This article originally appeared in the Bristol Daily Courier - Friday, April 29, 1960.
Switch In Bristol: Nike Base Going To National Guard
 Pennsylvania National Guardsmen will march in and Regular Army troops will march out at the Bristol Nike site tomorrow morning when operational control morning when operational control of hte Nike-Ajax base is turned over to state citizen soldiers.
Captain Harry Pell, commanding officer at the site, known as "D" Battery, Third Missile Battalion, 60th Artillery, disclosed the move during a speech before the Levittown Exchange club yesterday afternoon.
The purpose of the change-over, Capt. Pell explained, is to provide regular Army men for other assignments, primarily overseas, and to provide the new Hercules atomic - capability air defense weapon crews with highly skilled and trained personnel.
Same Basis
Bristol's Nike base, part of the Philadelphia air defense complex will be manned by the Second Battalion, 166th Artillery, Pennsylvania National Guard on the same basis and in the same manner as the departing regulars, Capt. Pell stated.
Bristol's base is one of six in the area to be turned over to the National Guard and one of 36 sites throughout the nation being given to the states.
Professional Guardsmen
Controlling the site will be professional full - time guardsmen. These men have undergone intensive training at Fort Bliis, Texas for a year and a half. They have also been phasing into their new jobs at the local site for some time, Capt. Pell pointed out.
The Army Artillery officer revealed that the guard unit taking the place of his tropps placed third in the nation-wide final phase Nike-Ajax Guard firing contest at Fort Bliss.
Captain Pell's troops will be transferred to the ten Air Defense sites with the Philadelphia Air Defense Command still under Regular Army control.
Not Atomic Weapon
The new National Guard program, announced by Department of the Army last month, will affect only Nike-Ajax sites. The Nike-Ajax is not an atomic weapon, and is only effective against air craft.
The atomic warhead Nike-Hercules missile is now emplaced at many Philadelphia Air Defense Command dual sites under control of regular army troops. The dual site at Eureka, PA., is one of several equipped and operational in the United States at this time, using hte larger, more refined Nike-Hercules.
Formal "change of command" ceremonies with Pennsylvania National Guard and Regular Army troops participating will take place at Valley Forge Park May 14, an Army spokesman said.
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