8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Sep 1990)

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Vol. 29, No. 12

~ f~

Soldier• remembered Second

Bn

.

4th

Inf. soldiers ho·

nor 37

so

ldiers,

who

died In

a

1971 helicopter crash.

56th Field

Artillery

Command

Soldiers civilians

honor infantrymen

by Anthony J. C, Hosch

Staff Writer

Taps played as the people of Pcgnitz, West Ger

many remembered the

37

soldiers

killed

in an August

18, 1971 helicopter crash.

Every year, during August, a ceremony

is

held at

the crash site

1

honor the soldiers lost in the

disas

ter.

Pcgnitz citizens pay homage throughout the year

by pla

cing flow

ers

at

the monument constructed at

the actual crash site.

And each year, the 56th Field Artillery Command

and the community of Pcgnitz hold a memorial s -

vice

in honor of the 33 soldiers from

2nd

Batulion,

4th Infantry, and the four helicopter crewmen from

the

11th Aviation

Group who died in the accident.

There were many citizens who turned out for this

year's service. Among them were the assistant mayor

of Pegnitz, Reinhard Ullmann;

Lt.

Col. Clifton Rip

perger, battalion commander, 2nd Bn., 4th Inf.;

and

Father John Glen

from

England who recited the

Lord's Prayer.

The program featured a wreath-laying ceremony,

the Lord's Prayer, a 21-gun salute and the playfog of

Taps by German

and

American bugle players.

rmy

implements

new

p y system

HEIDELBERG, West Germany - The Army has im

plemented a ne-..• military

pay

system for soldiers in

Europe. The

pay

system called joint

service

synem

USS)

·as adopted from the

U.S.

Air Force and

will

repla,:e the Army's joint uniform military

pay sys

tem

UUMPSJ.

The new system

wi

ll improve service to both 2ctive

and resef\·e componenu and

will

be more dficient

and reliable than JUMPS, according to Army finance

official

s.

The

new

pay system will feature a computation of

soldiers' pa)' on a daily basis instead of monthly

as

well as

•

mid

-month pay smem

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4

Pershing

abla

September 1990

U.S. ambassador to West Germany

recognizes battalion s achievements

Editor s note - The Honorable Vernon

A .

Walters,

U.S.

ambassador to rhe

Federal Republic

of

Germany gave the

follon·ing speech ar rhe

4rh

Bn., 9th FA

inacrfracion ceremon v.

General Saint, disiinguished German

and American guests, offic

er

s, noncom·

missioned officers,

and

soldiers

of

t

he

4th Ba m lion,

9th

Field Artillery, this is

a spedal moment for me too. No t quite

5 ) ears ago I was swo rn into the Army

as

a private in Field Artillery at

Fort

Ethan AIJen, Vermont, and

I

am here to

mend this ceremony because it means

a

great deal

to

me.

There is alwa) S a

tin

ge of sadness

10

the re

tr

ograde

or

the deactivation

of

a

unit. But vo urs is under c

ircum

s

ta

nces

which are ·almosr unique. This deactiva

tion is the resuh of

you

r presence and

yo

ur

success here .

Two

thousand years ago a Chinese

writer, on wars, said, the greatest of all

vi

ctor

ies is n

ot to

win a

hundred

battles,

it is w defeat an enemy without fight

ing. And that is what

you

have done.

The mere activation of th is unit was a

ch.,llcngc, and at the same time, the

pro

of

10 the commitment

of

the United

States to defend its a

ll

ies in E

ur

ope

and

to

defend the values that have made us

w h3t we arr.

I was given a written speech to make

today, but I m not going

to

make it. I

am going

to

speak from the heart in-

stead

of

from the head.

The activation

of

these units was to -

tally opposed by many. There were

huge demonstrations in the streets of

m•ni

• cities in Germany and elsewhere

against the deployment of these weap·

ons.

West

Germany

is

1101

governed in the

streets. Germany is governed by its par

liament. And

its

parliament, as a result

of

the

election, ,·oted

to go

forward

with this deployment which had orig

inally been requested by

the

then

Ger

man C

h• n

cello r.

You came here. There were all sorts

of

rumors about what would happen

and

how

this would destroy all possibil

ity of a reasonable negotiation with the

Soviets

at

a time when they seemed in-

cl

in

ed t do so.

It did

not have

that

e

f-

fect. They understood it

for what

it was

meant

to

be, an expression of the will of

our people 10 stand steadfastly with our

allies in the defense of the values that

have

bound us

together

for

nearly 50

years.

Th

e act ivation of this unit was a sig

nal - a signal

to

the world that we

would not falter and we would not fail,

and we would not shrink. And almost

every

ge

neration of Americans

in

my

adult lifetime have been called upon

to

give that - to answer that challenge as

other

youn

g Americans are being

ca

lled

upon

10 answer it today.

We

are here as

soldiers of peace, and soldiers of free

dom.

The lo ng struggle that has been going

on since the end of World War II, l

think we can see the victory of freedom

and the tr iumphs

of

the res

pe

ct for

hu

man

dignity, is

co

ming

to

its full tru·

ism

It is your

dedication, your sacri

fices, y

our

willingness

to

accept the in

conveniences and the hardships, and all

of the other things that

went

along with

activating and operating this battalion

with the immense, complex, technical

facilities that went with it.

But

that sign al was understood. That

signal was understood, and the willing

neSJ of the

Am

erican people

who over

the last nine years have

be,n

willing

to

put

ur,

over

S

300

billion a

year to

de

fend reedom, that messoge has finally

gotten home.

They know

we mean

what we

say.

And

so,

a differe

nt

time is opening

before us,

and

the deactivation

of

the

unit which is normally an occasion of

sadness is not an occasion of sadness.

It

is the occasion of your

triumph

10 those

things which brought you here, lhosc

things

you

said, those things for which

you made sacrifices.

And

because of

you

and because

of so

ldiers like ) OU

have done, we :are moving

into

a differ

ent world; a world of less tension; a

world of greater respect. Not only in

the camp of freedom, but elsewhere, for

those values wh ich made us what we

are.

And

I

think

that

th

e

re

is very little I

can say beyond

thank

you. To

thank

you and those before you for making

possible this great victory for freedom

and peace.

It s

not a

triumph

or a mo

ment to

gloat.

It

is a moment for quiet

recognition of what you have achieved.

And

because of

what

you have done,

the next generation will face a different

kind of world. You have transformed

th

e face

of

the earth from what

it

was

only a few years ago. And so, I think

that you can have and carry forever

with

you the

satisfaction

that you

have

been the leverage point at which the

wheel of

history

turns . And all people

who have lived in this time will forever

owe

you a debt of gratitude. And I

thank you and salute you.

\

Mlln to man

talk

The

Honorable

Vern

Gen. Roger K. Bean, commander 56th

FA Inactivation ceremony.

Mllklng

tr•ckel

The fir

st

Pershing I m

.. ._ Protestl Demonstrators protest the de

Center of attenti

on

The 56th FA CMD hosls media representatives from around lhe wo~d. After lhe signing of

lhe

Intermediate Range

Nuclear Forces treaty, lhe Command held a media day June 8, , 988.

8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Sep 1990)

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_. _

--

rs U.S.

ambassador 10 WeS1 Germany and

Maj. Penlhlng c

  b

l

n Pershing

soldiers

hau

l

l

lscuss

lhe day s events prior to the 4th

Bn.,

9th

the

heavy cables thal

were

par1 of a Per-

shing

IA syslem.

3 deployed 10 Europe

In

1963.

_

--

 

Pershing II

missiles in

Heilbronn West Germany

ershing Ca/M

Sept ml>er t

99

VE

G

AV

E

PE CE

_. _

HomeJ 1 Braw Btry . 4th Bn .

9th FA

Pershing II missiles leave Camp Red leg.

The

flrat

convoy

or missiles left Camp Red leg Sept 1 1988.

.....

Encl

of an enl Maj.

Gen

.

Roger

K.

Bean commander

56th

FA CMO hands

lhe retired co-

lors

or

41h

Bn

., 9th

FA

to

Spec.

Jennlrer Wrighl.

0 . Co .

55th

Spt

.

Bn

. during 41h

Bn. 91h

FA s Inactivation ceremony.