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Colonel Wilfred O. Boettiger, USA (ret.)
“was born in Chicago, June 20, 1920 and he spent his boyhood in Rancho Santa Fe and South Pasadena, California. In 1939,
certain that the US would soon be fighting World War II, 19-year old Wilfred Boettiger, an insurance clerk in Seattle, joined
the Washington National Guard as a private to get some military training. That was the beginning of a 30-year career in the
US Army Antiaircraft Artillery branch in the National Guard and on active duty during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam
War, and the Cold War as an enlisted man and officer in antiaircraft units with three inch and 90mm guns, 40mm automatic weapons,
120mm gun batteries and Nike and Hawk air defense missile units during the Cold War.” Colonel Wilfred O. Boettiger is
the author of Formerly Classified: Memoirs of a 20th Century American Soldier, Diplomat, Author, Sculptor, Sailor,
Amateur Archeologist, and Adventurer and An Antiaircraft Artilleryman: From 1939 to 1970.
According to the book description
of An Antiaircraft Artilleryman: From 1939 to 1970, “A pioneer Army Air Defense Missile expert
who advised the German and Japanese Defense Departments on their air defense missile build ups during the Cold War, commanded
a nuclear Nike air defense missile battalion in the joint air defense of the US, and retired as Chief, US Army nuclear air
defense missile forces in the joint Army-Air Force air defense of Okinawa during the cold war describes his personal experiences
in a new book, An Antiaircraft Artilleryman from 1939 to 1970. In 1939, certain that the U.S. would soon be fighting World
War II, nineteen-year-old Wilfred Boettiger joined the Washington National Guard as a private to get some military training.
Little did he know it would be the beginning of a thirty-year career in the U.S. Army Antiaircraft and Air Defense Artillery
Branch in the Second World War, the Korean War, and the Cold War.. In his book, Boettiger describes the training, mobilization,
and pre-Pearl Harbor deployment to Alaska of his National Guard battery; his officer candidate training at Camp Davis, North
Carolina; and his duties as gun battery and regimental staff officer in Hawaii. Back at Camp Davis, he describes training
into be a Weissight instructor and then his unique combat service in North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany. |
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After World War II, Boettiger served in the reserves until he was activated for
the Korean War and describes his job as a post training officer at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, and then his gung-ho service as
a combat field artilleryman in Korea. He then tells about his command of a 120mm AAA gun battery in the Cold War air defense
of the Hanford Atomic Reservation and his selection to be a pioneer Nike Missile battery commander.
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He then describes his assignments to
the American Embassy in Germany air defense missile sales advisor to the new German Army and Air Force during their missile
build up in NATO joint air defenses from 1956 to 1959; his command of a nuclear-armed, improved Nike missile battalion in
the joint Army-Air Force air defense of Loring Air Force Base; and his advise to the Japanese Army and Air Force on their
joint air defense missile build up including the procurement of US nuclear-capable Nike air defense missiles. He describes
his advisory service preparing the Virginia National Guard for active duty during the Vietnam war and finally, his experience
as Chief of the powerful Army air defense missile forces in the joint air defense of Okinawa when Russian bombers were probing
the islands air defenses.”
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