HOME PAGE

3rd ARMORED DIVISION
HISTORY FOUNDATION

New Haven, CT, U.S.A.

Email: webmaster@3AD.com

  Comments, suggestions, and contributions of materials are most welcome. This site, which opened in April 2003, is embarked on a long-term plan to build an active, solid base of 3AD news & historical information.

www.3AD.com




WEBSITE STAFF

Vic Damon
Webmaster & Editor
Meriden, CT
3AD Hq PAO,
Frankfurt/M, Germany, and
Ft. Benning Infantry Hq PAO

Jim Chorazy
Cold War Consultant.
Pendleton, OR
HHC, CCB, 2nd Brigade
3AD, Germany

Don R. Marsh
World War II Consultant
Tustin, CA
2AD & 3AD in WWII
MG Maurice Rose biographer

Robert M. Forrest
Nuclear Weapons Editor
Lt. Col., USAR; formerly
V Corp & faculty Army Field
Artillery School, Ft. Sill, OK

Jim MacClay
Mgr: Archives & Special Projects
Valley Forge, PA
HHC, 3/33 Armor & 4/8 Cav,
2nd Brigade, 3AD, Germany
1st Cav Div, (incl. Gulf War I)

Dan Fong
Military Hardware Consultant
Battle Tank Specialty
Cleveland, OH
US Army/civilian

Steven L. Ossad
Military History Consultant
New York City
MG Maurice Rose biographer
Citizen Military Historian


Dan Peterson
3AD Historian & Curator Emeritus.
3AD 1970's; Director of Spearhead
Museum, 1981-92; now Director of
Ft. Campbell, KY, Pratt Museum


SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS
(in alphabetical order)
Michael Gollaher, Boise, ID; 3AD Gulf War vet.
Paul Leopold
, Stockholm, Sweden; 3AD Cold War vet.
John R. Marshall, Macon, GA; 3AD Cold War vet.
Dominic Rizzo, Rocky Hill, CT; 3AD WWII vet.
Ken Robinson, Monroe, WA; 3AD Cold War vet.
David L. Smith, Pittsburgh, PA; 3AD Cold War vet.

  About this website: Copyright © 2003-2012 by the 3rd Armored Division History Foundation. All rights reserved. This website, www.3AD.com, is not associated with the U.S. Department of the Army or the Department of Defense. This site is a private, non-profit, historical project that is supported and maintained on behalf of 3rd Armored Division veterans and their families.

Return to Top

 

Photos © by David L. Smith,
formerly: 3 Bn, 36th Inf, 3AD

IRAN and the 3rd ARMORED DIVISION
-- A NUCLEAR CONNECTION --
An Irony of History

In the top photo below, 3AD soldiers from 3 Bn, 36th Inf demonstrate the set-up of the M-29 Davy Crockett launcher, which fired a 51-pound nuclear warhead. Next below, Iranian military personnel 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. The year was 1965 and the location was the U.S. Army's Hohenfels training area in what was then southeastern West Germany. 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 regularly visited U.S. military facilities 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 engineers. - Vic Damon

In photo above, a 3AD soldier from the 3rd Bn, 36th Inf cleans the 37mm spotting gun on the Davy Crockett launcher. Looming on the right is a W-54 nuclear warhead look-alike (inert training version). The actual W-54, at 51 pounds, was the smallest and lightest nuclear munition ever deployed by the U.S.