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Honor Page - 11 Guest Authors Excellent history stories from proud veterans |
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My Berlin Memories
written by
SP5 Laird (Doug) Shively
280th USASA Company
later renamed 78th USASA SOU
1961-1963
In late April, 1961 I was put on a MATS flight at Maguire AFB in New Jersey and sent off to Germany.
Fresh from my previous assignment at the United States Army Language School in Monterey, California; I was now being
sent off to use my recently acquired skills in the German language in some way to combat the activities of our enemies in
Germany. After landing in Frankfurt, I and two other ASA colleagues were picked up and transported to a hellhole called
Gutleut Kaserne in downtown Frankfurt where we were held until our assignments came through from the ASA headquarters
up at the I G Farben building. Well finally our orders came through for our assignment to the 280th USASA
Company in West Berlin. That meant a trip on the duty train from the Hauptbahnhof in Frankfurt to Bahnhof Lichterfelde West
in West Berlin. I remember very little of the trip, but I do remember the arrival in West Berlin. It was a crisp, mid-May morning.
As we got off the train, there were more salutes being thrown around than one could ever imagine. Evidently, there had been
all sorts of officers as passengers on the train. There was also a Spec 4 there looking for us. He spotted us rather quickly,
and we were off to Andrews Kaserne on Finckensteinallee. As we raced toward Andrews and came around the Kadettenweg
curve--I bet most don't recall that at all--the main entrance to Andrews came into view. Andrews Kaserne was to be our home
for the next two years.
Well, we were once more assigned to temporary status until our security clearances came through.
After a week or two, I was told I was now cleared to go to work. I was hustled out to Tempelhof Airbase to the ASA site there
and familiarized with my assignment. I was assigned to A Trick to train with a Spec 5 named Ray Willingham as a German
voice intercept. I am not at liberty to discuss the details or intricacies of the job. As far as I know, it is still classified.
Shortly after the wall went up, I was put on late days. So I was on "late days" when the Friedrichstrasse tank confrontation
came down in October. A bit scary. We had numerous alerts, and we didn't know if "the balloon was going to go up" or what.
They actually issued us--an ASA outfit--live ammunition on one occasion!! Finally, it all passed and "die Mauer" and all the
shootings and unfortunate incidents became a part of our everyday lives. The Western Powers accepted what had happened
and were happy to have avoided a full fledged war. There was no getting away from the daily tragedies. Many times it broke
your heart, but life went on.
In the Summer, especially when I was on C Trick--we spent lots of time at the Strandbad Wannsee. It was a great place
to meet young ladies as were the bars that I mentioned. Of course, on breaks we had the normal things that had to be done
such as catching up on our sleep, getting laundry done, shopping, listening to music, reading, playing cards, writing
letters--no E-Mail then, taking care of money matters-I saved a lot of money through American Express up at Trumanplatz,
going drinking, going to the service club, going to the movies, sightseeing, etc. We would go to concerts or the theater, if we
could get tickets. Tickets were dirt cheap. I once saw Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson on the same card for the grand total
of 12 Marks--3 dollars!! I saw the musical, "The West Side Story" at the Titania Palast for about the same price. Like I said,
the dollar went a long way. I also went on leave three times, to England, Denmark, and Austria. Would you believe that the ten
day trip to Austria in March of 1963 cost me the grand total of about $150 dollars or maybe even less.
I don't know if I will ever get back again, but I can truthfully say I was fortunate and happy to have been a part of it all from 1961 to 1963.
"Berlin bleibt doch Berlin!"
Our jobs at Tempelhof in the 280th, later to be renamed the 78th USASA SOU, had a lot interesting
wrinkles..Guys worked all sorts of different hours. There were four tricks: A, B, C, and D. I was originally on A Trick as a trainee.
There were also some guys who worked "straight days", and a larger group worked what was known as "late days". If you were
a trick worker, you were on duty on six day shifts--"days", "swings", and "mids". "Days" were from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, "swings"
were from 5:00 PM to midnight, and "mids" were from midnight to 8:00 AM. We always had to have a large contingent of men
on duty at all hours, because all things did not happen during normal, daytime hours. I will leave it at that. Trick workers always
had breaks between shifts, either two or three days off. "Straight days" worked from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through
Friday and half days on Saturday. "Late days" worked from 10:00 AM until the work was done six or even seven days a week.
Sometimes we didn't get back to Andrews until well into the evening. We were only allowed to go to work by military bus.
No exceptions were allowed. All "late day" workers got one day off a week and one free weekend a month.
After one learned his job in his section at Tempelhof, he was immediately assigned to "late days" because that was where
the action was and where most of us were needed. In early August of 1961, I was still on A Trick finishing up training.
It was suspected that something big was going to happen. It did. On Sunday, August 13, the East Germans began erecting
the Berlin wall (die Berliner Mauer). I was rudely awakened that morning and told I had to report for duty ASAP.
I was told the city was being blockaded. That wasn't really entirely true, but nevertheless I along with Ray had to go to out at
Tempelhof. We were there, needless to say, for the entire day and then some.
Late the following Spring in 1962 I was put on C Trick as one of the two German linguists assigned to the group.
It had been adjudged that I was now skillful enough to work with a partner in the evenings and late at night
and would be able to recognize a critical situation and properly deal with it, if one came up. I was then promoted
to Spec 4. I also got to train some of the new guys coming into the unit. Sometime in the late Fall of 1962 about the time of the Cuban
Missle Crisis--another scary time with yellow fever shots for all of us--I was put back on "late days". I was also promoted to
Spec 5, and also received proficiency pay. I was then earning $210 a month. That was well over 800 Deutsche Mark, and it
sure went a long way back then. It was the "golden age" for American GIs on the German economy, especially if you were single.
On breaks and free time, I frequented the Rex Casino--an ASA bar-- up on Unter den Eichen Strasse and the Players Inn
further downtown on Hauptstrasse.
I was rotated back to the "States" in late April of 1963, and was separated on April 28 1963 at the Brooklyn Naval Terminal.
I then went on to college, studied German, acquired a teaching degree, and became a high school German teacher.
I completely lost track of all my army buddies until about a year and a half ago when I finally decided to start looking them up
on the Internet. Happily, I can report I have found many of them to be alive and well. I have been back to Germany many times
in the past 25 years, but this past February marked the first time that I ever returned to Berlin to the place where I probably
spent the best two years of life.
The Stork Club at Andrews Barracks
by Laird (Doug) Shively
formerly of the 78th USASA SOU
Berlin 1961-63
The Stork Club at Andrews Barracks during my time there was located upstairs in the red brick,
large building as one entered the compound by way of the main gate located on Finckensteinallee.
As you came through the gate, opposite of Kadettenweg, it was directly straight ahead. This
building also housed a snack bar, a library, a reading or sitting room with a TV, a movie theater,
a PX, and a laundry service. There might also have been a tailor, who had a small shop in this
building.
For the most part, when we were going to the Stork Club, we entered the building from a rear
entrance near Building 904 (our barracks). Upon entering, you went upstairs and came to the slot
machine area. There were nickel, dime, and quarter machines. I almost always played the dime machines.
I won at least three or four jackpots in my two years of frequenting the club. Winning a jackpot
always meant that you were expected to buy a few rounds of beer for your buddies.
That's how it was with the slot machines, except that I do remember an army cook who always on payday
in his white togs was there playing two quarter machines at one time. Thinking back, I wonder if he
ever came out ahead.
After you got by the slot machine area, you had two options. To the left was a large room with
numerous tables and chairs or you could sit at the bar. One of the bartenders was a fine young lady
by the name of Trudi. For that reason, I usually sat at the bar so I could talk with her.
I never really got past the idle conversation with her, as I think she had a boyfriend. In any case,
I liked her and she was always nice to me and the rest of us. She also helped us with our German
from time to time. One thing she didn't like was guys getting drunk and becoming obnoxious. Of such
guys, she would say; "Er macht mich krank!" She might have said it about me a few times. Truthfully,
Trudi was really a super girl. Too bad to have lost track of such a nice person. I hope she is still
alive somewhere and living the good life.
To the right was the main barroom. There were a lot more tables here and a much larger bar. There
was also a stage for live performances. The person I remember most vividly was a blonde barmaid
with a bubble hairdo by the name of Uschi, who was a bit slow at times when it came to bringing
drink orders to your table. I had one friend, who used to order multiple beers so that he didn't
have to endure the frequent dry spells between beers. It was also in this venue where the live shows
and entertainment took place--usually on Friday and Saturday nights.
Many of the shows and live entertainment were, as far as I know, provided by the USO. In any case,
they were--more often than not--of good quality. I remember one young German girl who used to sing
frequently at the club, and she just knocked everybody's socks off. She was good! Not only was she
a really good singer, but she was also "hot" to use today's vernacular. There was also an older
German girl who did a great imitation of Katarina Valente. Anybody remember Katarina Valente?
The shows I really liked were The country and western shows. There was one guy who used to appear
quite often. He sang all of George Jones' big hits such as "Tender Years", "White Lightnin", "She
Still Thinks I Care", "From the Window Up Above", and many more. But what really got my attention
was his rendition of Ernest Tubb's "Fraeulein". Maybe some of you remember some of the words.
It started off like this: "Far across deep blue waters, lived an old German's daughter on the banks
of the old river Rhine, where I loved her and left, but I can't forget her, I miss my pretty
Fraeulein!" There's more to it, but I think I have gotten the message across. There was also a
juke box with all of the current big hits and a nice sized dance floor. The "Twist" was a popular
dance back then, but some of us used to also get a big charge out of doing the "Limbo", especially
after we had a number of beers in us. Remember that one? Also Chubby Checker had a big hit with his
charts song "Limbo Rock".
Of course, we often went to the Stork Club just to wile away a couple of hours after we got off
duty in the evening. We would sit around and just talk, play cards (hearts or pinochle), drink beer,
and make some plans for future activities for our days off or for when we went on leave. In times
of crisis, and there were a few of those times, we might go to the club and have a number of beers
just to simply ameliorate things a bit. Sometimes guys would just go to drown whatever sorrows were
bothering them. On the upside, A guy could also bring his German date to the Stork Club for the
evening. The same was true of the movie theater. It was simply a case of signing her in with the MPs
at the main gate. I didn't mention that there were two beers served in the Stork Club. They were
Loewenbraeu (a Munich beer) and Tuborg (Danish beer). Loewenbraeu was 15 cents a bottle and Tuborg
cost all of 20 cents a bottle. "Happy hour" was every Monday evening, and then the price of a bottle
of beer was reduced to 10 or 15 cents. There was, of course, an array of mixed drinks and hard liquor,
of which I rarely partook. I usually drank beer--sometimes too much probably.
The Stork Club had one other attraction which drew us there. They often showed sports highlights
films at 7:00 PM on Monday evenings, especially in the Fall during football season. We got to see
on film many of the fairly recent important happenings in the NFL and in college football. My buddy
Don Devino and I used to often take Mondays off (We got one day a week off from duty.) just to ensure
that we would not miss the films, as it happened frequently that we would get stuck at work at
Tempelhof well into the evening and not get back to Andrews until well after 8:00 PM. There were some
additional reasons for taking off Monday, but the aforementioned one was high on the list.
These are my remembrances of the legendary Stork club at Andrews Barracks, until 1945 the former
Kadettenanstalt and home of the Leibstandarte of Adolf Hitler.
My Berlin Memories
August 13, 1961
by PFC Rafael Vazquez
3rd Battle Group, 6th Inf., C-Company
2nd platoon, 1st squad
Let me share with your readers about my memories of August 13, 1961 at Berlin. That Sunday, the sound of the alert woke me
up in the dark. I guess it was near 4:00 in the morning. That night I slept very few hours because I was on pass that Saturday
and returned to McNair Barracks by mid night or later... My first thought when I stood in my feet was "estos cab...s (tipos) no
saben que hoy es Domingo..."
By those days I was a member of "C" Co, 3rd BG, as an infantryman, belonging to the 1st squad ("A" team) of the
2nd platoon. The "A" team members were: Sgt. Mondi (MI), team leader; R. Vazquez (PR), sniper; J. Romero (PR),
BAR; E.May (OR), rifleman; Laghoundorf (OR), rifleman and Sgt. Ralley, who was the squad leader. By then, when alerts were
called, the "A" team after getting dressed and ready for combat, used to go (walking) to the ammunitions bunkers, the one nearby
the motor pool to perform a routine duty. Our duty consisted in pulling out from the bunkers some of the ammos trailers and get
then ready for hauling, this in collaboration with the truck drivers.
I spent the lunch hour with some other Puertorrican soldiers at the snack bar, talking Spanish and sharing our feelings about
the Berlin crisis... For lunch I had a Davy Crockett with French fries and a soda, the friendly combo that never disappointed
me during my 18 months journey at McNair Barracks...
Please be aware that this is a recollection of memories of an ordinary soldier, one without a military mind, a PFC, 21 years old
and drafted from Puerto Rico, one of the Caribbean Island...
That day we never get there because a message coming out of the speaker system at the motor pool was requesting that all
troops shall return immediately back to their barracks. This was the 1st signal for me that something different was happening...
When the "A" team arrived back to the barrack, I observed that along the hall between the supply room and the company commander
office, a lot of wood cases full of live bullets, grenades and all types of war gadgets were on display and open, ready for the
distribution among soldiers. That was the 2nd event that something extraordinary was happening...
Rumors among the troops started running... At the barrack, we were informed by the platoon sergeant to stay standby because
a company formation will be called soon... No time for breakfast...I felt that the worse was really happening...
Early that morning, all McNair troops were together in a huge formation at the playground, were in a brief message, one of the
top ranking officers, probably a General from Berlin Command, informed all of us about what was really happening...
He communicated us that the night before all accesses to West Berlin were sealed with barb wires and other means. He also told
us that GDR military troops were mobilized and deployed along the border and that a wall was under construction to split the city
and to control all access to West Berlin. Then the formation was dismissed and the troops returned to their barracks.
At the barracks a self service system for the distribution of live ammunitions had been established and going on. Before noon,
my military outfit included a new bullets proof vest, my M-1 rifle, two (2) belts full of bullets, shoulder type (bandoleers), and a
couple of grenades (smoke and fragmentation types).
Here, I want to quote my friend Daniel Barron (TX), a member of "C" Co, who served with us at that time. He wrote:
"Sunday, August 13, 1961 a day which will never be forgotten. I also remember the tension of that morning because of things
happening that had never happened before, such as passing out of live ammo". None other words could better describe the
emotions of that moment.
At 1:00 PM, a company formation was called again, and the Company Commander addressed the troops. In a brief message,
he updated the issues concerning the crisis and informed us about the military plan or action in which the "C" Co. will be engaged
during the coming days or weeks. He also explained that the 2nd BG was assigned to convoying in the autobahn from
Berlin to Helmstedt (each way), and the 3rd BG will remain in Berlin in charge of the security and patrolling the border.
Then the formation was dismissed...
Before 2:00 PM , my squad leader told me to get ready immediately because I was temporally assigned with some other soldiers
to Turner Barracks. About 3:00 pm, at Turner Barracks, we were receiving a fast track training to become part of a tank operation
crew, basically to help as an assistant gunner or as a louder... This action was taken because half of the regular troops from Turner
Barracks were out of the city, gathering their annual field training at Grafenwoehr or some other place in West Germany...
Before evening, I was sent to the kitchen were I helped handling all kind of stuff to provide and deliver food to the troops deployed
at the border. That night I stayed at Turner Barracks and I was kept there standby for a couple of days...
Then, I was moved to Tempelhof Airport, where the "C" Co. had been deployed. One of the airport hangar was our shelter for
the next weeks... There, as an ordinary soldier, I was assigned to guard duty or to a patrol. The guards were in house at
Tempelhof premises, and the patrols were along the border, most of the time walking during the night from north to south along
the west bank of the Spree River... An intensive spot light in a constant-intermitent doses coming out from the other side of the
river was our unpleasant companion all the time...
Today, I want to recognize all the Puertorrican soldiers, almost 50 of them and mostly infantrymen, part of the USA troops who
were serving in Berlin during that historical day.
Reinhard, congratulations for your great work...tu PAGINA (web site) es todo un EXITO...
(Urkunde)
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