A day at the museum

"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck) 06/15/2016 at 07:02 • Filed to: None

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I visited the 45th Infantry Division Museum while I was in Oklahoma this week. It’s one of the largest collections of military vehicles from WWI through Korea. They also have an arms collection from the Revolutionary War through Korea. I’m going to post something interesting from their collections every day until I either run out of pics or get bored. Let’s get started!

The 45th Division is known as the Thunderbirds, appropriate for both the Native American heritage and the noise they bring with heavy artillery. The Thunderbirds ruled the overworld and opposed the great horned serpent. It was said that if you had visions of a Thunderbird, you were destined to be a medicine man, a chief, or you were going to go crazy.

So, let’s start with one of the biggest noisemakers on the lot - the M110A2 Heavy Howitzer. This self-propelled gun fired an 8-inch, 200lb round and could do this up to four times per minute when pressed. The typical rate of fire was 1 round every two minutes. The range was up to 18.6 miles with rocket-assisted rounds. This particular unit was affectionately known as the Atomic Dog. I suppose that’s a reference to its ability to fire nuclear rounds ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . It was in service from 1956 to 1995.

That’s it for today! I’m on the road, so won’t be around to answer questions. You’ll have to talk amongst yourselves.

vondon302 > TheRealBicycleBuck 06/15/2016 at 07:09

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Rocket assisted round you say.... That’s pretty cool.

InFierority Complex > TheRealBicycleBuck 06/15/2016 at 15:09

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Very cool. One of my grandfathers was part of the 45th as part of the 157th Infantry. Made it from Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio before getting wounded and sent back to the states. He was always dissappointed he never made it to Rome.

TheRealBicycleBuck > InFierority Complex 06/15/2016 at 19:40

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My grandfathers were in the European and Pacific theaters and my step-grandfather was in Korea. I don’t know what divisions they were in, but we’re working on finding out.

The museum has a ton of information on the 45th’s history. I'd bet there are photos of your grandfather in their many displays.