PERSHING ON PARADE

As we enter the countdown

of a new year we are in an
excellent position to look
back on the events of 1967.
Much like the pages of a book,
we can see them in retrospect
as they unfold in orderly
fashion. In the case of the
56th Artillery Group, the
pages read like those of a
best seller.
SIMULTANEOUS LAUNCH
Battery B of the 3rd Battalion,
84th Artillery under the command or Captain James H. Bacltman, set the pace early In the
year at White Sands Mlsslle Range. 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 battery that had only weeks previously become the ft.r st battery
to win both the Collins and Lani

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 this lime
however. Delta B&ttery's minion
was of an operational test (OT)
nature and included use of field
equipment transported from Eurol)(l to the Blandinc. Utah flrtnc
site. Thou&h theirs was the only
simultaneous OT launching, it
was not the only OT type. Previously, Battery D of the 3rd Battalion, 84th Artillery had transported Its men and equipment
to CONUS for a successful flrine.

A GIANT IS BORN
Spring in the 156th Group saw
another Innovation. At the direction of Colonel Rex H. Hampton, then Group Commander, a
56th Group newspaper was Initiated. It was the PERSHING
SIii, the l\rst ever in the Group.
In the Fall the Penhin~ Slr and
the three battalion news papers

were incorporated into the new

GL\NT with an annual operatins
budget or ~ e.soo.

NEW FACES IN HIGH

PLACES
Some new races made Lhelr debut in the Group also as July
saw cltanges In three of the fou.r
major command positions. First
Colonel Patrick W. Powors replaced Colonel Hampton as Group
Commander on J uly 15th. In Colonel Powers' case It was not altogether a debut to the Pershln1t system.
As a lieutenant colonel be had
commanded the Army's fl.rs! Pershine battalion at Ft. Sill in 1962.
The 4th Battalion, U1t Artillery
and the 1st Battalion, 81st Artillery also weJcome:d new commanders ln Lieutenant Colonels
William H. Goodwin and Walter
C. Phllllps.

THE WHEELS ROLL ~y

or course there wns rush or
important visitors to the Pershing
(Cont. Page 4. Col. I J

"PERSHING IN EUROPE"
VOL.1 N0.8

DECEMBER 22. 1967

~~~~\'f"~~~~

~ A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM COLONEL POWER '

With Christmas but a few days away, and the new
~ opportunity
year not tar beyond that, J should like to take this
to extend seasons greetings to all mem-

I
I

bers of t.h.e Pershing family. I sincerely hope that it

will be a joyful Christmas for all of you. The past
year is history and we are proud of the role we played.
We can say - "mission accomplished" and a "job
well done."
The new year brings with it opportunities for
accomplishment and service. Whether it be military
mission, family activities or community projects, we
live with the realization that each man is the key to
the success and !ulflllment of our goals.
I hope that the coming year will be as fulfilling
for each of you as the past year has been for me.

I
~ 1I
PATRICK w. POWERS
Colonel, Artillery
Commanding

~~~~~~~~

4TH

.'

~.
Twice I~ 198T Pertbinr Mlr,11" soared In pair u 1tmultaneou1 laundles made btalory at Blanding, Olah.

1/81 SETS
HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES
WACKERNHEIM J 9 p.;r'he
Holiday
Activitie~ ~r
McCully Barracks, , ~ of
the 1st Battalion, 81st ,rtillery, for 1967 will Include a
Christmas Party for dependent children at the NCO Club,
a Holiday Basketball Tournament, a Holiday Bowling
(Cont. Page 4, Col. 5)

BATTALION CITES ACHIEVEMENTS

SCHWAEBISCH GMUEND
- Achievement awards were
presented by 4th Battalion,
41st Artillery Commander
LTC William 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 acltlevement In the Republic or Vietnam,
while CW3 Edward L. Jenkins
was awarded the Anny Commendation Medal for his outstanding
service while stationed at Ft. Sill,
Oklahoma.
A Certificote of Achievement
went to Master Serceant Merril
P. Phillips for his services at F t.
Sill. SpeciaHst Four Cross ot Ser
vice Batlery accepted the Minuteman Award reco1nlzln1 the outstandlng participation o! his battery in the savi:nas bond pr ogram.

Soldier or the Month awards

went to Private First Class Fred
o. McGee (November) or Headquarters Battery. and Speciall,t
Four Dennis R. Lochndorf (December). Each received three day
passes from the Battalion Com-

mander.

Gerald Olivas, Ellwood Short

M,lvin Grahn, Herman Wacters.
Rober t Badham. and Riley Morris
were all rtcognized as graduates
of the Army Equipment Records System (TAERS) Coune.

EXCHANGE OPENING
BEATS HOLIDAY RUSH
NECKARSULM
Th e
Artillery Kaserne Po~t Exchange re-opened recent!"
with LTC Max G. Horton .
Commanding Officer of th<'
3rd Battalion, 84th Artillery
cutting the traditional ribbon.
Colonel Horton also became
the facility's first customer.

m uch
cious
Slo1,
aro1e

more attractive and spaCncili1y. It fealurcs a larger

& Stripes newstand. ~ sepdepartment for purchasing

gas coupons and a greate r va-

rle1y und volume or products.

Pres~n1 tor the Ol)(lnlng ceremonies were Mr . Dachtler, EES
Facility Supervisor for t he Heilbronn area. Mr . Abfnlter. manager or lh< Hellbronn PX, Mr.
Glaeser. Supervisor ot the UlmThe PX, closed for the past : Gopprng area. and Cap1aln Eu1
month for remodeling, is now a : gene Rush.

reeting5

leading the way with a superior

rating. November found the Headquarters
and
Headquarters
Batteries or all units achieving
satisfactory ratings during USAREUR Command Maintenance
Management Inspections.
In December the 4th Battalion.
41st Artillery became the first
battalion ln the Group to undergo
a NATO Tactical Evaluation. The
results were excellent and set the
example for the other battalions
which have their evaluations In
early 1968.
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
talion, 84th Artillery as they
system as most or the chain or played host to Stanley R. Resor,
command was here at oae time or Secretary of the Army.
another. General Harold K. Johnson. United States Army Chief or
INSPECTION SUCCESS
Stall \'!sited. the site of Battery C.
An achievement of significant
~rd Battalion, 84th Artillery on
June 13th. The same month saw note Is the outstondlnfl 58th Artlllcry
Group record on InspecUr. : .. d States NATO Ambasador
Harlan Cle1'eland at the 4th Bat- tions during the year. All three
battalions underwent either a DA
tal!on. 41st Artillery.
!)~:Id E. McGlf'lert, Under- or USAREUR Technical Proftsecretary of the Army also took clcncy Inspection (TPI) succc!Sa close look at the fltld operations fully. October w.is annual Inspecof the 41st. October was a big tor General time with Headmonth for Battery B, 3rd Bat- quarters, 56th Artillery Group

SUCCESS IN SPORTS
Teams and Individuals representin& the 56th Artillery Group
made their presence known in
championships held in various
sp0rts during the yoar. Of particular note are Service Battery,
4th of the 41st winning the VII
Corps Softball Championships.
and Specialist Four Kaat and
Lieutenant Colonel Milton L.
Haskin winning the Vil Corps

Open and Senior divisions tennis

championships, N:spectlvely, Specialist Kast went on to win the
Men's Open Singles Division of
the USAREUR Tennis Cham-

plonships.
In October Battery B of the
84th finished second in the VII
Corps Touch football championships to put the final touch on
Championships tor 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
Kasern e Consolidated Mess paved
the way Ln May and the 4th of
the 41 st followed suit in October.
All considered It was an eventful year and one which hu been
much more extensive than this
review ml&hl Indicate. But.
without question,

WACKERNHEIM - SP4
Isre.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.
The champ has been exceptionally busy tor the past three
weeks as ht has fought bouts In
Berlin, Switzerland and Lee Barracks, Mainz1 winning two and
drawing one.

Ho won tht 8th Division light

middle w,elght championship at
Lee Barr acks November 24-25
taking a u-nanlmous decision over
William, of the 3d Br igade.
One week after being declared
the 8th Division champion, h e was

picked to represent USAREUR

against the ll&ht middle weight

champion of Berlin. The w~kend

ot December 12, White fought a
three round draw with the German 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 the 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 Offenbach, Germany to box In the
Invitational Tournament to be
held on Dec mber 21-23. l!e will
be representing t he 8th Division
In this tourromenl.
All or tho officers ond <:listed
men of the 56th Artillery Group
wish White the best or lucl< in his
future bouts in tho r in~.

12
11

11

"

Figures Show Number

0 f R e - U p s F o r D e c.
As Of The 20th
Congratulations to Battery D.

Earlier the 64th dumped tho

83rd Engineer Battalion at Badnerhof 87-72. Forward Edwin
Lynum led the 84th with 22
points. Tear:,mates Wayne Carter,
Robert Ryans, Tom Thompson
and John Taylor followed with
20, 18, 12, and 10 respectively.
Tht at84 returned to the
friendly confines of Artillery Kaserne Gym to host the ~~6th MP
Battalion from Slegelsbach and
walked away with an 88- 7~ verdict to reverse their only loss of
the season lo that point. Center
Robert Ryans returned to his customary role of high scorer as he
tallied 28 points. Wayne Carter
reclstered 27, Tom Thompson 13,
and l\obert Buchanan 12 to account for 80 of the 84th's 88
points.
The second loss of the season
occurred at Flak Kaseme. Ludwigsburg as the 84th bowed to an
excellent 559th Medical Battalion
team, 78-73. Edwin Lynum led
the loJers with 21 points, followed
by Wayne Carter, 19, Robert
Buchanan, 13 and Robert Ryans
with II.

Tournament, unit Best Decoration Contest. and the lighting of he post Christmas
tree by LTC Walter C. Phillips, Battalion Commander.
Each of the units of McCully
Barracks will be striving hard to
win the rotating trophy \0
be presented by the battalion
commandor !or the best decorations. The trophy wl 11 be retained
by the winning unit !or one year.
The Holiday Basketball and
Bowling Tournaments will be
conducted from December 27th
through December 291h. Each of lh
units on post will sponser a team
tor participation In the Basketball
Tournament with the championship t4"am receoiving a trophy to
be retained by them until Chri$1-

mas 1968. The same holds true for

the championship bowling team.
The offlclal holiday season at
Mccully Barracks g_ets underway
on Friday, December 15 at 1600
hours when LTC Phillips throws
the switch lllumatlng the large
Christmas tree In front or battalion headquarters.
Christmas Carols will be played
perlodlcally each day throughout
the holiday season.

Place
Stamp
Here

To:

steadly away w ith Seve Davis and

Jim Estes findi n g the range for

19 points each In the halt. Lanky

forward Wisdom or the Tigers
vainly tried lo k<'eP his team in
the lead by pushing through 24
points In the second hnlt.

"

13

12

(Cont. from P. l, Col. 31

Wisdom of the Tigers hit his

WACKERNHEIM - The
high of 37 pelnts in a losWackernheim Tigers rec~ntly season
Ing cause. He was assisted in the
t ravaled to Strassbourgh to scoring by 20 points from Stuart,
defeat the host team by a 1 Stan Carlyle's 12 and Horbert
score of 99-89. This brought Long's It.
their record in the COMZ
Northern League to 2 wins
and l loss. Their game with
84TH WINS, LOSES
t he Taunus District Hilltoppers the next day was
NECKARSULM - The 3rd
played under protest with the
Battalion, 84th Artillery basHilltoppers
stopping the
ketb.all team dropped its
Tigers 113-103.
second game of the season
An even balanced attack by
lhe Wackemhelm Tigers carried recently after winning its
them to their win over Strass- fourth and fifth games last
bourgh as four of the starting five month.

ARTILLERY CHAMPION JOINS

FORCES WITH INFANTERY

11
10

and to SVC Bauer)' I 81 for the11

100 percent effort tor the month
of November.

TIGERS DEFEAT HILTOPPERS

!!i~eialist Four lratl White, 1st Battalion, Bisi Artillery, preparlnr

for forthcomlnr USAREUR tourneys.

Goal= 13

u
u

1967 was a

year of procress. We accomplished

our mlulon and met each challenge with detennination and a
positive approad,.
Now we look forward to 1968
with great aspirations and expectations. It Is never enough to
simply look back on a job well
done.

- _ Sro,:t.s Seene

players scored In double flcures.

Larry Stuart led the Tigers with
26 points followed closely by
Johnny Wisdom 23, James Jackson 20 and George Mead 15.
Strassbourgh Center Lyles kept
his team In contention by racki ng
up 42 points, 24 of them In the
first hall. The game was close all
th way as the Wackemhelm TIRers lead by only four p0ints
49-45 at halltlme.
PROTEST PENDING
The Hllltopper same was
first declared won by tho
Wackernhelm Tigers on a forfeit
as the HiHtoppers arrived over a
hour late for the scheduled came
at 1300 hours. The Hllltopl)<lrs
had difftculty In locating McCully
Barracks. home ot the Wad<emhelm Tigers.
In fact, the host Tigers split
their team and were playing a
make-up game among themselves
when the Hilltoppers arrived. The
offlcals decided the game would
be played at 1430 hours. Captain
Ira Dorsey, coach of the Isl Bn.
81st Artillery Tigers, filed a protest on the grounds that the visiting Hllltoppers were over an
hour late. As this goes to press.
no word has been received on the
official protest.
The Hllltoppers won the protested game In th second half as
they outscored the host team by
ten points. The first half was
close all the way wllh the lead
changing from one team to
another with the flick of the ball.
The half ended with both teams
deadlocked at 48- 48.
The Hllltoppors outran the Tigers in the second half to pull

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