Honor Page 17

Upon arriving in Berlin I was assigned to Headquarter and Headquarters Company, 2^nd Battle Group, 6^th Infantry at McNair Barracks. I was in the truck platoon as a Deuce and a half driver at the time. Our unit was out in the Grunewald on an FTX exercise when we got the word that the President was arriving the next day.

The next morning we drove the line company's back to McNair to cleanup and change into summer dress uniforms for the parade to take place on Clayallee in front of Berlin Army Headquarters Berlin Brigade. We unloaded the line troops and were told to go park the trucks behind Headquarters and a few blocks down and wait. After waiting a while I decided to walk up to Clayallee and see if I would be lucky enough to see President Kennedy as he came along. I was standing among the local German population on the corner of Clayallee and Königin-Luise-Str. All the people there were very happy and acted like a huge family. This intersection was about 500 yards behind the Outpost Movie Theater. (Today it's the Allied Museum)

From about Gary Str. (location of the Free University of Berlin) all the way down to the Outpost Theater American troops from all the Berlin units stood shoulder to shoulder.

When finally the big Lincoln convertible came by with the President, John F. Kennedy, the Mayor, Willy Brandt and the German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer standing waving at the crowds. As the car came abreast of our corner, John F. Kennedy looked over at us and I brought up a salute. The president gave a salute back and after he went by I looked around me and found that I was the only soldier standing there.

When a man is approaching age fifty, he starts to think about all of the moments in his life from many years ago. I was born in Washington, D.C. in 1958 and lived there as a young boy until age thirteen. My parents, two sisters and myself immigrated to Sydney, Australia and I lived there until 1978. Shortly after moving back to America, it became very apparent to me that I needed something in my life that would help me build confidence and a better self esteem. I decided to join the army. When my recruiter asked me where I wanted to be stationed, I answered that I wanted to travel and see Europe. It was pure luck that I ended up in West Berlin, and for that I am very grateful.

I remember the trip up to Berlin from Frankfurt in July 1979. I was very nervous but also excited at the chance to work in such a special city. It was a long twelve hour journey on the Frankfurt to Berlin Duty Train and back then, we were not allowed to travel through East Germany during daylight hours. Six new MP's bound for the 287^th MP Company and my new life was about to start. We left at 7:30 pm and arrived at the Berlin RTO early the next morning. There were two MP's from the 287^th and I made a promise to myself that after speaking with them and finding out how much they enjoyed the duty train assignment, I was going to one day take their place on board. After working different assignments as a second platoon member, the company decided to add another platoon. It was rumored that those who would be assigned to the new fourth platoon, would be considered the rejects of the other three. When I was selected for new platoon assignment, I immediately requested transfer to the Allied Control Authority (ACA) which was a quiet place to work and located in a different area in West Berlin. The new platoon sergeant was a man named Bob Gervais and after a brief talk with him, I decided to take the plunge and work for him. It was a decision I would not regret as we clearly showed everyone that we were not rejects at all and one year later we were voted Platoon of the Year for Berlin Brigade. Our prize was a weeks training anywhere we wanted and that led us to a fantastic mountain climbing course in Bad Toelz, West Germany. What a great week that was and in the months that followed, I experienced so much more while stationed at Andrews Barracks.

No amount of training could have prepared me for the patrol duties that I had the chance to experience with the amazing GP's at the Provost Marshall's Office. Reinhard, I remember the valuable lessons I learned from the other GP's and yourself. I would check my work duty roster and if my name was beside call sign....2/4, 3/4 or 4/4, I knew that I would have the chance once again to gain real police experience with the Golf Papas. Do you remember taking me to the British, French and Turkish sector's ? I sure do and I remember how scared I was the first time I had a Code 3 run with one of you. I also remember just how professional and self assured all of you were and I felt safe and confident the more I drew assignments with you. With the ever present Wall around us, I remember some of us in our Audi patrol cars keying the mike when midnight would come as AFN would play a tape of the Star Bangled Banner. We would have the P.A. system up all the way so the boys on the other side of the wall could hear loud and clear. Those were the days !!! As a Specialist Four, I finished up my last months in Berlin at Checkpoint Bravo and it was a great way to end it all.

In March 1982, I left Berlin and started another journey that would take me back to the states and to where it all began in Washington, D.C. I spent a short period of time with the Metropolitan Police in Washington D.C., and then the U.S. Secret Service came calling. I had the opportunity to be involved in the protection of four President's and Vice Presidents from 1983 to 2002. I also had the good fortune to be assigned to President Clinton when he visited Berlin in 1994 for the closing of Berlin Brigade. My assignment was to observe all of the young MP's of the 287^th who were detailed at the metal detector's. Most of them would have only been seven to ten years old when I was assigned to their MP Company !!! What a special day that was to me and I'll never forget it.

Now, I live once again in Sydney, Australia with my lovely wife Christine and two beautiful daughters. We have been here for nearly five years and I am now working in the hospitality industry as the Director of Security for the Four Seasons Hotel.

In January 1957, the 287^th Military Police Company's Commanding Officer submitted my name for enrollment in Berlin Command's 6^th Infantry Regiment Noncommissioned Officer Academy.

Both the 287^th MP Company and the NCO Academy were located at the same facility --Andrews Barracks. The 287^th was located in the building to the extreme right and just behind the Olympic Swimming Pool as you come in the front gate. The NCO Academy was located at the far opposite end of the same billet. Because I had been assigned to the 287^th since June 1956, I thought I knew a little bit about what was going on at the Academy and I knew I did not want to be a part of it. For one thing, they got up real early in the morning and went on a two-mile run to work up an appetite for breakfast. Their run was always structured, everyone was in line just like in a parade except they were running, and they were extremely loud. As they counted cadence and sounded off they woke up personnel in every company at Andrews Barracks. It got so bad that many people resorted to throwing toilet paper rolls and water balloons from the top story level as they came by. Nothing worked ----- they just got louder.

I absolutely did not want to go to the Academy. I was not intending to stay in the Army as a career and I probably was not going to be a NCO during my enlistment period that was scheduled to end January 1959. As you may remember however, the Army did not necessarily allow you to do just want you wanted to do. Master Sgt Hollis Graves of the 287^th told me that the Company Commander was not asking me if I wanted to go, he was ordering me to go. Well if you wanted to stay out of trouble in the military, you followed orders. So, I reluctantly reported to the NCO Academy at the appropriate time for the six weeks program.

Twice in 1956, I had competed for and won "soldier of the month" from Andrews Barracks and my buddies laughed at me and said that is what you get for being so all-army - an assignment to the NCO Academy. Actually I had tried to win because the winner got a special "off duty town pass." In any event, maybe this was why I was sent to the Academy.

1^st Lt Dandridge M. Malone was the Commandant of the NCO Academy. He was a graduate of West Point and was absolutely serious about his assignment. His subordinates let it be known that the Academy was an all Army, gung-ho military operation that would be conducted as close to combat conditions as you can get. From day one they said we would feel like we were a freshman at West Point and that we would have classroom work and study and physical endurance projects throughout the entire program. Several Master Sgts and Staff Sgts from the 6^th Infantry Regiment were included in the cadre and one, I think his name was Sgt Patrick made life especially miserable for many of us. Another Sgt that I remember was Sgt Rex and he, although tough and very demanding, was also very straightforward and sometimes helpful without the constant and ridiculous harassment and ridicule. All of them were tough and brought a certain amount of pressure to bear --- because that was their job. They all said that some of us would be gone before the first week was done. They were right!

After the first few days I felt like I did when I was a freshman at Texas A&M in the Corp (ROTC) -- overly harassed, unnecessarily disciplined, and constantly supervised. I realized too, that I was the only person that was not from the 6^th Infantry Regiment. I got the feeling that the Cadre of the Academy had singled me out because they considered the Military Police to be unable to stand up to rigid Infantry assignments. I thought they were trying to get me to drop out!

I guess this brought out the competitive side of me and I decided to fight back and do the very best that I could with everything they threw at the class. This was a tough six weeks but for some reason after I made up my mind to "go for it" I actually enjoyed the program. In the end I was the honor graduate just ahead of Sp3 Fortunato Lagapa from the 6^th Infantry Regiment . So much for MPs not being able to compete in the NCO Academy.

Throughout the program we were regularly presented with combat problems to solve in the field. An example of such a problem was how to cross a water stream with only three ropes, two grapnel hooks, and a lot of imagination. We were given five minutes as a team to reach a decision and plan about how to proceed and then each of us was given 100 seconds to attempt a successful throw with a grapnel hook.

Part of the program also included learning how to cross a stream under enemy fire. For this exercise we used the swimming pool at Andrews Barracks that Germany had built for the 1936 Olympics. All participants had to dive from 10, 15, and 50 foot towers.

The instructors at the Academy borrowed ideas from the Fort Benning Ranger School and established a four-hour course in swimming techniques for use when the terrain contains lakes and rivers. They started with an abandon-ship drill and progressed to the tough problem of crossing a stream while exposed to enemy fire. This was accomplished by using a large log 16 feet long and 18 inches in diameter. Using the log as cover, we crossed the stream keeping our heads low. Simulated machine gun fire was delivered from the opposite side of the bank.

There was also a raft building exercise. We had to cross the pool with complete combat equipment and emerge on the far side with weapons, boots, clothing, and equipment in dry condition. Two of us would cross our M1 rifles and lash them together. Two steel helmets were then tied beneath the rifles. That formed a raft framework and ponchos were stretched over the framework to complete the hull. Clothing, fieldpack, boots, and other equipment were then loaded and the sides of the ponchos were folded over the top of the cargo and snapped together. This made a watertight capsule containing all combat equipment. Then the raft was towed across the stream.

The NCO Academy was actually a game of preparedness played with great intensity as if Berlin Command was actually engaged in hostilities. Berlin Command took no holidays from preparedness and perhaps no where in the command was that point emphasized more than at the Berlin NCO Academy. We were told that if the Soviets elected to launch an all out attack on West Berlin that over one-half of Berlin Command could be dead in less than two minutes. Staying prepared was essential!

Part of the program called for personnel to be taken to the field to demonstrate working with partisans and infiltrating enemy sections. Most of us did not see any fun is such maneuvers in blackened faces nor in 11 straight hours of mock war where requirements called for simulated night attacks on enemy placements. Everyone knew, however, the time could come when we might be performing maneuvers with deadly intent. In other words, be involved in a real battle situation.

We spent a lot of time in the Grunewald Forest especially at night, where most of the maneuvers took place. Sometimes we were divided into squads consisting of a patrol leader and eight riflemen along with a radio and a machine gun. Generally, the patrol worked through a series of obstacles and covered about ten miles before reaching their objective. Working through simulated enemy fire, the patrol was to destroy ammunition distribution points and retreat to a clearing on the map where an armored task force had blasted through to pick us up at 5:00 a.m. That was 11 hours after we had started. Map reading and using a compass was a big part of the program and very much included in the maneuvers.

In researching the data for this story I found an article stating that Malone had told all participants that while we were going through the Academy, the program was designed in such a manner that we would be automatically competing for the "Expert Infantryman's Badge." Now over 50 years later I am just now realizing that we never heard about the results --- did any of us earn the badge or not? Nothing was ever said at the completion of the program and so this is now somewhat of a mystery. I had forgotten all about this.

At the end of six weeks we were all exhausted ----- participants and instructors alike. In this program everyone including the instructors was active in taking part including Malone, Patrick, and Rex and all the others. No one was excluded.

As I suspected I did not become an NCO during my enlistment and I chose to get out of the military at the end of my duty cycle. But like everything else in life, you basically get out of something what you put into it and there were many skills and abilities that were learned that could be applied in military or civilian life.

In the end, I had come full circle and was glad that I had participated.

Also, I was glad when I returned to the 287^th Military Police Company and "so called" normal military police duty!