Welcome to the first submission of information available from the National Archives, I am Paul Kopsick, formerly of B Btry 4th 60th Arty (1971). Why me? Because I can (from time to time). It's about a 50 mile round trip each time I go and I generally spend the whole day there. What can I tell you? Well, it is amazing what is stored in the archives and even more amazing is what is not there. (Yet?)

First of all for DQS people, there are some files for all the units: 1/44, 5/2, 4/60, Quads, Search-lights and Vulcans. But the inventory is far from complete and it is impossible to know if any-thing else is stored elsewhere. So far I have looked through all the boxes for the 4/60 and the 5/2. In this issue I will list the general contents for the 5th 2nd Dusters which includes the D-71 Quads, 1-29 Searchlights and Vulcans.

For the "Nickel-Deuce" there are currently 23 file boxes of information. They are stored at the following location: Stack 270, Row 32, Compartment 14, Shelves 2-6.
Written out as 270/32/14/2-6.

Boxes 1-3 are categorized as Organizational History. They cover the years 1966-1971, Box I has a lot of photos and official letters dealing with the initiation of the Battalion. Box 42 has lots of early photos of the official initialization of the Battalion, copies of standard operating procedures, and an incomplete run of the Bn newsletter, the Triumvirate. There is a lot of really neat information in this newsletter which we will be sharing over the next few issues. (If anyone out there has any copies of this news-letter please contact me and let me know which issues you have.) Box 43 has a bunch of photos dealing with the Vulcans. There are also a lot of Unit Orders from 1966.

Boxes 4-15 contain the Headquarters Daily Communication Logs from September 1967 through April 197 1. These logs are the actual sheets filled out by the radio comm. person filled out for every radio communication made each day. There is very little personal information here but the movement of units and senior staff are presented in detail. Also any significant action is presented as appendices to the daily sheets.

Box 18 contains the Lessons Learned reports for 1967-71. These are the 4 or 6 month summaries of activities which detail all the significant actions, locations of bases, and general goings on. This is a quick way to zero in on actions and responses before going to the Daily Logs. I am not sure if there is a complete run of these reports but it is nearly complete. Boxes 19, 20, and 21 are the Situation Reports for 1968, 1969 and 1970-4/6/71 respectfully. These are mostly illegible telex communication sheets. Box #22 contains Command Reports which show the locations of units for 1969-7 1, significant engagements and Vulcans. Box 423 contains the Operations Planning Files but there is essentially nothing in there.

That is pretty much it for the 5/2. 1 noticed that there were no separate files for the different Batteries as there were for the 4/60th. This may be a function of the compact area of coverage and overall good access to Headquarters.

Daily Journal breakdown by box:

Next issue will describe the holdings for the 4/60th and an article on Vulcans, including some pictures. This issue presents a story about the HMS Buttercup.