From the early 1950s until 1992, the U.S. Army deployed thousands of nuclear warheads throughout Europe as a deterrent to Soviet ambitions. The end of the Cold War saw the decommissioning of much of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and the phasing out of support personnel. This memoir by one of the Army’s last “glow worms” chronicles his career as a nuclear weapons specialist—from 17-year-old recruit to participant in Operation Silent Echo, codename for the removal of all tactical warheads throughout Asia and Europe.

Jeff Woodward served seven years in the U.S. Army and now works in the heavy automotive industry. He lives in Lockport, Illinois.

Jeff Woodward

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 189
Bibliographic Info: 10 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7135-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3008-3
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
Introduction 3
1. Getting Out of Dodge 9
2. Learning the Power of the Atom 32
3. Wilkommen in Deutschland 46
4. Working Area One 62
5. Familiar Faces 83
6. Culture Shock 98
7. Nuke Training and Investigations 113
8. Broken Arrow and the NWTI 126
9. Operation Silent Echo 141
10. The Final Days of the 64th Ordnance Company 154
11. America or Bust 167
Epilogue 177
References and Further Reading 181
Index 183