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558th US Army Artillery Group
Southern European Task Force

Looking for more information from military/civilian personnel assigned to or associated with the U.S. Army in Germany from 1945 to 1989. If you have any stories or thoughts on the subject, please contact me.


History

AFSOUTH

SETAF

Greek Army

Hellenic Air Force

Related Links


CUSTODIAL DET
SUPPORTED UNIT
CTRY
CUSTODIAL DET
SUPPORTED UNIT
CTRY
HHD, 558th
GR Army, GR Air Force
GR
GR Army Arty
GR
138th Ord Co
GR Army, GR Air Force
GR
76th USAAD
GR Air Force
GR
18th USAFAD
GR Army Arty
GR
78th USAAD
GR Air Force
GR
GR Army Arty
GR
79th USAAD
GR Air Force
GR
37th USAAD
GR Air Force
GR
88th USAFAD
GR ArmyArty
GR

 
History
558th US Army Artillery Group DI
(Source: 59th Ord Bde PAO)
558th U.S. Army Artillery Group The 558th U.S. Army Artillery Group was originally constituted  in the Army of the United States in February  1943 as the 558th Field Artillery Battalion. The battalion was assigned to the II Armored Corps and attached to the 75th Field  Artillery Brigade until November 1943 at which time it was assigned to the U.S. Army. It was reassigned to the II Corps from January through June 1944. In July 1944, the battalion departed the United States for Europe where it earned battle credits for four campaigns.

In July1953, the 558th Artillery designation was allocated to the regular Army. It was redesignated as the 558th Field Artillery Missile Battalion in March 1955 and activated in May of that year at Fort Bliss, Texas as a Corporal Missile battalion.

Arriving in Germany in March 1956, the battalion was assigned to the 72nd Field Artillery Group of V Corps Artillery. The battalion was inactivated in June 1958 when the Corporal Missile unit was redesignated under the Combat Arms Regimental System.

In April 1960, Headquarters, 558th Field Artillery Battalion was redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 558th U.S. Army Artillery Group and activated in May 1960 at Fort Sill, Okla.

The 558th U.S. Army Artillery Group departed Fort Sill and arrived in Athens, Greece in late November 1960. The 558th Artillery Group was further assigned to special Ammunition Support Command.

Effective 20 October 1972, the 558th U.S. Army Artillery Group was relieved of its assignment to SASCOM and assigned to the Southern European Task Force.

(Source: Hellenikon Air Force website, 2010)
350th NIKE Squadron, HAF

1960

In May the 350 "NIKE" Squadron was formed with four Firing Batteries and personnel trained in the USA.

In November same year, after the delivery of means and materials from overseas, the squadron started to operate in an 8-hour base, while in September of 1961 and after the NATO’s successful evaluation, was set in a 24/7 operational activity.
1964 In July, the unit was included in the NATO nuclear forces, after a successful Nuclear Safety evaluation.
1966 In July the 350 "NIKE" Squadron was renamed to 350 "NIKE" Group, while their Batteries were renamed to Squadrons.
1987 In March the 4th "NIKE" Squadron was deployed to Skiros island, to cover HTAF operational requirements.
1989 In January, the Group was completely released from the NATO nuclear section and since then it uses only conventional weapons.
1999 In January, the 350 "NIKE" Group was upgraded to 350 Guided Missile Wing

(Source: Author's notes and various other sources on the Web)
It appears that the 37th US Army Artillery Detachment supported the entire 350th NIKE Sq in the 1960s.

Probable organization in 1969:

UNIT DESIGNATION

LOCATION COMMENTS
37th US Army Arty Det Katsimidi supported HQ 350th Nike Sq
A Team Keratea supported 1st Btry, 350th
B Team Koropi () supported 2nd Btry, 350th
C Team Katsimidi () supported 3rd Btry, 350th
D Team Erithea (1) ()  supported 4th Btry, 350th
(1) Also known as Kreokouki?
When did the teams become separate detachments?

(Source: History of US Army Southern European Task Force (Abn), SETAF website, 2006)
USASETAF’s mission and geographical area of responsibility increased in 1972 when the command enlarged its signal support unit and took control of the 558th U.S. Army Artillery Group in Greece and the 528th USAAG in Turkey. These units had been in support of NATO since the early 1960s, along with the 559th USAAG, which had been a USASETAF unit in Italy since 1964.

(Source: Nuclear Battlefields - Global Links in the Arms Race, by William M. Arkin and Richard W. Fieldhouse, 1985)
The authors list the following US Army units in Greece that provided support to nuclear-capable artillery units and air defense (NIKE-H) unmits in Greece in the early 1980s:

UNIT DESIGNATION

LOCATION COMMENTS
HHD, 558th US Army Arty Group Elefsis
138th Ord Co (GS) Elefsis
18th USAFAD Argyroupolis supported HJ unit
19th USAFAD Perivolaki supported HJ unit
70th USAFAD Yiannitsa supported 8-inch howitzer units
88th USAFAD Drama supported HJ unit
37th USAAD Keratea supported NIKE-H unit
76th USAAD Koropi supported NIKE-H unit
78th USAAD Katsimidhi supported NIKE-H unit
79th USAAD Erithea supported NIKE-H unit
Other related information mentioned in the book:

164 nuclear warheads were stored in Greece at the time. (One site was Arexos AB, where the 7061st MUNSS (USAFE) provided the warhead custodial support for the Greek AF 116th Fighter Wing.)

The 558th USAAG operated 10 sites, including a central storage site at near Elefsis. SW warheads under the group's control: 66 Honest John warheads; 48 warheads for 8-inch howitzers; 30 warheads for Nike Hercules air defense missiles. (The remaining 24 nuclear warheads belonged to the Air Force at Araxos AB.)

An ECCCS AN/MSQ-74 remote terminal was installed at Mt Parnis.

(Source: 6th Aviation Company Lineage)

The 110th Aviation Surveillance Company was located in Verona, Italy until 1 April 1971. On the date, it was reduced and relocated to Dal Molin Airport, Vicenza, Italy under new colors and redesignated the 6th Aviation Detachment. In March of 1993 it was renamed the 6th Aviation Company.

The mission of the 6th Aviation Company has been to support the Southern European Task Force with its many missions throughout Europe, northwest Asian and North Africa. Until 1991, a platoon was located in Athens, Greece in support of the 558th Artillery Group.


18th US Army Field Artillery Detachment
 
Supported Command: (link)
 
The 18th US Army Field Artillery Detachment was located in Argyroupolis, Greece ().
 

19th US Army Field Artillery Detachment
 
Supported Command: (link)
 
The 19th US Army Field Artillery Detachment was located in Perivolaki, Greece ().
 

Annotated view of 19th USAFAD admin site - click on image to view higher res image;
click here to access GOOGLE Earth website.
 

Annotated view of 19th USAFAD SAS site - click on image to view higher res image;
click here to access GOOGLE Earth website.
 

Admin area

SAS Site
 
(Source: Email from Tim Lindamood, 19th USAFAD)
I can provide photos and information on the 19th USAFAD, Perivolak,i Greece.

The 19th USAFAD "Admin area" photo (above) shows a distant picture of the wooded area around the administrative and living areas of the 19th UASFAD Detachment. To the left, just outside of the photo, was a Greek Army installation. The unit that we supported was located in that compound.

The photo labeled "SAS Site" is a continuation and shows the range road to the weapons storage site. If you zoom in closely you can see the two guard towers. Main guard shack is near the solid (main) tower housing the American (Custodian Agents) and the and Greek soldiers (Augmentation guard force). The dark colored building with the brown roof is the weapons maintenance facility. The two large earthen mounds are the igloos containing the weapon systems. There was also a second smaller building - it
was a storage shed for water and firefighting equipment.

ORGANIZATION of the 19th USAFAD late 1980s:

Commander Capt Daniel Vybril

1SG Daniel M. Turkelson

1st Platoon Leader - 1st LT

A-Team: Team Leader SSG- w-four soldiers

B-Team: Team Leader SGT- w-four soldiers

2nd platoon Leader- 1st LT

C-Team: Team Leader SSG- w-four soldiers

D-Team: Team Leader SGT- w-four soldiers


During the 1987-88 timeframe -- maybe before and possibly after -- it became a normal detachment custom that all departing soldiers would “get wet”. Since I was especially astute at getting people with big buckets of water, the whole detachment turned out to wish me well -- with lots of water (see photos #17-18).

I was awarded the AAM. Soldier of the Month Award (statue of Leonidis and Soldier of the Year Award- Chariot).

The detachment also had a car that was passed down from soldier to soldier for at least three or four years -- and was still running in 1988 -- when I left Greece.


19th USAFAD
Perivolaki, Greece
 

 

1. Admin area

2. Admin area
 
3. Communications Center
   

4. Volleyball court

5. SGT Stubblefield
 
6. Intrusion Detection System
   

7. Det motor pool

8. SSG Champs & SGT Gonzales
 
9. SOM award
   

10.  Training devices

11. Lt Bates
 
12. Bar-Club Perivolaki
   

13. Farewell ceremony

14. SOY award is presented
 
15. Farewell ceremony
   

16. Getting wet

17. Getting wet
 
   

70th US Army Field Artillery Detachment
 
Supported Command: (link)
 
The 70th US Army Missile Detachment supported the 193rd Hvy Arty Bn and an unidentified second Arty Bn.
 
1981
(Source: Email from Dave Anderson, 70th USAFAD, 1981-82)

I found your webpage on the 59th Ord Bde while looking for a few points about my old USAFAD - the 70th US Army Field Artillery Detachment, which was located in Yiannitsa, Greece () as part of the 558th USAAG.

Recently I visited Fort Sill and ran into my old boss from the 70th USAFAD. We both had just been to see the new Field Artillery museum and had noticed an almost complete lack of information or effort to document the Field Artillery and Missile Warhead Detachments.

The links below have photos of the 70th USAFAD taken several years -- possible more than a decade -- after deactivation of the unit. I'm sure the owners would be pleased to either share them with you or post the link.

My own history with the 70th began in February 1981 and lasted 13 months. When I arrived, CPT Raymond R. (Spike) Anderson, was Detachment Commander. The other officers were CPT Curtis (Curt) Lupo, CPT Jack Kloeber, CPT John Humphries, and 1LT Charles B. (Ben) Allen. Over time all of the officers rotated and were replaced. CPT William (Bill) Koziar assumed command in August 1981. The other officers were all first lieutenants when they arrived but were promoted to CPT during their assignment. They included 1LT Terry R. Adams, 1Lt Keith Aarseth (not a typo), and 1LT Frank A. Hollo. I lost touch with most of these officers over the years but I did track a couple of them down.

Jack Kloeber is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel with a PhD in Economic Decision Analysis from Georgia Tech. He also taught mathematics at West Point for 3 years and at the Air Force Institute of Technology for six years.

Curt Lupo retired as a full colonel.

Ben Allen was promoted to Brigadier General but was killed in a helicopter crash on 29 Nov 04. At the time he was the Assistant Division Commander (Support) for 4th Infantry Division.

Bill Koziar also retired from the Army and now works for the Army at Fort Lewis, Washington supporting Stryker Brigade development.

The 70th USAFAD was exclusively an 8-inch detachment when I worked there. The Greek Field Artillery unit we supported was located about 1/2 mile south of our detachment area on the west side of Yiannitsa (aka Giannitsa), Greece. The 193rd Heavy Artillery Battalion was equipped with two firing batteries of four M115 towed 8" howitzers. Interestingly, the nuclear weapons yield exceeded the range of the weapon system!

Yianntitsa was located about 10km (6 miles) northwest of the small town of Pella, traditionally considered the birthplace of Alexander the Great.

Our detachment was divided into three teams -- two of these supported the 193rd and the third supported a second FA battalion located in the village of Agia Varvara, near Veria, Greece. "Agia Varvara" is Greek for "Saint Barbara" and as all good Redlegs know, St Barbara is the patron saint of Artillerymen.

The 70th was one of several subordinate detachments of the 558th US Army Artillery Group (USAAG) which consisted of both Field and Air Defense Artillery warhead detachments. The 70th's sister detachments in northern Greece were the 18th USAFAD in Kilkis, the 19th USAFAD in Perivolaki, and the 88th USAFAD in Drama. Down south and located near Athens were the 76th and 78th USAADs, 138th Ordnance Company, and HQs, 558th USAAG. The Group Hqs and 138th were located on the Greek Air Force Base at Elevsis, west of Athens. The 76th USAAD was in Koropi, east of Athens and the 78th in Katsimidi.


88th US Army Field Artillery Detachment
 
Supported Command: (link)
 
The 88th US Army Field Artillery Detachment was located in Drama, Greece ().
 

Related Links:

  558th US Army Artillery Group (USAAG) - a Facebook Page for veterans (WWII, Cold War) and civilians assigned to the 558th Arty Bn or Arty Gp.  
  DET 16, 2140th CS (USAF), Yiannitsa, Greece - nice page on one of the Air Force Cemetery Net units in Greece