Post by janclute on Apr 9, 2012 15:21:03 GMT -8
I was in HQ Btry (worked in S-3 for MSgt Holloway in the basement of the Bn HQ building at the head of the parade field. CO was Capt. DeWalt. Worked with Capt. Bell and Capt. Rembecki. Was always in trouble with my 1st Sgt. (forget his name). Remember guys named Fricke, Ungerman, and Fusilier, and Dean from S-2. (shared 5-6 man room on 2nd floor). Mess Hall was outstanding (best of many I experienced). Good snackbar at opposite end of parade field (2nd floor) (western burger, BLT with a cheeseburger on it, basically). Spent a year then went TDY to the stockade in Frankfurt (office clerk), then to 32nd Arty Gp HQ in Babenhausen in 1963 back to Giessen briefly, then to V Corps Artillery HQ at Cambrai-Fritsch Kaserne in Darmstadt (never got promoted but could both spell and type, so forever in demand). Was a PFC E-3 with 27 months in grade when I got out in 1965 (never got busted somehow!). Good Gasthaus just outside base, wurst, dark bread, and fliptop of good German bier was a first rate lunch when you could get away with it. Was making $78/mo. with overseas pay when I got out, so broke a lot and playing pool in the day room. Remember Soviet Military Liaison Mission managing to get in one gate and out the other one day (bet the MP's were in trouble!). Drove a 3/4-ton truck and a green 2nd Lt. to Grafenwoehr leading 10-ton ammo trucks on windy roads. Spoke some German so seldom bought a beer when on the town. Germans loved it. Best train system ever. See that an autobahn goes by nearby, but they never let us onto it. Germans were crazy enough drivers on slow roads. Wonderful, warm people though. More holidays than anyone. Spent a lot of time at the EM Club drinking Beck's Bier. I was 17! -Jan Clute, Iowa