| Caption | M114 howitzer in firing position, 17 Sep 1985 ww2dbase | ||||
| Photographer | Unknown | ||||
| Source | ww2dbaseUnited States Department of Defense | ||||
| Identification Code | DA-ST-85-12864 | ||||
| More on... |
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| Photo Size | 3,000 x 2,335 pixels | ||||
| Added By | C. Peter Chen | ||||
| Licensing | Public Domain. According to the United States copyright law (United States Code, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105), in part, "[c]opyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government". Please contact us regarding any inaccuracies with the above information. Thank you. |
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30 Apr 2015 06:19:52 PM
FIRE MISSON, BATTEY AJUST...NOT SO FAST!
A GI REMEMBERS: BY THE NUMBERS
Good posed photo of the "Army of One" any former
artillerymen can tell you the photo isn't right!
Where are those aiming stakes? used in laying that M114, 155mm Howitzer.
Trails are in open position but I don't see those spades dug in when the gun is fired let me tell you that "Pig" has some recoil. "The Pig" Vietnam Artillerymen's name for the 155mm Howitzer.
Wheels are not elevated off the ground, to be in firing position. Howitzer base plate is jacked up and used to support the gun. The book says eleven
men are needed to crew a 155, in Vietnam lucky to have six men during a fire mission everybody helped out. The 155 fired High Explosive, Smoke,
White Phosphorus and Illuminating Rounds never used any Chemical Ammo.
Fire missions were 24/7 especially at night used lots of Illuminating rounds around the firebase
perimeter, had to keep an eye out for Mr. Charles
(Mr. Charles) GIs respect for the (VC) or Victor
Charlie. Field operations carried out air lifted by helicopters or by ground with infantry and armor support.
PUT IT ALL TOGETHER:
155MM Rounds are semi-fixed you have the Fuse,
Projectile, Seven Power bags are used each bag is
different in size and used depending on the fire mission and come in a metal container same with those fuses. During the Monsoon season after the "Pig" was ready to fire, the gunner used a long lanyard the turn table was wet when the gun fired, it slid around the table and had to be laid again using the 5 ton truck to pull it forward. It was a real butt breaker imagine doing that in the dry season with all the humidity.
Working on that M114 was heavy, dangerous and physical work. Most of the men that were a medevac
out of Vietnam were due to injuries and disease.
I THANK THE EDITOR/WW2DB FOR ALLOWING ME TO TELL OF MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES DURING THE VIETNAM WAR