I
An Easy Drive In Germany
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We arrived in Bremerhaven
after a train trip from Frankfurt. The ship had not arrived so we
had two days to get ready for it. That left time to get our drivers
tested for Germany endorsements on their drivers licenses. Or so we
thought. A few of us already had proper licenses from previous
tours. The others had a couple hours classes on International Road
Signs and European regulations before taking a test. The great
majority failed, for one reason or another, mostly due to failure to pass
the road sign test. They were all given temporary permits and were
supposed to get more training. The arrival of the ship with our
vehicles stopped any such ideas.
The great planning that had gone into our move
was easy to see. We had over seventy drivers and over seventy
vehicles. The logical persons to have sent in charge of the party
would have been the company motor officer and motor sergeant. They
were both with the main company party, far from the vehicles they were
responsible for. Instead we had a second lieutenant in charge, one
who had less then thirty days on active duty. And a sergeant first
class who knew almost nothing about nothing. We were one of the
first units to arrive in Europe for the buildup, and nobody knew anything
about what was going on.
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The Bremerhaven garrison furnished us with a military police
captain and sergeant to lead us down the three hundred or so
miles to Kaiserslautern. At least they knew the
route. They gave us a talk while we were waiting for our
trucks, the gist of which was that we would have an easy drive
through the beautiful German countryside. However, we
first had to get our trucks unloaded, checked out and get moving
as other units were due to arrive soon.
It was well into October, with the
"beautiful" German weather giving us fits. We had our
normal field jackets but no liners for them or any other winter
clothing. The normal rain and mists were present almost all the
time.
When we had word that the ship had docked, we
sent drivers down to the dock side to start bringing the trucks to the
staging area where we could check them out. The first thing we
started hearing was that we had many flat tires, a great number of which
had nails which appeared to have been driven into them. I will say
we had a good support from the Bremerhaven people, in fact they went all
out to get things fixed, even if our own men had to do the physical labor
of repairing the tires. The second thing that happened was that the
German dock crews were allowed to work only eight hours per day so it took
three days to assemble all our trucks. The workers let it be known
that they were willing to go on overtime and get the job done, but their
unions refused to allow it.
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We started to get the trailers matched up with
the trucks, getting the trucks checked for everything such as oil levels
and tire pressure. Again we started running into great prior
planning. Our cab tops (canvas) had been taken off and the
windshields folded down for shipping. The tops were boxed up
somewhere. We would have to make the drive with open cabs, and of
course the tactical vehicles of that era had no heaters or windshield
defrosters. We were allowed to raise the windshield back into
position.
We also had no gas cans. They had all been
cleaned out, put into conex shipping containers, and were somewhere on another
ship. Bremerhaven found cans so that we had two per truck, a total
of 10 gallons extra gas, or enough to get a 2-1/2 ton truck about 30 extra
miles. Our "officer" in charge said that was no
problem. The 97th Signal Battalion, the unit we were to be assigned
to, was sending up a wrecker, fuel truck and support personnel to help
us. They arrived with the promised help. Without it we
probably would not have made it. Even with it, with the type of
leadership and planning we had, we barely made it. |
We finally formed up and departed early one
morning. We had been given a route to take advantage of the
autobahns, much of which had not been completed at that time. In
order to use what was open to the maximum, we were to go south, turn back
north for a good distance, and finally head south again. That first
day we were to stop overnight at Kassel. The extra traveling was
bound to burn a lot of extra gas. And again the
"leadership" prevailed. Instead of sending the fuel tanker
on ahead to the noon rest stop area, it was placed with the trail party at
the rear of the strung out convoy. Every time the trail party
stopped to work on a broken down vehicle, the tanker also stopped, and
thereafter got further and further behind the trucks which would need gas.
The military police captain told us we would be
taking a break every hour. once we started, we did not stop for the
first break until two hours and forty five minutes had passed.
Remember, we were driving in open cabs, with only light field jackets and
gloves. I was luckier than most because I had an old field cap with
ear flaps, which at least helped against the wind. And it was about
thirty five degreed when we started and probably never got above forty
five all day. |
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It was a wonder we had no accidents, with the cold, a
very early start and almost three hours before the first break. I
know I scared some German road workers when I hit a barrel and sent it off
the side of a construction site. I might have scared them as much as
I scared myself.
Before going on I
will digress a little to place certain times in the narrative which may
aid the reader in understanding more about what was happening. The
596th was a support company. As such it was designed to operate
communications over a very wide area. Our radio/terminal relay teams
each had a 2-1/2 ton truck with a shelter mounted on it. Unlike the
stressed skin aluminum shelters which the army was just starting to issue,
we had wooden shelters. I never found out what they had been built
for, or how the 596th managed to get them. They had a one piece
floor and a one piece ceiling but the walls were made up of panels (six
that I remember) which could be arranged in different
configurations. Two panels had windows, one had a door and one had a
gasoline heater mounted on it. When that heater operated it was a
great item, unlike the small electric heaters which came with the new
shelters. |
Most signal units had a shortage of vehicles,
other than the ones carrying equipment shelters. A support company,
its teams designed to operate over a wide area, had more. I had my
2-1/2 ton with a 1-1/2 ton trailer behind it carrying two 5 kilowatt
generators. I also had a 3/4 ton truck with a 3/4 ton trailer.
We used the trailer to carry all our antenna and mast equipment.
That left the 3/4 truck free to use for supply runs & etc. I was
driving the the 2-1/2 ton (also known as a deuce-and-a- half) with one of
my men driving the 3/4, which was somewhere ahead of me in the
convoy. Our convoy was not a complete line of seventy plus
vehicles. We had left Bremerhaven in serials of about eight or ten
vehicles.
Each serial, when we stopped for breaks or lunch, were
supposed to be done & gone in order to make room for the following
serial. That placed the trail party, with our fuel tanker, far back
behind the front vehicles in both space and time.
We made our few breaks, warmed up a little and
pushed south, all the time watching the gas gauge dropping. Our
serial finally pulled into the lunch break area, an autobahn service
plaza, just as the serial ahead of us pulled out. If I remember
correctly we had sack lunches along, which we ate. We emptied the
ten gallons of extra gas into our tanks and prepared to move again. |
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The fuel tanker, which had finally been released by the second lieutenant,
pulled in and we asked to be fueled up. That was denied by whoever
was in charge there due to the next serial coming in soon and the lack of
room.
We pulled out with gas tanks dropping fast again
and quite a way to go into Kassel. Not too far down the autobahn we
started passing trucks scattered along the edge of the road.
Most of them were managing to pull into the frequent small
places the Germans had along the autobahns as rest stops.
They consisted of nothing but a paved drive, usually with a lot of
trees, but nothing else. I kept a close watch out for the
next ones as the gauge dropped lower and lower.
Finally it happened and I shifted into
neutral to coast as far as possible. That managed to get me
into the next pull off space and I pulled in directly behind my
3/4 ton truck which was already there. Before I had much
time to compare notes with that man, another 2 1/2 ton and another
3/4 pulled in behind us, all four of us with dry fuel tanks.
None of us were very happy with the state of affairs, or with the
"leadership" which had placed us there. All we
could do was wait, with night fast coming on, and watch other
trucks from other serials pass. They had managed to top off
tanks at the rest stop. |
There was a small farm road on the
outside of the pull off space, with only a few trees
between. While looking around I met two German school boys, probably
about ten years old, heading home along the road. I started
talking to them and with their schoolboy English and my few words
of German and by using a lot of sign language, managed to send
them off to the nearest shopping point, or to their parents'
kitchen, I never knew which.
While
at Bremerhaven I had the foresight to exchange some dollars for
marks just in case of need. I gave them plenty knowing that
German children were pretty honest. If I was going to be
standing along a German highway in the cold for very long, I
wanted something to pep me up.
In about thirty minutes they were back,
along with the edge of night. They had a big bag of hard
bread sandwiches with great meat and cheese. covered with the
fantastic German mustard. Better yet they had bottles of
great German beer with flip tops. They very politely gave me
my change and I gave them both a good tip for their work, along
with two packs of cigarettes, for their "papa", which I
got one of the other men to donate. The cigarettes were the
reason I thought they might have gone home for the material.
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The four of us had plenty to eat, a big
beer apiece and I had two beers left over. I put them into
the glove compartment of my 3/4 and told my man we would drink
them when we arrived at Kassel. After that there was nothing
to do but wait for gas. That was not too long in coming as
the tanker pulled in about nine or ten o'clock. He fueled us
and moved out to check for other trucks.
We all started up
engines and let them warm up. My 3/4 pulled out and as I
started into gear the engine quit and would not start again.
I waved the two other trucks around and they headed out with
engines roaring. I made myself as comfortable as possible in
my cab, with no overhead cover and with the night dew coming down.
I fell asleep, even with the conditions,
and only woke up with a mechanic shaking me and asking me what the
problem was. Two of them disappeared under the hood with
flashlights and soon had changed the carburetor. The old
engine fired up again and I headed for Kassel. We had signs
posted and I believe there was a road guard posted at the turn off
from the autobahn. A very cold and lonely job, one I was
glad not to have.
Our "overnight" stop was a
small Kaserne (installation) not far from the highway. It
had an old empty barracks where cots had been set up. It
also had a HUGE old garage building. We pulled all our
trucks inside and had room leftover. I parked mine and went
looking for my 3/4 and its cargo. I found two empty beer
bottles.
I headed for the barracks just in time for the
early arrivals to be told to get up and prepare to get back on the
road.
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They also had "GI" cans filled with
c-rations for our breakfast, but at least it was hot. While
we were "dining" and cursing and even later arrivals
kept drifting in, we received word that due to the mess and due to
luck that no other unit was right behind us, we would be holding
at Kassel for the day. As soon as we had eaten we were to
fuel up and see the maintenance people if we had any truck
problems.
Kassel was the first sign that anyone had
planned for units coming to Germany. At Maguire Air Force
base they did not know us. At Rhine-Main Air Base and the
replacement battalion in Frankfurt they did not know us and had
said it was impossible for us to be there with the orders we
had. Bremerhaven port was surprised by us.
But a
Kassel we found an entire Quartermaster platoon with fuel tankers
rigged to service a large number of trucks at once. There
was an entire light repair platoon to work on trucks and they were
well equipped with tools and spare parts. I gassed up, to
the brim and was starting to feel better when my engine quit
again. People swarmed all over it and changed the fuel
pump. I then pulled back into the garage and went looking
for the sneak who drank his beer AND MINE! It was Serban!
But he was such a great little guy I could not stay mad at him.
He had been drafted, one of those great draftees we had before
Vietnam, who hated the Army but who worked their tails off because
it was the right thing to do. I wish I
had talked more with him about his background.
We pulled out early the next morning with
another long haul to Kaiserslautern. We found the tanker at
noon and the weather had improved some. We made it into
K-town early in the afternoon, with all new adventures ahead of
us.
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II
HILLTOP FREEZE
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While the 596th Signal Company
was waiting to be assigned to a regular mission, the 97th Signal
Battalion gave us small assignments and training missions.
In early December, 1961, I was given orders to take my team
and put in a multichannel radio test system. It would be on
a hilltop where the 97th already had an established relay.
We left Kaiserslautern heading east towards Mannheim on the
autobahn. I had been told to go to a certain exit, drive
halfway down the exit ramp and park, that we would be contacted
there and guided to the relay. I was driving the 2-1/2 ton.
Bender had the 3/4, with Serban riding with him. We pulled
down onto the exit ramp as instructed, parked and waited.
For more than half an hour past the time given we waited until
finally a sergeant first class came walking up the ramp. It
was one of those typical miscues that happen sometimes when people
exchange information. He had been waiting down on the
regular road, behind trees, while we had been told the ramp would
be the meeting place.
That straightened out, we followed his
truck. The exit was near where the autobahn had started
dropping out of the hills down into the Rhine River
valley. We now started back into the hills, turning off the
regular road onto a single lane forest road. |
We met a 5-ton wrecker at that turnoff
and the wrecker preceded us up the road. The SFC had
informed us a tree had fallen across the road the night before
and the wrecker was there to drag it aside. We waited for
that to be done, the wrecker headed on up the road, followed by
the SFC in his jeep, followed by us.
It was already cold and foggy and as we
climbed the temperature was dropping and the fog was getting
thicker. The wind was always blowing in that part of
Germany and the trees all grew on a slant due to the constant
wind. We finally reached the top of the hill. The
97th's relay consisted of a house where the crew lived, a metal
Quonset hut which was used for storage, and their antenna
towers. The main tower was made of heavy telephone poles.
There were six legs on the tower, the four corner legs being
made up of two poles each, lashed together, with single pole
legs in the center of the span. There were two wooden
platforms on the tower, one about halfway up and one near the
top. Underneath the tower there was a building which
housed their radio equipment. There was a smaller tower,
directly on top of the hill's peak. That older tower had
four telephone pole legs with a wooden platform near the top,
Whereas the main tower had a wooden staircase which went up
inside the tower, the older, smaller tower only had metal
climbing steps going up one corner pole.
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The SFC introduced us to the site chief, after which the SFC and
the wrecker departed. The sergeant site chief showed
us to the Quonset hut. He said he was sorry but there was
no room in the main house. The hut was stuffed with all
sorts of storage, including cases of C-rations, camouflage nets,
spare antenna equipment, and just about everything else.
There was an oil-fired heater at any rate, with room enough
around it to place three cots. The heater was a good one
but the uninsulated sides of the hut let in all the cold.
At least the heater was automatic so we did not have to worry
about it. And the building was much better than any tent.
We were shown the house and given
information on meals. I fail to remember now if they had a
cook assigned. I believe the operators took turns cooking.
Anyway, the meals were good, and informal being there was no
room anywhere for a large table. We were shown their
operations building. As the house had no room for us, so
the operations building was the same way. We had to
operate out of our shelter anyway. The only thing that
disturbed me was there was no room on the main tower for our
antenna and we would have to make use of the older, their
original, tower.
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Once we moved our gear into the hut we went to work on our
mission. We positioned the truck as near to the old tower as
possible, placed the generator trailer, and started unloading
equipment. I wanted to postpone going up that tower as long
as possible but we had a job to do. Daylight would not last
long that time of the year and by 1630 (4:30 pm) it would be
totally dark. With the dark would come even colder air so I
forced myself to get busy. I was grateful that Bender and
Serban were both able and willing workers. I was never able
to get Bender promoted to sergeant because he argued with people
but he never gave me arguments and I always depended on him, able
to know he would know what to do without many instructions.
I took a rope with me and started up those metal steps which were
driven into one corner telephone pole. It was cold on the
ground but there was little wind due to the heavy trees
around. As I neared the platform I moved above the tops of
the trees and the wind hit me. The wooden platform stuck out
past the poles, the platform corner near my pole only slightly cut
back. I discovered that when I reached the platform I had to
grope over it, blindly, to find the next step to get hold of and
pull myself up and over the platform. |
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I made it onto the
platform with the wind doing its best to blow me off. The
corner poles extended about four feet above the platform, with an
angle iron rail between the poles about three feet above the
platform. I also discovered the platform was covered with a
layer of frost which made any movement hazardous. I looked
outward but the fog, clouds really, made it impossible to see more
than a hundred feet in any direction. I could just make out
the main tower, not more than a hundred feet away. I knew
the job was going to be a challenge for one person, probably even
for two, so yelling down I told Bender to come up and Serban to
stay on the ground to pass equipment up via rope.
Communications were hard, the wind tending to blow even the
loudest yells away.
Bender came up and I was ready to help
him get over the platform edge. He looked around for a few
seconds and shook his head. It was hard just talking because
of the wind and the cold air. I tied the rope onto the angle
iron to make sure we did not drop it as I had no desire to have to
climb all the way down and back up to retrieve it. Serban
tied the first piece of equipment on and we started pulling items
up one at a time. Serban tended to stay right below and I
had to yell at him to move back in case we dropped something, a
distinct possibility given the wind and how cold our hands were,
even with gloves. We slowly assembled the antenna. |
The 97th had mast sections already in place, fastened to to pole
tops and the angle irons and we carefully lifted the antenna
onto the selected one, trying to time the action between wind
gusts. I was thankful we were only testing one leg of the
system so we only had to rig one antenna, not two. We put
the antenna on the proper compass alignment and used guy lines
to tie it down and prevent the wind blowing it around.
When we had finished I allowed Bender
to go down first, keeping a close eye as he started. I let
him get all the way to the ground and away from the base before
I started my own descent. My hands were so cold I had
trouble holding onto the cold metal steps. When we got
down we still had to put all the cold antenna cases back into
the 3/4 trailer. That finished we started our generator
and went into the shelter. One factor that made our pre-fab
wooden shelters so great was that they had gasoline operated
heaters. Once the electric power was applied I hit the
heater start switch and it fired right up. Great feeling
hot air started pouring our and we all felt much better, finally
being able to remove our field jackets. At the same time I
started the AN/TRC-24 radio. Cold air came from the radio
blowers but once the transmitter warmed up the tubes would be
putting out warm air. Not that it was needed with the gas
heater putting out so much.
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The other end of the system was on the
air waiting for us and we quickly established communications.
There was no trouble with the link that we could see right off,
which the other end reported to headquarters, who told us to
keep the system on until further notice.
That done I set up a schedule for us to
operate twenty-four hours a day, for both people and generator
sets, and we settled down to normal operations. One of us
would be on duty at all times, the other two would hang around
the shelter or in our sleeping quarters. I discovered early on
the hut was full of mice. They were so active we decided
to keep a light on at all times.
A day or so later I had to drive Serban
back to Kaiserslautern for a dental appointment, something he
had neglected to inform me of ahead of time or else I would have
made prior arrangements, probably getting a replacement operator
for him for the test. Once he told me I had no choice but
to take him back, dental appointments being hard to get and if
missed the chances were of not getting another one for six
months or more. While he was at the dentist I took the
chance to go to the post exchange and buy a couple mouse traps.
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Once back on the hilltop I lost no time
setting out a trap. Before I had reached my bunk I heard
it go off. When I saw the tiny creature in the trap I
almost changed my mind about continuing trapping. However,
they were bothering us so much and there were so many of them I
decided to go ahead. I set the second trap while I took
the first one out and threw the dead mouse over the fence.
When I returned there was already a mouse in the second trap.
It continued in that manner for the next hour or so. After
throwing seven mice over the fence I quit setting the traps.
I trapped a few more when they become bold but the reduced
population helped make them easier to live with.
After six or seven days we received
word to close the system down, pack up, and return to
the company. I had no desire to climb that tower again but
there was no choice. What had gone up had to come down. We
left the generator running to maintain heat in the shelter so we
could warm up as needed, the weather, at least so it
seemed, having grown even colder.
I climbed up again with the rope, followed by Bender. We
unfastened the coaxial cables and lowered them with little
problem.
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The antenna was a large
thing we called a "flyswatter" because the antenna
reflectors looked just like that. They presented a large
surface for the wind to blow against. Bender and I would
have to lift the antenna up and off the mast section, which was
tied to an angle iron near one corner. The trouble was that
every time we tried to raise it the wind would catch it and we
would almost lose control. Because it was near the corner we
had trouble getting hold of the antenna except by the center and
one end. I knew we would need more help and yelled down for Serban
to come up. I had to tell him twice before he started.
I was getting a little angry because Bender and I were half frozen
and I knew the longer we waited the worse we would be and the
harder it was going to be to get the antenna apart. If I had
had any idea how scared Serban was of heights I never would
have ordered him to come up. His hands came over the edge of
the platform followed by a very pale face. When he got onto
the platform I could see he was shaking, and not just from
the cold.
He still functioned, however, and with
his help we got the antenna off the mast section. Bender
started taking it apart while I helped Serban back onto the steps.
We probably should have tied a rope to him as a safety line but at
the time it never occurred to me. I leaned over and watched
him slowly climb down. |
I yelled at him to go into the shelter
and warm up while we finished taking things apart. By the
time we were ready to start lowering equipment he was back out,
looking more normal.
Everything went fairly fast after that,
given the wind, the cold, and the fact there was at least a half
inch of frost on the platform. We had to be extra careful
because as we moved around the frost melted under our boots and
quickly refroze into ice as we stepped off it.
Finally we were finished and Bender started down and I took a
last look around as I waited for him to clear the steps. The
clouds were swirling around in the wind like something out of a
science fiction movie. Any Moment I expected to see a
monster flying at me. I knew for sure it was time to get
off that tower and warm up.
Once off the tower everything was
routine. We all warmed up good before we started packing
equipment, than warmed up again before we closed the generator
and packed the trailer. We hooked the trucks and trailers
together and were cold again. I reported to the site chief
that we were leaving and thanked him for the support they had
given us. I also turned the two mouse traps over to him.
We drove back to the company, cold all the way. None of
the tactical vehicles of that day had heaters but I was a little
better than Bender and Serban because the 2-1/2 ton always
passed a little engine heat into the crew cab. The hilltop
would have been good duty for the men normally stationed there
but as far as going back for any temporary time, I think we were
all grateful we did not have to.
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III
1st Trip To Baumholder
We settled down in our new home. The first three months were a
breaking in period while we waited for Seventh Army to figure out
what we were going to be used for.
Finally we were committed to our first
major field exercise. We were to go to the training area at
Baumholder and set up communications there. The entire company
was not to be used, but we were all going.
The trucks which had missions went in the
early serials of the convoy. The ones which were going but did
not have a job brought up the rear in the last serial. The
last seven trucks were 3/4 tons with me in the very last
truck. We did not have assistant drivers, just one of us
in each truck. None of us had ever been to Baumholder, but all
we had to do was follow the truck ahead. In addition, we each
had been given a strip map showing the route.
Because of the hilly country, as well as
the many small towns, I could never see many of the trucks
ahead. We were moving through one of the towns when I came
upon a Y-junction. The trucks ahead were going right but there
was a sign at the intersection saying that Baumholder was
left. A glance at the strip map also said we should have gone
left. Without any other knowledge, I followed the truck
ahead. Soon we came out into the country side and on a stretch
of open road. The trucks ahead were pulling over and I could
count seven, including my own. Once we stopped I got out and
walked forward. There I found Serban who admitted he was lost. |
I had all drivers get back into their trucks, as I did myself.
I pulled out around the other six and they began following me.
We had to go until I found a place to turn around, and then we all
headed back the way we should have been going all along.
It was not very far to Baumholder.
First the town, which was little besides one street with wall to
wall bars. Then the training area, a very large place used for
major unit training, as well as being the home of one of the 8th
Infantry Division battle groups. I had no idea where the
company was setting up. When I saw the military police station
I figured they could give me information. I pulled into the
main post exchange parking lot and lined up all seven trucks side by
side. I told everyone to stay put and set out to walk to the
MP station. I had not gone more than fifty feet when I was cut
off by the company commander's jeep. He asked me what I was
doing there and I explained. He was as mad as I ever saw
him. The trail party (the wrecker and motor pool people) had
passed while we were on the wrong road. They had reported all
trucks off the road. In addition, the platoon sergeants had
reported all their men and vehicles accounted for.
The company commander guided us to the
company area and we went looking for three platoon sergeants.
We parked our vehicles and reported to our bosses. |
IV
Hill 571 at
Baumholder
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The 596th
Signal Company usually set up communications for the Seventh Army
(Rear) headquarters at the Baumholder Training Area. We had
teams there full time to provide a multi-channel radio
terminal/carrier link. When we went to the field most
of the company moved from Kaiserslautern to Baumholder and set up
a complete communications complex. For that complex we
always had several multi-channel radio teams on a hill inside the
training area. That hill had had all the trees cut from it
but the stumps had been left in place. I was happy that my
team never had to operate on that bare hill as the stumps were in
the way and there were no trees to provide shelter from the
wind. That hill stayed cold all the time.
When we did go to Baumholder and my team
was committed, we would go to Hill 571 which was a few miles
outside the training area boundary. That hill was much
better for us. It was away from the company and so we had
few visitors to bother us normally. The hill was heavily
wooded, providing cover from at least some of the elements and
making a much more pleasant site. There was a dirt/gravel
road which went to the top from the highway, with a drainage
ditch on the right (as we went up) and farm fields on the
left. Past the fields the woods started and they continued
almost to the top. On the top there was a big enough cleared
area to allow multiple antennas to be installed.
|
We only operated our multi-channel radios
(AN/TRC-24s) on the hill. The multiplex/carrier equipment was at
Baumholder. The carriers and radios were connected by
"Spiral-Four" cables, almost five miles of them. The
cables usually stayed in place full time. There was a cable
terminal on the hill where they all ended. When we set up, one of
the cable teams would come up and connect us to those cables with
hundred foot lengths of Spiral-4 cable. The cables between the two
points were installed and maintained by a "labor service"
cable company. Sometimes they were backed up or assisted by military
cable teams. The cables ran up the hill on "A-frames" to
keep them off the ground. The A-frames were made up of two long 2
X 4 boards bolted together near one end. That allowed them to have
the other ends spread apart as legs. On the top ends of the
A-frames were J-hooks to allow the cables to be suspended. The
A-frames were stood upright and guyed down to stakes with telephone
field wire (WD-1). At the hill top there was a large wooden
H-frame permanently fixed in the ground. The cables terminated at
the H-frame, tied off and labeled so we and the cable teams could hook
up the ones needed.
I wrote before (in New Equipment Blues) about a
night my team and Specialist-Five (SP5) Varnedore's team spent at Hill
571 and of the equipment troubles we had. That was one time we
operated on the hill.
|
|
-2-
In April, 1962, Seventh Army conducted
their annual spring field exercise. For that exercise my team was
committed to Hill 571, along with a team whose team chief was a Sergeant
Swartzenbeck. He was a German who had moved to the
United States and joined the Army. He was junior to me but because
LT Clum and I did not get along, SGT Swartzenbeck was placed in charge.
Neither Clum nor the platoon sergeant (SFC Nix) told me about that to my
face. They left it up to SGT. Swartzenbeck to inform me of the arrangement once
we had arrived on the hill. Swartzenbeck was one of those people who tended
to rub everyone the wrong way. He had a good team but all three of
his men were always trying to get moved to other teams.
For that field exercise, the name of which has
long ago been lost to me, we were to spend twenty-one days on Hill
571. The weather, as usual for Germany and the Baumholder area,
was bad. On the first and last days we were there we had snow
flurries. For the nineteen days between those two days, we had
heavy rains. The road going up the hill was a good one but by the
end of the first week it had been washed almost away and constant Army
truck traffic churned what was left into a muddy mess. |
We arrived on the hill on the first day with
snow coming down but we went ahead setting up. The snow was
big wet flakes which wet us and made everything cold but they melted as
soon as they hit. They finally stopped as we worked. As soon as we
arrived and had started positioning the two 2-1/2 ton trucks, SGT
Swartzenbeck
came over to me and told me LT Clum had put him in charge of the site.
I did not say much, there was nothing really to say. Besides, in
charge or not, he would never be able to boss me around. Each team had
one radio system to install. The antennas quickly went up and we
established communications with the distant terminals. The cable
team came up, hooked us up to the proper cables, and we had complete
communications from the carriers at Baumholder to wherever the other
terminals were. There were five miles of Spiral-4 cable
connecting our radios to the carriers, about the maximum distance
that the equipment could be expected to operate without repeaters to
amplify the signal. We had to turn some of the adjustments on the
equipment all the way up in an attempt to get the proper meter readings. |
|
-3-
As soon as we had things operating I left
Bender to watch the equipment and get things around the truck
straightened out. I took Serban and a pick and shovel and we
wandered off into the trees and selected a place to dig a slit trench
latrine. As we were going to be on the hill for three weeks, I
thought we had best take care of that chore right away. Outside of
problems with roots it took very little time or effort to dig a trench
that would last for awhile, after which we returned to the truck.
I looked around for a a good level spot in the trees where we could
erect our Command Post (CP) tent. That was another thing we had
due to the time we were to stay. We started to erect the
tent, with the help of two of Swartzenbeck's men. We staked it and tied it
down good and set up a tent heater fueled by diesel fuel. It
was going to be a tight squeeze in the tent, with a tent
heater and cots for seven men, along with our bags and a stack of ration
boxes. We had brought several cases of C-rations as well as some
"ten-in-one" rations. The nearest mess hall was five
miles away (probably eight by road) and we would take care of our own
food with the rations, supplemented by milk and other items we would
bring up from Baumholder. |
We had the tent up and were getting things ship
shape when SGT Swartzenbeck came over to me and said he needed one of my men to
help dig a latrine. I told him we had dug a latrine over an hour
ago and told him where to find it. I could tell with him trying to
run things it was going to be a long three weeks.
We settled down for a long field
exercise. We had plenty of food but very little sleeping
room. Otherwise we had few complaints except for the rain.
It rained and rained. It ran across the hill, covering the ground
in solid streams, pouring through the trees, bending them down with the
weight of water. Everything got wet and stayed wet. The tent
was warm with the heater going twenty-four hours a day but the dampness
would not be driven out. The ground was soaked so that no more
water could be absorbed and it collected in deep puddles or ran
downhill. The tent floor had been fairly hard when we arrived but it was
fast turning into mud. We had tried digging a ditch around the
tent to carry the water off but it would only carry so much and
the ground got softer each day. The legs of our cots started
sinking in. Everyone moved their personal equipment back into the
trucks to make room and to try to keep stuff dry. |
|
-4-
There were some large piles of rocks on the
hill, probably heaped up long ago by the farmers to get them out of the
fields. We started carrying rocks to the tent in an attempt to
create some sort of floor. They helped some, at least allowing us
to keep the cot legs somewhat out of the mud and preventing the cots
from going off at odd angles. We finally had to admit the tent was
in the wrong place. Actually there was no place on the hill which
was perfect, given the amount of rain we were getting, but we looked and
found an area where the drainage was a little better. We took
everything down during one of the short spells when the rain stopped
and we moved. We left the floor of rocks at the old
location. Most of them had disappeared into the mire. I did
not feel like carrying more rocks and I figured a different approach was
needed. There was a large pile of spare 2 X 4 A-frames near the
cable head. I assumed the labor service cable company had left
them there where they would be available for replacement need or in case
they had to erect a new cable line. I always had an electric drill
in my tool box, along with a small saw attachment which fitted into the
drill chuck. The saw blade was too small to saw all the way
through a 2 X 4 at one pass but by turning the boards over I could cut
them. |
We sawed all the A-frames up, used what nails I happened to
have, and made duckboards for the tent floor. They worked
better than the rocks and were not as hazardous to walk around on.
We took the odd pieces of boards, bolts and J-hooks and threw them into
our trash pit, covering everything with a good thick layer of wet dirt
so they could not be seen.
A few days later a cable team (I believe from
the 40th Signal Battalion, which was Seventh Army's cable construction
battalion.) came to the hill looking for their A-frames. They
asked us if we had seen them. I said no and lied further
when I said there had been labor service trucks in the area when we
arrived, maybe they had taken them. I was not a person to lie
normally but I did not like facing paying for what was probably a few
hundred dollars worth of A-frames. I was glad I had thought
to cover all the leftovers up in the trash pit. I did not invite
any of the wiremen to visit our tent.
After we had moved the tent our latrine was too
far from our quarters so we had to fill in the old trench and dig a new
one. The new one took care of our needs for the remaining
time. One had to be very careful not to fall into the trench,
given the slickness of the ground. In fact we had to be extremely
careful moving around anywhere.
Each man took care of his own food
requirements. |
|
-5-
We had plenty of C-rations and 10-in-1 rations and
each person set his own menu and amounts within the parameters of what
we had. The tent heater provided a place to heat food.
Most of the time in Germany the Army was stingy about issuing C-rations,
even to field troops. They had plenty of them, having to
have supplies on hand in case of war, and having to rotate the stock
constantly to ensure they did not go out of date. Yet for
some reason they did not like to issue rations to use. To rotate
the rations the mess halls usually had to feed Cs several times a year,
most of the time making them into stews or other mixtures. I guess
the people in charge saw no alternative to Cs on Hill 571 that time,
given how hard it would have been to supply hot rations, especially
after the rains started washing the ground out.
Whenever one of our 3/4-ton trucks went down to
the company area at Baumholder, for people to shower, pick up supplies,
or other reasons, they would bring back cartons of milk and sometimes
salads or fruits to supplement the rations. Most days at
least one truck would go down. There again SGT Swartzenbeck raised the
ire of all the other men on the hill. We tried to limit the truck
runs required by combining runs. Swartzenbeck refused to associate with the
rest of us common soldiers. |
He never went on a combined trip,
always taking his truck and going by himself. Whenever anyone
asked if they could go on a run SK was making, he always told them to
wait for the next trip. He never asked me or the others if we
needed anything, just drove off without a word. Sometimes he told
his operators he was going, sometimes not.
While on the hill I only had Bender and Serban
with me. Swartzenbeck had three operators, the senior man being
Specialist-Four (SP4) Murray. Murray was an Irishman direct from
Boston. Murray disliked SGT Swartzenbeck and as time went on the
dislike turned to outright hate. I never found out what finally
set Murray off. I only knew one day he came to my truck and
told me he was not working for Swartzenbeck any longer, even if it meant the loss
of his stripes. He said he had called down to Baumholder and
talked to the platoon sergeant (SFC Nix) and told him the same
thing. Not long afterwards I received word from Nix that Murray
was to stay with my team and Swartzenbeck's team would operate short a man.
There were only two American military
television stations in Germany at that time. They were both low power
stations, one of which was right next to our barracks at Pulaski
Barracks, even if the station was officially part of Ramstein Air Force
Base. |
|
-6-
The Americans had long tried to set up stations but had been
blocked by the Germans. One reason was the Germans controlled all
frequencies for television transmissions and did not want to give up any
of their limited amount of frequencies. The other reason was the
German government controlled all their broadcasting and they were afraid
American stations would draw viewers from their networks. The
Americans had so far only managed to get two stations operating, both at
Air Force bases. I had a television set and had taken it to Hill
571 with us. My team raised a second antenna mast with a
"D-Band" antenna on it. It provided a perfect antenna
for receiving the American channel 26 from the Ramstein station.
So we had a television to use while confined to the tent by the cold and
rain. (The station operated limited hours, usually from
about 1500 to 2400 daily, with part of that being reruns from the
night before. Being there were no commercials allowed there were
extensive "public service" announcements.)
The rain, with everything it was doing to
the top of the hill, was also effecting the road between us and the
paved highway. That road ran fairly straight down the side and it
formed a sort of conduit for water washing off the hill. |
There was
a ditch on the side of the road and it washed out deeper at the same
time the road became one giant stream of mud and ruts. Each
time a truck went up or down the hill the road became worse.
Finally the condition became so bad that only 3/4 ton trucks could make
it up or down. Jeeps bottomed out and had to be towed out.
2-1/2 ton trucks slid and spun their wheels. Our gasoline tanker
made it up one day after much effort and thereafter we were told
they would not attempt the trip anymore. For the rest of our time
on Hill 571 we would be notified when the tanker was coming and we would
have to take our empty cans down the hill in a 3/4 to be filled at
the bottom, next to the paved road. Our road at the top of the
hill also was in a huge mess, churned into thick black mud which sent
trucks skidding around and wheels spinning, throwing big clods of muck
in all directions.
One day we started having trouble with our rear
generator, it having cut out without notice. We quickly changed
over to the front one and I checked the defective one. The fuel
pump on the PU-286 generators had a lever for priming the gas
system. It also had a glass sediment bowl. That glass bowl
was great in that it allowed one to see if the gas was flowing properly,
as well as being able to determine if the system had dirt or water in
it. |
|
-7-
While checking the generator I found gasoline was pumping as
long as the gas can was at the trailer level but with the can on the
ground, and in a hole where we were required to keep them for fire
protection, the fuel pump was not keeping the fuel supply up.
Working the primer lever I could hear air being sucked in, a sure sign
the fuel pump had a defective gasket. I called down to Baumholder
and asked the team there to call the company and inform them we needed a
generator repairman, and have him bring a fuel pump for a PU-286B.
After that I left my shift, about daylight, and went to the tent to
sleep while Murray took over the duty.
I only found out what happened after that when
I arose from sleep later in the day and went to the shelter to check
operations. Murray informed me the generator repairman had arrived
in mid-morning, in a 3/4 ton naturally, along with LT Clum, our platoon
leader. While the repairman went to check the generator, Clum
inspected the shelter and talked to Murray. About ten minutes
later the repairman came into the shelter and Clum asked if the
generator was repaired. The man said there was nothing wrong with
the set except the primer pump had been left in the "up'
position. (The manual said the lever should be returned to the
"down" position but in fact it made no difference to proper
operation.) |
The repairman said the rear generator was supplying the
power at that time and that he had shut the front set off. Murray
said LT Clum became extremely irate, told him (Murray) to go to the tent
and tell me to get my ass over there right away.
Murray climbed down the ladder from the shelter
and started towards the tent. He had only gone twenty-five feet or
so when the generator quit. Murray said he stopped, looked around,
turned back around and continued to walk towards the tent. The
repairman in the meantime had jumped from the tailgate and was racing
towards the generator trailer. Clum had come out onto the tailgate
and was yelling for Murray to get back to the shelter. Murray said
he walked back to the rear of the truck, looked up at Clum and asked him
if he did not want him to go wake SGT Stephens? Clum screamed at
him to ..... SGT Stephens, get into the shelter and take care of the
equipment! Which is what Murray did, as the repairman restarted
the front generator and switched the load back to that set. Murray
restored the equipment as the power came back on, making adjustments as
needed. Clum had left the shelter and joined the repairman at the
trailer. Murray said that after the system was restored he leaned
against the shelter doorframe and waited. |
|
-8-
The repairman ended up
changing the fuel pump which I had told them was defective in the first
place, had checked the generator for several minutes, and he and LT Clum
got into their truck to leave. Murray said he could not resist
going over to the truck and asking Clum if he wanted me woken up.
He said Clum gave him a very dirty look and told the repairman to drive
on. Murray said at no time had Clum or the repairman
offered an apology.
It was about a week or so later when we
received word SGT J.T. Cox had finally lost his temper over something LT
Clum had said or done. Cox had taken a spare sledge hammer handle
and driven Clum out of his shelter, threatening him with various bodily
harms if Clum ever came near him again. Cox was a hero to
the platoon ever after. However, the episode did cost him a
general court-martial and the sergeant's stripes he had been wearing for
at least four years.
I said earlier the long cable span between us
and Baumholder made it difficult to adjust the radio and carrier
settings properly. The damp conditions probably added to the
problem. The platoon finally had to send up an AN/TCC-8
"repeater" so we could install it next to the
radio and bring everything up to the proper settings. Our AN/TCC-8
repeaters were never used, that being the only time I had seen one in
operation.. They were supposed to be used every forty-some miles when
using cable as a transmission medium. We used cable for short
distances but it required too much manpower to normally use long cable
systems.
|
We finally made it through the twenty-one
days. It had snowed that first day, had rained at least some on
nineteen days, and on the final day as we took everything apart to pack
up, it snowed again, those same heavy wet flakes. Again they melted as
they hit, only serving to get us more wet and cold. LT Clum came back up
as we we trying to get ready to go. He told us we had to fix our
road ending as much as possible, that the engineers would be coming up
soon to repair the damage but Captain Payne wanted as much road as
possible restored by us. That seemed to me to be one of the
dumbest things I had ever heard. I got a pick and shovel out and demonstrated
to him how impractical the entire idea was. I jammed the shovel
into a mud spot where it jammed. I finally pulled it free and than
had to use the pick to knock about ten pounds of mud off the
shovel . I invited him to try moving the mud around and
filling in any ruts but he declined and told me to leave the job for the
engineers. (It should be noted that, as far as I can remember,
Captain Payne who gave that order had not visited us once in twenty-one
days.)
The regular road was in such poor condition by
that time Clum told us to use the back road off the hill. We had
been told the back road was "off-limits" to us but we went out
that way. We found out why we were not supposed to use that path
when we discovered how narrow it was and how many turns were in that
way. I took out about twenty feet of some farmer's fence making
one turn, another job of maneuver damage the engineers would have to
repair. We made it back to Pulaski Barracks and we were a long
time getting our vehicles clean again. |
-END HILL 571-
V
For
The Love Of Coffee
|
-1-
I wrote
before about the first motor park area we had at Kaiserslautern, about
the mud mainly. It was about a half-mile from the company area,
almost that far from the post exchange/snack bar. The winter of
61-62 was a typical German one, with cold, wet, and a little
snow. The wind always blew in that part of Germany, always from
the same direction. Almost all the trees in the area leaned due to
that constant wind. So it was no surprise that the time we spent
in that open motor park was not a pleasant period.
We would go down in the morning, march back for
dinner, back to the park for the afternoon, before finally getting back
to the company about 1700 (5 pm). The motor park was huge, the
only good point it had going for itself. Plenty of room for our
trucks failed to offset everything else. The mud stuck to
everything, both trucks and us. There was nothing to block the
wind except when we were inside our communications shelters. A
constant shortage of gasoline meant we could not run generators very
much, and without electric power we could not use our heaters.
And, of course, there was no place to get a cup of coffee, which would
have helped a lot to make the mud hole a better place in which to
work.
|
Not that we did not try. At first we would
allow a few men at a time to go down to the snack bar, warm up, and
get coffee or whatever else was desired. Nobody abused the
time, but it still took a good deal of the clock to walk both ways.
I guess that was the reason the company commander (Captain Payne) put
the shopping center off limits during duty hours. We asked if we
could go up to the mess hall for coffee, but that was overruled because
they said there was no extra coffee except for meals.
Specialist-Five Varnedore and I thought we
would try a different way to have a cup one day. He carried a
clipboard and I secured a six-foot folding rule from my toolbox.
We went up to the mess hall, went in without a word to any of the cooks
or the mess sergeant, and I started measuring things. First I
started on the windows, calling out measurements while Varnedore wrote
the figures down on the clipboard, along with small drawings of what we
were measuring. After about five minutes we asked the mess
sergeant if we could have a cup of coffee while we were working.
He said okay. We never knew if he just did not care about what we
were doing or if he had an idea about what we were up to and had decided
to see if we could get by with doing it. At any rate, he never
asked any questions or made any comments. |
|
-2-
We spent about ten minutes "working"
and sipping coffee. We finally put the empty cups in the sink and
went back to the motor park. The following day we again tried the
same thing, that time measuring tables and chairs. We had just
started on our coffee when First Sergeant Spencer walked in.
The orderly room was on the second floor in a building across the
street. We suspected he had spied us from the window. At any
rate, that scam ended quickly and we were banished from the mess hall
except during mealtimes.
Our efforts may have had one good effect, or
maybe it was just the constant complaints the company kept receiving
from almost all of us. A few days later we were finally allowed to
start sending one or two people down to the snack bar to pick up coffee
for each platoon.
Later we solved most of the problem by getting a non-electric coffee pot
and using it with the gasoline "squad" stoves carried by each
of our teams. Coffee grounds were always a problem due to it being
rationed, with only married people being able to get ground coffee.
I have
written about the muddy motor pool the 596th Signal Company used when we
first went to Germany. The mud and giant holes almost defeated us
in going about our daily duties. And while we had some of the
greatest people in the Army, at least in my opinion, we also had
some people that caused me to be angry. |
One of the people was a German sergeant by the
name of Swartzenbeck. (That was the name as far as my memory can
recall.) He was one person that constantly made people, including
myself, mad. He was the type person who thought everything he did
and believed was correct, and nobody else could be right about anything
unless it agreed with his own ideas.
We had winches on most of our trucks. Occasionally
the winch cables would have to be unwound, cleaned, and rewound.
To rewind the cable properly pressure would have to be put on the cable.
That allowed the cable to be rewound tightly and neatly onto the winch
drum. Usually what we would do would be to attach the end of the
cable to another truck and as the cable was rewound the attached
truck would be slowly drawn towards the truck which had the winch.
One day I found Swartzenbeck rewinding the
winch on his 2-1/2 ton truck. The trouble was, instead of using
his own 3/4 ton truck as an anchor, he was using mine, dragging the
truck through some large mud holes. I confronted him, asking why
he was not using his own truck. The only answer I received was him
asking me why I hated him. Without thinking I told him I hated
everybody, especially people who used my trucks for their own dirty
jobs. I had my men unhook our truck and put it back where it was
supposed to be, leaving Swartzenbeck to get his own truck to finish his
job.
|
|
-3-
Inspections held in that muddy motor park were
often a trial to us, as well as jokes. When we held truck
inspections we normally placed a canvas piece on the ground
in front of the truck, than laid out the truck tools (jacks, lug
wrenches, shovels, etc) on those canvases.
The company would often ignore weather and ground conditions when we
held inspections. Many times we laid our equipment on canvas when
they were wet, or even with misting rain. We had all our equipment
clean and rust free, but it never stayed that way after such
inspections. After such inspections Monday mornings were usually
spent cleaning up the equipment which had been inspected the
previous Saturday morning.
The inspection I remember best took place one
Saturday morning during a snow storm. I guess it would not be
properly called a "storm" but it was cold and snow was coming
down heavily, in big wet flakes. We thought the company would call
the inspection off, as the conditions were bad even for their ideas.
We moved to the motor park in the snow and waited for the word that the
inspection was canceled, but the platoon sergeant came down from the
company orderly room and gave us the word to proceed. The only
concession they made was to tell us to lay out the truck and generator
equipment on the tailgates of the generator trailers instead of on the
ground.
We opened our shelters, with the truck
tailgates on the chains. We opened the canvas on both the front
and rear of the trailers, but kept the side canvas tied down. |
The
trailer tailgates were lowered on the chains to a horizontal position.
We got the generator tools out and displayed them in the prescribed
order on the tailgate. About that time we received word that
everyone except one man per truck could return to the barracks. I
sent Serban back and had Bender lay out the tools on our 3/4 truck and
stand by them. I continued to work on the 2-1/2 ton display.
By the time I brought the truck tools around to place them on the
trailer tailgate, the generator tools had almost disappeared under a
layer of wet snow. I moved the tools, wiped the snow away, laid
everything out again, all the time with snow still falling.
I climbed up into the shelter to stay dry and
told Bender to stay in the 3/4 cab until the inspector arrived. I
remember that morning for one other thing. I had a portable radio
going in the shelter, listening to the news of John Glenn as he
made the first of the American orbits of the earth. During the
time I went around to the trailer tailgate twice, moved the tools, wiped
the snow away, restored the display, and tried to re-oil some of the
tools to hold down the rust. After a long cold wait one of
the senior NCOs came past, stuck his head inside the shelter and told me
we could close up and return to the barracks. I asked about the
inspection. He said it had already been held! Different
senior NCOs had gone along looking at the displays, a very quick look.
I informed Bender to put everything away and
started on my own display. Everything was covered with the heavy
wet snow, including us, and I knew that Monday morning would require a
lot of sanding and steel-wooling to get all the rust off again. We
were about frozen by the time we arrived back at the company, and were
not happy at all. |
-END COFFEE-
VI
New Equipment Blues
|
-1-
Early in 1962 we were tasked to
supply two Radio Relay Sets / 36 to the Seventh Army Signal School
located at Lenggries, south of Munich.
Our platoon leader, Lieutenant Keith Clum, instructed me that I
would take my radios and the ones belonging to SP5 Vernendore down to
the school and turn them over. He said they were planning to use them in some maintenance
classes they were preparing.
We had just received two new set, still in their boxes. I argued with Clum, saying we should take those new sets to
the school. They were
bound to have “bugs” in them and as the school was going to use
them for classes, they should work the bugs out.
Our equipment was old but it was good and we could depend on
it. Clum refused to hear
any such arguments, saying the school could recondition the old
equipment while they held their classes. |
So we had to unmount our radios from the walls of the shelters,
put the covers on everything and stack it all for transport.
Then we had to take our antenna equipment from our ¾ trailers
and stack it in the shelters with the radios.
We took the two 2-1/2 ton trucks to the school.
I had charge
of quarters the night before the trip and my chief operator, Bender,
had been scheduled for duty the next night.
I asked the first sergeant about changing duty days and was
told no. I asked him to
at least change Bender so he could drive as I would be sleepy.
He refused all requests. He
told me to take Serban as my driver.
I could see there was no use arguing so I had to take Serban.
I served my duty, took a quick shower and shave and got both
trucks and the people ready to leave early.
I stayed awake as we drove the Autobahn to Mannheim. |
|
-2-
There Serban almost took the wrong
turn but I was still awake to correct him.
I got him headed south towards Karlsruhe.
I told him there was no way to go but straight, the only place
capable of causing trouble being the Heidelberg cut off.
I told him all he had to do was get in the lane that ran under
the overhead sign which said “Karlsruhe” and stay in that lane.
He assured me there would be no problem.
I closed my eyes and must have been asleep within seconds,
engine noise and vibrations not bothering me at all.
The nest thing I knew I was shook awake as the truck jerked to
a stop. I looked around. Instead of wide-open autobahn, we were in the edge of a city,
on a city street. I
looked to the left and saw an American gas station and knew at once
where we were. I asked
Serban how we had gotten into Heidelberg but he was not sure. |
The thought hit me that we were supposed to have another truck
with us. I could imagine
that truck still heading south, the two men in it having no idea where
we had gone or to where they were going, as neither of them knew
anything about Germany.
I jumped from the truck and turned to the
rear. There they were
right behind us! I took
the wheel, the very short nap having refreshed me.
We had to go through the city in order to get back on the
correct autobahn and continue the long trip.
We made our destination late that afternoon, unloaded and
stayed overnight.
The following day we returned to Kaiserslautern.
I let Serban drive part way but I made sure I stayed awake.
At least twice I had to stop him from going the wrong way.
|
|
-3-
The following day we had to unbox the new radios and mount them
to the walls of the shelter, something that took almost a whole day. While that was being done Lt. Clum informed us that early the
next day we would both go to Hill 571 outside Baumholder in order to put
in some test systems. Again
I objected, saying that before we went to the field we needed to test
the new equipment. Clum
told me to quit arguing, that the test systems would also give us a good
chance to test the new radios. So
we continued to work on mounting the radios while our men stowed the new
antenna cases. While we
worked I noticed a company named MEMCOR, a firm I had not heard of
before, had manufactured the radios. |
The next day we took the two teams to Hill 571 and started
setting up. It was late
before we got on the air but we made contact almost at once.
The two terminals had already been waiting for us.
Each of us had only to put in one radio system.
The AN/TRC-36 really was composed of three radio sets AN/TRC-24,
so that by each of us using one, we had two spare sets each.
That should have been more that enough equipment in normal times,
but we had not counted on the new radios.
The other terminals had told us that battalion wanted us to
maintain contact all night to test the system paths.
We settled down to do so, looking forward to a long quiet night. For once the weather was good, something very unusual for
Hill 571 and the whole Baumholder area.
So things should have gone nicely, with little to do except wait
and talk. |
|
-4-
That all went out the window about an hour after we had
established communications.
At that time we started to have equipment failures.
My first one was a transmitter that went out.
I put a spare in and worked on the defective one, without being
able to fix it.
Vernendore started out by losing a power supply and was unable
to correct the problem with that piece.
For the rest of the night it was change this piece or that
piece trying to keep a set operating.
We each had three receivers, three transmitters and three power
supplies and each receiver and transmitter contained plug in
amplifiers.
We started trading pieces as needed.
It was beginning to get hairy and we notified the opposite ends
of the systems that if we lost contact and did not come back up, they
could assume that we had used all our spares.
In that case they were to notify our company and we would stay
on the hill until they sent someone up with replacement equipment or
with word for us to go home. |
We had a lot of equipment to turn in for
repair. I always
suspected Lt. Clum thought we had done something to the equipment to
make it fail, just so we could say, “we told you so”. For my part, I just hoped I would never see the name MEMCOR
again. |
|
-5-
A few weeks later we were to go to
Mannheim and set up several radio terminals for a week of testing.
As we were not going to be tactical I asked for and received
permission to drive my Renault automobile down.
We completed the tests with no troubles.
When it came time to return home we got everyone ready.
Elonzo Roberson was the senior man with us and was going to
ride back with me. We
watched as the last of the truck drove out and we followed.
As they went north towards the connecting autobahn to
Kaiserslautern, we turned off and went to the A&W root beer drive
in. An American had
recently put it in to see how it would be received.
We had hamburgers and root beers before getting back on the
road.
We should have overtaken the trucks somewhere where they had
started up the hills, which slowed them down a great deal.
We started up the hills out of the Rhine River Valley and kept
going but no trucks. |
Finally we pulled into a rest area, wondering what was going
on. I knew they could not have gotten that far with the heavily
loaded trucks. Robbie and
I walked out by the pavement, discussing what we should do.
While standing there we saw the first one coming up the long
grade. We flagged them
into the rest area. There
was Serban driving the first truck.
After questioning we found that he had gone too far north, the
others following him, until they had found an autobahn exit to turn
around. Robbie directed a
different driver to lead for the rest of the trip, and they moved out
again, finally getting back to the motor pool without losing anyone.
Serban left us in September 1962, heading home for discharge.
I have often wondered if he made it home to Philly without
getting lost.
|
VII
Sunday Night Alert
|
-1-
In 1962 the Seventh United States
Army in Germany was probably the finest army ever fielded in
peacetime, from any country. Under the leadership of General
Bruce C. Clark it had been trained and honed to be ready to go to
war on short notice. True, much of the equipment was of older
design, but it was well maintained and the army was well trained and
motivated. Seventh Army's ability to respond was tested on a
regular basis. No more than fifteen percent of its personnel
could be on leave or overnight pass at any one time. Each
month, on an unannounced schedule, the army could expect a practice
alert. Units had to move to the field quickly, reaching
designated areas within no more than two hours, with eighty five
percent personnel and one hundred percent equipment, including
weapons, ammunition and rations. Alerts could come at any time
of the day or night, but usually they came early in the morning.
We were almost always surprised by them, no
more so than one Sunday night about 2230 (10:30 PM). I was
already undressed, getting ready to go to bed when the whistles
started blowing. I quickly redressed in field uniform. I
had two cans of Pepsi Cola in my room and I shoved them into the
cargo pockets of my field pants. I grabbed all my field
equipment and stuffed it into my duffle bag, threw my belt and load
bearing harness, complete with ammo pouches and rifle magazines, on
my shoulders and fastened the belt over my field jacket. It
was a cold night and while I knew our area was clear, I knew there
was snow still in the woods. |
At the same time that the people in the barracks were moving, the
charge of quarters had made telephone calls to off post people who
lived with their families. Each of those people had others to
call, until all company personnel were notified. The same
thing was happening all over Germany, until all of Seventh Army was
alerted, every one of the 175,000 men.
Once I dressed I headed for the arms room,
drew my rifle and gas (protective) mask and went across the street
to my car. Our motor pool was about a half mile from the
company and I usually drove down. At the parking lot I met
Sergeant Bob Jewell just driving in. I told him I would wait
for him in the motor pool if he wanted to ride with me. He
said he would be there as soon as he called SP 5 Ballentine.
Ballentine had brought his family over from the states at his own
expense earlier. He lived in a German apartment which was
about three miles from us by road but only about one mile through
the woods. Everyone who lived off post was required to have a
telephone or be able to be contacted by someone else who had a
telephone. When Ballentine took his apartment the German
telephone people were short cable pairs in his area. They
wanted over three hundred dollars to run a new cable line for his
telephone. To save paying that Ballentine enlisted help from
Jewell and our cable and wire platoon. They had run a WD-1
field wire line from the platoon office to Ballentine's apartment,
through the woods, hooking field phones on each end. One of
Jewell's duties on alert was to crank the phone and call Ballentine. |
|
-2-
I drove to the motor pool
and parked near the gate. I started for the gate on foot,
carrying my gear, when I started thinking that it could end up being
one long cold night. I went back to my car a retrieved an
imperial quart bottle of Paul Jones whiskey which I had been
saving. Putting it in my bag I headed for my truck. I
stashed the whiskey in a small storage compartment our shelter had
in the floor, stowed my duffle bag, mounted the cab and fired up the
engine. Within minutes Jewell arrived and took his place in
the right seat. I left the truck long enough to ensure my two
men were in our 3/4 ton truck and ready to go. Trucks were
heading out the gate as they were readied and we did the same.
We had about a five or six miles drive on
the highway before we turned off onto one of the many good dirt
roads the Germans had running through their woods. We
proceeded several miles through the woods before we came up behind
the trucks which had left before us. As expected, there was a
good deal of slow in the woods. Once at the alert area all we
had to do was shut the trucks off and wait for instructions.
Someone came by taking truck numbers and names of people in order to
account for everyone and everything. It was still well before
midnight and Jewell and I did not look forward to long cold
hours. We never know how long the alert would last and we
never knew if the mess hall would come out with coffee. |
However, I always try to go prepared. I had a small, non
electric coffee pot. Our teams all had small issued stoves,
one of the great items the army supplied. The stoves were run
on gasoline and pressurized air, which was supplied by a small,
built in pump. The stove was part of a kit. The stove
fitted inside two containers which, in turn, fitted inside a pot,
which in turn, fitted inside another, larger pot. The pots had
a cover which, when removed, had fold out handles and served as a
frying pan. So there was a complete cook set that was designed
to serve a squad. The stove, once removed from the containers,
had legs which folded out to provide a stable base. Arms
folded out on top to provide a place for a pot, or, in our case, a
coffee pot. I had one pound of coffee with me so we wasted no
time in starting a brew. While we waited for the coffee, we
broke out the bottle of Paul Jones. Other men started drifting
up had to be asked to share and once the coffee started perking
others came up attracted by the great smell of coffee drifting
through the German woods.
While we were standing around SFC Elonzo
Roberson walked up. He was our platoon sergeant, having taken
over when SFC Nix was killed in a fire. Robbie was a good guy
and a good platoon sergeant.
Robbie was looking for a drink but the Paul
Jones was all gone. Another sergeant volunteered that he had a
bottle of vodka in his gear. While he went to get it Robbie
enjoyed a cup of coffee. As soon as the vodka showed up he
combined that with his coffee. |
|
-3-
I had pulled the two
Pepsi's from my pants and they were also being used to cut the vodka
for some people. Others contented themselves with plain
coffee. I was brewing fresh pots as fast as possible.
The pot held about eight cups. It did not take long to brew a
pot with the hot gasoline stove, but it came out strong. As
soon as the pot was emptied we dumped the grounds and started
again. We used the whole pound of coffee I had and even reused
some of the grounds. When everything was gone I shut the stove
down and put things away as the cooled off.
I had cut the top out of a Pepsi can and
filled it with vodka. Bob had a canteen cup filled with half
vodka and half coffee. A messenger from company headquarters
came by announcing the mess hall had set up at the head of the
vehicle column and was ready to serve breakfast. He said we
would not need our mess kits. We wondered what they could be
serving without mess kits. That was in the days before I had
ever seen a paper plate in the army and the old metal mess kits were
standard for field use. I doubted the mess hall had brought
trays out, but we decide to go check out breakfast.
I stashed my Pepsi can in a secure place and Bob left his canteen
cup. A line of us headed along the trucks until we came up to
where the mess hall had set up their marmite cans. While we
watched we could see that "breakfast" was two slices of
cold toast, one small scoop of scrambled powdered eggs and two
slices of bacon. They did have hot coffee but it was being
doled out in small amounts. We also noticed First Sergeant
Spencer standing to the side. He had his notebook out and was
writing something in it every once in awhile. Bob said that he
would bet that the "Top" was writing down separate ration
people so he could make them pay for breakfast later. The line
moved past him and Bob, Robbie and I got in the rear to get
something to eat. |
I was handed
two slices of toast and, as I held one out, two slices of cold bacon
was added along with the eggs which were also very cold. I
waited for a small amount of coffee to be poured into my canteen cup
and told the man to give me Jewell's share also as he did not have
his canteen cup with him.
We ate the sandwiches as we walked back to
the truck and shared the coffee. Almost before we reached the
truck word was shouted along to start up. We had already heard
engines starting and trucks starting to move. We retrieved our
drinks and climbed into the cab. I passed my Pepsi cup to Bob
to hold in one hand while his other held his canteen cup. When
we got up next to the mess hall truck we were stopped by a
lieutenant who warned us to be careful going down the hill as there
was ice and snow on the road. The road leading into the alert
area was up a very long gentle hill. The road going down the
backside was very steep. There was no problem that we
saw. The road was dirt and gravel. If it had been paved
then ice might have been a problem.
We arrived back at the company area about
0500 and were told that the first formation would be put off until
0800. That was very kind of them. By the time we had
cleaned our weapons and turned everything in we would have at least
an hour to rest after being up all night.
We had thought at least the mess hall would
be open for a regular breakfast, but we were told we had everything
we were going to get. They did not even have any more
coffee. Anyway, Bob and I finished our drinks, which helped
some. And at the formation Bob's prediction of what the First
Sergeant had been writing turned out to be correct. He called
out a group of names and told them to report to the mess sergeant to
pay for breakfast. The charge was only a quarter, but they
were all angry about it, mad that the army charged them under those
conditions. They were also not about to let us have any time
off. They did make a concession in that the day was to be
spent cleaning our gear in the company area. It was a long
day. |
VIII
FRIENDS
|
-1-
While my team was on the hilltop relay in
December, 1961, making a test radio system, I had to drive Serban back
to Kaiserslautern for a dental appointment. He had not told me
about the appointment ahead of time or I would have made some other
arrangements. As it was I could not allow him to miss the
appointment because they were hard to get. While he was getting
the work done I drove back to the company (596th Signal Company) area to
see what was going on. The platoon sergeant was not happy to see
me forty miles or so from where I was supposed to be but accepted it
after I explained the reason. While I was in the company area I
noticed two men I had never seen before. One was a Sergeant First
Class (SFC E-6) and the other a Sergeant (SGT E-5). They were
standing outside the supply room and I asked someone about the two.
I was told they had just arrived and reported in, fresh from the states.
I noticed the SGT had airborne wings on his uniform and that his uniform
was well tailored. I did not give either of them much more
thought, having to go pick Serban up and get back to the hilltop.
|
Later, maybe two weeks or so, I was in the
barracks with several other non-commissioned officers, probably on a
Saturday afternoon. We were not doing anything special, just
talking and killing time. I believe the main conversation was how
Specialist-Five (SP5) Varnedore could drill a hole in a Steinhagen
bottle in order to make a lamp out of it. He was on that project,
on and off, for the entire year I was in Germany, never being able to
get a hole in a bottle without breaking the heavy clay containers.
At least he enjoyed emptying the bottles.
There was a knock on our door and one of our
men came in and asked if we knew the new SFC. We said we had seen
him around but we did not really know him yet. The man said he had
just walked up the hill from Ensiedlerhof and he had found the new SFC
passed out in the middle of the narrow dirt road. We were
stationed at Pulaski Barracks which had no fences around it. The
woods came right up behind our buildings. There was a narrow dirt
road, trail might be a better word, big enough and solid enough to drive
on, which ran down the backside of the hill to the town of Ensiedlerhof
where there was a very nice bar. The road was not an official road and
had little traffic, but once in a while someone would drive on it. |
|
-2-
The man said he had tried to wake the new SFC,
afraid he might get run over, but he could not get him to come alert.
He said that after he had failed to wake the SFC he handragged him off
the road and into the bushes. We agreed that in that case there
was no reason for us to get involved and we went back to the debate on
Steinhagen bottles and other deep subjects. In a half hour or so
one of the men in the room happened to be looking out the window and saw
the new SFC walking up the trail entering the company area. Our
debate changed to talking about getting to know this SFC Roberson, who
appeared our type fellow. Besides, E-6s and above had "Class
VI ration cards and could buy alcohol by the bottle, which we could not.
We got to know him soon after he took over as
assistant platoon sergeant. He was a Texan, an older man, and knew
his business. That alone made him welcome, as we had been putting
up with some senior sergeants who seldom appeared to know what they were
doing. SFC Elonzo Roberson fitted right in with the Radio Relay
And Carrier Platoon and our little group of sergeants. |
The new SGT E-5 was Bob Jewell. He took
over as platoon supply and maintenance chief, replacing SFC (E-6) Kibbe
who had just rotated home for retirement. We did not have a chance
to get used to Jewell because almost at once he ended up in the
Landstuhl Hospital for a gall bladder removal. He was gone a week
or so and when he returned he was given thirty days to recover.
We would see him walking down the hill almost
every day, heading for the NCO club or the post exchange and later in
the day he would return. None of us had any interaction with him
during that period. His surgery had something happen to it and he
returned to the hospital for another week or so, after which he started
another recovery period.
That period we could tell he was going to
and coming from the club more than any other place. He would
walk down the hill in the early afternoon and stagger back in the
evening. It was during that period I was having some of my
differences with the platoon leader, Lieutenant Keith Clum. In
fact, almost everybody in the platoon was having differences with him.
During twenty-one years in the Army I had many good and even some great
officers, but I always said the 596th Signal Company had the worse
officers, as a whole, than any other company I ever served with. |
|
-3-
All the enlisted men agreed there was only one really decent officer in
the unit and that was the lieutenant who served as our supply officer, a
West Pointer who appeared to spend as much time as possible in the
supply room, away from the other officers. Some measure of how
things were was indicated by all our officers, with the exception of
that one lieutenant and Captain Payne, being relieved or transferred in
that first year in Germany.
Clum had me in the office that day, chewing me
out for something long forgotten. During the nearly hour long,
one-sided conversation, Clum happened to mention SGT Jewell, asking why
could I not be like that man? He said Jewell was an old
airborne trooper (who had to quit jumping due to an injury) who always
had his uniforms neat, who always did his work the way the platoon
leader (himself) wanted it done. While he was talking I was trying
to remember who this guy Jewell was. I finally recalled he was the
man who went down the hill each day and staggered back. If Clum
wanted me to be more like SGT Jewell, I would try. As soon as
possible I introduced myself to Bob Jewell and we became friends.
We also drew Elonzo Roberson and SGT J.W.W. Lewis into the group. |
Jewell finished his recovery period and finally
got down to work. Almost at once he started butting heads with LT
Clum, the same as the rest of us were doing. Some time later Clum
had cause to jump on me again for some other reason, again asking what I
thought I was up to. I reminded him he wanted me to be more like
SGT Jewell and I was trying to pattern myself after that person.
He blew up and yelled at me to get out of the office! After that
he never said another word about how great Jewell was.
Lewis, Jewell, Robbie and I enjoyed our days
together. Fouled-up officers or not, we had a great platoon, with
a lot of good men. We communicated the way we were supposed to,
never failing to establish our systems.
The 596th Signal Company was finally assigned a
mission. Under our assignment to the 97th Signal Battalion we were
to supply the communications complex operating at Seventh Army
Rear. Early in 1962 we started doing that. On our first
field exercise we moved to the Baumholder Training Area. The site
which was going to be used for our company assembly area turned out to
be on top of a wide open windswept hill. There was not a tree in
sight to help break that ever blowing wind. There was also a heavy
coating of snow on the ground and that ground was frozen solid beneath
the snow. |
|
-4-
The communications sites were in the garrison
area of Baumholder, with a couple other places on the outskirts for
radio terminal sites, but our tent area for company headquarters,
sleeping tents, mess hall tent, as well as the motor park for all
uncommitted vehicles was on top of that bare hill. Bob Jewell
either stayed back at Kaiserslautern to handle supply, or maybe he had
not yet finished his medical recovery period.
It did not take long to find out what a
miserable place Baumholder was. Those of us with little or nothing
to do just hung around our tents day and night, trying to stay
warm. The mess hall water trailer had to have an immersion heater
inserted into the top opening, burning twenty-four hours a day to
prevent the water freezing. I still remember going to meals,
coming out of the mess hall tent carrying a mess kit with hot food,
having heavy wet snow falling, and arriving at my tent with everything
cold.
I had two cans of coffee with me but at
the time I had not yet obtained a coffee pot to brew the coffee. I
did have a quart pan and we used that to make coffee. We were set
up in a general purpose (GP) medium tent for sleeping. I do not
know how many cots were in that tent but it was overcrowded, with a row
of cots down each side, the cots jammed so close together that people
could only get to and from their cots by crawling from the aisle
end.
|
There were two diesel fired heaters in the tent, burning
night and day. They kept the chill off so we did not have to wear
coats but for the seven or more days we were there the snow cover on the
floors of the tents never melted except for a few inches around each
heater.
Robbie (Elonzo Roberson) and I spent our hours
sitting on the ends of our cots near one of the heaters, brewing and
drinking coffee. Having no pot we wrapped coffee in a handkerchief,
tied it, and used it like a teabag, brewing a quart of coffee at a time
in the sauce pan. Having only two cans of coffee we reused the
grounds at least once or twice to extend the use. Reusing the
grounds, plus drinking coffee from the mess hall at meal times got us
through the week or so we were there. Some units I have been with
kept coffee available in the mess hall at all times, especially in cold
weather, but the 596th always claimed they could not get enough to do
that. We always put that down to one more command failure.
When we had set up the tents we could not drive
wooden tent stakes into the frozen ground. In order to get the
stakes in place we had to use the small point of our pick/mattocks and
break holes in the surface of the grounds, then pound the stakes into
the holes. When we were getting things packed up to leave we could
not get most of the stakes out of the ground, so we broke them off at
ground level and left the bottom sections where they were.
|
|
-5-
Along with Robbie and Jewell, J.W.W. Lewis and
I spent time looking around the countryside. We had a team chief,
a Specialist-Five (SP5) Varnedore who also spent time with us.
Varnedore had a Ford which served us as transportation. I do not know,
at least now, why he was a SP5 instead of a sergeant. He must have
had some other Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) other than Radio
Relay Operation, probably a repair MOS. He was married to a woman
who was from and who still lived in Austria. Her father owned an
ice plant or some sort of business and Varnedore planned to retire and
go into business with his father-in-law someday. Once, along with
one of the company cooks, we drove all over the countryside one Sunday
looking for a certain castle. Varnedore swore he knew where he was
going but we never arrived at any place in particular. The cook
had prepared and brought along plenty of fried chicken and that, along
with a case of German beer, sustained us while we drove. Varnedore
took a ribbing for his directions and driving in all directions.
At least the weather was fair for a change.
|
Robbie had to return to the states once for an
emergency leave. I do not remember the reason for the emergency but
Robbie needed to be taken to Rhine Main Airbase to catch a plane to the
states. By that time I had my Renault, which we called "The
Dirty Bird," in contrast to Jewell's 4CV Renault which he called
"The Blue Bird." I had already taken another man to
Rhine Main earlier in the day for an emergency leave. I took
Robbie up, dropped him off, and returned to the company. Lt Clum,
in one of his normal moods, jumped all over me for leaving the company
area without permission. I told him First Sergeant Spencer had
asked me to drive both men up, otherwise a truck would have had to be
dispatched. Plus my car was faster and better shelter from the
weather than a 3/4-ton truck. That cut no ice with Clum and he
raved on for several minutes, telling me it did not matter who else told
me or asked me to go anywhere, I was not to leave the company area
without HIS permission.
Later the supply lieutenant needed to go to
Baumholder, first to survey something at Hill 571, than to the company
which our teams there were attached to. |
|
-6-
That company ran a small
unit club and the 596th was checking if we could set up a similar
one. I told the lieutenant I would be happy to take him to Hill
571 and Baumholder but he would have to get Clum's permission before I
could leave the company area during duty hours. He obtained the
permission but before we left I received another lecture from LT Clum
about going straight there and straight back.
On the Fourth of July, 1962, Robbie, Jewell,
Lewis and I set out in my Renault to go north along the Rhine
River. We got an early start. Robbie brought along an
imperial quart of Paul Jones Whiskey. The beverage shop at the
American shopping center was not open yet so we dropped down to the
German bar at Einsidiederhof and picked up a case of German beer.
The company did a lot of business at that bar and the owners were good
about letting us have a case at a time, without deposit.
We drove
on the autobahn towards Mannheim, picked up the river road and turned
north, following the Rhine along the banks, or close to them. We
spent some time at an airport, watching gliders, before
driving on. Past Mainz we picked up the true edge of the river,
along with the hills where the major group of castles started. |
We
had a pleasant day along the road to Koblenz, stopping at at least two
castles. At Koblenz we crossed the river and went up to the
fortress above the city. That fortress had been home to the
American occupation forces following World War I. There was a fine
German museum in the fortress which we toured before driving on across
the countryside to meet the Frankfurt Autobahn. The weather was
really foul all day, cold and wet. We ended up in Frankfurt,
checking out a favorite Bavarian type music hall/bar. We finally
arrived back at the company late in the evening, after dropping off the
case of empty beer bottles.
In the late summer Varnedore ended up in the
hospital at Landstuhl. Landstuhl was the major hospital for Army
forces in Europe. It was a huge complex, set in the wooded
hillsides. Varnedore had been due to go on leave to Austria in
order to visit his family but he had developed knee swelling and had
been admitted to the hospital. He was there for a week or
more while they drained liquid from the knee and kept an eye on the
condition. We went out to see him when we could and he always
moaned about not having anything to drink. Lewis and I decided we
would have to do something for him. I had a Mennen's Aftershave
bottle, a green one. We cleaned it out good and filled the bottle
with whiskey. Into the hospital we went, taking our buddy a new
bottle of aftershave. |
|
-7-
We found Varnedore and another patient
sitting in an alcove watching television. We passed Varnedore the
bottle, which he looked at, uncapped, sniffed, and took a drink.
The other man sat upright in his chair: "Man, you must be
desperate!" Varnedore passed the bottle over to that
man. He sniffed, took a drink. "That's the best aftershave I
ever tasted!" After the small bottle was empty I went out to the
car and refilled it. After that Lewis went and refilled it.
Following that time we gave up, not knowing how many times we could go
in and out carrying aftershave without someone noticing.
Jewell's wife and children arrived in Germany
after the travel ban was lifted and he spent off-duty time with them
instead of us, which was only right. We still saw him plenty at
work and once in a while on weekends. As for the rest of us, we
kept touring the countryside's and doing about what we had always done.
The annual Army fall exercise was scheduled for
September and we prepared to go to the field again. A main group
would be heading for Baumholder as usual but this time there would also
be two other major sites. Company headquarters would go to
Zweibrucken to start with and would later displace to Baumholder.
Robbie would be in charge of another detachment of the company operating
at still another site. |
They in turn would later move to
Baumholder at the same time as company headquarters. My team
and Varnedore's team would be going to Zweibrucken.
Jewell would be going to the field with
us. SP5 Ballantine, Jewell's assistant would stay behind at
Pulaski Barracks to handle back-up supply and maintenance. In
addition, he would act as daytime charge of quarters at the orderly
room, with someone else taking care of the night duty. Jewell
would be taking his spare parts cases in my 3/4-ton truck. Those
cases were great old wooden cases which had once been AN/TRC-1 Radio
accessory and parts cases. They had a large group of drawers, with
heavy wooden covers and stout handles. Jewell made room in one
case for a couple bottles of alcohol, not knowing what sort of place we
would be in, Zweibrucken being a new site area for us.
My 2-1/2 ton truck brakes had needed rebuilding
before time to go to the field. There was some question if
the truck, which had been sent to support maintenance, would be
returned in time for the field problem. Support had promised it
would be, so we were scheduled to go instead of having another team take
our place. Still it was close. Our motor pool section
went to support maintenance and picked my truck up the evening before we
were due to depart. Bender had gone and driven it back as I was
tied up with something or other. |
|
-8-
Our vehicles were to be lined up
in the three groups, depending on destination, in our old motor pool
where there was enough room. Bender and Serban had taken care of
getting both our trucks in place. When I saw Bender later he said
the brakes felt fine and both of our trucks were ready to go.
Jewell's cases had been loaded late that afternoon.
The next morning we moved down to the old muddy
motor pool and prepared to depart. The first thing I checked was
the brakes. Bender had said they felt fine but while they felt
solid, I felt they were too much so. There should have been at
least a half inch "free play" in the pedal but I could detect
none at all, or at the most just a tiny fraction of an inch. I
went and found a SP5 who was assistant motor sergeant and told him about
the brakes. He and another mechanic came over and checked them,
the SP5 saying he thought there was enough free play. Still it
worried me. The lack of free play could indicate the brakes had
not been "bled" properly after the overhaul. If the
brakes were too tight the linings might drag. Still, there
was nothing to do so I let it go for the time being.
|
Bender and Serban would be taking the 3/4
truck. Jewell would be riding with me in the 2-1/2. Not long
after we had asked about the brakes all personnel were called together
around a jeep where the motor officer was standing. He went
through a briefing about all three groups, including times, routes, and
what to do in case of vehicle trouble. He also had someone pass
out "strip maps" showing the route for each group to
drive. He stated that the main thing was to follow the truck ahead
and try not to get lost. Jewell and I looked at our strip
map and I made sure Bender and Serban both understood the route to
Zweibrucken. Jewell also went and checked his cases to make
certain nobody had messed with them during the night.
Once the orientations were over we all drifted
back to our trucks and prepared to move out. The vehicles were
lined up in three different groups, depending on destinations.
Robbie's group would be the first serial to depart, followed by the
Baumholder group, with our Zweibruecken group starting last.
We would have twenty minutes or more to wait. I tested the brake
pedal again while waiting and still did not like the lack of free play
but had no recourse but to drive as it was. |
|
-9-
We were lined up in what had been our original
motor pool area. It was about a half mile from the company area
and contained plenty of room within a fenced area. The trouble was
that the surface was dirt. While there had been some grass when we
arrived the previous October, none of it lasted long. With over
seventy trucks moving around, along with all the rain the location
received, the grass or the dirt surface had not lasted long.
Within a few weeks of us moving in all we had was one giant mud hole.
The only solid spot in the entire place was a concrete pad, maybe twenty
feet square, at the gate. Trucks coming and going had formed a
great mud and water hole inside where the vehicles dropped off the pad
onto the ground. The more they dropped, the bigger the hole had
become. They had finally moved us to another motor pool, obtained
by splitting a labor service motor area, closer to the company.
The ground there was packed solid, the only trouble being lack of room.
We had to back our trucks in, unhook the trailers and manhandle them
into position before backing the truck the rest of the way. It
sometimes took a long time to move all the company's vehicles back into
parking positions. Even getting out was a challenge to keep from
hitting other vehicles. |
So we could not line up at our regular motor
pool. That was the reason we were back at the old one. We
had moved the vehicles into place the evening before in order to be
ready that morning.
Robbie's group moved out, followed by the
Baumholder serial. As the last truck of that group departed the
gate we started our engines and got ready. There was a road guard
at the gate to stop what little traffic there was on that road.
Where they badly needed one was at Highway 40. We turned left
outside the gate, after bouncing through the mud hole, onto and over the
concrete pad. Just a few hundred yards down the road we came to
the junction with German Federal Highway 40. Traffic was always
heavy on that highway and we were in the morning rush hour. The
front trucks were getting onto the highway very slowly, one or two at a
time. The serial was getting extremely spread out and I knew there
was little chance we would be able to follow the trucks ahead for long.
We finally took our turn at the intersection,
to be stopped by heavy traffic going both directions across our front.
Jewell kept an eye on the right for me while I watched for a chance on
the left. After a long hold we had a chance to move and I turned
left onto the main highway. As expected there were no trucks
visible as far as we could see. |
|
-10-
There was a spot far in the
distance which might have been a trailer but we would not have sworn to
that. The spot was going on down Highway 40 and our strip map
showed we should turn right and head for the autobahn. I had
Jewell look at the map for a double check and he confirmed my memory.
At the turnoff I wheeled the truck right and headed for the autobahn, a
mile or so ahead. We had only gone a short distance when I became
aware there was a jeep behind us blowing its horn and flashing its
lights. There was no place to stop other than on the pavement,
shoulders not being something the Germans cared to waste land on.
I pulled up and waited for the jeep, which quickly pulled up beside us
in the other traffic lane. That meant both lanes were blocked and
German civilian traffic stopped behind us and in front of the jeep, with
lights flashing, horns blowing, and hands waving madly.
The jeep stopped and Captain Payne jumped out,
demanding to know why we had not followed the other trucks. I told
him why. He was livid one second, red the next, asking why we were
going the direction we were going. I told him the strip map said
to go that way and he asked to see the map. |
Jewell handed me the
map and I passed it out the window to Payne. He looked at it, saying
things under his breath which I could not understand, after which he
handed the map back and told us to go on. He climbed back into his
jeep and the driver drove on around us. I put the truck back in
gear and started moving forward behind the jeep, while Germans drove in
both directions, giving us various types of looks, waves, and head
shaking.
Even before I could get into second gear
Captain Payne's jeep had gone out of sight around a sharp curve.
As we moved I looked in my mirrors and could see not only German
vehicles which had been held up but also a number of our trucks.
They had either followed us, as instructed, or had followed the strip
map as we had. At any rate, we were all headed for the autobahn
regardless of Payne's wishes.
It did not take long to reach that major
highway and get onto the west bound lanes. I was having trouble
getting the truck up to speed. It seemed to be dragging far more
than it should have. The autobahn in that area went down a long
flat valley and we should have been speeding along. At the turnoff
for Zweibruecken we started leaving the valley, heading into hilly
country, going up a climbing section of road several miles long. |
|
-11-
The farther we went, the more the truck slowed. I thought about
the brakes but there was nothing to do at the time but keep going,
besides being back on a narrow road with no shoulders to stop on.
We had gone a good distance up that climbing
road, still slowing, changing into lower gears, finally even shifting
the transfer case into low range. While we were moving over a
stretch of straight (for that area) road the 2-1/2 behind us started
passing. When they came along side the assistant driver leaned out
and shouted we had smoke coming out from underneath the truck.
They pulled on around and went ahead. Lucky for us we came upon
what must have been the only place for miles where there was enough room
to pull a truck off the road and swing it around, a large clearing where
a small side road turned off. By the time I had swung the truck
around and pointed it back towards the pavement we were barely moving,
down in second gear and low range. As soon as we stopped Jewell
and I jumped out and could see a good deal of smoke coming from all the
wheels. I knew the motor pool's judgment of "plenty of free
play" in the brake pedal had been faulty. |
I pulled a fire extinguisher out in case it was
needed. I did not think it would be, knowing the brake linings
were heated but unlikely to burn. The main danger was that a
rubber tire might catch fire. I put my hand close to the wheels
and tires to check but everything was too hot to touch. The smoke
slowly died out, leaving a strong smell. While we had been
checking things the other trucks had passed, the crews waving, sometimes
calling out impolite remarks.
Jewell and I walked over to the edge of the pavement to wait for
the motor pool trucks which should be coming with the trail
party. At least we hoped they would be coming, if they
followed the strip map. If they, for some reason,
followed Captain Payne's idea of the route we might have been
facing a long wait for help. Jewell and I started to regret
having placed his cases in my 3/4 ton. We could have used a
good drink about that time.
We waited for at least fifteen or twenty
minutes before the motor pool trucks arrived. After
explaining what had occurred and after the motor sergeant had
checked the brake pedal, he grew a little angry, wanting to
know why I had not reported the lack of free play in the
pedal. I was a little angry myself but before I could say
anything the SP5 assistant motor sergeant spoke up and told him I
had reported the problem and he had checked the pedal, thinking
there had been enough travel in the pedal to be okay. |
|
-12-
The motor sergeant's anger moved to his own people while telling
them to check the brakes. It took them another ten minutes or so
to "bleed" the brakes on each wheel, finally saying they
should be good afterwards. I tried the pedal when I climbed
back in the cab, feeling the give as my foot went down, unlike the
rock solid feeling there had been before. We started up
again and moved back onto the road, followed by the trail party.
We drove on to Zweibruecken without any
further trouble. Zweibruecken was a "backwater"
type area. There was a Canadian Air Force Base down the road
but as far as the American facilities went there was not a lot
there. The surrounding countryside was some of the most
beautiful in Germany but we were not there to sightsee. We
pulled in where all our other vehicles had already arrived and we
started setting up. Bender and Serban were already there with the
3/4, had marked the place where we had to place our antenna, and
were unloading the equipment. There was a large
parking lot where the 97th Signal Battalion people were setting up
their part of Seventh Army Rear. About a hundred yards away,
at the end of the lot, SP5 Varnedore had his team setting up his
rig and putting up an antenna. He was on a grassy area. |
Next
to his place there was a building which had once been a
guard dog kennel. It was still in good shape and mainly
clean except for dust. All the windows were intact, which was
important to us after we had been told we would use the building
for sleeping quarters. First we had to get set up and
establish communications.
My site was to be on the area behind the
building. There was enough grass there to position our
antenna, while we backed the truck against the curb of the parking
lot, close enough so the coaxial cables would reach the
shelter. I did not like the looks of one thing. There
was a large German power line going over the area just behind us,
at the fence where the American compound ended. There would
be just enough clearance for my antenna but Varnedore's antenna
would be closer. As soon as I could find SFC Nix, our
platoon sergeant, I brought the matter up and was told there was
no other place to set up.
So we went ahead. There was
no problem doing that except for one new idea battalion had come
up with. They had decreed, for safety purposes, we would
wear steel helmets whenever we erected or took down antenna
masts. The helmets limited the vision when trying to look up
and tended to fall off when the head was tilted far enough back so
we could see the antenna tops. |
|
-13-
Regardless, we wore them and
managed to get the antennas up and the radio systems established.
Once we had the systems in, we took up
housekeeping. The dog kennel building was in the shape of a
"T" with the crossbar at Varnedore's end. The main
door was at the canter of that end, with two rooms forming the
crossbar. SFC Nix and his driver took the room on the left
as one entered. The room on the right became the sleeping
quarters for four or five sergeants. We found two
large wooden wall lockers, minus doors, in the room where we could
hang our spare clothes. We brought our cots in and spread
our sleeping bags on them. Nix's room had a solid fuel
heater in his room, which became important because in another show
of wisdom Captain Payne said it was only September and the German
weather would be nice so that no heaters need be taken to the
field. At the time we set up operations the night time
temperatures must have been going down to fifty degrees or lower.
The stem of the building "T"
consisted of a long hallway. The door going into the hallway
was missing and one of our men hung a blanket over the opening to
provide privacy and cut drafts. Our teams put their sleeping
arrangements along the hallway. The dog kennels were along
the hallway on both sides, with heavy wire fence. There was
a rear door at the end of the hallway but it was nailed
shut. The building was much better than sleeping in a tent,
even having the electric lights still working.
|
Having gotten everything set up and
working, we arranged the shifts and settled down to routine.
We off-loaded Jewell's spare cases (with the whiskey and vodka)
into our room where we could keep an eye on them. Jewell
himself, having little to do in the field, was drafted to answer
telephones in the small area of the battalion operations
semi-trailer which had been set aside as space for the 596th
Signal Company headquarters. That did not make Jewell happy
as it meant constant contact with Captain Payne and First Sergeant
Spencer, but it did give us one advantage. It allowed Jewell
to keep up with what was going on.
SFC Nix and his driver established
platoon operations in their dog kennel room, with a twelve-line
SB-22 switchboard connected to the company, battalion operations,
and each of our radio terminal and carrier trucks. All in
all it was a comfortable field exercise compared to most.
There was the cold but we had little rain, and we were eating at a
regular mess hall, not a field mess. In addition we were
allowed to use the showers at a local barracks. Also there
was a local Rod and Gun club (if small) which had good hamburgers
and cold beer and a small post exchange near by. It beat
Baumholder by a country mile. It was the middle of the month
which meant none of us had much money but we could afford the good
draught beer at the Rod and Gun Club. If I recall
correctly it was ten-cents a mug at the time.
Specialist Five (SP5) Ballentine,
Jewell's assistant, did not go to the field with us. He
usually stayed back at the company area to take care of rear
business. During the day he served as the first sergeant,
watching the orderly room and the telephones. Our offices
were on the second floor of the building, the bottom floor being
taken up by the supply and arms rooms. |
IX
Deadly
Fire
|
-1-
We thought we would have a quiet field problem. We did for
another day or two. Than one night everything broke loose.
I was in my rig talking to my men when a man came running up,
banging on the tailgate, and when we opened the door, he told us
fire extinguishers were needed as the dog kennel building was on
fire. I looked but could see no sign of fire on our end of
the building. But I grabbed a 5-pound CO2 extinguisher and
headed around the building. As I rounded the corner I could
see small flames coming from the top of the doorway. First I
looked down on the ground ten or so feet from the door.
There was a man sitting on the ground, a blanket wrapped loosely
around his shoulders. I could not tell who he was. He
was burned badly, every part of him which I could see was black or
red. Large pieces of burned skin were hanging loosely from
him. I glanced only for seconds before I started on the
fire. The inside of the hallway showed signs of having had a large
fire but now all the flames that were left were in the
ceiling. I emptied the extinguisher trying to get into
cracks of the ceiling but could not stop the flames from breaking
out again. About the time the extinguisher went empty, the
army's civilian manned fire department showed up and took over,
tearing out the ceiling and using their hoses to put out what
remained of the fire. |
Along with the fire department came the
medical personnel who took charge of the burned man, who I had
found out was SFC Nix, our platoon sergeant. They got him
onto a stretcher with clean sheets, as gently as possible. I
did not hear him make a sound, and we later found out his throat
had been badly burned. Later we also heard the helicopter
come in to the local pad and take off again after only
seconds. We would be told he had been flown to Rhine Main
Airbase where an Air Force Med Evac aircraft was warmed up and
waiting. The medics told us later it was the first time the
Air Force had even committed such an aircraft in Europe for one
man. They flew Nix to San Antonio, Texas, where the Army had
its burn center at Brooke Medical Center. Nix made it that
far but died not long after arrival.
There was much about the fire we did not know at the time, nor
would we ever get some answers. Nix's driver/clerk had a badly
burned hand, but was otherwise unharmed physically. Mentally
he was in a state of shock.
As far as we could determine he had been using
gasoline to start or fuel a fire in the solid fuel heater in their
room. When I got into the room it was unharmed as far as I
could see, except for the area near the door. All the
windows in the room were shut and fastened. The main fire
had been in the vestibule. From what we could figure a five gallon
gas can had caught fire and the driver had possibly flung it into
the vestibule where it spilled. |
|
-2-
The
sergeants who had been in our room had been awakened by a loud
thud, maybe the gas can hitting the door, followed by flaming gas
coming under the door. They went out the windows. The
fire consumed the blanket which had been serving as a door into
the back hallway. One of the mysteries we never solved was
how the men in the hallway managed to open the rear door which had
been nailed shut. They did not remember how they did it, but
we later found the door open, the nails intact in the door but no
longer in the door frame.
We had been told by the fire department
to stay out of the building but we had to go in and retrieve the
switchboard, classified papers, and our clothes and
equipment. I thought our gear had come through okay at
first. Everything hanging in the open wooden wall lockers
appeared to be normal. Than I reached out and touched a
sleeve of my OG (olive green) wool winter shirt. The
material flaked apart into nothing. Everything, including
our sleeping bags, had been damaged by heat, smoke, or
water. We would end up making a list of everything for the
supply sergeant who drove out from K-town. What was left of our
gear we threw into a pile on a poncho and he carried it back with
him, promising to replace what he could.
Another mystery was how the driver got
out of the building. He was no help to finding out.
His mind was shook up, knowing he had been the direct cause of
Nix's death.
|
We could not blame him. We all had known
Nix had been using gasoline himself, so his driver had only been
following the example set by his leader. The Army tried to
court-martial him. The Seventh Army chaplain had come in to
handle things in his field. He had been the main one talking
to the young man, along with a doctor. The chaplain and the
doctor both agreed court-martial was not called for. Several
of us sergeants also said so, giving the chaplain our names in
case he needed witnesses.
We also could not understand how Nix had been burned. He
must have been sleeping and went into a panic when he woke
up. Except for the area next to the room door, nothing in
the room had been damaged. If he had gone out a window he
would have been okay. He appeared to have tried going
through the burning vestibule, possibly slipping on the burning
gasoline. Otis Gauntney had caught him as he came out the
door and smothered the fire with a blanket which he had carried
with him when he came out of the back hallway.
Nix's wife and family, we found out next
day, had arrived in Bremerhaven on a ship that very afternoon.
Elonzo Roberson was the next ranking man
in the platoon, but he was running another site, and the company
commander did not want him moved. Robbie would take charge
when we consolidated the platoon at Baumholder later. Until than I
was stuck with doing my own duties along with those which Nix had
had. |
|
-3-
Before continuing with other parts of the
narrative I have to relate the rest of the story of SFC Nix and things
connected to him. The day following Nix being burned, our new
platoon leader, a lieutenant who had replaced LT Clum about a week
before we moved to the field, was appointed to be the survey officer and
take care of Nix's things and business, as far as the Army was
concerned. He returned to Pulaski Barracks to take care of that
duty. However, the next we heard about him was from Jewell's
"grapevine connection" at Operations. He had been
arrested at a Kaiserslautern bar his first night back in garrison.
The report said he had been pretending to be a CID (criminal
investigation) agent, trying to impress the people in the bar. He
made only one error in that the two people he was trying to impress
happened to be real agents. Scratch one officer from the company
roster. The company had to appoint another lieutenant to be survey
officer.
I have mentioned that Nix's wife and children
had arrived at Bremerhaven on a ship on the day he had been burned.
We never heard much else about them. I had never met or even seen
his wife and I do not recall how many children he had, nor their ages.
|
Nix had borrowed much money from various people
in the company. He had once borrowed twenty dollars from me while
we were still at Benning, a loan which he had repaid. Why he felt called
upon to repay me I do not know, as he seldom paid back much unless the
lender really kept after him about the money. After we returned
from the field First Sergeant Spencer asked at the first formation for
anyone Nix owed money to to please come forward. About eight or
ten men went up and Spencer took them aside to talk, asking that if they
could, please forget about the money. He said Mrs Nix and
their children were going to be in a sad state without a husband and
father, and the estate probably would not be able to repay small loans.
I guess they all did just that. Bob Jewell was one who had gone
forward. How much he had loaned Nix I never asked but I do
know Jewell was not happy losing the money, regardless of the amount.
Nix had been an SFC (E-6) when we first went to
Germany. At one point, after he became platoon sergeant, he
needed money. I do not know why he needed the money, nor the
amount, but it was more than anyone in the company would loan him.
It may have had something to do with his family preparing to join him in
Germany. |
|
-4-
He tried to get a loan from one of the American companies
operating in Germany but they required a co-signer, who had to be of
equal or higher rank. Captain Payne asked SFC (E-6) France to
co-sign for Nix.
France did not want to do that but a company
commander can bring a lot of indirect pressure on a person and it was
especially so in the 596th at that period. I had the chance to
talk to France about the matter, and while he would not give the
details, he was angry about the entire matter.
Many of us wondered why Captain Payne took such
troubles with Nix. Some people claimed it was because both the
captain and Nix were Masons. Talk about "Mason
Connections" was common all the time I was in the Army and for all
I know there may have have been some basis for such talk. I
do know how Nix got by with things which would have had most senior
sergeants relieved of duties. It was also possible such a
"Mason Connection" was one reason Payne remained company
commander after the Inspector General investigations and all the stick
they caused.
|
I was asked to drive Nix and France to downtown Kaiserslautern where
the finance company office was located. I was not invited to
go into the office but spent a pleasant period sitting in my
"Dirty Bird" Renault waiting for the two of them, watching
the Germans passing on the sidewalks. They took a good time
concluding their business before returning.
Later I talked to France and he was worried about
Nix keeping up the payments to the finance company and it turned out
he had cause to worry. I do not remember if it was the very
first or second payment, but Nix failed to make the payment.
The finance company came looking for Nix, he told them he could not
pay, and they went looking for France. Under their contract
the entire loan amount, plus interest, was payable in full at
once. France had to take out a loan of his own in order to pay
off Nix's defaulted loan. Captain Payne gave no help at all,
nor was any action taken against Nix for causing the trouble in the
first place. What he did do, a short time later, was to help
get Nix promoted to SFC (E-7). At that time E-7 promotions
were still in the hands of battalion commanders, as long as
there was a position open and the person promoted was
qualified. France was furious. The only thing which
prevented him from making a stink was the fact he was preparing to
return to the states. |
|
-5-
(When I ran into France at Fort
Gordon many years later he was long retired and working as a
civilian. The anger over the whole incident still was
there.)
The entire business was just one more item in
the long list of things which caused the 596th Signal Company to be tops
on my list of all time rotten units I had served with. But while
it was on top of that list, we also had an overall group of great
people. Most of our people were like Roberson, Jewell, Bender, and
Serban, hardworking, knowledgeable, and ready to do anything to help
their fellow soldiers. And the mess within the company never
caused a failure within our mission. We communicated with the best
and we were all proud of that.
We never heard much more about Nix's family.
I had never met his wife and do not know anything about his children.
Knowing how Nix was always in debt they must have been left in poor
condition. The government insurance program did not come along
until late 1965, and I doubt Nix had any private insurance. As far
as I can recall there were very few entitlements for survivors at that
time. I hope someone helped the family because they deserved
better.
|
The first few days after SFC Nix was killed we
took things easy, working into new grooves, as well as settling back
into old ones. We had to find new sleeping quarters and we had to
try and arrange what we had to fit the new circumstances. The
supply sergeant managed to get new sleeping bags and he slowly came up
with most replacement uniform items. Some things were not
available and were adjusted on our clothing records. I
should remember where we ended up sleeping but I cannot. I may
have moved into the cab of the 2-1/2, which normally would have been a
no-no, but things were not fully normal at that period.
A few days after the fire Jewell, Varnedore and
I wandered down to the Rod And Gun club. The Rod And Gun clubs in
Germany were usually nice places. The one in Kaiserslautern had a
good bar, good food service, a well stocked sporting goods store,
fishing ponds, as well as skeet and trap ranges. The one at
Zweibruecken was on a smaller scale, just a small bar and grill and if
they had anything else it had to be located somewhere else. One
other thing the clubs had were slot machines. They all had nickel,
dime, and quarter machines. I sometimes played the nickel machines
but stayed away from the others. |
|
-6-
When we went to the club that day I believe we
had about three or four dollars between us. We set up a round of
good draught beers in large mugs at ten-cents each. I took a
dollars worth of nickels and tried the slot machines. I had only
pulled the lever a few times when I hit the jackpot, which was $7.50.
While the manager was getting my money I tried another machine and hit
another jackpot! That gave us fifteen dollars. After I
hit the second jackpot Varnedore tried a machine. I quit while I
was ahead and went back to the table to talk with Jewell. A minute
later Varnedore motioned me over to his machine. He had hit a
jackpot and wanted me to claim it as he thought his membership had
expired. You could eat and drink without a card but you
could not use any other facilities without one. You could play the
slot machines without a membership but had to have one to claim any
winnings. I claimed the jackpot, which gave us a total of $22.50.
After I had claimed the jackpot I realized Varnedore's club card still had to
be good as we had joined at the same time. |
While we were set up in the area next to the
German power lines a man from the German power company came by, saw how
close Varnedore's antenna was to the power lines, and raised Cain.
The colonel told him we were going to be moving the next day so we were
not going to move the antenna for that short time. The man checked
with his headquarters. They were not happy but agreed we could
stay in place for one final night. However they did put a man in a
truck next to us. He was in contact with the power people via
radio and had instructions to order them to cut the current to the
lines at the least sign of any arc-over. That was an extremely
wet, foggy night, even more so than normal for the area, and it would
not have taken much to have an arc created. But we made it to
morning, the German watcher departed as the fog lifted, and we started
taking things apart, preparing to move to Baumholder.
As we were ready we moved our trucks out onto
the parking lot, lining them up. Than we were off to Baumholder.
At the same time Robbie had been closing his site and they were also
heading for Baumholder. We all arrived there without incident.
All the communications needed there were already in place so those of us
who arrived that day were not needed. Bender and Serban were
loaned to operating teams to help out, while I moved into a tent to stay
warm and kill time. |
|
-7-
It had turned even colder by that date and Robbie
had set up the heater he had carried to the field, regardless of Captain
Payne having said they would not be needed. Robbie and I went back
to brewing coffee, in a newly acquired non-electric pot, talking,
sleeping, and reading. Robbie had plenty of duties, now that he
was platoon sergeant, but he made his headquarters in our tent unless
needed somewhere else.
The second or third day we were there we lost
our heater when Captain Payne came through the tent and found it
unattended. (He almost never visited us so maybe he was just
looking for the heater.) Our safety rules required a fireguard on
duty whenever a tent heater was burning. There did not have to be
a formal guard but someone had to be awake, dressed, and out of bed in
case of heater trouble or fire. They were pushing the rules after
Nix's death. Payne ordered the heater taken out. What was
done with the heater? They installed it in the officers'
tent where it burned for the other two or three days we stayed on the
hill. We could see smoke from the chimney each time we looked and
we knew the officers did not have a fireguard on duty. |
We finally closed the field problem and
returned to Pulaski Barracks. We got up very early that
morning in order to take everything apart and load and get an early
start. We had a makeshift breakfast at Baumholder long before
daylight so the mess hall could return even earlier than the rest of the
company. We got to Pulaski, fueled our trucks, parked them, turned
in any defective equipment, and did all else we had to do. We were
still dirty, hungry, wet, and wanting a cup of coffee.
Roberson, Jewell, Lewis, and I loaded into my Renault and prepared to
drive to the snack bar at the shopping center for coffee after the mess hall
said they would have none until dinner. We also had one other team
chief with us, a specialist-four who we had been told had been promoted
to sergeant but whose orders were being held until we returned to
garrison where they could be presented to him.
As I drove the car from the company area
Robbie, who was in the right front seat, saw First Sergeant Spencer
looking out of his second floor office window. Robbie said he bet
Spencer would have plenty to say when we returned. It turned out
Spencer did not wait for our return. The five of us were in the snack bar,
some already having purchased coffee and donuts, some, including me,
still in the checkout line. |
|
-8-
Spencer came into the snack bar and in
a voice everybody in the place could hear ordered us to return to the
company at once and report to his office. We left our coffee where
it was, loaded back into the car and drove back to the company, all five
of us reporting to the office.
Spencer told the SP4 to report back to his work
area while he ordered the other four of us to report to Captain
Payne. We three sergeants followed Robbie into the company
commander's office, lined up and saluted while Robbie reported.
Payne jumped right on us, giving a lecture about what we were supposed
to be doing. After going on about how we should have been doing
this and that, he finally asked Jewell what he had to say for himself
and why he was not working instead of going to the snack bar.
Jewell said his work was done, that his weapon and gas mask had been
cleaned and turned in, that Ballantine had taken all defective equipment
to support maintenance, that all parts which had been used had been
replaced or reordered. He said we had been up working since
the middle of the night and the mess hall had no coffee. Payne
asked me the same question.
|
I told him my trucks were fueled,
ready to go again, my team had cleaned and turned in all weapons and
gasmasks, my field equipment was back in place in my room, ready to move
on notice, and my two men were cleaning personal equipment as
directed. I also told him the same thing that Jewell had said
about the mess hall and coffee. He than asked Lewis the same
thing, even knowing what he was going to hear. Lewis repeated the
answer almost word for word and when he started in about the mess hall,
Payne cut him off and ordered we three to go on back to our duties.
He kept Robbie as we left.
Later Robbie came to the barracks where we were
doing little besides checking on our men now and than. He
said Payne had chewed him out good but really just seemed to be talking
because he had no answers to our answers. He suspected what really
set Spencer off was not that we went to get coffee but that we had taken
a SP4 with us. Spencer did not believe in NCOs and lower ranks
being too friendly. |
|
-9-
A few weeks before we had departed for the
field we had received a form from battalion. They wanted to know
everyone who had served six months or less in the United States before
returning to Germany and where each of those people would like to go if
they were to be returned to the states. I had one day less than
five months from the time I returned from Germany until the day we had
left New York. Now, almost without warning , when we returned from
the field I found orders to return to Fort Benning shortly.
Gauntney was another person in the same category but said he did not
want to return and battalion had his orders canceled. As for me, I
would have liked to have stayed with the company, with the people I
knew, and I almost asked to have my orders canceled. The incident
with Spencer over the coffee made the difference in my thoughts. I
had had enough.
I had to process very fast and take care of
personal business. The company I had my Renault financed with
would not let me take it out of Germany without it being totally paid
for. I talked Bob Jewell into taking the payments over, giving him
a more dependable car and relieving me of the problem I had no time to
solve. |
Early in October, 1962, several of us rode a
German train to Mainz, where we waited for and caught the daily troop
train to Bremerhaven and the following morning we boarded and sailed on
the USNS Darby. Returneing to Fort Benning I settled in with the
122nd Signal Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Division. In the fall
of 1963 many of the units which had gone to Germany on the 1961 buildup
started returning to the United States. During and before the
redeployment many of the people who had gone to Germany with the 596th
were shifted between units. First Sergeant Spencer, I was told,
moved to another unit as a new sergeant major. J.W.W. Lewis
transferred to the 53rd Signal Battalion and returned to Fort Chaffee,
Arkansas, with them. I had kept up with him, as well as Robbie and
Jewell, so I knew about them returning.
The 596th returned to the United States, minus
equipment, and was sent to Fort Chaffee. I took leave and drove
the fifteen-hundred mile or so round trip from Benning to Chaffee
to visit with the people I still knew. The military policeman on
Chaffee's gate had never heard of the 596th. He sent me to Lewis's
company but Lewis was off for the day. |
|
-10-
That company did tell me
where the 596th was. I parked and headed for the company orderly
room, meeting the same supply sergeant who had gone to Germany with us,
and who had done such a good job for us after the fire which killed Nix.
He took me to the barracks where I met Robbie, Jewell, and others.
(Including the ex-SP4 who had been with us when we went for
coffee. He had received his sergeant stripes without trouble and
without anything else being said to him about that incident.) We
all picked up some beer and drove to a picnic area, talking over old
times, drinking a few cold ones. I finally said good-by and shook
hands all around. It would be the last time I would ever see most
of them, or have any direct contact with the 596th Signal Company.
Final notes: Bob Jewell left the Army the following year, becoming
a civilian in Ohio and than moving to Arizona. We sent
Christmas cards each year and a letter every so often. I finally
received a letter from Virginia Jewell telling me Bob had died of
cancer.
|
Elonzo Roberson stayed with the Army, making
SFC (E-7) and coming up for first sergeant but turning down the
promotion in order to retire in 1973. In 1967 I had spent a few
hours with him at his home in San Angelo, Texas, where he was on leave
after returning from Germany once again and I was on leave from
Vietnam. The following day I went on to my home and Robbie
departed for Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and a new assignment.
Elonzo and Jean Roberson came to Gainesville, Florida, in 1971, where
Robbie was best man at my wedding. Robbie retired from the Army in
1973 and lived outside Augusta, Georgia, until he passed away in 1988 of
a heart attack which seemed to allow him a peaceful end, without visible
pain. I made my last report to him at his funeral, telling him how
sorry I was, but how grateful I was to have known him.
When I left the Army in 1978 after over twenty-one years I kept up with
only three people I had known during those years. Robbie and
Jewell were two of the three. We had shared, along with many
others, a special time and place. Nothing I could ever write could
ever explain what those two had meant to me, and how I probably would
not have made it through 1962 without them. |
-END -
Unincorporated parts
X
The Goldbrick
We had a man in the company. I wish I
could remember his name, but it has long ago escaped my mind. He
was one of the biggest "goof-offs" I ever encountered in
twenty-one years of service. Like myself he had just returned from
a tour in Germany when he got caught by the Berlin buildup of 1961,
returning to Germany with the 596th. He had been in the Army for
three years and was still a private first class (PFC) (E-3). His
father was some big businessman in New Jersey and as best we could
determine had been angry when the man came home after three years, still
a PFC, telling him he would never inherit any of his money at that rate.
The word was that the man was also so angry he went out and re-enlisted
in the Army. Regardless of the truth, he was on his second
enlistment and was likely to always stay a PFC. He was a master of
getting lost whenever work was due. He was also a master of
excuses so that we could never pin any big offense on him in order to
get rid of him.
He never had a shortage of money. A PFC
only made about a hundred dollars in those days. Whenever he
needed money he wrote his Mother, who did not seem to share the Father's
opinion of their son. Once he bought a new bicycle at the
exchange, only to have it stolen a week later after leaving it in the
woods one day, unlocked. He wrote home and received enough money
from his mother to replace the bicycle.
One day in the motor pool, after we had moved
up the hill to a smaller but drier area, people were looking for him.
We searched all over for him, without success. Finally a man said
he had seen him working in the back of his team's 3/4-ton cargo trailer.
We went to the trailer, to discover the canvas was tied down all the way
around. The team chief untied one corner of the canvas and tossed
it back. There was the goof-off, in the dark. He had a
gallon of paint and a brush. He swore he had been
"spot-painting" the inside of the trailer in the dark. There
was paint on the brush, and spots of paint in various places on the
trailer sides and bed. We could not prove he had not been working.
Nor could we prove he had been sleeping. Oh yes, he was one of the
best I ever found. |
In late September, 1962, several of us who had
had less than six months in the states before being sent back to Germany
were given the chance to return to the US. I prepared to return,
and also that "goof-off." The day we were to leave we
were in front of the orderly room, waiting for transportation to the
train station. The man had his duffel bag, but it had had a large
section sewn on, making it about fifty percent bigger than the standard
duffel bag. He also had a handbag. In addition he had a pair
of boots and his shaving kit tied outside his duffel bag. Several
of us wondered what he had to need so much room. One sergeant
remarked it would not surprise him if the man had a sleeping bag
in his duffel bag.
We caught the train, going to Bremerhaven where
we boarded the USNS Darby. Once on the ship I lost track of the
man at first. The second day out I found him on one of the hatch
covers on the stern of the ship. He was in a SLEEPING BAG, with
only his face and one hand outside. The hand held a book which he
was reading. Each day for the trip to New York he could be found
in that sleeping bag, sleeping or reading. And almost without fail
his name would be called over the public address system at least once a
day as someone tried to find him for a detail or other duty.
Army canteens and canteen cups were always
dated with the year they were made. While I was with the 596th I
had a canteen dated 1918. It was the only one I ever saw that old
and I was determined to find a matching canteen cup. Each time I
encountered someone with a cup I would ask to see the date. I
never found one, at least not until I was processing out in early
October, 1962. When I was in the supply room turning in my field
equipment, I saw a cup on the supply officer's desk. Without
thinking I picked it up and checked the date. It was 1918.
The supply sergeant told me I could take the canteen and cup with me if
I wanted. I considered the offer, finally saying no due to my
already stuffed bag. In addition, if we had a shakedown along the
way they would just be taken away from me. I wish now I had
accepted. I never saw another one, cup or canteen, anywhere near
that old. |
XI
Training Areas
|
-1-
Another major training area
was at Baumholder, not too far from Kaiserslautern. Wildflecken
had one infantry battalion stationed there full time, as I have
mentioned, as a "tripwire" unit along the East German border.
The training areas at Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels were committed entirely
to training and had no full time troop units, other than support units.
Baumholder, in contrast, had a large troop deployment. In 1961-62
when I was with the 596th Signal Company and we used Baumholder, the 8th
Infantry Division had a full battle group stationed there, along with
other units.
Baumholder was also unique in one other way.
The town and camp was famous throughout the American community in
Germany for the bars and the troubles that occurred in the area.
The "Stars And Stripes" was the American newspaper in Europe,
published by the military and distributed to American personnel.
It was a decent paper for most news, and had a good Sunday comics
section. But the Stars And Stripes tended not to publish news
which did not show the American military in a positive image. For
news of a "scandal sheet" nature, there was an English
language paper aimed at the Americans. That was "The Overseas
Weekly," published once a week. It could be counted on to
always have stories telling the seamy side of what was going on.
It was a slow week when The Overseas Weekly did
not have a story about some trouble at Baumholder. There was
almost always someone being stabbed, shot, tearing up bars, or off on
some other such thing. From reading the stories one could come to
believe Baumholder had to be a huge town. In real life it had one
street, the highway which led into Baumholder Training Area. There
was almost no town except for bars. I have forgotten the exact
number, but the small town had somewhere around sixty bars. |
We went to Baumholder several times. It
was always cold and wet. The company usually set up on top of a
bare hill which was fully exposed to the constant wind. We had one
team at Baumholder full time, operating the end of a radio/carrier
system. Most of the time when my team operated at Baumholder, we
set up about four or five miles off the base, on top of Hill 571.
It had trees, but was just as cold and wet as the base. We used
the hill in April, 1962, for 21 days. The first and last
days we had snow flurries. The other 19 days we had rain.
Our radio teams which operated at the base location
usually set their sites up on a hill which had been logged clear.
The large trees were gone, but for some reason the stumps had been left
in place. Most of the stumps were about six inches high, and from
two to four feet wide.
Our trucks had to drive over some in order
to get into position. We had a Specialist-Four (SP4) from West
Virginia by the name of Nutter. He was a kind of
"mascot" for the platoon, being liked by everyone, but a
little prone to be the butt of jokes. He was senior enough
and good enough to be a team chief. He took his team onto that
stumpy hill once to set up. They had their antenna almost up when
something went wrong and it dropped. The two reflectors came down
onto two stumps, as if it had been planned. Nutter never was able
to live that down.
We never used Baumholder for anything else.
I assume they had ranges and other training areas, but we never used
any. When we traded our carbines, M-1 rifles, and M-3 submachine
guns for M-14 rifles in 1962, we went to another place to conduct
firing. I do not even remember where that range was.
Baumholder memories have always been cold and wet weather.
|
-END-
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