lee

Bar

racks, Mainz1

winning two

and

dr

aw

ing one.

Ho won tht 8th Division light

middle w,elght championship at

Lee Ba r

r acks November 24-25

taking

a

u-n

anlmous

decision

over

William, of

the

3d Brigade.

One week

after

being declared

the

8th Division champion,

he

was

picked to represent USAREUR

against the ll&ht middle weight

champion

of

Berlin.

The

w~kend

t

December 1·2, Wh ite fought a

three round draw with

the

Ger

man Berlin

champion

a vetera.n

of over 300 tli:hts) and received

a

1old watch.

The

next

weekend. the fast

moving light middle weigl t

champion of

the li81

was in Biel,

Switzerland with the 8th Division

boxing team to fight

Claude

Weissbroth, one of th e best light

middle weight boxers in that

country. Again

he

won the three

round match by

an

unonlmous

decision and

was

picked as

the

best

American fighter.

White wlll be

traveling to Of

fenbach, Germany to box In the

Inv

itational

Tournament to be

held on Dec•

mber

21-23. l

e

will

be representing t

he 8th

Div ision

In this tour romenl.

All or tho officers

ond