Hands Across History A joint newsletter for the White Sands Historical Foundation and the White Sands Pioneer Group. Volume XVII, Letter II May 2021 Good News, Bad News, And Winds Of Change By Frances Williams, President archivist, have a lot going and have their hands full I have some good news and some bad news. waiting for the museum to be emptied in prepara- The good news its that Mary Beth Reinhart, who tion for the new look. Because of the membership is a board member of the WSMR Historical Foun- and donations received by the Historical Founda- dation, and also an icon to White Sands Missile tion, 4,000 square feet was added to the museum. Range, an active member of the Chamber of Com- I want to reiterate that we gave the museum almost merce for military and civilian affairs, an active one million dollars to make this happen. The Cen- community worker in Las Cruces and Dona Ana ter for Military History is also providing additional County, is the recipient of the President’s Award funds for the museum, and I think the WSMR from the Chamber of Commerce. Mary Beth museum will be one of the best in the Army. was employed at WSMR as Director of Morale The area where the memorial bricks are and Welfare and was responsible for bringing the placed has been expanded. These brick sales have Bataan Death March to WSMR. The marathon contributed significant revenue to the Foundation, started with about 75 people and has now grown so think of buying a brick to memorialize an event, to ten thousand with participants from all over the someone close to you or your family and friends. world. This event has been an economic boon to We also have a new website for the Founda- not only WSMR but our local businesses. She is a tion and e-mail account. That email address is: member of the WSMR Hall of Fame and has been WSMRHISTORICALFOUNDATION@GMAIL. recognized publicly and privately for her many COM. In the future we will be placing informa- contributions which add to our quality of life. tion on the website for purchasing merchandise. The bad news is that David Soules, a member Hall of Fame nominations have been received of the WSMR Historical Foundation, passed away and are now being sent to the Review Board for very suddenly at an early age. David managed one action. Public Affairs has been given the lead in of the largest contracts at WSMR for many years, handling this event. Dolores Archuleta who has but most notably he was a conservationist and was done an outstanding job for many years for this one of the people responsible for establishing the event, will be the Foundation’s coordinator. Organ Mountains-Desert Peak National Monument The Foundation Board now has a strategic which added 500,000 acres of protected wilder- plan in place. Because of the changes in the mu- ness to New Mexico. David was a great asset to seum as well the new emphasis the Center for the Foundation, lending his enormous intellectual Military History has placed on education and ability to our discussions and planning, a man of reaching out to educational institutions, we will be integrity, and great guy who will be sorely missed requesting our membership and donors to support by the many lives he touched. these new initiatives and adopt one of these proj- The museum is continuing with its changes ects. Specific information on these projects will be to make way for the many new exhibits which will provided in our next newsletter. Thanks to all for be installed in the near future. Darren Court , the their continued support off the WSMR Historical Curator of the museum and Jenn Jett, our amazing Foundation and the WSMR Museum David Soules Leaves Large Hole In Foundation The White Sands Missile advice and lead. Range, its Historical Foundation, In his private life he was an the community of Las Cruces and avid outdoorsman with interests wild places in New Mexico lost a in hunting, fishing and preserva- remarkable person on March 26 tion of wilderness. In fact, when when David Soules died suddenly he died, he was serving on New at the age of 63. Mexico’s game commission. David worked on the missile During the years leading up to the range for over 35 years as an en- designation of the Organ Moun- gineering and upper management tains – Desert Peaks National contract employee. His interest Monument, David was a leading in history led him to the White member of the team promoting Sands Missile Range Historical and gathering the information Foundation where he served on needed for the declaration. David the board of directors and as vice was a key researcher finding out president. For years he donated what cultural, historic and natural his time and money to preserving wonders were to be found within the history of White Sands. the boundaries of the monu- He will be sorely missed as David on one of his desert ment. To help others find the cool he was always the calm presence hikes. This one to Foster’s things in the monument, David and the voice of reason during Hole near Hatch. co-authored the book “Exploring board meetings. Whenever David Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks spoke, he was articulate and organized. Everyone National Monument” which is available locally listened and, most of the time, we followed his and on Amazon. Recent Honor Donations To The WSMR Foundation In The Name Of..... Marvin Brotherton - An engineer for the Instrumentation Dir. and the Chairman for the White Sands Missile Range Credit Union Board of Directors for many years. from Frances Williams Linda Richards - The Secretary to the Chief of Staff and later headed the Incentive Awards Pro- gram for WSMR. from Frances Williams David Soules - Member of the WSMR Community, serving as the Director of the TRAX Contract and a member of the Historical Foundation Board from Frances Williams & Jim Eckles Statement of Purpose and Membership The “Hands Across History” newslet- members of both groups informed about ter is published by the White Sands Mis- current events and share information of sile Range Historical Foundation and the common interest. The editor is Jim Eckles. White Sands Pioneer Group (WSPG). Both He can be contacted by email at nebras- nonprofit organizations aim to preserve [email protected] or at either address the accomplishments of White Sands Mis- below. sile Range. Membership to either organization The newsletter is intended to keep is open to anyone who shares their goals. White Sands Pioneer Group White Sands Historical Foundation P.O. Box 171 P.O. Box 171 White Sands, N.M. 88002 White Sands, N.M. 88002 2 Making History 75 Years Ago At White Sands By Jim Eckles expected to see and feel a show of power. They got EDITOR’S NOTE: An abbreviated version of this more than they expected. story appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News in By inviting Las Cruces civilians like mayor March. This is the unabridged article. Edwin Mechem and city manager Jesse Isaacks, as well as members of the Chamber of Com- For a March 15, 1946 German V-2 rocket merce, Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions Clubs, Turner demonstration, Lt. Col. Harold Turner, first com- was trying to make up for the Army’s poor public mander of White Sands Proving Ground, invited relations effort when White Sands was being es- 500 military personnel and 100 Las Cruces com- tablished in the summer of 1945. Using economic munity leaders to watch. Although it was a static good news, he was quick to point out that the firing, meaning the rocket was bolted down, it was 100K Static Test Stand, where the test would take the first time a V-2 rocket motor was ignited on place, was built by Las Cruces contractor Hayner American soil. After hearing so much about the and Burn. German vengeance weapon during WWII, visitors This facility had a steel framework on top to hold the V-2 rocket in place. It stood on a huge concrete block with a channel in it that would See Steel Plates Sailing Like Frisbees, page 4 From left to right standing in front of a sandbag shelter at 100K are: Maj. Gen. Gladeon Barnes, Deputy Chief of the Army Ordnance Corps; Lt. Col. Harold Turner, White Sands Commander; unidentified; Col. Holger Toftoy, head of The V-2 anchored on the 100K Static Test Stand the Rocket Development Division within the for the March 15 test. WSMR Museum Archives Ordnance Corps. WSMR Museum Archives 3 Steel Plates Sailing Like Frisbees CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 deflect the engine’s flames and exhaust into the being secluded in the Southwest for several years. desert. With the engine expected to run for 60 For a later test in the stand, Bolles said they seconds and exhaust gases reaching 5,000 F., to lined the concrete throat with tank tracks. Bolles keep the concrete from literally melting and erod- reported it was a tactic he learned from consulting ing away, White Sands engineers bolted heavy See Water Sprinkler Solved The Problem, page 4 steel plates in the channel. They were overlaid with each other like shingles on a roof with each plate being three feet by three feet and a half-inch thick. They weighted about 185 pounds each. Robert Bolles, a General Elec- tric engineer working on the V-2 program at White Sands, called it a “brute force” effort. On the 15th, The V-2 engine burned perfectly for 57 seconds and visitors stand- ing 300 yards away could feel the heat and vibration as the supersonic exhaust gases sent shock waves out from the stand.