8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Sep 1990)
1/3
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
8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Sep 1990)
2/3
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)
3/3
_. _
--
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.