August 14th, 2001 - Newsletter

FROM THE EDITOR:

   I would like to welcome the new guys to the Association as well as say Hi have been with us for a while. For those of you who haven't seen it yet or haven't been to it lately we have a new website. It's the work of Carl Johnson and he has been doing an outstanding job. Please help us out we need your input and participation to keep this unit growing.
7th Battalion 8th Artillery Association Home Page
   That bring us to the question, what is the purpose of this Association? Where here to help those that served find and communicate with each other as well as establish a historical record of the units service. I feel that to accomplish this we should plan and hold a reunion. The reunion process is an extremely useful tool in obtaining this goal. See The Reunion story on the website for more details.
   I feel it is also important that we cross-reference other groups and organizations that might help us meet these goals.
   One good source is the 7/15th Artillery website Vietnam War and the 15th Field Artillery Regiment This site contains a complete listing of all the Artillery units that served in Vietnam as well as a great deal of information on the Vietnam experience.
   The Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University Vietnam Archive They have a lot of information on the Vietnam War and as a government sponsored program they are a useful tool in accomplishing our goals
    Tom Striegler's Web Site Tom is a member of our association as well as a member of the 2/4th Artillery Association and has information on there reunion.
    husky235.org This is the website for the 2/35th Artillery, many of us that served with the 7/8th also served with the 2/35th.
   Please send me any other website or information that might be helpful to the association.

   The VA has set up a toll-free hotline to answer question about Agent
Orange.
1-800-749-8387. You can talk to a VA representative on weekdays or there's a
24-hour automated system that permits you to have information sent.
   Wayne Faas has supplied the following history from the HURRICANE which
was the II FFV magazine.

Automatic 8th
by SP4 Ronald Pejsa

When the North Korean People'sÂ Army opened a new offensive on June 25, 1950, they encountered an artillery unit like none they had ever seen. The unit was dug in and prepared to support the 27th Infantry (Wolfhounds) when contact was made.

Some 30 days later the fire direction center of the 8th Field Artillery heard the magic words they were waiting for-"Fire mission!" Quickly computations were made, fire orders were given and "on the way" echoed throughout the firing battery. An urgent plea for "all available" quickly came back to the gunners from the infantrymen as the North Koreans continued their forward push.

Firing in rapid succession for hours, ignoring blistered hands and exhausted bodies, the gunners repelled and destroyed wave after wave of three different North Korean divisions.

Shortly thereafter, when a group of Korean prisoners of war was taken to the rear, they stopped suddenly and refused to go any further, Their verbal barrage left their guards thoroughly confused. When an interpreter was called, the POW's again stated their verbal charge. Quickly a wide smile
spread across the interpreter's face. He explained that the prisoners would go no further until they could see the "automatic artillery" which had been firing so incessantly at them. The artillerymen had worked so rapidly that the guns sounded like an automatic weapon. Thus, the 8th Field Artillery had
earned its distinctive title of the "Automatic Eighth."

Today the 7th Battalion, 8th Artillery is carrying its title of "Automatic Eighth" to new successes in the Republic of Vietnam. Since its arrival in Vietnam on June 29, 1967 from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the battalion has Safety and accurately fired more than 100,000 rounds of heavy artillery in rapid
response to more than 65,000 fire missions.
The battalion is a part of the 54th Artillery Group under direct control of 11 Field Force Vietnam Artillery. It is armed with the Army's most accurate artillery piece, the 8-inch howitzer, and the field artillery piece with the greatest firing range, the 175mm gun. The 8-inch howitzer is pin-point accurate at distances up to 12 miles and the 175mm gun can fire at ranges of more than 22 miles.

The "Automatic Eighth" is composed of a headquarters and headquarters battery, three firing batteries and a service battery. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Todd S, Marsh, the unit presently mans firing batteries in Bien Hoa, Ben Sue and Xuan Loc.

Bravo Battery brought distinction to the battalion in September, 1967, by being the first, and thus far the only, heavy artillery battery to be airlifted in Vietnam. The guns, equipment and men were airlifted by C-123 and C-130 cargo planes from Bien Hoa to Song Be in northern Phuoc Long province. The battery remained there for more than a month and delivered about 5,000 rounds in support of U.S. and ARVN ground operations. Between fire missions the men built personnel and ammo bunkers, cleared the area, established a perimeter and constructed sturdy firing pads. When the battery was ordered back to Bien Hoa it was necessary to leave the guns behind because of the problems involved in lifting the weapons, which weigh more than 50,000 pounds. Personnel from the 6th Battalion, 27th Artillery, took over the positions and the 7th of the 8th took over the 6th
of the 27th weapons.
The three firing batteries also have been taking part in a new firing concept in Vietnam, the artillery raid. To accomplish the artillery raid, two or more guns are removed from the firing location in the base camp and placed outside the defensive perimeter.

While in Gia Ray, northeast of Saigon, Bravo Battery learned of several enemy locations and fortifications just beyond its firing range. So one morning, two of its guns were moved outside of the unit perimeter, bringing the targets within firing range. From the new raid site it fired on and destroyed the enemy positions. Once the mission was completed, the raiding guns returned to the base camp for further missions. From these base camps throughout south and central South Vietnam, the battalion has fired more than 15 million pounds of high explosive ammunition in supporting every major unit in the III Corps Tactical Zone.

The 8th Field Artillery was formed at Fort Bliss, Texas, on July 7th, 1916, in response to constant harassment against several small Texas towns by one of Mexico's most notorious bandits, Pancho Villa. At the time, most of America's existing regular army was deployed along the Texas border, but had had little success in stopping Villa's costly raids. Faced with continued threats against its own borders and a growing threat in Europe, the United States moved to increase its armed forces by creating the new artillery unit.

For its combat effectiveness, the 7th of the 8th has received two Distinguished Unit Citations, the Navy Presidential Unit Citation, the Navy Unit Commendation, the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, two Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citations and 14 Campaign Streamers.

The following is a Editorial on the Combat Artillery Badge.

Why not a Combat Artilleryman Badge?

As many of you Redlegs already know, on October 7, 1999 Representative Mark Green (R-Wisconsin) introduced a bill (H.R.3043) that would direct the Secretary of the Army to establish a Combat Artilleryman Badge. Actually from what I'm able to gather, the exact name for this badge is "Combat Artillery Medal". Semantics aside, I predict a long battle in front of us gunbunnies to
get this thing to pass.

I'm predicting that most of the opposition will come from the high ranking grunts. As it stands right now, the Infantry owns the elite status of being the only type of soldier eligible for combat recognition. From the history I've read, other soldier types who put their lives on the line for our country and have attempted to qualify for the CIB, have been quickly turned away. In that us gunbunnies are asking for our own unique recognition, and are not asking to have the CIB extended to our group of combat specialists, perhaps we will have a fighting chance. Perhaps.

There is an ancient adage that I seem to recall just about every time I need it, and, it goes something like this; "Why dig new wells when water is still flowing from the well you do have?". This paraphrasical tidbit of wisdom popped into my head once again while thinking about what it was going to take to get us arty boys the recognition and honor we deserve. With my breath from the familiar "ah ha" I was having still exiting my lungs, I started my search for "The History of the Combat Infantryman Badge" realizing that if I could sort out how the Infantry gained this recognition, then perhaps my
unrecognized projectile placement friends and I could take the same route.

As I dug through seemingly endless documents containing information about the CIB, I finally came across the history, no, better yet, the "Official DoD History and Regulations" for the Combat Infantry Badge, Paragraph 2-6, Army Regulation 600-8-22 (Military Awards), 25 February 1995. I wish I hadn't. I admit that I am still a romanticist, and I suspect that I will always be just that, but, even through the eyes of a pragmatist the actual history of the CIB stinks of government propaganda and foul play. Perhaps the following quote from the official history will shed some light on my indictment;
"â€¦Several factors led to the creation of the CIB, some of the most prominent factors are as follows: (a) The need for large numbers of well-trained infantry to bring about a successful conclusion to the war and the already critical shortage of infantryman", and then this juicy morsel a few paragraphs later; "â€¦The badge was intended as an inducement for individuals to join the infantryâ€¦". My fellow homageless howitzer handlers, is it just me, or is there anyone else out there that cares deeply about things like, eh, motives? Intentions? The CIB was "intended" (their word, not mine) to get young idealistic men to join the infantry! It was never intended to honor the courageous and self-sacrificial acts of the young infantrymen we know as grunts. Hey, maybe it's me. Maybe I just expect way too much. I expected too much when I enlisted. I expected way too much when I came home from Vietnam.
I have just got to get a grip on the true (non-idealistic) nature of man. Okay, I'm gripping, and I feel much better now.

So, if the CIB was never intended to pay homage to the infantry, and, if we Canny Cannoneers wish to canvass for votes in order to create our own Combat Artillery Badge, then in order to get Congress to capitulate, and cough up the vote for our cause, captious means seems to be the carriage of choice. I offer the following clandestine proposal for your perusal:

1. Work with local, state, and federal governments to make sure that a well decorated (with the exception of the CIB), high ranking Artillery Officer (of your choice) becomes a high ranking decision maker in the War Department.
2. Create and nationally disperse negative propaganda regarding the horrors of being an Artilleryman.
3. Wait for the next war.
4. Assiduously watch the news and wait for the announcement proclaiming the lack, and therefore the need for good Artilleryman to win this war.
5. Write to the Secretary of War and tell him (her?) we have a foolproof idea that will, without fail, be "an inducement for individuals to join the artillery".

Carry on Cannoneers.

Ron Joseph
7/15 FA, 1FFV
1969-1970

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