Alfeld-Augsburg-Bad Aibling-Bahrdorf-Bamburg-Baumholder- Bebra-Berlin-Bremen-Coburg-Frankfurt-Fulda-Giebelstadt-Giessen-Hammelburg-Heidwinkel-Heilbronn-Herzogenaurach-Hof-Kassel- Königslutter-Linz-Mahring-Malmsheim-Mannheim-Memmingen-Munich-Mt. Meissner-Nottau-Nürnberg-Oberursel-Offenbach- Passau-Rothwesten-Sontra-Salzburg-Scheyern-Vienna-Wasserkuppe- Weiden-Wels
Army Security Agency/Signal Intelligence Service
Forces in Germany and Austria
Volume 3 - Number 12
January 2, 2008
Ralph R. Thadeus - Editor E-mail
us
ASMN
Fred Camphausen (Straubing 54-55/Bamberg 55-56) was visiting Germany last year and took a good picture of the Warner Kaserne. We are including it for those of you stationed in Bamberg. Fred writes that the Kaserne has been rehabbed and is still U. S. Army property although it stood empty at the time he took the picture. When he was there he saw no U. S. Army presence at all in Bamberg or Lower Bavaria. He also mentioned that the Mansfield Kaserne in Straubing is now a German Army base.
Supporting member Don Shipman (Bad Aibling/ Heilbronn/ Coburg/ Bamberg 52-54) is looking for details about the DF sites and movements of the 332nd Comm. Recon. Co. during the period of 1952-54. If you can help Don out with the details, you can e-mail him at dlships@verizon.net.
Lief Bentsen (Rothwesten 66-67) sent along a couple of pictures to Dennis Kirstein for his history project. If you former Rothwesteners have any stories, pictures or other memorabilia regarding your time in Rothwesten, I am sure Dennis would appreciate your help. You can contact him by e-mail at dennis.kirstein2@eu.dodea.edu.
Karl Andrews (Frankfurt 62-65) is trying to locate two of his old buddies from Frankfurt, Ray Lofflin and Hiroshi Kozohara. We got a hit on Lofflin using the ASA Locator database but the dates were 66-67 in Nam and neither one is in our e-mail listing. If you know either of the two, and they have e-mail, let me know and I will try to hook them up.
Mark this on your calendar because it will probably not be reprinted unless my memory is jogged somewhere down the line. The 353rd Comm. Recon. Co. is having a reunion June 3-6, 2008, in Paradise, PA. Contact point for this reunion is Gus Gruneisen. You can reach Gus via e-mail at cgasagus@aol.com.
This is just a reminder to those of you who may have trouble opening this newsletter. I can send it to you in several different formats, .doc/Word, .pdf/Adobe Reader, or in text only. If you are getting it in the text format, you are not getting any of the graphics. The newsletter is usually published within 7-10 days on our web site so those of you getting only text can see the graphics there.
The Chitose Reunion Group (Japan) will be holding their 20th reunion in Reno, NV, from September 22-25, 2008. This is a week day reunion and we hope that they have as much fun at their Reno reunion as we did with ours in 1999. asachitose@aol.com for further information.
Our newsletter goes out to various other SIGINT groups so, in return, we also get copies of their newsletters. With Christmas just over, I thought about how lucky we are in this day and age. Ed Ioanes, the editor of the WW-II 137th Signal Radio Intelligence Company newsletter, recalled Christmas1944 and I would like to share it with you. Ed wrote:
“Our DF group had been set up in Stolberg, Germany, and there was much air activity both Allied and German. This was during the German build up for the Ardennes Campaign and during the actual attack. Apparently there was concern for our DF and about the 23rd of December we were moved to Hongen, Germany. There we located a house with a roof on part of it and set up our DF in a farm field across the road.” “…There were six to eight inches of snow on the ground and a couple of the guys went out and found a scraggly pine tree about three or four feet tall. They also scrounged up a few decorations from some of the abandoned war torn houses in the area. Wasn’t much but it was a Christmas tree. One day was like another and as Christmas Eve arrived those of us who weren’t manning the equipment gathered together in one of the intact rooms, probably listening to Armed Forces radio. We heard the guard outside … call out ‘Halt, who goes there?’ A couple of minutes later the door opened and Lt. Hugh Alberson, who had the DF’s at that time, came in with a bag in his hand. He said, ‘Merry Christmas fellas, this is the best I can do for you.’ He then handed us a bottle of brandy. We asked him to join us but he said he had another detachment to visit and wish(ed us) a Merry Christmas. Travel at day or night was not easy during that time. Christmas Day, bah humbug, just C-rations.
Along the same line, we got a copy of the 2nd Signal Service Battalion newsletter published by Robert F. (Bob) Zikowitz. (Editor – the 2nd Signal was the predecessor to the fixed station operations later designated as ASA field stations) Bob usually covers the activities of the 2nd Signal in the Pacific but in this last issue used some of our data about the first fixed station operations in Germany, namely Field Station 8606 in Herzo. If you haven’t done it yet, you can check out our history references on our web site. This particular article that Bob quotes can be found under the sub-title Early Herzo History under the Alpiner History References group.
The FASAF (Friends of the ASA in Florida) will be holding a mid-week reunion April 27-30, 2008, in Dayton Beach Shores, Florida. A social cocktail hour, banquet and golf are all on the agenda for the reunion with a 4-day Caribbean cruise option immediately following the reunion. For complete details you can contact Roy Getz at asachitoseassn@cfl.rr.com or Burt Slesinger at burtsasa4870@cfl.rr.com.
Supporting members Ted Atkinson (Scheyern/Memmingen 53-55) and Ray Lash (Scheyern 53-57), along with their wives Gabriele and Eve, were the only Alpiners to take advantage of the Herzo West reunion in Las Vegas. We had hoped that more of our West Coast members would take advantage of Herzo West’s offer to hold an Alpiners mini-reunion with them. Both couples had nothing but good words for their stay in Vegas and the great time they had at the Hofbrauhaus. The objective was to scout out the Hofbrauhaus and Hooters for a possible 2009 reunion site since it has been almost nine years since we ‘went West’ to Reno. Although this is still a possibility, the Board would like to hear from you West Coasters about an October 2009 reunion site either in Vegas or other West Coast site. If other than Vegas, we would need an on-site reunion coordinator.
NEW CONTACT: Steven M. Rasch (Herzo 58-60)
LOST CONTACT: Robert Hughes (Rothwesten 68)