I turned in Fort Hood, Texas and was too young to appreciate a tour of duty in Germany. I had visited some of the sites, but most of my free time was wasted. more leave while there and toured more.
After the troop ship landed in Bremerhaven, Germany, we loaded into a train and headed south to a small town near Frankfort, Germany. Hanau would be my home for the next two years. The cold war was building up and we were warned about riding And then it would be too late and it may be months ago for the morning to get you back.
Large targets may have been raised for the solder on the firing line to shoot at, then you If they missed the target and mark the bullet holes. they are not together, they would get "Maggie Drawers," a red flag would be washed from the pit for everyone to see. Sometimes if you did not care for the person on the line, we would give him "Maggie Drawers." We walked out to the main road with our rifles over our shoulders and put out our thumbs. In no time we were back at the Barracks and no one said anything, I guess that we were not missed.
It was a short walk to the motor pool but it is a half circle with the motor pool and equipment on the a side circle with the motor pool and equipment on one side and the barracks on the other side. We had Red alerts about once a month and we would jump out of bed, rush down to the arms room in the basement , It was great in the corner floor. It was great except for a low support so that the floor to the ceiling. We soon learned to duck under or avoid it.
We are trained for an Atomic War heads for the Honest John Missile where we are moving them, because they would warn us about taking I have taken a few pictures of the cranes that lifted the war heads but not of the warheads. Shells for the Atomic Cannon where moved around all over our area and could have been well stored stored in the basement as well There were rumors that we could had Atomic rounds for the 8 inch and 155 mm guns, but I never knew for sure.
B Battery, 3rd Armored Division 2nd Howitzer Battalion, 73rd Artillery, consist of six 155mm M109 self-propelled howitzers and an armored personnel carrier for Fire Direction Control. Except for direct fire practice, the artillery would be shooting blind under the control of the Fire Direction Control Center. The Fire Direction Control Center would Receive information by radio from the forward observer who was watching the rounds hit the impact area. The pack of charges for firing the 155 mm shells came in a pack of seven. as a safety measure, one of the gun crew would count the discarded charges and repeat out loud to avoid mistakes.
This was my job, Battery Recorder. I would ___ ___ __ 2 ___ ___ 0 We will use this awarding circle, a device which has a compass and a scope for sighting in different angles. You are aligned the way to the same direction parallel to each other. You aligned the device to magnet north by looking through a hole at the end of the If you had the wrong end. Then you had the wrong end, then the guns would be laid out 180 degrees and you would be shooting backwards. One of the Hones t John rockets was laid out back in Grafenwohr during practice. The rocket with just enough enough explosive to blow the head apart, hit a building in a nearby town. No one was hurt.
The first order of business. The first order of business From this target with the new position was to give us corrections over the radio. We would bracket the target with usually only three rounds. From this That we are then aim at any other target within the azimuth. That is other than the calculations that the usability of the azimuth. This information was sent to the guns in a string of information as Charge, Elevation and azimuth. The recorder wrote down this information as it was being given to the guns.
After setting up the alignment stakes for the guns and while waiting for the guns and while waiting for the command station for our Lt. who over saw the operation. and erect a tent or camouflage over it, depending on the weather. Two pictures of Lt. Weske and myself on the field telephone are in the 1959-1960 Spearhead year book for the 73rd Artillery, 3d Armored Division
My cousin, Anna Lell, started writing to a pen pal in Germany. We wrote several letters back and forth and I was invited up to Hanover when I A friend of their owned A got some leave. Hanover was in the British sector and they were not used to seeing American soldiers. Annamarie 's father was a solder in WWII and I am not sure how he felt about his daughter seeing me. I am not sure if Anna Lell is still writing to her. We went to the movies, took long walks and toured Hanover. Nothing more became of the relationship and we lost touch.
I also corresponded with Becky, my friend from Englewood, Tennessee while I was in Germany. It was nice to get letters from home and others while away from home. Once shortly after I arrived in Germany I took a week of leave and went camping. I have not had much money so it seemed like a good idea. I fit right in with the campers and my pup tent. The locals at the camp ground were friendly and they had a nice swimming hole.
I persuaded Zink who I was not much for drinking, I might go out on the town with some of the other soldiers and just sit on one drink all night. Zink took good care of me that. I guess it was used last name. I guess it was waste our last name was always there on the front for everyone to see. I hate knowing what was going on around me and I do not recall ever trying that again.
Operation Winter Shield took place in February 1960 with the Seventh Army at the Grafenwohr training grounds. This weather was cold and dry. This return the cause of a major motor pool fire at the start of the training. A returning jeep driver was refueling one night from a tanker parked in the motor pool, it was quiet a sight with all the vehicles moving past the burning jeep and fuel tanker with the tires blowing and flames reaching hundreds of feet into the night sky.
One of the Batteries experienced a shell going off just after the leaving the barrel of the gun. There is a road some 100 yards in front of the position and a Lt. In a jeep had a close call. We got the cease fire on the radio There is a safety limits on the dial, so it has had be a defective shell in order for it to go off that soon.
We would go to Grafenwohr about every five months for training and that summer we returned.
Gen. Colin Powell wrists in his 1995 autobiography "My American Journey" about his time with the Division in 1958-60 and about the Cold War and the Army "mission in Germany.
Colin Powell was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division on December 1958, the 21-year-old 2nd Lt. joined the 2nd Battalion, 48th Infantry Regiment, at Coleman Kaserne. After a promotion to 1st Lt. and training in Grafenwohr, he related the I was also in the field at Grafenwohr that fateful day. We were in the middle of a firing mission with our 155 's when the radio broke open with a command to cease firing, hold all positions and maintain radio silence .
(Form General Powell 's book)
It is a morning after payday in the summer of 1960. Our brigade had gone to Grafenwohr for field training. While working as Louiseil & # 39; s exec, I got a forestaste of what hot war could be like. Our troops were to be piloted in over six hundred general-purpose tents. Our company had not yet arrived in force, but a sister unit, the 12th Cavalry, had come in the night before. Its tents were full of troops, still asleep at I was returning from a bartering mission with another company & # 39; s exec., Bringing rations I had traded for back to our mess hall. My ears pricked up at an odd, whistling sound overhead. In about a nanosecond, I realized it was an artillery I stopped, frozen, and actually saw the 8-inch round come in. It stuck a tent pole in the 12th Cavalry & # 39; s sector, detonating in an air-burst. The roar was deafening, followed by a terrifying silence. I dropped the food a Some other soldiers joined me, wading through the acrid smoke and fumes. Inside the tent, I zipped open a I am an instant, a dozen lives have been snuffed out and more men wounded. The tragedy was later discovered by human error in aligning the gun , and the battle commander and other officers were relieved of their duties. I had seen a hundred war movies, but nothing happ prepared me for the sights I saw that day.
(End of account from General Powell 's book)
(Account of the accident from the History Web Site of the 3rd Armed Division)
This one, however, stands out as apparently the worst US ground training accident of the entire Cold War. Just after roll-call, on a rainy Friday morning on September 2, 1960, sixteen soldiers were killed and 27 were wounded when a 200-pound artillery shell landed among them at Camp Kasserine, Grafenwoehr. All of the men were from the 3rd Reconnaissance Squadron, 12th Calvary, 3rd Armored Division. The shell, which had an incorrect charge due to human error, was fired by a V Corps Artillery unit - Battery A, 3rd Battalion, 18th Field Artillery.
I knew exactly what happened that morning, someone morning was that they are all the best rounds could be followed the deadly misplaced round.
I tried to take a typing course during my time in Germany, I started about course three times and the time we had a pull out for field training. have helped me over the years.
I saw Tivoli Gardens and towers, Denmark. Saw a lot of museums and towers, one tower was built for a queen to ride up in a carriage had a circular ramp all a way to the top. I saw Tivoli Gardens and The bars rotated hours, at midnight half would close and another group would open. Copenhagen had a lot of night life and said I did not dance I, I enjoyed watching. I was a loaner, maybe because I was younger than the others. I took this trip and others by myself.
Near the end of 1960, the majority of our units for discharged, these are the drafted men who only had to serve two years. The enlisted person had had to serve three years had to take over the operations for another three months At the same time the men who were turned over to the German Army. The men who still had the reminder of their tour to serve were transferred to units like ours who were now short of men.
I was promoted to Sp4 and placed in charge Control center under a new Second Lt. Phelps. Even though I had received advanced training at Butzbach, Germany in January 1959 in Fire Direction, I had been acting only as the battery recorder I was was cautious, remembering the accidents I have had a new crew with no experience or training in the Artillery. I connected classes, but it was hard to hold the interest of me. That had occurred I did not want any blood on my hands.
During the winter of 1960/61 we were involved in the tests at Grafenwoehr and I am proud that we completed the exercises without incident. I was given an article 15 and reduced back to Private and 2nd Lt Phelps did not get his 1st Lt. bars. I bought the article with the help of barracks lawyers, until it is almost time for me to ship back to the states. One of the guys at headquarters told me at the end that if I I do not gotten so hard, he could have torn up the papers and no one is have the wiser. I want was too late at that point so I stripped off all my rank from my uniforms, except one set that I saved for the trip This will keep me off any picky details that were dished out along the way.
We were fortunately to fly back to the visit family, now living in Florida, before reporting for duty at Fort Lewis, Washington. I was hiring to be stationed closer to my home, however you are are to to The nearest post that you enlisted. As I enlisted in Portland, Oregon, then Fort Lewis would be where I would be discharged.
