FORT SILL, Okla. -- Listening to retired Chief Warrant Officer 3 Walter Nunn talk about his days in uniform is like a living history of the Army.
"When I joined the Army in 1933 we still had horse-drawn artillery units here at Fort Sill," Nunn said. "And when I got out we were shooting nuclear shells. That was really interesting." Nunn has a lot of memories because he just turned 100 years old on Oct. 16. He celebrated his birthday recently at the H. G. King Community Center in Lawton with Lena, his wife of 73 years, and many friends and family members.
Nunn was born in 1911 in a log cabin in McIntosh county, in eastern Oklahoma. The oldest of seven children, he joined the Army before he graduated from high school, because his family needed the financial support. "My father was a sharecropper and times were hard during the Depression. That was also the Dust Bowl days here in Oklahoma, and farming was very difficult." Nunn said. "So I figured being in the Army was a good way to help my family."
Nunn was stationed at Fort Sill in the 1930s. He started out in Headquarters Battery, 1st Field Artillery. The unit was one of the last horse-drawn field artillery batteries at Fort Sill as the Army transitioned to towed artillery pieces.
He served in World War II as a meteorologist and spent the war at Fort Sill. Nunn later served in Korea and was involved in the invasion landing at Inchon, Korea.
After World War II the U.S. military worked to develop a nuclear capability in all branches, even the Army. The Army developed the M65 280mm cannon, nicknamed "Atomic Annie" and could fire a nuclear projectile more than 20 miles. Nunn became part of the artillery unit that handled "Atomic Annie." He was an eyewitness to the one and only firing of this atomic cannon May 25, 1953 at Frenchman Flat in Nevada. "It was an awesome and frightening sight to see that thing go off," Nunn stated. He also witnessed two other nuclear detonations in Nevada, and said that he actually received massive doses of radiation.
"Later in life my doctor said I had received 1,600 Roentgen during my years in the Army. They say that's a lot and I'm probably lucky to be alive. But so far I've made it 100 years, so I guess it wasn't too bad." he chuckled.
After Korea he was sent to Germany to be part of the deployment of "Atomic Annie" along the German border with Czechoslovakia. In all, there were 17 atomic cannons deployed. "That was part of what they called the "Sunday Punch" which was the plan to hit the enemy with all our nuclear weapons in one swoop, as a first deterrent," Nunn explained. "Fortunately, we never had to do that."
After the Army Nunn studied at Cameron University and Southwestern State University in Weatherford, Okla. He received a teaching degree from Southwestern, and he and his wife both taught school in Cyril and Chattanooga, Okla. for 13 years. Since he was a meteorologist in the Army he taught math and science. After retirement the Nunn's traveled all over the United States in their motor home.
Nunn received six battle stars before he retired from the Army in 1959 as a CWO 3. He remembered his 29 years in the Army with fondness. "I enjoyed my years in Germany, even though they were tense times during the Cold War. Those were the best years of my time in the military."
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