The 209th and 46th FAM Groups
The Redstone program in 1957 had provided for the training of four heavy missile (Redstone) groups, three for deployment in Europe and one for assignment in the continental United States. The next year, the number of field artillery missile groups held at three: the 40th, the 46th and the 209th. The 46th, like the 40th, would support the US Army in Europe while the 209th would remain at Fort Sill to train troops and to assist in evaluation firings. Both the 46th and the 209th were assigned to Fort Sill during the training period, rather than to the Redstone Arsenal as the 40th had been. They followed the training program established by the 40th, however, and used the same general organization pattern. Much of the training of the 46th and the 209th was coordinated, since their training and deployment schedules were nearly parallel. Both were deployed toward the end of the FY 1959.

The 40th Field Artillery Missile Group
The 40th was within a month of its deployment date when the Third Army inspected it and found it limited in operational readiness. At that time, May 1958, neither battery had yet fired a missile. In addition, the group had not yet received any of its basic load of four missiles. On 16 May, one deficiency was corrected when Battery A conducted, at Cape Canaveral, the first successful troop launching of a tactical Redstone missile. Battery A and its equipment, which included the missile and its ground support equipment, traveled by air from the Army Ballistic Missile Agency to the Cape and back again.

On 2 June 1958, Battery B qualified by firing its missile and achieving additional "firsts." This firing marked the first use of lightweight ground equipment; the first tactical off-pad firing; the first firing without blockhouse instrumentation and monitoring; the first Ordnance pre-issue checkout and artillery checkout and firing solely by troops; the first firing under desert environmental conditions; and the first Redstone firing at the White Sands Missile Range; the first firing at other than sea level conditions; and the first firing of the Redstone at a terrestial target.

The 40th had now completed its individual and crew training; its individual artillery and ordnance training; its unit training in all component units; its required Army training tests and graduation firings; and embarked in June for Europe. The main body boarded ship on 18 June 1958 for Saint-Nazaire, France, and moved in convoy across France and Germany, arriving at its Seventh Army destination early in July. When deployed, the group had only one of its basic load of four missiles. The other three missiles, shipped separately, arrived at the deployment site before November 1958.

Maj Gen John B. Medaris, Commanding General, Army Ordnance Missile Command, wrote to General Henry I. Hodes, Commander, US Army, Europe, explaining the group's degree of training. As a tactical unit and as Redstone specialists, the men were well trained, he noted. As a military team, however, he pointed out that the men needed more training and 6 months would not be too long a period to devote to this. The 40th was unique in many ways, General Medaris pointed out, "since this is the first of the large missile units manned by US military forces to be deployed overseas. As such, the Army has an opportunity to 'write a book'."

From the beginning, the 40th had been unique. General Maxwell D. Taylor, then Chief of Staff, assigned General Medaris the group's early deployment as a personal responsibility. Its organizational structure was the subject of controversy throughout, and the final structure was a compromise. Equipment allowance remained in a somewhat fluid state with the final table of organization and equipment settled just before deployment. The training with tactical hardware was on a crash basis and was accomplished frequently by improvisations, since the training began before the missile was ready. The shortage of time also made necessary the sandwiching of the Army training tests into an already compressed program. Because it was the first tactical Redstone unit, widespread official and public interest, with accompanying pressure and tension, accompanied every phase of its training. All of these factors contributed to General Medaris' recommendation for an additional 6-month shakedown training to follow deployment.

General Hodes wired General Medaris, on 8 July 1958, that the group and its equipment had arrived "without incident or accident," and accepted General Medaris' summary of the group's readiness.

The 46th Field Artillery Missile Group
The 46th Field Artillery Missile Group deployed to Europe nearly a year later. It profited from the 40th's pioneering experiences and avoided most of those attendant problems. Its men and equipment traveled on several different ships to Bremerhaven, Germany, in April 1959 and rejoined at that port city. The group then marched for 500 miles to its destination at Neckarsulm, arriving on 25 April 1959. There, it became a support group for both the Seventh Army and NATO Forces.

Its component units were the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery; the 2nd Battalion, 333rd Artillery; the 523rd Engineer Company, activated at Fort Belvoir; and the 91st Ordnance Company activated at the Redstone Arsenal. All had assignments at Fort Sill at the time the 46th incorporated them. The 46th was assigned to Fort Sill throughout its training. After completing the group and individual training, the group participated in the engineering-user tests at the White Sands Missile Range in January and February, firing two missiles. The group deployed with its full basic load of four missiles.

A Battery, present at the White Sands Missile Range in March 1960 for its annual service practice firings, fired the Block II modified Redstone and returned to Europe in April. B Battery arrived in May for its annual service practice firings. Its missile had the additional task of carrying an on-board television set for transmitting pictures in flight. B Battery returned to Germany in June. The two batteries of each field artillery missile group held their annual service practice firings at the White Sands Missile Range each year.

The 46th FAM Group, like the 40th, never had to demonstrate its operational readiness on any except peacetime occasions. The two became showpieces of the Seventh Army for many demonstrations of the fighting capability of NATO, the US Army in Europe, Seventh Army and VII Corps. The two groups also continued their military training while in Europe, participating in all management exercises and maneuvers, Army training tests, and technical proficiency inspections. They also returned once a year to the White Sands Missile Range for annual service practice firings.

By 1 July 1960, the missiles assigned to overseas units were converted from the Block I to the Block II configuration. Both the 40th and the 46th FAM Groups became Block II operational at that time. In the case of the ground support equipment, the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, supported by the prime contractor, expedited the modernization of it by exchanging Block II for the Block I configuration. The Field Support Operations of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency issued all essential conversion and modification kits to the users so that the equipment could be exchanged as expeditiously as possible.

Deactivation of the Tactical System
With the deployment of the speedier, more mobile Pershing missile system in 1964, the Redstone missile system began being phased out as a tactical Army missile system. This had been the plan all along since the Department of the Army officially viewed the Redstone as being only an interim missile system that would be deployed only during the period required for the development of the Pershing.

By June 1963, a Redstone phase-out plan was developed that envisioned the return of all Redstone missiles and certain pieces of equipment from overseas.

As the Pershing system began deploying in April 1964, the Redstone equipment began being withdrawn and returned under the provisions of the phase-out plan. By the end of June 1964, all tactical units using the Redstone were inactivated and the Redstone weapon system was type-classified as obsolete.

On December 28, 1956, I joined the army and took a 15 day leave before entering the service; as I was told, if I joined in December I would be released before Christmas in 1959.

I was inducted into the army on January 12, 1957 at Ft. Dix, New Jersey. At that time I was sent to Ft. Benning, Georgia for basic training with the 64th Tank Battalion. After basic was completed, I was sent to Ft. Belvoir, Virginia for advanced basic training and on to liquid oxygen school. There I was taught how to make liquid oxygen from the air. The school lasted for 10 weeks. I was taught how to run a liquid oxygen plant that produced one ton a day of liquid oxygen.

Upon completion of the school, I was assigned to the 580th Engineer Company, which was just being organized. The 580th Engineer Co. was then assigned to the 40th Missile Group. Captain Clayton was the 1st company commander. We were sent to the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. When we arrived there they equipped us with 5 Ton liquid oxygen plants which no one knew how to operate. A new training process began on how to operate this plant.

After being tested with a 14-day field trip, the Army finally decided we were ready to be deployed to Bad Kreuznach, Germany. We took a 14-day military cruise to Saint Nazaire, France with all of our equipment and then convoyed across France to Germany. The convoy took about 5 days and we stayed at military installations along the way.

Because our heavy equipment was mobile the city fathers of Bad Kreuznach came to the military commanders to ask for help in building a soccer field for the town. Part of our heavy equipment was a bulldozer. We were given the task of helping them. In the process of grading the soccer field we accidently dug up an unexploded 5-Ton Blockbuster bomb which had been dropped during World War II. The bomb squad from Frankfurt had to be called in to disarm the bomb. The reason that I knew about the bomb was I was driving the fuel truck for the bulldozer. I was on the scene when the bomb was exposed.

In November of 1959 I rotated back to Ft. Dix for discharge. Like Mr. Harbin, I also knew Sgt. Bonds and Sgt. Gravely.

In the early 1970’s, I was in the insurance business and had the opportunity to go back to Germany and live for four years as a civilian salesperson in Bad Kreuznach, selling insurance to the military. At that time there was no 40th Missile Group left on base and the town had changed considerably.

Reorganized in April 1954 as the 630th Ordnance Company, inactivated during June 1955 in Korea, and reactivated on 1 June 1957 at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama. 

The 630th was subordinate to the 40th Field Artillery Group (Redstone) and deployed to McCully Barracks, Wackernheim am Rhein, West Germany, in late June 1957, as a part of the 7th US Army nuclear triad (the PGM-11 Redstone Guided Missile, 280mm “atomic” cannon, and the Honest John rocket).

The mission of the 630th Ord. Co. was to support the 40th Group by maintaining constant readiness of the missile system, specifically the propulsion section, guidance section, arming and firing section, and the warhead section. 

When deployed to Europe in June 1957, the Company was commanded by Captain Horace W. Tousley (a one-time aide to General Medaris). The executive officer was First Lieutenant Entriken, and the First Sergeant was Master Sergeant Dishroon. Our special weapons section chief was Chief Warrant Officer Eckoff, from Hermosa Beach, Calif., and the NCOIC was SFC Cuffel. 

I was assigned to the warhead section as a special weapons electronics assembler and our primary mission was to perform periodic tests on the nuclear warhead to insure operational readiness (in other words, to make certain the warhead would detonate upon receipt of a signal from the XM-18 radar arming and firing system).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The 630th was (partly) responsible (as were the MPs assigned to McCully Bks) for the exclusion area (of the special ammunition storage site at Ober-Olmer Forest - see location) that contained the old ammunition bunkers. I believe the location of these bunkers played a significant part in the decision to move part of the 40th to McCully Bks., just a few clicks "down the road" from Wackernheim and fairly close to Finthen airfield. The MPs were responsible for securing the exclusion (bunker) area and the 630th was entirely responsible "securing" the bunkers and its contents.

My understanding of the origins of Finthen airfield is that it was constructed by the Germans during WWII. It was constructed of PSP (pierced steel planking) over soil. When I arrived at McCully Barracks in 1958, the airfield did not have anything that even gave a hint of the PSP through which grass and shrubs grew and, there were no structures there at the time. The airfield was primarily used as a landing zone for the 8th Infantry Division - 504th, and 505th Abn. It was used occasionally for pomp and ceremonies, at which time CP (and mess) tents were pitched for dignitaries, and portable motor-generators were used for power.

The ammunition bunkers were located several kilometers from the airfield in a fairly dense forested area. They too were constructed by the Germans at about the same time as the airfield. The bunkers were constructed of about one-meter thick, reinforced concrete, were at ground level, about the width of a three-car garage, and about 12 meters deep. The bunkers were covered in about 2 meters of dirt and gave the simple appearance of very large mounds of soil. Owing to the rather dense forest environment, from the air, they were rather inconspicuous, and even on the ground, unless you were facing the front of a bunker containing the large steel double doors, they were not very obvious to an unsuspecting observer. These bunkers were the secluded domain of the special weapons section. Only one time were the nuclear warheads removed from the bunkers and transported to a launch site; this was during the Berlin missile crisis. Those were rather nerve-wracking times! We were all loaded for "bear" (the Russian bear, that is); were issued "war reserve" weapons, and were awaiting the signal to launch.