January 30, 1965, was a Saturday.  I was an SFC going into my fourth year as a member of Battery A, 6/52.  And country singer Justin Tubb, son of Ernest Tubb, was appearing at the Skyliner NCO Club on Leighton Barracks, near Wurzburg, Germany, that night. 

I was not scheduled for “manning” that Saturday night, but SFC Jimmy Goodin, Chief PAR and BCC Technician was.  So he worked out an arrangement with Sp5 Steven P Aston to work his shift and Jimmy would replace him Sunday morning. 

The Garretts, Goodins, and 1SG Hobart J Candler and his wife took in the show.  Early the next morning Jimmy Goodin replaced Steve and Steve headed for home and his family.

     At that time our battery was emplaced in an open field adjacent to Battery D, 6/52, outside of Peden Barracks, Wertheim, Germany, about 30 minutes away from Wurzburg.

Let me explain.  Our site just up the hill from Emery Kaserne in Wurzburg was being “hardened” after three years of slogging through mud and following paths of pierced-steel-planking (PSP).  During that process we were relocated to the aforementioned field in Wertheim.

     As Steve Aston was leaving, his Volkswagen automobile was hit by a 2½ ton truck replacing Delta’s manning crew.  There was a heavy, thick fog.  Steve was killed instantly, a piece of windshield glass, triangular shaped, pierced his left eye and went straight to his brain.  He probably did not know what hit him.

About 8:30AM Sunday morning, 1SG Candler called me and said simply, “Steve Aston has been killed”.  He had to go to Wertheim immediately and wanted me to drive him out there and type the “Crown” report.  That was a special way of reporting the death of servicemen serving overseas.  We arrived within the hour.  SFC Gooden was so distraught that he could not function.  Delta Battery sent a PAR/BCC Technician over to take care of our equipment.

I did the Crown Report and phoned it in to Hq USAREUR.  We left the site about 2:15PM and went back to our quarters.  The next day, Monday, we learned that there would be a memorial service at the Chapel on Emery Kaserne on Tuesday, after which the body would be flown to Dover, Delaware and on the Steve’s hometown.  The duty of retrieving from his wife the uniform in which Steve was to be buried fell to me.  It was without a doubt the most difficult duty I had ever been called upon to do.  I got everything from Mrs Aston and delivered it to the morgue, which was in the basement of the 10th Field Hospital located just below the main gate of Leighton Barracks.  That episode in the early history of Alpha Battery 6/52 ended all too quickly. 

Some time after the new site was occupied by us, and after I had departed the command, someone put in motion the steps needed to name the site in honor of Sp5 Steven P Aston.  I only learned of this fairly recently.  A lieutenant in the battery at that time, Robert Lewsen, told me about this.  He added that when he returned to Wurzburg and the 6th of the 52d as the Battalion S-3 (Operations) Officer in 1974, the honorarium to Steve Aston had apparently been forgottem.

Those few acres of German soil are no longer occupied by misslemen, although from the air you can see where each piece of equipment had been emplaced.  If you use “Google Earth” go to coordinates North 49º 49’ 9” and East  9º 54’ 3”.  There it is.  

Al Garrett 

Site Steven P. Aston