*1

CHAPMAN IS TROOPS'

See story on page 4

.lli ~ filM:
THE GIANT asks the question ''Why is this ma.n laughing'? 11 (see below)

VOL

"PERSHING IN EUROPE"

NOJ

41 PASSES TAC EVAL!

51

SEVERE WEATHER CONDITIONS

MADE FOR A TOU3H TEST
OF MEN AND EQUIPMENT

BY

DENYS FRITCH

SCHWAEBISCH GMUEND Like

an actual 'W&r, the beginning
of the Tactical Evaluation
at the 4th Battalion, 41st
Artillery came unexpectedly.
But in spite of the element
ot surprise, all 4 batteries
tested received a high overall average.
SURPRISE

Rampant rumors had the

Tac Eval scheduled to occur
almost hourly during the 1st
d~ of eligibility; but no
one expected the actual call
when it finally came at
6:10 that evening, Personnel
were called in, equipment
loaded, and the convoys began to roll well short of
the marlmum time limit.
Headquarters Battery set
up in a location in hills to
the east. Service and Btry C
located elsewhere. Bravo,
simulating encampment in a
forest clearing, located its
equipnent beside the airfield at Mutlangen.
DIFF ICULTIES

"It's much more difficult

to take a Tac Eval from a
garrison situation than it
is in the field," commented
CPT Joseph Carpenter, asst
S-3 of the battalion. He
went on to say that the difficulties are magnified "be-

KNEE DEEP in the snow. Members of Headquarters Battery, 4t~

Battalion, 41st Artillery, set up a tent during the Ta:
Eval. It was all part of the fun as the battalion passec
the big test with flying colors.
(Arnv photo -- Fr itch ]

cause other duties continually interfere" with the exercise itself.

evaluation will be an example for others to follow."

HEW UNIT

WEATHER

The adverse weather conditions experienced during

the Tac Eval were also a
problem. Early March's cold
and heavy snow created an
especially grim environment
in which to take the test.
In summing up the evaluation, CPT Carpenter indicated that "throughout the exercise, morale and esprit de
corps were excellent. This

In light of the 41st 1 s

performance during their
stringently graded exercise,
the evaluators - a combined
team from CENTAG and USAREUR -- inidcated that the
battalion looked "like an
entirely different unit"
from the one they had seen
the previous year.

H)

;,,Ii !971

7111:; GIANT

PAG:. 4

CHAPMAN: BEST OF 16,000

NaJ ULM - SGT Ronald K Chap-

man of the 1st Jattalion,

81st Artillery, has become
the li:iAREt.'P. & 7th A~ Trps
Soldier of the Year. As they
say, he is "the best of
16, 000."
The 22 year old ACS for D
Battery' s 1st Firing Platoon
has won every 'Soldier of
the - -' title around. Amoung others, he was ma.de
Brigade ~OY last January,
In Heidelberg, he competed against 5 of t he best
from Troops H. ,000 men ,
"l felt pretty confident
when 1 competed at Brigade
for Soldier of the Year,"
said SvT Chapnan, "but in
Heidelberg l had the feeling
it would be a toss-up. I
just went in, tried the best
l could, and l et cOllle what

plaque, a wrist watch, a

free round t rip flight to
the States and a J day pass .
hecogn!t ion of Chapnan ' s
per fonnance took place at a
c eremol\Y in Heidelberg on April 2. The JJrd Army a&nd
and an honor guarc stood by
as ~:G ,/illiam R Kraft, CG of
L'JARWI! ancl 7t.h ~rmv Troop~,

'lr.&y,"

',-.'hat came were a ,$100 deposit in Big Ten, a large

presented the ~oldier of the

Year with the Troops plaque
and congratulated him on his
achievement.
SGT Chanan is a member
or the Church of Jesus Ori.at
and served as a missjonary
in 3cotland for two years .
He took basic at Ft Lewis
and AIT at Ft Sill, where he
graduated first in his class.
Nhlle a student in High
3chool in Mesa, Arizona, SGT
Chapman was an All--State
Choirist in both his Jrd and
4th yea.rs . At Mesa Co11111Unity
Col lege as a pre-med student
he set t he school cross country record.
Will he stay a soldier?
Chapman thinks not.
At the
end of hia service obligation, SOT Ch&pnan plans to
return to his medical studies at the University of UtAh
and eventually do mor e missi onary work.

PERSHING FIRST AND LAST

IY OON SAMS Al

The 1st Battalion

81 st Field Artillery was ori~i nall.y organized as a traditional horse and sabre canlry outfit, the 23rd cavalry - one of two such units
that were created from the
11th cavalry. Its creation
f ollowed the 11th's return
from Mexico where, under the
command of General John J.,
Pershing, it had been in
pur suit or Pancho Villa's
band of marauders .
With the entry of the US
into war against the stern
forces of the Central RM!rs,
Troops A & B of the 23rd Cav
were r edesignated Nov Jrd,
1917, as Btry A, 81st Field
Artillery and anned with the
famous "French 75, " a 7511'1111
horse-drawn gun.
By t he time t he Battery
had built up its manpower,
t rained with the new weaoon,
and debarked for France; it.
was Nov 1, 1918. The 81st
arrived on Nov 9 and the armistice ending the war was
signed two days later , Most.
or the unit ' s pers onnel were
transferred to other units
f or occupational duty. ar
Jan, 1919, the unit was back
in the States and after a
series of moves, was inactivated on Feb 1, 1922.
On June 12, 1940, Btry A,
l/81st, was reoreanized at
Ft Lewis, Wash. On the 21st
or that same month, it went
to Alaska to build Ft . rlichardson. After addit ions t ~
its strength, the now 81st
Field Ar tillery
Jattalion
KEU

was charged with gi:arding

Alaska 's harbors and a irfields.
';/ith the advent of ~w II
in the Pacific anc the Japanese invasion of t he Aleutian Islands, the eist went
into a state of coffibat alert
but saw no action.
In December 194), the battalion returned to the US
and trained as a 155n!m Howitzer unit. After training,
it was sent otf to war on
the Continent. It arrived in
J:;ngland in 3ept 1944 and encountered its first combat
a ction Oct 14 at ~elfrange ,
Luxembourg, where i t fired
l47 rounds in 1) days a l ong
the Mosel River.
The battalion came to the
defense of the clty of Luxembourg on Dec 16 during the
German f orces' last desper ate effort t o drive the Allies back to the English
Channel . For 12 days the
battalion fired hundreds of
r ounds nortr. and east into
enell\Y tank and i nfantry formations , destroyin~ bridges
and harrassing enenzy" crossings. ~ring t his period,
every one or t he battalion's
positions wer e subject to
intense counter fire from
P,l:ns of 88mm to 21Cbln. The
81 st eventually took up positions soutnwest of dastogne in relief of the 101s t
Airborne Division.
The beginnjng of 1945 was
s nent recoverin~ lost ground .
1'hen, in l ate February, t.he
battalion entered Gr.rrrany
r ear ~u~ and ~e~an its at-

tack on the Siegfried Line

in the Schnee !::i.fel Forest.
dy March 29, the 81st had
crossed the !thine at St Goar
and three weeks later it was
at Stenn, where it remained
until V- ~ Da.y - May 7, 1945,
The battalion was lat.er
ordered to the Pacific, but
the war ended before it got
under way. On Feb 7, 1946,
the Elst was inactivated at
Cair.p Kilmer, New Jersey.
After a s er ies of activations, durin~ which it was
first assigned as a training unit, then to the Honest
John missile, and l ate.r to
the Corporal missile, the unit was radesignated as the
1st ilattalion, 81st Artillery and was r eactivated at Pt.
~ill on Apr 15, 1~6J .
Its
weapon was the Al"II\Y'S new
Per shing ,jssile System.
The battalion was deployed to .i:llrope in Oct 1965. lt
was initially harrisoned in
N&cker nheim and .later at Lee
i3arracks in l'.ainz . ln August
19~e, the battalion was moved to diley Barracks in :ieu
~lm, a relocation t hat was
accomplished while still
~~: ntaining i l s ~uick keaction Alert mission in support or the NATO j trike
r'orce.
i n t ~e beginning of 1970 ,
the 81st undertook f r ojcct
,.jwap. 1t became the t~ir d
and f inal Pershing battalion
in the 5lth ftrtillery 3ri~ade t o make t he swi tct from
t racked t.o wheeled vehicles
arc t he inc~eased a~ncher
c1,-'lbi ~i '..\ o~ t :ie 1,1a s ,,t. ..rr..

).,