Charlie Battery - 1959 - 1961

Site News - Winter 2011

CHARLIE3RD71ST.COM

WINTER - MARCH 2011

THE EVENING EDITION

EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT

New Images

e are very pleased to announce the addition of over 100 new images, as well as new archival materials to view on our website. I have also reworked the navigation Bar to reflect the growing body of visual documentation of the Charlie Battery.

I categorized the listing "Charlie Battery Nike Site" to reflect its' three basic areas: The Barracks, The IFC, and The Launching Area, and I think it will be easier to use now. If you have any feedback please let me know. So, after months of phone calls, good laughs, mailings, digital scans, image restoration, and html coding, we present these new visuals for you all to enjoy.

Where Are They...

The new images have been installed in the following areas: The Barracks, Launching Area, Our Neighborhood, and the Fort Bliss, all due to the contributions of Jim Fitzpatrick, Ken Nendick, and Fred "Olney" Van Zandt.

I want to thank Jim "Mr. Charlie Battery" Fitzpatrick for his patience, for mailing me more photographs then I could ever use, and most of all, for hanging in there with me when I lamented the importance of using the "Tif" image format over the "jpg" file format.

And Ken Nendick keeps gleaning his closet finding more unique images, but he still hasn't found that very "special image" he has been looking for, but I'm sure it will turn up. After all this time Ken and I seem to have picked up where we left off, and it's like nothing has changed.

And finally, it's been great to connect with Fred Van Zandt who was in the IFC. I really appreciate our conversations, as well as his contributions that range from images of our Annual Service Practice (ASP) in Fort Bliss in 1960, as well as a nice collection of unique archival materials in the form of Special Orders from Headquarter, 3rd Missile Battalion, 71st Artillery, in Kornwestheim, that range from travel orders, Distaster Teams designations, and MOS changes.

The new images of the Launching Area really do fill in the gaps that have been missing and, I'm happy to say, really do make a difference in our attempt to document our experience.

And the new images of the Barracks Area also help fill in the gaps of life in the barracks at Charlie Battery. Also included are photographs of several USO shows that came through and entertained in the mess hall, including a show featuring the Roy Acuff Country Music Group.

New Archives

The new additions to the Archives page include the "Special Orders" previously discussed, as well as the full image of the Charlie Battery Group Photograph taken in the Launching Area. The group image is in the pdf format that can be viewed in Adobe Acrobat Reader, which I need to say a few words about next.

The Battery Group Image came along with Jim Fitzpatrick's collection. It's a copy of the original image, but it is in relatively good condition. I had a very high resolution scan made because I wanted to preserve as much detail as possible.

Quality Or Quantity...

I had to decide how to present the image on the website, either a small file easier to download, or a large file that had good detail for viewing. I tried making a small file, but when I looked it over it was of poor viewing quality, so I have opted to offer the higher quality file.

IMPORTANT: What that means is this: The file is about 6 megabytes, so When you click on the Icon your web browser will probably go blank... DON'T PANIC THAT'S NORMAL... And with nothing happening it will seem as though something is wrong, BUT NOTHING IS WRONG, it's just the file downloading to your computer.

Now, the time it takes to download depends on how fast your internet connection is. If you have a high speed cable or DSL connection, then it should take a couple of minutes.

However, if you have a low speed connection then it could take as long as 10 or 15 minutes, because low speed connections vary greatly.

So be patient, and like I said don't panick, just go and have a few shots of Geritol and relax. Once the file has downloaded it will be shown in your browser.

Also, with the file loaded you can save it to your hard drive and it will be easily accessible anytime you want to view it. If you do have trouble with this download let me know and I will be happy to send you a CD with all of the archive materials on it for your viewing pleasure.

And most of all THANK YOU GUYS, your generous contributions really have made a difference...!