Synopsis "An Antiaircraft Artilleryman"
A fascinating first hand history of the US Army Antiaircraft and Air Defense Artillery from 1939 to 1970, personally experienced by the author, Colonel Wilfred O. Boettiger. In 1939, certain that the US would soon be fighting World War II, 19-year old Wilfred Boettiger, joined the Washington National Guard as a private to get some military training. That was the beginning of a 30-year career in the US Army Antiaircraft and Air Defense Artillery Branch during World War II, Korea, and the Cold War. He describes the training, mobilization, and pre-Pearl Harbor deployment to Alaska of his National Guard battery; his Officer Candidate training at Camp Davis N.C.; and his duties as gun battery and regimental staff officer in Hawaii. Back at Camp Davis he describes training into be a Weissight instructor and then his unique combat service in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany. After World War II, he served in the reserves until he was activated for the Korean War and describes his job as a Post Training Officer at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin and then his gung-ho service as a combat field artilleryman in Korea. He then tells about his command of a 120mm AAA gun battery in the Cold War air defense of the Hanford Atomic Reservation and his selection to be a pioneer Nike Missile Battery Commander. He describes his Nike training at Fort Bliss and his life as a Nike battery commander at the Hanford Air Defense. He then devotes chapters to his life as the Nike military sales advisor to the German Defense Ministries, as commander of a Nike battalion and air defense of Loring Air Force Base, as missile advisor to the Japanese Defense Agency, as advisor to the Virginia National Guard, and finally as Chief, Army Element, Joint Air Defense of Okinawa. He describes the problems that he faced in each assignment, and how he solved them.
