Guest-Book

The Legacy of Colonel William B. Nolde

Colonel William B. Nolde Guest Book

Here you will find a compiled list of remembrances of Colonel William B. Nolde. If you have a remembrance you would like to add to this page, please submit it through the contact us page.

William is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. BSM-2OLC MSM AM ARCOM-OLC

I served as a Battery Commander under his command, 5/30 FA, Italy

Colonel Nolde enlisted in the Army in 1951 and served during the Korean War. He then attended OCS at Fort Sill. Among his many assignments, he was Assistant Professor of Military Science at Central Michigan University from 1962-1964 before his first tour of duty in Vietnam. He then returned to CMU as APMS for a second time, leaving that position in the fall of 1966. Colonel Nolde also served in Korea, Germany and the Far East. Prior to a third tour in Vietnam he had been stationed in Italy.

He was the senior military advisor in An Loc in Binh Long Province when he was killed by a direct hit on his bunker during an enemy artillery barrage. His death came just eleven hours before the cease-fire went into effect in Vietnam on 27 January 1973, making him the last American Soldier to die in combat before the cease-fire. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. At 43 years of age, he was the oldest graduate of Field Artillery OCS to die in the Vietnam War. Colonel Nolde was inducted into the Field Artillery OCS Hall of Fame on 16 June 2006

LTC, at that time, Nolde was my first Bn Cmdr when I was assigned to B Btry, 5/30th in Vicenza, Italy, 1970-71. I remember him as an enthusiastic, energetic commander who treated young officers like they were his son...with a great deal of patience and understanding. It was a real honor and treat to have served under his tutelage. I still remember him and his great smile.

My name is Ed Tatum,Elizabethtown N.C. I served as a military pall-bearer at Col Nolde funeral.I will always remember his wife laying the rose on his coffin.

COL Nolde commanded the 5th Bn, 30th FA in Italy (1969-1971) and is a well remembered member of the "Hard Chargers" of the 30th Field Artillery Regiment. The "SPERRY" Missile Trophy was retired in his name in 1974, and is prominently displayed in the 30th FA Regimental Room, in Snow Hall, at Fort Sill, OK. His service with the 5th Bn, 30th FA has been recorded in "The History of the 30th FA Regiment 1918-1998". For more information about the "Hard Chargers" of the 30th FA Regiment contact MSG (R) Dan Gillotti, Historian, 30th FA Regiment,

When LtCol Nolde came to Vietnam in 1972, I was the pilot on UH-1H that took him to An Loc. I only met him that once, and that was the only time I had met someone in the Army with the same last name as mine.

Wm. Nolde was my ROTC instructor at Central Michigan University in '62-'63. At that time he was a Capt. Tho. he attempted to hold us to military decorum, he did so with respect and intelligence.

I am sure our views of the military and the country's position and involvment in Vietnam were different, especially in the later 60's but learning of his death years later was especially poignant for me because he was only one of two persons I directly knew who gave his life for all of us during that turbulent time.