Another Unit Photo (1985)

A Battery, 25th Field Artillery - 1985

1961 Charlie Battery Pic

Got this great pic today from one of our regular contributors. This is Charlie Battery, 3-35 FA in 1961. Thanks for the pic Al! M

Post War Occupation

I was doing a bit of Googling on Wertheim and came across these pics from 1945. They were on a site dedicated to the 63rd Infantry Division and their deeds during WWII. The site is at http://www.63rdinfdiv.com/ if you want to check it out. I appreciate their willingness to allow me to post these photos on the Peden Blog. M

4th Plat, L Co, 253rd Infantry- Wertheim, Germany May 45. Only a few can be identified in this photo. Back row (L-R) Sgt Sam Shaw, Sgt Bert Porterfield, Burtel Larson and Sgt Dolan. Sitting- all those known are Sgt Stupenski, Stirneman, Pfc Flowers, S/Sgt McJunkns, M Orley, Pfc Kay P. Devane. Photo furnished by Sgt Sam Shaw

First Platoon, C Company,, 253rd Infantry, Carbone Field, Wertheim, Germany, 16 Jul 1945

Men of C Company, 253rd Infantry at mealtime in a schoolyard, Wertheim, Germany, 1945

I'm sure there's a good story here!

1960's Howitzer Transition

Got this note and these pics today:

This may interest you - I arrived in Peden Barracks 1961 got my first duty as a driver of the 8 inch howitzer this was the one I drove in 1961. In SEPT 1963 they replaced the one I use to drive with the new one as in the pictures. It was a shame didn't get to drive the new howitzers when they came in I had 7 days left so my sgt wont let me take it out on a test run because he said you're too short only few days left and am not considered in the section or in the Army. Sure was a lot different would have loved to drive the new one. So SEPT 1963 is when the new tracks replaced the old ones.

1983 Bravo Bulls

Here's a shot of the 1983 Bravo Bulls someone sent me...if you click on the image you'll see it full-size.

Post Closure Note

Got a nice note from a recent visitor I thought I'd share since it talks about the post shut-down. I enjoyed the mention of 1SG Donohue too - a great American, and the kind of NCO that made being a junior officer a whole lot easier. Anyone out there have any pics from the shut-down days/process? MJ

Mark - I had chills going down my spine as I viewed the images. I left Peden on March 30 1992 almost 1 week before complete shutdown. I was in C 3/35th FA in August 1990, 1sg Cook then sent me to SVC Btry 3/35th December 1990 (they thought I was smart) and worked in S-4 and was deeply involved in the shipping and transporting of all equipment and supplies to other barracks (Patton, Wurzburg and Parmesan). I will never forget the day all remaining personnel stripped the barracks. Tossing out wall lockers onto the ground outside. M998 (HEMMT) loading them up and taking them to other barracks. Railheading all the guns, (started in August 1990 with M210 8", then changed to 155 in 1991). I noticed in 1 picture of the HQ (attached to SVC Btry) the door was moved to face the street? It was on the left against the hill by main road.

I remember some names and you might recall some of them. CPT. Maton...CPT. Portaque...BXO Major Stanley...BC LTC. James B. Godwin Jr. (know this one, stood before him a few times)...1sg Donahue...SFC Amaro (Smoke)

You should Google Earth Peden now. WOW!! the FTA stripped and now farmland, you can see the three white lines where the connex's and guns were lined. Just strange

enjoy...Steve Kielinen

Early 60s Pics

Well looks like a few folks have stumbled into the 'ol Peden Blog and are dropping me some pics. Got a great set today from the early 60s - roughly '61 to '63. They come courtesy of Allen Seich, who also credits Winston Mitchell, Woody Fountain and Keith Wagenhauser for some of the pics. No stories from them (yet) but some great pics huh? We'll get some more of these up soon.

Richard's Pics

One of the other guys who dropped me a line and sent some pics was Richard Whitt. Richard was stationed at Peden twice - first time as an Army dependent in 1960 in the 8th grade and later in 1968 as part of HHB, 1st / 67th Arty, a Nike Herecules missile unit. There can't be many folks who experienced Wertheim as a dependent and on active duty I bet. Anyway, he sent several pics and a few stories. Here's one:

"I took this from the arch with a 200mm telephoto lens in 1968. When I was here in 1960, there was still a steel sign, sort of like an arch, going across the top of the gate with "PEDEN BARRACKS" in steel letters on it. Sometime during the summer of 1960, the artillery guys returned from Graf with their equipment. I guess the M-52's were brought to Wertheim by flatbed rail and then driven to the top of the hill. A lot of the dependents were at the gate to greet them, sort of a "welcome home" parade. As the M-52's passed through the gate, one of the 50's atop one of them had it's barrel elevated. The barrel caught the steel sign and ripped the 50 and it's mount off the top of the M-52. It landed on the pavement with a sickening thud not 20 feet from where I was standing,.........it still hurts me today just thinking about it. After that, the arch with sign was removed. "

1908 Photo

OK no story here, and it's not Peden, but I like this old pic of Wertheim. I got the photo off of eBay a few years back. It's on nice hard stock, dated 1908. Must have been a neat time to live in Wertheim...

1999 Visit

So I mentioned I had a chance to visit Peden in 1999 when I was in Germany on business. A co-worker of mine (also former military) took a drive from Heidelberg over to Wertheim. I knew the post had been shut down but I really didn't know what to expect. Most buildings were run down, barracks being used as refugee housing (In broad daylight I was a bit nervous just being inside old Bravo battery), formerly manicured fields overrun by trees and weeds, trackpark cracked and overgrown, PSP abandoned etc. The photo at left is of the 3/35 PT field - that's Alpha and Bravo Batteries in the background. As you can see the field is fully overgrown. Some of the other sights I remember being surprised to see - the 1SG office in Bravo Btry had been converted to a latrine. The PSP gate was hanging open - obviously there was nothing inside anymore but it was still strange to see. I got an email from someone who visited after me so I'll post some of his comments and a pic soon.

Ron's Pics

One of the earliest emails I got was from Ron Picciani who was stationed at Peden from 1963 to 1965. The emails I like the most are from folks who were there significantly earlier than I was, as they usually have some great insight and some good stories. Many wish they had more photos from those days, and a few, like Ron do. Here's one of the pics he sent, there are some good field and Peden shots he sent that I'll add as time goes on. I liked this shot of downtown Wertheim (a corner you'll all recognize) because of the cars in the picture. And of course there's a 3/35 FA vehicle in the shot as well. How did they ever survive without "Whoopie Lights"?!?! You'll like seeing more of Ron's pics. Stay tuned...

First Post!

Well here we go - first post. I've got this soft spot for Peden Barracks. I was assigned there from 1986-1989 with 3/35FA. Started out as an FDO in Bravo Battery, then was a PL (split battery days) and then went to the s-3 shop as the BN SWO. I've been looking for something to cut my blog teeth on so I decided this would be a good start. Part of the reason I decided to do this is the feedback I got from another page I set up a few years back, that has a bunch of pics from Peden when I visited on business in 1999. Boy had it changed. (I'll get that link up shortly). Anyway, I started getting email from people who'd served there - some from multiple decades. So with this blog I'm going to post not only some pics I have from those days, and some stories, but I also hope we'll get enough of a following that others will send some pics and write some guest posts. I've saved a few photos and notes already that I think you'll enjoy. Forwards Always! MJ (PS: the photo above is of the old 3/35FA BN HQ)