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3AD Hq PAO,
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HHC, CCB, 2nd Brigade
3AD, Germany

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2AD & 3AD in WWII
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SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS
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Michael Gollaher, Boise, ID; 3AD Gulf War vet.
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, Stockholm, Sweden; 3AD Cold War vet.
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Ken Robinson, Monroe, WA; 3AD Cold War vet.

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3AD.com Exclusive:  
IRAN and the
U.S. 3rd ARMORED DIVISION
-- A NUCLEAR CONNECTION --
An Irony of History

Top photo below: In 1965 U.S. soldiers from the 3AD's 3rd Bn, 36th Inf demonstrate to Iranian military personnel the set-up of the M-29 Davy Crockett launcher, designed to fire a 51-pound nuclear warhead. (text continued below)

The location was the U.S. Army's Hohenfels Training Area in what was then southeastern West Germany and within 30 miles of the border with Czechoslovakia. In the next photo, the Iranians mingle with 3AD troops after being bused for discussions and a live-fire demonstration of the launcher. On this occasion two dummy rounds were fired. In the 3rd photo, a 3AD soldier cleans the 37mm spotting gun on the launcher. Looming on the right is a W-54 nuclear warhead dummy (inert training version). The actual W-54, at 51 pounds, was the smallest and lightest nuclear munition ever detonated and deployed by the U.S.

Of course, after WWII and up to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran was a close military ally of the U.S. Its leader during that time was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, aka the Shah of Iran, and Iranian military men occasionally visited U.S. military installations and training areas in Europe for observation and/or training purposes. It is fair to assume that discussion and demonstration of U.S. (and 3AD) nuclear weaponry also included nuclear rockets and artillery, and "backpack" nuclear munitions carried by small elite teams of U.S. Army combat engineers (including the 3AD).

By Vic Damon of 3AD.com;
Photos © by David L. Smith,
veteran of 3 Bn, 36th Inf, 3AD
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