Annual Training 1965 - 63rd Infantry Division USAR Website

63" INFANTRY
DIVISION
63D INFANTRY DIVISION
OFFICE OF THE COMMANDING GENERAL,
GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON, JR., USAR CENTER
MAYWOOD, CALIFORNIA 90270
^
A short short history of today's 63d is told
in the following pages.
Composed of over 7500 officers and men capable of
performing its mission of backing up our Active Army,
the 'Blood and Fire' Division has shown by dedication
to duty and honor that it is an important part of the
Nation's military structure.
HIXSC
Major General USAR
Commanding
>v,
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HISTORY OF 63D INFANTRY DIVISION
The 6^d Infantry Division was " born" during World War II and formally activated at Camp Blanding, Fla., on June 15» 1943« The division's
name-slogan "Blood and Fire," followed the warning pledge to the Axis
sounded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston
Churchill at Casablanca in 1943' that the enemy shall "bleed and burn
in expiation of their crimes against humanity."
The newly-activated division under command of Maj. Gen. Louis E.
Hibbs was transferred to Camp Van Dorn, Miss., in August of 1943» and
continued extensive training until Nov. 25> 1944» when the first units
departed for the European Theater of Operations.
One of the advance infantry regiments to enter European combat
before Christmas of 1944 was 'the 254th Regiment, which distinguished
itself in the bitter fighting that liberated Colmar, France,
With the arrival in Europe (Southern France) of artillery and other
division units, the 6jd began operations as a division on Feb. 8, 1945*
During that month the division forcebly crossed the Saar River and
led the Seventh Army in its re-entrance onto German soil.
A month later the 63d made the Seventh Army's first penetration of
the enemy's vaunted West Wall and the last barrier to the Rhine, the
Siegfried Line. Through this gap in the German defenses rolled U. S.
armored units to make the Seventh Army's historic victorious link-up
with the Third Army.
Late in March, 1945* the 63d swept across the Rhine. Then., serving
as the left division of the VI Corps, the 63d fought eastward from the
Rhine for three weeks of continuous day-and-night combat, forcing the
withdrawal of the 1?th S3 German Panzer Division.
Continuing the offensive, the 63d turned south, crossing Danube
River on April 25, and capturing the cities of Gunsburg and Landsberg.
On April 29, within sight of the Bavarian Alps, and just nine days before
victory in Europe, the division was withdrawn from combat.
The 63d was scheduled for duty in the Pacific and was being refitted
with equipment and replacements. But the surrender of the Japanese
changed the plan and sent the division home to the U. S. for de-activation
or. Sept. 27, 1945.
The proud 63d Division colors were unfurled again on Washington's
birthday, Feb. 22, 1952, when the division was assigned to the U. S. Army
Reserve Forces. On March 1, 1952, the first divisional units were
activated in Los Angeles, Calif., replacing the 13th Armored Division
and absorbing-its personnel.
-2Heserve activity of some of the division's personnel dates back to
Nov., 194?5 with the activation of the 19th Armored Division, and
successive designations, first as the 13th Armored Division and finally
as the 6 3d Infantry Division.
Reservists in the 63d, the west's largest Army Reserve unit, have
been going to summer training camp since 1948 when the 13th Armored
Division trained at ~£~p Hoed, Texas with National Guard and Army troops.
In 1949 the "3th pullei ::": = rational "first" in inter-service
cooperation, under corr^r.'i of -rig. C-er. . Janes T. Roberts. The entire
division moved via rank, true I-:, %r.i autcr.cbile to Camp Pendleton for
15 days of joint maneuvers -ith the X= rir.es. The Korean conflict outbreak cancelled a planned second joint Army Reserve -ferine training
encampment a year later, and the division moved its tanks ?nd equipment
to Camp Cooke, re-opening that huge military installation that had been
closed since World Was II. The Division returned to Cooke in
In 1952> operating at summer training for the first time as infantry,
following re-activation as the 63d, the reserve soldiers went to HunterLiggett Military Reservation. This sprawling maneuver and artillery
firing area near King City, Calif, also had been virtually shut down
since World War II.
Since 1954> the 63d has made its annual summer maneuver headquarters
at Camp Roberts, the famed West Coast infantry training center during
World War II and the Korean conflict. In recent years, division artillery
units have bivouaced and conducted firing exercises with their bigger guns
at HLMR. Division tank and armored cavalry units from El Monte and San
Diego have trained at Fort Irwin, on the desert, near Barstow. And
rocket artillerymen have received specialized firing practice at Port
Lewis, Washington.
The 6jd came under the ROCID concept in 1959> and a second reorganization to a ROAD pentomic division in 1963»
Major General William J. Hixson assumed command, of Southern Calif ornia's 63d Infantry Division on Nov. 1, 1961, succeeding Major General
Henry K. Kellogg, who, during his service did much to build the 63d to
its present size and status as the largest Army Reserve unit in the west.
General Hixson had served as Assistant division commander during the
entire period of growth.
-X-**"**-*******
63D INFANTRY DIVISION COMMANDERS ROSTER
COMMAND/ORGANIZATION
SEPARATE COMPANY
STATION
COMMANDER
H'4 6 3D INF DIV
Maj Gen Gillian J Hixson
Bell
HHC 6 Jd Inf Mv
6Jd KF Co
63d Avn ?n
163d Sig 3n
263d Er.£-r 3n
1st I.t George
1st I.t Leiand
Capt Harold B
Lt Col Erie H
Lt Col Robert
Bell
Bell
Long Beach
Torrance
Van Nuys
W Bettinger
J Hendrie
Hundley
Frady Jr
J Gilraore
\l Raymond J Nepute
SUPPORT CCMI'IAND
Bell
1st Lt
1st Lt
Lt Col
Lt Col
Lt Col
1ST BRIGADE
Col Edward D Miller
Bell
HHC 1st Brigade
3d Bn 15th Inf
3d Bn 27th Inf
3d Bn 30th Inf
3d Bn 31st Inf
Capt Walter J Barthuly
Maj James R Helms Jr
Lt Col Walter B Kroener
Maj Jerrold E Fisher
Lt Col Milton I Bremer
Bell
Santa Ana
Hazard Park
Pasadena
Playa del Rey
2D BRIGADE
Col Tommy R- Gillian
Pasadena
HHC 2d Brigade
5th Bn 4(-'th Armor
5th Sq. 8th Cav
Capt Herman P Velasco Jr
Maj ;-'alter Dennis
Lt Col Robert E Miller
Pasadena
San Bernardino
San Diego
3D BRIGADE
Ccl Banner P Rice
West L A
HHC
4th
4th
7th
Capt Gerald C
Lt Col Lucius
Lt Col Gordon
Lt Col John J
West L A
Santa Barbara
Long Beach
El Monte
3d
Bn
Bn
Bn
Brigade
15th Inf
27th Inf
40th Armor
Scott M Kirk
Vernon L Giles
John E Affeldt
James B Price Jr
Ralph J Hippert
Bell
Bell
Bell
Bell
Bell
HHC and Band
63d Admin Co
363d Med Bn
?63d Maint Bn
63d Sup & Trans Bn
L1Estrange
M Spencer
H Wallace
Coveney
63D INF. DIV ARTY
Lt Col Robert B Davis
Bell
HHB 63d Inf Div Arty
6th Bn 4th Arty
5th Bn 11th Arty
5th Bn 19th Arty
4th Bn 21st Arty
3d Bn 77th Arty
1st Lt Richard A Heimann
Maj John D Gum
Maj Salvador H Dippollet
Lt Col Walter R Maxwell
Lt Col Royce V Griffith
Lt Col Norwin S Yoffie
Bell
Playa del Rey
Fresno
San Bernardino
Bell
Van Nuys
ATTACHED UNITS
227th MI Det
337th MI Det
Maj Don N Yamaoka
Capt Roy R Archer
Hazard Park
San Diego
63D
INFANTRY
INF
3-4
ARTY
15
6
3 -4 27
3
DIV
4
5 11
30
5
3 31
5-7
19
3
77
40 ARM
5 8 CAV
D
163 SIG
263 ENGR
363 MED
763 MT
Citizen GIs Learn War
THE INFANTRY WITH MUD BEHIND THEIR EARS
By EO LEYDON
Htrlld-lxvmlmr Staff Writer
CAN MIGUEL, July 31
— More t h a n 8000
men from the Southland
today are learning new
skills they hope they
will never use.
They are members of
Southern C a l i f o r n i a ' s
"Blood ana Fire" 63rd infantry Division of the Army
Reserve, now on their annual two-week active trainIng program, ending Aug. 7.
Bulk of the forces are at
Camp Roberts near here.
Thursday the men there
demonstrated what t h e y
were learning.
The effect was both real
«nd unreal.
The terrain is typical rural Califonia. Cattle should
be grazing peacefully on its
golden flat areas, watched
by vaqueros.
But the men scrambling
about in dusty uniforms
are citizens from the good
life in Southern California
— bookkeepers, salesmen,
plumbers, social workers, offlee workers and m a n y
other employments.
Quickly Adapt
To New Life
Some of them are more
familiar with how to negotiate the freeway in heavy
traffic than how to ascend
a hill under enemy fire.
But they quickly adapt to
their new life.
The ear-splitting blasts
from their big 106 mm recolless rifles are very real.
And so is the thud of its
charge as it hits a target
1500 yards across the oncepeaceful valley with unerring accuracy.
"Look at that! Did you
see that?" a colonel exalted
as smoke rose from one
tercet.
"No, these are an reservists," he said proudly to a
question.
"Whatever they know,
they've learned parUime
(Continued on Page B-8. col. 51
Behind a heavy durtain of smoke and flames,
men of Southern California's "Blood and Fire"
63rd Infantry Division of the Army Reserve advance to wipe out an enemy outpost. Their twoweek active training program will end on Aug. 7.
Section B
Louella Parsons
Edrtorial Page
Comment-Opinion
Comics
Movies & Drama
U.S. Weather, Tides
SiCOND FRONT PAGE
LARGEST EVENING C I R C U L A T I O N IN AMERICA
VOL. XCV
SAT., JUL? 31, 1965
NO. 127
Infantrymen m o v e up
behind barbed wire to
attack enemy f o r c e s .
This group had been
waiting for three days
for their patrols to force
the enemy into their
trap.
'Blood
and
Fire'
Pfc. Steve Fisher of Los Angeles foetuses his sight in 81mm mortar as
he waits for one of his patrols to
flush out enemy. The maneuvers
were held on the. hillsides at and
near Camp Roberts.
These men are shown
loading 106mm recoiless
rifles. More than 8000
men, from all walks of
life, including salesmen,
plumbers, social workers, office workers, bookkeepers and others, took
part in the annual maneuvers.
—HeraM-Examiner Pliottt
by BUD GRAY
.
CALIFORNIA'S PART TIME G/s
Same Training for Citizens
By BILL DUNCAN
over the plain. A squad of
Photos by BOB SHUMWAY infantrymen, crouched low
in an assault boat, inches
A 106mm recoiless rifle, its way across a swift river
mounted on a jeep, lurches and lands in thick vegetabackwards, spewing fire as tion at the water's edge.
* * * #
it hurls a deadly projectile
across a sunburned plain.
THE infantrymen storm
The target, a lank fashion- out of the boat amid the
ed of old oil drums welded crack of small-arms fire
together, explodes sending and advance toward a maup a pall of black smoke chine-gun nest. Shell exlaced with tongues of plode near the soldiers,
flame.
causing the ground to
A second 106mm shell tremble convulsively.
streaks across the plain
The action is over the
like a ball of fire and finds rolling hills and plains on
the target. A third and the 44,000 acre Camp
fourth shell follow in close Roberts military reservabehind.
tion at Paso Robles. The
As the shelling continues, area is almost desert-like,
a tank, churning up a except for scattered forests
smoke screen of dust, races of trees that thrive on the
moisture from the winding
tributary coursing the reservation and emptying into
the Salinas River.
It is a typical Army
camp. It is typical Army
training for infantrymen
and artillerymen. Only the
men are different.
Hours before they were
out in the workaday world,
p u n c h i n g time clocks,
teaching school, minding a
business or even extracting
a tooth. They are citizensoldiers.
* * * *
WHO IS THE citizensoldier?
He is an oral surgeon
from Burlingame who is on
the consulting staff for
•
JUMP! . . . When They Say It, You Do It
Mayo Clinic. He is a music hats to become an infantry
teacher at Santa Ana High general.
He is a civilian most of
School. He is a furniture
the year, working at any
worker for a Downey man- profession,
trade, craft or
ufacturing plant.
job you can name.
He is a San Francisco
Today, n e a r l y 10,000
architect who leaves his c i t i z e n - soldiers are enplush offices and becomes camped at Camp Roberts.
a corporal in the ranks. He They are members of the
is a Santa Barbara car- famed 63rd Infantry Divipenter, a Los Angeles col- sion, the largest reserve dilege student, a Downey vision on the West Coast.
doctor, a Palos Verdes college professor who switches (Continued Page B-ll, Col. 1)
Independent"
SUNDAY, AUGUST
SECTION B
'...-'..'-'.'..,,'.
1965
PAGE B-l
.
TANK TRAINING . . . A Spe cial World Unto Themselves
ITS ROUTINE . . . Pvt. Ernie Holguin of Los Angeles Stands Guard
With Malcolm €pley
TUNY Stacy Gay, 3, daughter of Atty. Art Guy,
slipped into the family car
and slipped the brake.
Parked on an incline, the
machine rolled for a way
and bumped into a neighbor's station wagon. Said
Stacy's 11-year-old brother,
Doug: "There's a woman
driver for you!"
the Press-Telegram, and developed his interest in the
rails when, while carrying
his route, he saw trains
switching on the Union Pacific freight branch here.
He has since spent considerable time traveling to logging camps and elsewhere to
ride the lumber company
rail lines, and he worked a
COMETIMES I wonder.
couple of years as a Union
a The other day one of ourPacific fireman. His hobby
men, recently out of the also took him to Latin
Midwest, wrote a bit of America.
editorial banter under the
Adolf and a pal are about
heading, "We're Being In- to take off for Colorado
vaded." With tongue virtu- where they'll inspect the
ally sticking through the operations of the Denver am
cheek, this piece playfully Rio Grande Western's narsugested a ban on the immi- row-gauge line over Cumbres
gration m o v e m e n t that Pass, the last narrow gauger
brought virtually all of us in general service operation
here, and if not us, our par- in the country.
ents.
This young fellow is havYet a few readers took ing a lot of fun. He also
this literally. They thought plans to write a book that
we really were advocating may turn the hobby Into
an electric fence patrolled something more practical
by dogs to keep the would* than fun.
be new settlers out.
To anyone as humorless DED Cross has asked this
as that, how can you even
dept. to put out a speexplain that you didn't mean cial appeal for volunteers to
it?
serve elderly patients at
-ong Beach General HosA MONO local train buffs is >ital. Some 400 patients at
Adolph Gutohrlein, State he hospital are lonely, many
College student, whose fan- have no visitors, and there's
ship for rails and rolling a great field there for some
stock has won a notice in good humane service.
the national magazine, "RailNeeded are women of the
road."
0-55 age bracket who can
Adolf, native of Germany ive one day a week, shopwho now lives in Lakewood, ling for the patients and
is the youngest subject of a isiting with them. An autolong series in the mag titled mobile is needed for the
"Interesting Railfans."
rrands. Persons interested
This young fellow is a tiould call Kate Rogers,
former newspaper boy of Volunteer Services, Long
eacn chapter of the Amerian Red Cross.
IT'S A FOOT SOLDIERS BATTLE . . . Ov
er Hill, Over Dale, Over Rivers, Over Trails
ALL D R Y . . . Until the Boat Tips
RECOILESS . . . But Kicks Up Dust
DRINK UP . . . Sgt Armando Carrion, Downey
I, P-T WANT AD
^ONG Beach Public Transportation Co. is running
special bus on Sundays,
thereby a passenger can
"Had over 20 calls in re- de all day for 50 cents and
sponse to my I, P-T want ee the town.
ad, and hired just the babyOne fellow who tried it is
sitter I was looking for," rving Gaspard. He says he
reports Mrs. Clara Foster, ad an enjoyable experi&739 E. 14th St.
i nce, learned a lot about the
Looking for a reliable t hings he hadn't known beemploye? An I.P-T classi- f ore about the city, and figfled want ad will help you <J res it was a four-bit piece
find just the right person n nighty well spent.
e a s i l y and economically.
Here's a way to see the
For the hot line to better c ommunity while leaving the
results phone HE 2-5959. < riving to somebody else.
Over 20 Calls
on Baby-Sitter
FIRST THE TROOPS OBSERVE . . . Then They Take Part in Fighting Battle of Camp Roberts
FILL 'ER UP ...
Pfc. Henry Chavez Re-filled
£TT
• ***?
4*
, ' '"W
<i/» M
"
Regarding the human element of the Army, the requirement today is
the same in principle as that established by Major Rogers in 1759 for his
Rangers who he directed to 'Have your musket clean as a whistle, hatchet
scoured, sixty rounds of powder and ball, and be ready to march at a moment's notice.'
General Earle G. Wheeler