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The E-Mail Newsletter of the Army Security Agency Alpiners Reunion Group
Serving veterans of the SIS, ASA and INSCOM who were stationed in Germany or Austria
Volume 5 – Number 4
May 1, 2009
Ralph R, Thadeus, Editor
(Scheyern 53-56)
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ASMN
New contact John Phillips (BA 54-57) is trying to locate one of his old Army friends, Robert Schweitzer. He‟s not on our roster nor on the ASA Locator data base. If any of you out there know Robert, please let him know that Phillips is looking for him. I will pass along any contact information given to me.
Roger Motsinger (Frankfurt 60‟s) sent along a bunch of Frankfurt photographs (31 pages) taken by fellow ASAer Harry Beatty. Harry isn‟t a member of our group but I assume he would not mind if we forwarded his pictures to those of you who are interested. Let me know and I will forward Motsinger‟s original e-mail to you.
Brooke Anderson (Bad Aibling 60-62) writes: Here's an update on Bad Aibling Station: It is being turned into a park hotel, in which the old barracks are being converted to hotel rooms, with much more to come. I just returned from there and witnessed the activity leading to the opening of this venture. Check out http://www.bo-parkhotel.de for the latest. Time has dimmed the old memory, but I think the initial buildings already turned into rooms were the EM club facilities.
I was in Co. A, and that building is currently under reconstruction. Some of the buildings are being torn down, but most of the dependent buildings are still intact. The working facilities - ops and outbuildings - are still intact, some being used by the B&O people for offices. Ops is still there as is the last antenna field. While the hotel is listed as being open, what I saw two weeks ago was extremely preliminary in terms of construction. Stay tuned - it's an optimistic project.
Fans and brewers of German beer celebrated the "Day of German Beer" on April 23rd, the anniversary of the date in 1516 when the Reinheitsgebot (Purity Law) for the production of beer was first proclaimed in Bavaria. Today, few traditions color the world‟s perception of Germany more than the brewing and drinking of beer.
The Point of Contact for the 328th Comm. Recon‟s Cleveland reunion – September 30th thru October 2nd is Robert L. Hilliard. If interested in attending you can contact Bob by e-mail at r.l.hillard@worldnet.att.net.
Speaking of Communications Reconnaissance Companies, David Kahn, in his 1978 book Hitler’s Spies (Chapter 13), credits Nazi General Erich Fellgiebel with this designation. The German compound word is Nachrichtenaufklärungskompanie. I didn‟t quite believe the translation so I put it through the LEO translator. The compound word itself is not in the translator but if you break it down to it‟s components it translates perfectly. Nachrichten comes out as Communications, Aufklärungs comes out as the adjective scouting (reconnaissance) and Kompanie is Company.
So Sieg Heil all you Comm. Recon'ers out there.
Our e-mail list for the monthly newsletter is 300 plus. We get a lot of questions about how to contact former service friends. If you see the name in the newsletter, no problem. I will pass your request on to the person. It is then up to the individual to respond or not.
Having said that, the tried and true way to contact former service friends is to see if they are part of Vern Gruenke‟s “ASA Locator” data base. Vern has over 30,000 names listed. Not all may still be active but it‟s worth your time and effort. You will first have to register yourself but once that‟s done you can look up data by first or last name, unit, date, etc.
Vern is at:
http://www.asalives.org.
Notwithstanding Brooke Anderson‟s BA information above, Bob Morrissey (Bad Aibling 63-65) was wondering how he could get on to the base itself. I know that some of you out there have done so by setting it up beforehand and, if I recall correctly, got a personal tour of the base. If you know the protocol, please let me know and I will forward it to Bob. Thanks in advance for your help.
Clifford (Bill) Yost (Herzo 62-64) sent along some reminiscences about his time in Herzo that might bring back memories to some of you. Here is what Bill wrote: “Herzo holds a special time and place in our hearts for my wife and me. Our first child was born there. We loved living off post at 3 Am Wewawier, Herzo. We had lots of friends over. We all sang, drank beer, laughed and cried together, and ate home cooking in a home away from home environment. We sang in the chapel choir along with Sgt, Art Kilpatrick and Sgt, Terry Abendroth and their families. Chaplin Courtney and his wife Ann officiated there at the time. My work was with Machine Aids. I was one of those guys (along with Roger Egland, Jack Prins, Charles Bolesta) that maintained their IBM machines. I have some names of other men who worked in Machine Aids if you desire. Yes we had a wonderful time in Herzo. “
Alan MacQuoid (Salzburg 54-55) would like to know if there are any members of our group that were stationed at Schloss Klessheim, outside of Salzburg?
Bradford Whipple, my contact with our Air Force counterparts, would like to have one of our members become a sort of liaison between our two groups. I myself have my hands full with the reunion and newsletters so it would be up to one of our Supporting Members to do so. Here is what Brad writes and, if you‟re interested, let me know so I can connect you two:
Perhaps you remember giving permission to me and my friend Renate, to join your group in a reunion in Charleston. I enjoyed meeting my Army counterparts but we had too little sharing (I was a stranger, so we stuck to drinking beer and reminiscing). My hope was, and is now strengthened, in that we have something to gain from sharing common history. I believe that we grew out of that common root which was the US Army.
Recently on two website of mostly USAF guys and gals, some have reached back to roots, where someone had a Dad who served in field communications/intercept in WWII. Photos and brief stories have been posted from 194x which I believe became our 1st Radio Squadron Mobile. The 2nd RSM was the predecessor to my 6911th RSM/RGS in Darmstadt and some of the men from that early group still post with us daily and even attend our reunions. What do you think about someone from your group of Alpiners, becoming a sort on informal liaison person, with privilege of membership on one or both of my sites. He could daily scan what we are doing, perhaps even participate, adding much to our rich common history. Red Barthel has shown an interest in gathering all sorts of historical records for the 6911/6910 website which moved from Darmstadt to Augsburg in the 60's. We have men who were stationed in many of the towns where your men were stationed, sometimes serving in joint commands. Larry Tart has written one book about our flying status people" The Price of Vigilance: Attacks on American Surveillance Flights"(2001- Ballantine Books) and their exploits and suffering and is now writing a second book on the early roots and history of the USAF Security Service. I have shared much of my stuff with Larry and perhaps we should all see how much richer the experience is for all of us through sharing. What do you think? I am an Administrator and can invite one of you to become a member of our Worldwide RollCall site which is quite active. If you think this works well we can then go from there.
Mike Hannan (Bad Aibling 67-69) has followed up on the burial of Col. McFadden. Here is what Mike wrote:
“Hi Ralph and fellow ASAers I mentioned a couple of "issues" ago about the death and impending burial of Col. John J. McFadden who many of you knew and worked with or for over your ASA experience. The funeral and burial service took place on March 20th and I was honored to be there amongst family and friend. Most of the friends were ASA folks - about 35 of them. I had been looking forward to this honor at Arlington National Cemetery since I was informed by Col Mac's family several months ago - he passed away in June 2008.
I knew that being honored by our Nation with burial at Arlington was a big deal but I had no idea of the scope of the ceremony that I was about to witness when I arrived at the family/friends room at the Arlington National Administration bldg. I can't remember how many cars there were in the procession but I'd guess about 20+. We drove to the "transfer point" where everyone got out while the cremated remains were move from the McFadden car to the casket on the 6 gray horse drawn caisson. Then the 20 piece brass band played a dirge and the 45 man honor guard moved in behind the caisson and the band behind them. There was a riderless black horse with boots backward in the stirrups that fell in behind the caisson borne casket. We all got back in the cars and moved about a quarter of a mile where we parked and went to the grave site. Including the color guard there were about 70 Military personnel and 8 horses in the ceremony. It was spectacular and well deserved for a great leader and a great man!
Tom Dobson (Bad Aibling 60-64) updates the pricing in Germany with the following: “Toots and I are going to Germany in late June. We are spending our first and last nights in Munich at the Platzl Hotel which is next to the Hofbräuhaus and costs 200 Euros (less than $300.00) per night. The rest of the time we are staying in a Bauernhof in Bad Feilnbach which is about 15 kilometers from Bad Aibling and will cost us about 40 Euros (less than $60.00) per night. It has a kitchen area and a balcony with a view of the mountains. If anyone is interested in more info on this they can contact me at tom_dobson@bellsouth.net.
Jack Wood (Scheyern 54-56) got the following from an ex-ASA friend of his and thought it would be of interest to those of us who never had the pleasure of serving in Korea or Nam.
”Korea in late 1955/56 was really a crappy and scary place to be. The war had been over for a little over a year so there are no war stories to tell per se. The problem was the Korean and Chinese deserters who had formed bandit bands and killed and robbed both civilians and military just like bandits have been doing for thousands of years. They hit an ASA hut truck belonging to the 326th in the middle of the night and killed the four guys in the truck just for their watches and carbines. ASA command in Taegu pulled in all the hut trucks after that because they couldn't be defended.
ASA in Viet Nam was also a bit different than what you might expect. Because the Viet Cong/Pathet Lau transmitted with short range equipment they utilized De Havilland Beaver aircraft to house the 058's for intercept. These high wing aircraft had a huge spool in each wing that contained a long antenna. They would take off and when they reached cruising altitude, about 10,000 feet they would unwind the antenna spools behind them and fly lazy 8 patterns over target areas and the 058's would bang away on their mills. There were also ground intercept stations in Nha Trang, Pleiku and a remote base up in the highlands that could only be reached by helicopter or on foot. The 058's that were part of the air crew were the best the ASA had. I wasn't very good at copying code so I was never part of that programs but it was an exciting thought to me since I was bored to death sitting in a Quonset hut eating peanut butter on stale saltine crackers while copying some Burmese ninny.
NEW CONTACTS
John Richard – Scheyern – 55-57
John F. Phillips – Bad Aibling – 54-57
Patrick Grover – Augsburg – Flak Kaserne
Harold E. (Gene) Van Kampen – Rothwesten 57-59
LOST CONTACTS
Bob Roughton (Wels, Notau, Bad Aibling) broughton@mcn.net
James Handley (Bad Aibling 63-65) james.handley@gsa.gov