A 17-year-old Solder in Germany
By: Hubert Crowell
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| I turned 17 in my second eight weeks of basic training at Fort Hood, Texas and was too young to appreciate a tour of duty in Germany. I did visit some of the sites, but most of my free time was wasted. I should have taken more leave while there and toured more. |
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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 the trains to close to the border. You could get on the wrong train headed for East Germany and it would not stop until the first station inside East Germany. And then it would be too late and it might take months for the military to get you back. |
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Following small arms target practice one day about an hour drive from Hanau, two of us decided to skip the target duty and hitch hike back to the barracks. Large targets would be raised for the solder on the firing line to shoot at, then you would lower the target and mark the bullet holes. If they missed the target all together, they would get a "Maggie Drawers," a red flag would be waved from the pit for everyone to see. Sometimes if you didn't 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.
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| The Barracks at Hanau were built by the Germans before WWII and the base was well laid out in a half circle with the motor pool and equipment on one side and the barracks on the other side. It was a short walk to the motor pool but it seemed longer when you were caring all your gear and a 30-Cal Machine Gun or the barrel of a 50-Cal. We had Red Alerts about once a month and we would jump out of bed, rush down to the arms room in the basement, grab the equipment and run to the motor pool to await further orders. Our Barracks was on the corner with a good view of the athletic fields and lower buildings. The room was also on the top corner floor. It was great except for a low support beam that ran at an angle from the floor to the ceiling. We soon learned to duck under or avoid it. |
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| We were trained for an Atomic War if hostilities broke out. One or more of the Atomic war heads for the Honest John Missile where stored in the basement of our barracks. We always new when they were moving them, because they would warn us about taking pictures out of the windows. I did take a few pictures of the crane 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 very well been stored in the basement as well. One end of the basement was restricted and we had our classroom and arms room in the other end. There were rumors that we also had Atomic rounds for the 8 inch and 155 mm guns, but I never knew for sure. |
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B Battery, 3rd Armored Division 2nd Howitzer Battalion, 73rd Artillery, consisted 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 would be watching the rounds hit the impact area. The pack of charges for firing the 155mm shells came in a pack of seven. They would then be told what charge to use, for example a charge five would mean that two charges would be removed and thrown into the fire pit. As a safety measure, one of the gun crew would count the discarded charges and repeat out loud to avoid mistakes. |
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  A recorder on the phone between the fire direction group and the guns, would record all the information sent to the guns, in case there was a mistake or someone misunderstood, then verification could be made. This was my job, Battery Recorder. I would ride out ahead of the battery with the First Sargent and we would align the aiming circle, a device which had a compass and a scope for sighting in different angles. We would use this to obtain the correct direction for the guns and place stakes for them to line up on when they pulled into position. |
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| Great care had to be taken to insure that all six guns were pointed in the same direction parallel to each other. You aligned the device to magnet north by looking through a hole at the end of the compass needle. The danger here was that you had to be sure that you knew which end of the needle you were looking at. If you had the wrong end, then the guns would be laid out 180 degrees and you would be shooting backwards. One of the Honest John rockets was laid out backward in Grafenwohr during practice. The rocket with just enough explosive to blow the head apart, hit a building in a nearby town. No one was hurt. |
  The Fire Direction Control Center consisted of two drafting tables set up in the armored personnel carrier with field telephone contact with the guns. Each table was identical except that one used a plain paper chart and the other used a topographic map. The first order of business when we set up in a new position was to zero in on a known target. We would fire one round toward the target and the observer would then give us corrections over the radio. We would bracket the target with usually only three rounds. From this information we could then aim at any other target within our field of fire. The drafting equipment consisted of a metal scale for the elevation and protractor for the azimuth. There were other calculations that determined the proper charge and weather reports that gave us the air density. 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 them to arrive, I would dig a fox hole and set up the command station for our Lt. who over saw the operation. In practice I could get away with digging a shallow hole 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 |
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My cousin, Anna Lell, started writing to a pen
pal in Germany when she was in high school and asked if I would look her up while I was in
Germany. We wrote several letters back and forth and I was invited up to Hanover when I got
some leave. Hanover was in the British sector and they were not used to seeing American
solders. Annamarie's father was a solder in WWII and I am not sure how he felt about his
daughter seeing me. A friend of theirs owned a Hotel and they provided me with a nice room.
We went to the movies, took long walks and toured Hanover. Nothing more became of the
relationship and we lost touch. I am not sure if Anna Lell is still writing to her.
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 did not have 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 was not much for drinking, I might go out on the town with some of the other solders and just sit on one drink all night. However one evening I thought that I would see what it was like to get drunk. I persuaded Zink who did not drink, to go with me. Funny how we used only last names in the service and seldom first names. I guess it was because our last name was always there on the front for everyone to see. Zink took good care of me that night, I sure don't remember much and was very sick the next morning. I hated not knowing what was going on around me and I don't recall ever trying that again. |
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Operation Winter Shield took place in February 1960 with over 60,000 members of the Seventh
Army at the Grafenwohr training grounds. The weather was cold and dry. This was 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, when a static spark started a
gasoline fire. We were called out in the middle of the night to evacuate the motor pool.
It was quite 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 leaving the barrel of the gun. There was 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 and listened to the excited chatter over the radio. The shell is set for an air burst by placing a tool on top of the shell and setting a dial for the correct time. There are safety limits on the dial, so it had to be a defective shell in order for it to go off that soon. We would go to Grafenwohr about every six months for training and that summer we returned. |
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Gen. Colin Powell writes in his 1995 autobiography "My American Journey" about his time with
the Division in 1958-60 and about the Cold War and the Army's 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 following story. 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) While working as Louiseil's exec, I got a foretaste of what hot war could be like if the Cold War ever ignited. It was a morning after payday in the summer of 1960. Our brigade had gone to Grafenwohr for field training. The troops were to be billeted 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 this early hour. I was returning from a bartering mission with another company'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 shell that had strayed wildly out of the impact area. I stopped, frozen, and actually saw the 8-inch round come in. It struck a tent pole in the 12th Cavalry's sector, detonating in an air-burst. The roar was deafening, followed by a terrifying silence. I dropped the food and rushed toward the blast as dismembered legs, hands, and arms thumped to the ground around me. Money from payday came fluttering to earth. Some other soldiers joined me, wading through the acrid smoke and fumes. Inside the tent, I zipped open a sleeping bag, and what was left looked like an illustration of viscera in a medical textbook. In an instant, a dozen lives had been snuffed out and more men wounded. The tragedy was later found to have been caused by human error in aligning the gun, and the battalion commander and other officers were relieved of their duties. I had seen a hundred war movies, but nothing had prepared me for the sights I saw that day. (End of account from General Powell's book) |
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(Account of the accident from the History Web Site of the 3rd Armored Division)
Accidents in an actual shooting war, as well as a Cold War, are inevitable. This one, however, stands out as apparently the worst U.S. ground training accident of the entire Cold War. Just after roll-call, on a rainy Friday morning on September 2, 1960, sixteen solders were killed and 27 were wounded when a 200-pound artillery shell landed amongst 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 happen that morning, someone misunderstood the correct charge and the round over shot the impact area. The big fear in that tent area that morning was that they all knew that usually a fire for effect would follow and that would mean six more rounds could be following the deadly misplaced round. I tried to take a typing course during my time in Germany, I started the course three times and each time when I was about half way through the course we would pull out for field training. I never did complete the course. However the typing lessons have helped me over the years. |
| I took a couple of weeks leave and visited Copenhagen, 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 the way to the top. I saw Tivoli Gardens and the Littlest Mermaid. I loved the food, they had a lot of dairy products and everyone was friendly. The bars rotated hours, at midnight half would close and another group would open. Copenhagen had a lot of night life and although I did not dance much, 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 unit rotated back to the states for discharge, these were the drafted men who only had to serve two years. The enlisted who had to serve three years had to take over the operations for another six months. At the same time the Nike Missile sites in Germany were being turned over to the German Army. The men who still had the remainder 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 of the Fire Direction 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 up until this time. Now I had a new crew with no experience or training in the Artillery. I conducted classes, but it was hard to hold the interest of displaced men with only months left to serve. I was very cautious, remembering the accidents that had occurred I did not want any blood on my hands. |
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During the winter of 1960/61 we were involved in more tests at Grafenwoehr and I am proud that we
completed the exercises without incident. However, were slow in performing the test. I
was given an article 15 and reduced back to Private and 2nd Lt. Phelps did not get his
1st Lt. bars. I fought the article with the help of barracks lawyers,
until it was almost time for me to ship back to the states. One of the guys at headquarters
told me at the end that if I had not fought so hard, he could have torn up the papers and no one
would have been the wiser. But it 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 home. This would keep me off any picky details
that were dished out along the way.
c
We were fortunate to fly back to the states and I had a month off to visit family, now living in Florida, before reporting for duty at Fort Lewis, Washington. I was hoping to be stationed closer to my home, however you are returned to the nearest post that you enlisted. As I enlisted in Portland, Oregon, then Fort Lewis would be where I would be discharged. |
Follow up Comments:
Very well done. I was stationed with the 1st MB, 32rd Artillery (Honest John) at Francois Kaserne, Hanau, Germany fron April 59 to August 1960. Specifically I was in the Hdq %26 Ser Battery and was in FDC. I visited Germany in 1995 and the base had been returned to German control. While in service our unit spent a lot of time at Grafenwohr and I believe we fired about 20 rockets. The last firing was for a NATO demonstration. I have 8mm film, in slow motion, of that firing. A large cannon (250mm ?) was also fired. In your posting you mention a Honest John being fired in the wrong direction. I've never heard that story before and question it's accuracy. I participated in Operation Wintershield and remember how cold it was. Like most veterans I wish I had spent my time more productively and visited mamy more cities, especially those heavily involved in the war.
Best Regards Jim Dinius (Spec. E-5)
Read more about Jim's tour of duty in Germany.
jjjjdinius@aol.com
What a great site.
Brings back so many memories. I was main chart operator in A Btry FDC. When I saw the raised APC I was reminded that I had to sign for ours. Cost was $50,000. A Btry won the shoot at graf in 1958.
I remember guard duty sitting in the train tower with the 30 cal machinegun, where the atom weapons were stored.
I too was to young to know what an opprotunity I had in the 18 months I was there.
The worlds fair held at Brussels was a 3 day trip that would of cost $30 and a year to pay it back. I declined. Now that I am 74, I sure miss it all, the good and bad times.
Thank you for the great site,
Spec 4 Jim Compomizzi
jcompom@comcast.net
In reference to the item on the atomic capabilities of 2/73rd. Field Artillery.
An excellent item on the big guns and the men who plotted their missions
for the 73rd. FA. I was in B Battery of the 509th. AFA from 1955 until
1958 (I believe '58 is correct) when the 509th. became the 2nd. Bn. of
the 73rd.FA. I think our battery remained Bravo. I have a picture on
file of the sign. I was on the detail that was sent to an unknown
location to pick up what we later guessed was atomic stuff. The people
picked for the detail were not advised of it until about an hour before
departure. This is how it happened: the CQ awoke those assigned to the
detail around 0400. He couldn't answer questions because he had not been
told anything other than the names of the men that we were on detail.
After chow we fell out and stood in formation for long minutes before
several deuces and five tonners pulled up near the barracks and parked
on the street. In front were a couple of jeeps and a three quarter ton.
Some jeeps were also in the real of the column. The detail troops(I
don't recall how many, but there were a good number of us) were told to
get in the trucks. As we climbed in we noticed that the vehicles had
thirty and fifty cals mounted, and were loaded with live ammo! A
lieutenant was assigned to each truck and was seated at the end of the
bench by the tail gate. Before the column moved out he ordered the man
on the bench opposite him to help him bring down the canvas flap. We
were in the dark and would remain that way the entire time the vehicles
were moving.
We left Pioneer Kaserne and were soon on the autobahn. I believe we were
on the autobahn, for our speed increased significantly. We stayed on the
'bahn for awhile (I don't recall how long, maybe an hour or so),then we
left it and entered a village or a small town. I could hear the
chu-ching of bicycle bells now and then. Then we seemed to return to the
open road. Several minutes elapsed and the column stopped. A brief time
later the column moved a short distance very slowly, then stopped again.
The vehicles moved forward again and again it halted. The back flap was
raised, and we were ordered out of the truck. Turning my head quickly in
the direction we had traveled, I saw a double chain link fence. There
were also dogs and troops MP's. The MP's were holding carbines and
SMG's. All of the pieces had magazines inserted. We stood in formation
beside the truck for several minutes, and were then marched single file
into quonset huts where there were stacks of wooden crates. The OIC
ordered us to load the crates into the trucks that apparently did not
transport troops to the site.
After loading the trucks we were ordered to mount up. Again the
lieutenant sat at the end of the bench, and again he and the soldier
across from him unrolled the canvas flap and let it down. Our mysterious
journey ended back at B Battery, where we were again ordered out of the
trucks and told to unload the mysterious boxes. We went down a short
flight of stairs (at the far end of the building, below the CO's office)
and into the basement. The detail stored the wooden boxes in several
rooms. We were then ordered out of the basement after the rooms were
locked and a small paper sign was taped on each door by an officer.
I was never in the basement again, and I don't believe anyone else was
except the CO and some other officers and top NCO's. After that day all
of the troops referred to the basement as "the atomic room." The atomic
room would remain a mystery, as has the trip itself. I did not know
where we went then, and I still don't.
One humerous note: Shortly after the 509th. became the 73rd. the
battalion put up a large sign at battalion headquarters. In tall yellow
letters on a red background it featured the unit designation with the
words "rocket battalion" at the bottom of the sign. Similar signs were
put up in front of each battery and at the main gate. A couple of weeks
after the signs were erected, someone decided that maybe the word
"rocket" shouldn't be on them ("East German spies"), and they were taken
down and "rocket" was painted over. However, the image of the crossed
cannons with a rocket in the middle remained on the signs. I bet the
spies and their "business girl" comrades got a laugh out of that!
Hubert, yes you can publish the feedback, as well as use my name and email
address. Re. the Honest John, I believe the 73rd. was the first to launch
the rocket at Graf. I was the T-2 theodolite man with the survey crew that
brought in the firing coordinates. Several NATO generals were on a nearby
hill watching the launch. Of course the Soviet Military mission was
interested in the rocket. We moved it from Hanau to Graf under canvas. On
the 'bahn we had security vehicles fore and aft, and a Mission VW trailed
us until our CO stopped the convoy (I believe it was Capt. Dick, a tough
guy!). On the same side of the 'bahn his jeep with two armed troops in back
sped past the convoy and stopped the SMM vehicle. The troops later told me
that he chewed the Russians out and asked them what they were up to. They
replied that they had taken a wrong turn. The Capn. (again according to the
guard) told them ..Yeah, you SOB's made a wrong turn on my convoy! Now you
can turn your Communist asses around and go the other way." They did. He
had posted the guards with their grease guns at port on each side of the
VW. The SMM operated out of Frankfurt.
Marv. M.
PS, The 762 landed where it was supposed to: very near one of the old
bunkers. We were shooting at that bunker and came within about fifty yards
of hitting it dead center. Believe me, if we had fired 180 degrees off the
survey crew and FDC would have caught it big time. I have a pic of the
launch, and might have a shot of the impact crater around here somewhere.
Best regards.
Marvin Meyerhoffer
3armored@bellsouth.net
I was in the 3rd Armored division and participated in Operation Wintershield
at Graf. I went to Germany on the USS Gen. Randall with Elvis. I also was in
basic with him. I was stationed in Butzbach as a Unit Police Officer. A lack of
Mps created this position and it shaped my life. I became a police officer when
I was discharged in 1960. I loved Graffenwhor and Wildflecken. A good friend
Pvt. Bobby Terra died when his jeep overturned in Wildflecken. I was also too
young to really ernjoy Europe but I did get to Rome and Zurich. Your story
really brought back memories!
Thank you! Nick Riggio
sb3champs@aol.com
I enjoyed your article very much it brought back many memories, I was stationed in hanau 1960-1963,I was with a battery 73rd fielf artillary. mos 310.
Wayne Williams
I remember the accident at Grafenwohr in 1960, Everyone was talking about. I enjoyed what you wrote it brough back many memories.
Robert Waynee
I appreciate the article my brother was one of the sixteen that died Grafenwoehr Sept 2nd 1960.
Thank you, Greg Hosto
I discovered a photo attributed to you on a 3rd Armored Division related web site of an M-59 with a raised rear compartment roof. According to the markings on the vehicle it ws B-17 and, therefore, belonged to Bravo Battery, 2 Battalion, 73rd Field Artillery. I entered service with Charlie Battery of the 509th AFA Bn when it formed in August 1955 and shipped to Pioneer Kaserne in May 1956; this was the direct ancestor of the 2nd BN, 73rd FA. I ran the FDC and we had the M-59 C-19 from the very beginning of our unit. During this time it had the regular low ceiling roof.
In Hanau, however, the Army took our track and returned it several days later with the raised roof. They obviously did the same with the other FDC tracks in the Battalion, so I am well acquainted the vehicles that you used in Bravo Battery, including B-17.
I am finishing a manuscript of my two years in Charlie Battery and do not have any photos of our vehicle.
I do have a picture of a similar FDC raised roof track from Alpha Battery, courtesy of Jim Compomizzi of that unit's FDC,
but it is partially obscured by a tree and not really suitable.
Would it be possible to use a copy of yours, the raised roof of B-17 attached?
George
It is interesting that we had the same job only several years apart, I started out as the recorder and then was in charge of the FDC for my last year in Germany. The picture was taken with a small Minox B Camera in B&W and later scanned from my photo album. The attached picture may be a little clearer than the one in the article. You are welcome to use the picture with my permission any way you like. I look forward to reading your book when you are finished, please let me know. I have starting publishing a few short stories and poems and found that Amazon.com has a great program for e-books and self published books. (e-books are free to publish), for paper backs they only charge per copy and offer distribution sales channels commissions on sales.
Click here to see an example.
Hubert
Many thanks for the permission and the photos. I've scanned the summer (?) photo and will enhance it for the manuscript. Actually, it's perfect for the job.
You might be interested to know how we handled the set-up of our FDC in the M-59. I built a box there at Charlie Battery's small garage just across the access road from Bravo Battery's garage bays. Attached is a photo from our M-59 looking past Bravo's M-44s to show the approximate position of that small garage; this was the day we drove to Wildflecken. Anyway, the box was just perfect to hold three of our field telephones, TA-43s, I think. This we attached to the inside right rear engine cover panel high above the rear seat. Then we permanently mounted a terminal strip to the sloping right front edge of the track and fed connected wires from it inside to these phones and left it in place. We never had to worry about making connections when we first got into a firing position, the gun crews brought their lines to the terminal board while we got set up inside. Later, when we had time, we hooked up everything to a central hook-up box.
We took a shelter half and had the tailor stitch a large shaped pocket to hold the range-defection fan, and smaller ones to hold the slipsticks. Added a few thin ones to hold the other small items that the chart operator used. Then attached the whole thing to the metal rod that held other right engine cover panel closed so that it hung down and was within reach at all times.
Later had a colleague at Boston College who was on the team that developed those slipsticks.
We took the folding leg field table and attached it by hinges on its right side to metal strips that were hung over the shelter half-instrument cloth pockets. Then removed the right side legs. The whole table could be folded up and out of the way (also protected the shelter half with the instruments) when not needed and even when traveling. We could have that table down and be plotting in an instant when a fire mission came in.
Even had a surprise visit from Brig. Gen. Alva Fitch, CG of Divarty one day. He looked around and asked it our set-up might take some time to get ready for a fire mission? I told him, "No sir, would you like a demonstration?" He declined. I'm still kicking myself because I never took photos of the set-up and us operating it.
Anyway we had great fun and only three of us ran the FDC. We had a semi-permanent radio operator (had both BS and MS degrees in Chemistry), a permanent Chart Operator (high school grad and later Chief of Section when we left in May 1957) and myself (BS and MS degrees is Geology). I handled the phone to the guns and used the slipsticks and kept records. I later went back to school and became a professor (Boston College) for 34 years until retirement.
I have the impression that you're located somewhere in the Midwest. I'm a Hoosier originally and finished school at Indiana U, Bloomington.
Forgot to tell you that we never were issued a .50 cal machine gun for our track. I turned in requisitions every month but never got one. When I signed everything over to my assistant the Supply Sgt made mention of it and asked if I knew it. So I told him of my requisitions and he simply bypassed any other conversation.
While driving to Wildflecken I had the driver stop outside of a small village bakery. BCs jeep in front of us had turned a corner and was out of sight. I ran in, got two loaves of their wonder round bread and got back into the track. The BC never got wiser.
At the motor pool I used to have an afternoon snack bar run. The section guys took turns going there and getting coffee and pastry per orders. We had a great section.
George
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