As we sat on the pavement in our "at rest" formation in front of the E&A hangar, waiting for somebody to make a decision, a big Air Force blue 6-bye, with the all too familiar canvas covering the troop seats, lumbered up. The big, noisy truck was followed by several crew cab pickup trucks with metal "conestoga" style covered beds. "Pile in!" was the command, so we did, with as much enthusiasm as we could muster for another grubby detail.
We were Guidance, Flight Controls, Test and Missile Equipment
Maintenance Troops again pulled out of our tasks of assembling and testing
the support equipment for the new Mace "B" missile. The TM-61C Matador was
still the operational missile in the Group, so we were used for every detail
the powers that were could dream up or pass on. Obviously we weren't doing
any "real" work, so we must have been waiting for a work detail. So again,
were off on yet another one. Back in February, 1962, during our first
month in the group, we had even shovelled snow out of ditches alongside
the MSA hangars, cleaned out the ditches, then put the snow back!
This time they issued us bayonets! The first and only
time I ever had a real bayonet as part of my equipment. Maybe I could use
it to pry out stuck mag amps, or cut the cannon plugs off of the vertical
gyro. No, these bayonets were special. We were on our way up to Steinborn, one of the Matador sites that was coming down as the Matadors were folded and put away, to remove the sod.
Sod was very important. It was used to hide dirt. It was
used in very special places, like around the base of missile monuments.
We had one missile monument on base, but that was woefully insufficient,
so we had to have another one. This one was an actual Matador airframe
to be mounted on a concrete stand. The E&A troops dug up and moved
the concrete security fence posts and the fence in the munitions area using MC-1 cranes.
The corner of Mace Blvd and, whatever the name of the main street that
ran down from the mess hall, was cut in a diagonal. (The signs are gone,
I wanted to take photos in 1995, but I was too late.) The sod was cut,
loaded, hauled, unloaded and laid with the utmost in military precision.
We always dun gud work.
The missile dedication was a nice military ceremony, the press was even there. Colonel Fred W. Vetter, Commander, 585th Tactical Missile Group, the designer of the original Missile Badge, didn't bring his beautiful Facel Vega this time, arriving in a staff car with the other dignitaries instead. The dedication of the missile coincided with the deactivation of the last operational Matador Missile in Europe.
When the photos came out in the paper, it was obvious
The Overseas Weekly didn't see the occasion as Col Vetter saw it. Indeed,
they had a photo of the 38th Tactical Missile Wing Commander at the microphone, with Col. Vetter
standing by, with the Matador poised at the sky behind his shoulder. However,
they had plastered a huge cartoon balloon over his head saying "This is
your last chance! Come out with your hands up and you won't be hurt!"
It was said Col. Vetter was not happy! The Overseas Weekly even got the
location wrong!
We were unhappy, too. They didn't say anything about our sod.
This page is in no way sponsored or endorsed by the United States Air Force.
Opinions and views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the
Department of the Air Force.
Web Page Design and Development by
George Mindling - Port Charlotte, Florida
