Fire Direction Control

 

Fire Direction Control was the best place to work in our artillery battery. We had electricity, radios and the largest bunker. Our work was easier physicaly and the concussion of rounds being fired took less of a toll on our ears. Our electrical generators had hot exhaust that we used to heat metal cans of water for showers. We had the only generators in our battery.

We also needed to be exact in our work as a mistake on our part caused all 6 guns to shoot incorrectly. Friendly fire is anything but on the receiving end; and our first job was to be correct and sure. Ralph Thompson (died 1981) and I fought every day I worked in FDC. He was in charge and had been an instructor in FDC at Ft. Sill Oklahona. He knew his work and demanded full concentration by everyone. Some 11B10 (Infantry MOS) somewhere is alive because of Ralph.

Photos

 

Plotting

Old way

Mobile FDC

The "Rat"

Chris Woelk

At work

At Work

Good life

Shade

Big shots

Rest Stop

Place to relax

Plastic Sandbags

No fat left

Creative Writing

Letters home

Martinez & Me

Dust gets in your eyes

Hold Still

Thick glasses

Generators

Maintenance

Mirrors

Blind man

Model Home

For sale cheap

New Bunker

Start Over

Mascot

Stay Inside

Excess Protection

FDC at Buell III

Cloth Sandbags

Many layers

FDC Trailer

Pack up

Rob Sterling

California boy

Lt. Doug Miller

Model FDC bunker

< Back to Main Gallery Page >

(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-92715403-1', 'auto'); ga('send', 'pageview');