The White Falcon - 03.05.1958, Qupperneq 1

THE
Saturday, May 3, 1958 |
Headquarters, Iceland Defense Force, Keflavik Airport, Iceland
Volume VIII, Number 9
FASRON Exec Heads
For Maine
In the spring of 1951, LCDR D.L. Leland flew the first
military aircraft to Iceland since World War II. In February
of 1957 LCDR Leland returned to Iceland to become Execu-
tive Officer of Fleet Aircraft Service Squadron 107; he has
since completed a fifteen month
tour of duty. His next assignment
will be in Brunswick Maine with
Patrol Squadron 23.
LCDR Leland enlisted in the
United States Navy in May of
1939 and completed his basic
training at the United States
Naval Training Center, San Diego,
California. An enlisted tour fol-
lowed with Patrol Squadron 14,
Kaneohe Bay, TerritoryofHawaii.
In 1942, he entered the Naval
Air Training Command in Pensa-
cola, Florida and was designated
a Naval Aviator in June of 1943.
LCDR Leland then reported to
Headquarters Squadron 14 in
San Diego, California. While sta-
tioned there he married the former
Miss Bernice Lee Foss.
While serving in the Pacific
campaign in the early forties, he
was twice decorated with the Dis-
tinguished Flying Cross; once in
action with a Japanese ship off
the southern coast of Japan and
the second after a raiding action
against Kanoya Airfield in Japan.
In May of 1945, LCDR Leland
was wounded while making an
attack on a Japanese destroyer
and received the Purple Heart.
Following his Pacific assign-
ments, he served consecutive tours
as a flight instructor, Naval Air
Station, Pensacola, Florida, VR-5
at Seattle, Washington and also
at the Naval Air Station at Corpus
Christi, Texas. During 1952 and
1954, he was Assistant Air Of-
ficer, Kodiak, Alaska. Following
this, he attended Naval General
Line School at Monterey, Cali-
fornia, George Washington Uni-
versity, Washington, D.C., and
the Armed Forces Staff College,
Norfolk, Virginia. He then re-
ported to FASRON 107, Keflavik,
Iceland.
Besides wearing the Distinguis-
hed Flying Cross and Purple
Heart, LCDR Leland also holds
the Presidential Unit Citation and
Star, Pacific Theatre with six
stars, American Defense Medal,
Korean Occupation Medal and the
United Nations Medal.
In a farewell statement, LCDR
D.L. Leland said, “This has been
an enjoyable tour of duty. All
military officers can and must
learn to work with the other ser-
vices, to learn their problems and
policies. In Iceland, we are doing
exactly that, and I believe doing
it successfully.”
Old Home Weeh?
It was old home week for a
couple of self-proclaimed “small
town boys” in the 2dBCT recently.
Their meeting was a complete
surprise—and a happy one. After
all, Keflavik is quite a distance
from Crisfield, Maryland, as the
men, John E. Whitelock, III, of
the S3 Section and Lance Thomas
of Bravo Company will vouch.
LCDR D. L. Leland.
Army Team Sees
BCT Operations
A First U.S. Army Inspection
Team arrived Tuesday for the
purpose of inspecting facilities of
the Second Battalion Combat
Team at Keflavik Airport.
The team comes from the G4
(Supply and Logistics), G3
(Operations and Administration),
and TC (Transportation Corps)
Sections of First Army’s Head-
quarters, Governors Island, New
York.
Team members are Colonel S.G.
Brown, Col T.A. Rathge and Capt
G.L. Dennett.
The Inspectors are due to depart
Keflavik Airport today, after
having made a thorough examina-
tion of the 2d BCT’s operations,
as well as visiting Rockville,
Grindavik, and other points of
interest.
No Restrictions
On Army Boosts
For the second time in more
than two years there are no MOS
restrictions on EM promotions as
the Department of the Army
recently authorized 42,206 ap-
pointments for the quarter ending
30 June 1958. The breakdown is
as follows:
To E-7, 275; to E-6, 582; to E-5,
5718; to E-4, 28,225.
For promotion to the pay grade
of E-3, fourth quarter Fiscal
Year 1958, authority was granted
commanders to effect appoint-
ments of all privates E-2 who
have completed eight months
active Federal sendee as of April
1, May 1, or June 1, and are re-
comended by their immediate
Commanders.
Forgetful joker: Half way
through a joke, he finds that the
point has slipped his mind.
Tours Cancelled
The Viking Service Club has
announced that the weekly
tours, sponsored by Personnel
Services, have been cancelled
for the first two weeks in May.
This cancellation is a neces-
sity due to the poor road
conditions which prevail dur-
ing this time, resulting from
the present warm weather.
The next tour has been
scheduled for May 18, mark-
ing the return to the weekly
trips, and will visit Hval-
fjordur.
53rd ARS Sets
Iceland 'First'
Para-Rescue personnel of the
53rd Air Rescue Squadron set a
new “first” for Iceland last Thurs-
day by making two team jumps
in one day. The first jump was
made from an SC-54 and the
second from an SH-19. Participa-
ting in the jumps were T/Sgt
Harold A. McDonald, S/Sgt Henry
H. Kirksey, S/Sgt Bobby A. Cop-
pock, S/Sgt Jess B. Mayes, and
A/1C Mett E. Garrison.
The drop zone was a small patch
of sandy soil on the south side of
the island, which was made even
smaller by the recent rains that
covered nearly half of the area
with a shallow lake. A high de-
gree of accuracy was maintained
in the jumps with no man landing
more than 150 feet from the
target. The most accurate jump
was made by S/Sgt Mayes who
landed within 10 feet of the bulls-
eye.
Each member of the team is
triple-qualified as a parachutist'—-
medical corpsman — survival
specialist. They have been trained
to cope with practically any type
of rescue, medical or survival duty,
ranging from landing in trees or
water to the treatment and evuca-
tion of disaster stricken victims.
The team’s most recent effort
in this direction was the six-nation
effort involving a Norwegian
sailor with a broken leg from the
ice-bound sealer, “Drott.” The
team also spent three days re-
cently on Myrdalsjokull Glacier
in cooperation with the Icelandic
Ground Rescue Team’s field train-
ing exercise.
The team’s experience ranges
from one to fifteen years—S/Sgt
Coppock having become a para-
rescue technician only last year,
while T/Sgt MacDonald was a
member of the first para-rescue
unit formed in 1943 (by the U.S.
Coast Guard). S/Sgt Mayes leads
in parachuting experience, having
made 46 jumps. Just before his
assignment to Iceland, S/Sgt
Kirksey was a member of the
team that rescued an airman and
a civilian injured in the collapse
of 40_foot wooden tower at Eglin
AFB, Florida. According to hos-
pital authorities there, the prompt
and professional action of the
team undoubtedly saved the life
of the civilian.
Normandy To Iceland
Nearly fourteen years ago — June 6 1944 — the 2d
Ranger Battalion was a part of the assault force that
stormed across the Normandy beaches to breach Hitler’s
“Festung Europa.”
Today the 2d Rangers, now redesignated as the 2d Bat-
talion Combat Team, has cele-
brated its fifteenth birthday and
is looking toward the D-Day an-
niversary.
The 2d Ranger Infantry Bat-
talion was constituted as the 2d
Ranger Battalion in March, 1943,
and activated on April 1 of that
year. After training at Fort
Pierce, Florida, and Fort Dix,
New Jersey, the battalion left for
overseas duty in November, 1943.
Seven months later they were
writing history across the beaches
and among the hedgerows of Nor-
mandy.
FROM EUROPE TO KOREA
In addition to participating in
the amphibious landings in Nor-
mandy, the 2d saw action across
France and in Belgium, Luxem-
bourg and Germany. After re-
turning to the United States, the
outfit was inactivated but was
redesignated as the 2d Infantry
Battalion in August 1949, and
shortly thereafter was ordered to
duty in the Panama Canal Zone.
Later the battalion was split up
into idependently operating com-
panies, but the outbreak of hos-
tilities in Korea brought the scat-
tered companies together again.
The 2d Ranger Infantry Company
became Company “A,” the 6th
Ranger Infantry Company was
designated Company “B,” the 14th
became “C” Company, and the
15th and 9th were renamed Com-
panies “D” and “E.” The 10th
Ranger Infantry Company became
Company “F”—which was recon-
stituted into the medical detach-
ment.
Even though there are no
members of the original 2d Ranger
Infantry Battalion on duty with
the 2d BCT, every member of the
comand is justly proud of the
battle honors amassed by the out-
fit in Europe and Korea. From
World War II the credits include
Normandy (with assault landing),
Northern France, Rhineland, Ar-
dennes-Alsace, and Central
Europe. From the Korean conflict
come the Korean Intervention, the
U. N. Counteroffensive (with as-
sault landing), the Spring Offen-
sive and the U. N. Summer-Fall
Offensive.
In addition, the 2d BCT holds
the Distinguished Unit Citation
and the French Croix de Guerre
with Silver-Gilt Star.
NAME PUBLICATIONS
Many “name” publications, in-
cluding “The Reader’s Digest,”
are preparing special articles in
tribute to the Normandy annivers-
ary. Cornelius Ryan is preparing
a D-Day history for the “Digest,”
and it will be published in book
form. He is particularly interested
in the activities of the 2d and 5th
Ranger Battalions, the 1st, 4th,
29th, and 90th Infantry Divisions,
and the 82d and 101st Airborne
Divisions. The magazine has asked
for contributions from any per-
sonnel who participated in the
D-Day operations.
Then there is the story of the
man who starved to death while
trying to get the cellophane wrap-
per off a drug store sandwich.
NATO
UNIFIED POWER FOR PEACE