US Army Missile Commands

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The US Army Missile Commands were units in the CONUS as well as Europe and Asia that could project all weather tactical atomic weapons during the Pentomic Army from 1957 to 1978.

The 1st and 2nd US Army Missile Commands were organized as medium missile commands with MGR-1 Honest John missile battalions and MGM-5 Corporal missile battalions. Each was designed with a headquarters and headquarters company, a field artillery rocket group and up to 4 Honest John battalions, a Corporal battalion, an engineer combat battalion, an armored infantry battalion, an air cavalry squadron, a signal company and a service and supply group. Neither were ever organized exactly like that. The 1st was stationed first at Leghorn and later Vicenza Italy with SETAF from 1957 to 1965. [1] The 2nd was active from 1957 to 1961, first at Ft. Hood, Texas [2] and then Ft. Carson, Colorado. [3] [4]

The 3rd and 4th US Army Missile Commands were organized as air transportable units built around an Honest John battalion to support divisions with rocket and atomic firepower. The tables of organization and equipment authorized the command a headquarters and headquarters company, an Honest John battalion, a signal company, an infantry rifle company for local security, an engineer combat company and a support company. The 3rd served at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina from 1957 to 1963. The 4th US Missile command served at Camp Page, South Korea [5] supporting the First ROK Army and the Eighth US Army from 1958 to 1978.

Unit SSICommandLocationDates
1st Missile Command SSI.jpg
1st Missile CommandVicenza, Italy1957–1965
2nd US Missile Command.jpg
2nd Missile CommandFort Hood, Texas1957–1961
3rd US Missile Command.jpg
3rd Missile CommandFort Bragg, NC1957–1963
4th Missile Command SSI.jpg
4th Missile CommandCamp Page, South Korea1958–1978

References

  1. "1st Missile Command Southern European Task Force". US Army in Germany. February 15, 1962.
  2. "2nd U.S. Army Missile Command, Fort Hood, Texas". Internet Archive. 1959.
  3. McKenney, Janice (January 1, 2008). The Organizational History of Field Artillery 1775-2003. Washington, D.C.: Center for Military History. ISBN   978-0160771149.
  4. "Help with Missile Command Patch". US Militaria Forum. October 13, 2014.
  5. "Camp Page, Korea".