The Missile Monument

Larry Emerson, Mace "B" GSC (Guidance Systems), poses in front of the Missile Monument,
Bitburg Air Base, Germany, 1962.

Photo coutesy of Larry Emerson (lemerson@swbell.net)

The Inscription on the Monument

Dedicated to the Pioneer Missilemen of
the First USAF operational missile unit

First in NATO and Europe

1st Pilotless Bomber Squadron - 1954
1st Tactical Missile Squadron - 1956
585th Tactical Missile Group - 1956

Their weapon was the TM-61 Martin MATADOR

1st Pilotless Bomber Squadron
Bitburg Air Base, Germany, March 1954.

The Monument was dedicated in October, 1959

The Monument's removal and destruction remains a mystery. No one knows who removed it, or why. It is assumed it was removed before Bitburg Air Base was returned to the German government, but that is not known as fact.

This page is Dedicated to Brigadier General Fred W. Vetter, Jr.,
Born 1921 - Died August 8th, 2002

The Missing Missile Monument

The above monument, which appears to be the skeleton of the missing Bitburg marble monument was taken at Wüscheim, now called Pydna.

"The tower is the watchtower standing in the middle of the former GLCM facility, containing the bunkers with the missile transport and guidance vehicles. It is some years ago since I was there the last time (there was a period when the site was accessible semi-officially, but now it seems that it has been incorporated into the adjacent German Army maneuver area and it is closed again), and therefore can't exactly remember the perspective."

Gerhard Moroff (moroff@ba-mannheim.de) 11 April 2007

The photo was supplied by George Kovach (gfkgdk@aol.com), but unfortunately, the original contributors name and information has been lost.