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. "
