2nd Missile Battalion Fort Bragg Materials, CLDW 93

[Item name or title], [Folder Numbers], 2nd Missile Battalion Fort Bragg Materials, CLDW 93, Cold War Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.

The collection is composed of an Army technical proficiency inspection booklet, holiday dinner menus, and a group photograph, from an unidentified U.S. Army service individual that document the 2nd Missile Battalion, 42nd Artillery, U.S. Army, during its operations at Fort Bragg, NC, in 1960. The most significant item in the collection is an original 22-page booklet for the Department of the Army Inspector General's Technical Proficiency Inspection held for the 2nd Missile Battalion, 42nd Artillery. The inspection occurred at Fort Bragg, NC, between September 7 and 8, 1960. The booklet is divided into 14 "tabs" labeled A through N. The booklet includes sections for the proficiency inspection such as command structure, battalion organizational chart, unit history, and the sequence of events for the inspection. It is one of the few-known complete histories of the unit at Fort Bragg from 1957 to 1960 during the Cold War.

There is an original 8 inch by 10-inch official U.S. Army photograph of the commanding officers of the 2nd Missile Battalion, 42nd Artillery, U.S. Army, at Fort Bragg, NC, from an unspecified date and event. There are two holiday menus for the 2nd Missile Battalion, 42nd Artillery, at Fort Bragg, both of which contain complete unit rosters. One menu is for Thanksgiving Day dinner on November 24, 1960; the other menu is for Christmas dinner in December 1960. The collection helps document the operations and soldiers serving in the newly-created field of nuclear-capable rocket launcher military units during the Cold War era.

The 2nd Missile Battalion, 42nd Artillery, U.S. Army, has a history stretching back to January 1, 1957, when the 250th Field Artillery Rocket Battalion was activated at the Headquarters of the 3rd U.S. Army. The 250th FA Rocket Battalion was assigned to the 3rd Army, and attached to Headquarters, XVIII Airborne Corps, at Fort Bragg, NC. Lt. Col. John M. Hart was the first battalion commander. On January 9, 1957, the first group of Army personnel to have any training or background in the operation of a rocket battalion were assigned to the 250th, composed of 18 men who trained for three weeks at the Artillery and Guided Missile School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. After beginning its training program with 136 individuals in the unit, the 250th would receive its first to 762 mm rocket launchers. The launchers allowed for the unit to begin a limited training program for the men on operating rocket launchers. The concept of guided missile launchers was a development of the Cold War era, and required such new units for potential battlefield operations.

The 250th's parent unit was activated on March 1, 1957, as the 3rd U.S. Atomic Support Command. On April 27, 1957, the 250th FA Rocket Battalion reached 85% of its authorized strength. On April 28, the unit fired its first rocket, with this day later becoming "Unit Day" to mark the occasion. With new personnel and equipment coming, and official command inspections started by the 3rd Army, the 250th grew to fulfill its mission, getting special weapons testing equipment and vehicles to fulfill the unit's needs. Throughout 1957, the 250th Rocket Battalion was a "Show Unit," performing less as a combat unit and more for parades, displays, demonstrations, and shows at military events and for television programs. It would be reorganized as a Strategic Army Force unit by a general order on October 31, 1957, after which it touch field training, air transportation preparations, and special weapons training. By the end of 1957, the unit reached 94% total strength.

On January 22, 1958, the 250th received its first Special Weapons Technical Inspection by the Department of the Army Inspector General, and was rated as best of all the Army units tested worldwide. Until June 1958, the 250th mainly participated in Army rehearsals for various trainings. On June 21, 1958, the 250th Rocket Battalion was inactivated by General Order 137 by Headquarters, 3rd Army. It was redesignated as the 2nd Missile Battalion, 42nd Artillery, with no change in personnel or equipment, and was attached as a STRAF Class 1 unit under the 2nd U.S. Army Missile Command. On August 10, 1958, Lt. Col. Paul Autrey assumed command of the 2nd Missile Battalion. The unit came to have a moniker as the 2nd Missile Battalion (Honest John), as they operated the MGR-1 Honest John rocket, which was the first nuclear-capable surface-to-surface rocket in the U.S. Armed Forces weapons supply. The rockets were long-range, solid fuel artillery rockets, transportable on its own self-propelled launching vehicle.

The 2nd Missile Battalion continued training, drills, special training and exercises, and facing Army inspections to prepare itself as a functional combat unit. On November 27, 1959, the entire 2nd Missile Battalion participated in an experimental Physical Combat Proficiency Test developed by the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. Throughout 1959, the unit presented demonstrations and/or rocket firings for visiting military, foreign dignitaries, and civilian guests. On January 22, 1960, Lt. Col. Robert H. Offley Jr. assumed command of the 2nd Missile Battalion.

In March 1960, the battalion participated in the combined training maneuver Big Slam/Puerto Pines between the Army and the U.S. Air Force, which tested the capability to transport a large number of troops and equipment during the Cold War. In April 1960, the 2nd Missile Battalion participated in the maneuver Columbia Cliff, which was designed to test the ability of the 3rd Army Missile Command (Air Transportable) to accomplish its mission of rendering atomic fire support to allied ground forces in a conflict. The unit was transported from Pope AFB, NC, to Hunter AFB, Georgia, with a march to the maneuver staging area at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

From June 6-17, 1960, the 2nd Missile Battalion supported the 30th Division (North Carolina National Guard) during their two-week summer training period at Fort Bragg. From June 27 to July 1, 1960, the 2nd Missile Battalion supported the 242nd Artillery (National Guard) for their training on the use of the "Honest John" rocket system. The 2nd Missile Battalion also supported the 26th Division Artillery at Camp Drum, New York, in July 1960. Little is known about the 2nd Missile Battalion's history after 1960. But, it was one of the first U.S. Army rocket launcher units, including those with nuclear-capable rockets, before the Cuban Missile Crisis in the Cold War era.

[This history is a less-technical, shortened version of a complete unit history from 1957 to 1960 published in an original 22-page booklet for the Department of the Army Inspector General's Technical Proficiency Inspection held for the 2nd Missile Battalion, 42nd Artillery, at Fort Bragg, NC, between September 7 and 8, 1960. The booklet has a detailed unit history, where specific training programs, exercises, and tests the unit past at this point in its early years of formation are documented.]

The collection was donated to the Military Collection of the State Archives of North Carolina from a private donor in September 2021.