In a 1981 Department of Defense report a short, seven sentence paragraph revealed a previously unacknowledged event that had occurred near the tiny town of Vale, South Dakota, seventeen years earlier. If nothing else, that time when the warhead fell off a Minuteman nuclear missile reminds us why it is important to use the correct tool for the job.
By September of 1944, the Western Allies had broken out of the Normandy beachehead, and suddenly and quickly moved across northern France . By September 7th, the 90th division was stretched across the northern sector on Patton’s Third Army’s left, advancing slowly northeast. As they did so the German defenders made a risky attack in an effort to spoil the allied advance, cutting through Allied lines in a surprise action at the small town of Mairy-Mannville.