Got a nice "thank-you" from Keith Shaefer's daughter about Passau in the early 50's.  PETER STRAUSS (Salzburg 53-54) wrote that there was a small Detachment from the 8618th there in 1953.  PAT ULMEN (Scheyern 52-55), as a Field Station 8608 Watch Officer, ran another Detachment there in 1952.  And WALT RICHARDS (Herzo/Sontra/
Scheyern 47-51) mentions that there was a small Detachment there when he visited them in 1950, or so, and thinks that JOHN(?) QUIG was in charge.

 

WALTER MOSER fills us in a little more.  He wrote: "I joined the 8608th in 1951.  In 1952 I was assigned temp duty in Passau.  It's been a long time and I don't remember why it was so short nor do I recall any names, but it was there.  Passau was charming and medieval to the point where certain sections had torches for street lighting.  We lived in our own house on a residential street with a Hausfrau, who served meals in our dining room and did the cleaning, along with a Hausmeister who shined our shoes and brass, pressed our clothes and cut our hair.  They went home for the night.  We had our own liquor ration.

 

There were only 120 Amis in the town, 60 of who were Engineers who practiced replacing river crossings that the Soviets practiced blowing up.  An early Cold War comic situation.  They had nightly bed checks and left the town to us, since all the rest were older men (maybe even thirties or forties) who were with AID, Consular work, etc.  We were the only young guys and the town served as a gateway to the West for beautiful Romanian women.  If I could have stayed there I might have re-upped for life."

Walter later returned to Scheyern, then Bad Aibling, Wels and back to BA again.

He ended his note asking if anyone knows anything about SFC JOHN YANACEK or Sgt. JIM DIMMEY of the 8608th who took him under their wings at Scheyern.

 

ASAPAC HQ (for members serving there between 1946-52) will be holding their 2006 Reunion in Ft. Mitchell, KY from September 28 through October 1st.  If you served there during that time frame the Point of Contact, for further information, is Hank Kelley at kelleywtk@aol.com.

 

OWN A PIECE OF HISTORY.  We have a limited number of CD's available of the 116th SRIC history book.  This should be of particular interest to any of you guys that served at Field Station 8608, or with the 116th Signal Service Company, the 332nd Comm. Recon. Co., or the 332nd ASA Company.  The CD is still in the .pdf format but will save you time and trouble in bringing it up on your computer and you don't have to worry about loosing it on your hard drive.  If you would like a copy of the CD, it's yours, while supplies last, for a donation of $20.00 to the reunion group General Fund.  Make your checks payable to "ASA Alpiners" and send them to your Editor at 107 West Pine Place, St. Louis, MO 63108-2111.  First come first served.

Speaking of the 116th Signal Radio Intelligence Company, JULES WEINBERG and ALLAN WEINBERG (not related to each other) were Operators in the 116th during WW-II.  After the war they both eventually ended up in New York State, both in the banking business, and, over these many years, have been meeting every two weeks to have lunch together.  That's the way to go guys.

LOST CONTACTS

The March update bounced for the following: Charles L. Purkey (Herzo/Hof/Giessen 49.52)