Honor Page - 2 Guest Authors Excellent history stories from proud veterans

Page 2

Mark Lind, U.S. Army, Ret. 279th Station Hospital

Joe Kenney History of the 16th CONSTABULARY SQUADRON

Jack Shepherd, U.S. Army Signal Company, 7781 AU, in BERLIN

 

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279^th Station Hospital

-US Army Hospital, Berlin-
by Mark R. Lind,
U.S. Army, Ret.

The 279^th Station Hospital was formed in 1943 at Camp Bowie, Texas near Brownwood.
By following Carl F. McDaniel ^*, who was an original member of the hospital until he was discharged; we can see how the 279^th arrived in Berlin.

1943-       Formation of the hospital at Camp Bowie, Texas
12/28/44- Left Camp Miles Standish, near Boston for Europe.
1/12/44-  Arrived Glasgow, Scotland
1/13/44-  Arrived Abergavenny, Wales
5/19/45-  Left Abergavenny
5/20/45-  Arrived Southhampton
5/20/45-  Left Southhampton
5/21/45-  Arrived La Harve, France
               Went to Camp Twenty Grand
5/27/45-  Arrived Verdun, France
7/2/45-   Left Verdun
               Went to Epernay, France
8/11/45- Left Verdun for Berlin
Arrived Berlin and stayed for 9 months
Discharged April 46... Fort Dix NJ

HISTORY

The 279^th hospital was located at 40- 46 Unter den Eichen, Dahlem, district of Zehlendorf. It started as a private, German-owned hospital at the turn of the century. The red brick buildings were originally constructed to care for Kaiser Wilhelm's' II society. It was in June of 1900 when the Empress August Vickoria presided over the opening ceremonies. When the Kaiser was forced to abdicate after World War I, the Weimar government took charge of the hospital. In June, 1934 the SS set up their headquarters not far from the hospital, in the former Prussian Army Cadet School. From that time foreword, the medical facility as gradually Nazified until 1941, when the Third Reich officially purchased it.

* See Carl F. McDaniel's website: http://macswitch.tripod.com/berlin/index.html

It subsequently was used by SS units until the end of World War II. As the war wore down, and SS casualties mounted rapidly, there were as many as a 1,000 severely wounded men in the crowded wards.

In April, 1945, as the Nazis' collapsed, the Red Army captured the premises. They stayed for 3,5 months, plundering, raping, and looting Berlin. It was August of 1945 when the American troops of the 279^th Station Hospital finally took control of the grounds. With the help of the Army Engineers, 279^th had the facility up and running by Christmas.

The reorganization centered around 4 of the red-brick buildings, and separate dental, obstetrical, x-ray, laboratory, veterinary and preventive medicine departments. In addition, there was an interdenominational chapel, a library, a softball field, EM club, and a motion picture theatre.

THE END OF THE 279^th

On July 17, 1976, the new American Army Hospital was dedicated. It is located on Fabeckstrasse at the rear of the old hospital property. The old red-brick buildings are now owned, and used by the German government.

PERSONAL VIEWPOINTS

It was a privilege to serve at the 279^th Hospital for 2/12 years, January, 1956 to August, 1958. As we all know, serving in Berlin during the Cold War, was for many veterans, one of the highlights of our service, and life. Berlin and its people will always have a place in my heart!

The hospital contained many underground rooms, and cells. The walls and floors were tiled with white tile. The floors sloped to the middle drain. Only God knows what all those rooms were used for by the SS.

Every 3 months, or so, a few of us had a huge party in one the underground rooms. The Pharmacist saved up the ethyl alcohol; the cook contributed the frozen orange juice and large kettle, and we had our party. I don't think the brass ever caught on.

We had two-man rooms in the billets. Each payday we contributed $5.00, or so, which paid for a tailor and people to clean, wax, and buff the floors. It couldn't have been easier, or better duty. We had a minimum of discipline, and a pass every other night. Once a month members of the dental clinic had weekend duty. We were on call to help wire the teeth of GIs who had fights, and had their jaws broken.

I haven't been back to Berlin, but hope to make the trip with the Berlin Vets in 2005.

 

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History of the 16^th CONSTABULARY SQUADRON
(Separate) Berlin, Germany

Sent by Joe Kenney
16^th CONSTABULARY SQUADRON
proud U.S. Army veteran, ret.

His words are:
"Keep up the good work , it's heart warming to know that someone cares."

-THANK YOU JOE!-

(-Research and original text written by Al Solosky, Headquarters, 16^th SQDN S-3,
Reviewed by Samuel McC. Goodwin, Brig. Gen. U.S. Army, Ret., First 16^th Squadron Commander-)

In accordance with the Yalta Agreement when Germany had been defeated by the Allies, the former "Deutsches Reich" was to be devided into four zones of occupation: USSR, USA, Great Britain and France. The great capitol city of Berlin was to be an enclave within the Soviet Zone, devided into three sectors and occupied by the USSR, UK and USA. The Soviet Army fought a bitter battle to take Berlin from the still loyal, fanatical Nazi defenders. The Soviets occupied the city from May, 1945 until July 4, 1945. On that date the U.S., UK and French forces were authorized to move into their assigned sectors of Berlin. (France was added to the occupations forces by agreement, a portion of the British Sector was assigned to them.) The first major U.S. unit assigned to occupy Berlin was the 2^nd Armored Division, then followed by the 82^nd Airborne Division, followed by the 78^th Infantry Division, each for a period of approximately 90 days.

The first American troops in Berlin found the city in vertual total ruin; looted by the Soviets of all moveable machinery, supplies, transportation and some key people. There was no electricity, heat, water, food and marginally adequate shelter. There were no tools for the inhabitants to dig themselves out and bury thousands of Berliners entombed by bricks and cement from the fallen buildings. The collapse of Berlin (before the war the fourth largest city in the world) was total! The suffering was further intensified by the fact that they were not allowed to leave and that no German from outside could enter the city. There was no money since most of the banks were destroyed and there was no government to back a currency.

The U.S. Military found Berlin in dire need of medical services. Several U.S. medical units immediately set up first aid stations in the Grunewald. They later moved to Berlin's Pathological Institute on Unter den Eichen in a 19^th Century German complex of medical clinics. These clinics were later consolidated to become the 279^th Station Hospital. U.S. Quartermaster units brought with them tons of "U" rations and set up impromtu kitchens. These facilities were later taken over by U.S occupations units supplied with rations arriving daily via trucks and trains. Of special help was the U.S. 36^th Combat Engineer Battalion who brought to Berlin badly needed tools and motorized equipment to move rubble, begin reconstructing and repairing first their own and other units' billets and headquarters, then taking care of buildings soon to be occupied by various agencies of the new administration of the City of Berlin.

                 

Accompanying the U.S. 2^nd Armored Division at the time of the initial quadripartite occupation was the 16^th Cavalry Group composed of the 6^th and 28^th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons. This light, armored, mobile force initiated patrols of the devastated U.S. Sector and sustained contact with the British, French and Soviet forces. The 16^th Cavalry Group remained in Berlin during the rapid rotation of the 82^nd Airborne Division and the 78^th Infantry Division. However its effectiveness was diminished by the rapid departure of combat weary officers and men under the point system of U.S. demobilization. By late 1945 the 78^th Division created a temporary and provisional light armored, mobile force designated the 78^th Infantry Division Provisional Squadron to patrol the devastated streets of Berlin in the American Sector to replace the 16^th Cavalry Group.

After the unconditional surrender of all enemies of the U.S. after V-J Day the vast U.S. Army, Army Air Corps and Navy stationed in Western Europe underwent a precipitous deactivation and demobilization. Combat units that had defeated the Axis virtually dissolved as fast as air and sealift could move men (and some equipment) to the United States. It was clearly apparent that there would be an inadequate combat force remaining to execute the occupation of the large American zone of Germany. To fill this void a decision was made in Washington to create an unique provisional organization to be called the U.S. Zone Constabulary. This 35.000 man force would assume the mission of overwatching the long border between the U.S. and USSR zones of occupation, demonstrate the military presence of the U.S. and where necessary preserve law and order. Under the command of a dynamic, combat experienced Armor/Cavalry officer, MG Ernest N. Harmon, the U.S. Zone Constabulary was created in the U.S. occupation zone in early 1946.

Organization and equipment for the Constabulary Force was based on the Armored-Cavalry Squadrons and Groups that had played such an important role in the defeat of German Wehrmacht. Concurrently the U.S. Berlin Command requested and gained approval that one such Constabulary Squadron be activated in Berlin as a component of the U.S Occupation Force there. A skeleton planning staff was formed in early 1946.

On May 1, 1946 the 16^th CONSTABULARY SQUADRON (SEPARATE) was activated from remaining units of the 78^th Infantry Division Provisional Squadron and fleshed out from draftees called to duty in late 1945 to early 1946.

Units designated were:
- 16^th Cavalry Group Hq ..............-Hq, Hq & Sv- Troop
- 78^th Div. Cav. Recon Trp ..........-A- Troop
- Anti-Tank Co 310^th Inf. Regt ....-B- Troop
- Anti-Tank Co 309^th Inf. Regt ....-C- Troop
- Cannon Co. 310^th Inf. Regt -......-D- Troop
- Co. "A". 771 Tank Bn ...............-E- Troop

The 16^th Constabulary Squadron was not under the command of the U.S. Zone Constabulary. It was one of the two combat units assigned to the Berlin Command. Tables of organization and equipment (TO & E) and most operational and administrative procedures were those quickly developed for Zone Constabulary.

At the time of the activation informal arrangements were made to associate the 16^th Constabulary with the 4^th Cavalry Group, then part of the force in Austria. There was no command relationship. However the 16^th Squadron was authorized to wear the distinctive insignia (DI) of the distinguished 4^th Cavalry Regiment.

                 

The primary missions initially assigned to the 16^th Constabulary Squadron (Separate) were:
- To patrol at random all main streets of the American Sector thereby representing the presence and strength of the U.S. occupation in Berlin.

- To patrol daily the autobahn from Berlin to Helmstedt (the place where the autobahn left the Soviet zone and entered the British occupation zone of Germany)

- To support when needed the newly activated Berlin police force.

- To support as needed special missions requiring U.S. combat forces, refugee control, CIC searches, and humanitarian relief.

- To organize and equip a para-military German Civilian Guard Detachment assigned static security of selected U.S. installations in Berlin.

- To maintain on continuous 15 minute alert a force of one mechanized platoon to respond to any emergency in Berlin.

These missions were subsequently modified to accommodate the withdrawel of the USSR from the Berlin Allied Kommandatura (the Inter-Allied Authority in Berlin), the restoration of the Berlin Police Force, the massive Berlin Airlift named "Operation Vittles", and numerous international crises impacting on Berlin. When the seven convicted NUERNBERG trial prisoners were brought to Spandau Prison in Berlin, the 16^th Constabulary Squadron furnished the first prison guard detachment. Every fourth month thereafter this duty was repeated in rotation among the four occupying nations. On occasion the entire squadron or parts thereof was deployed within Berlin to control actual or threatened civil disturbances. Such actions were normally in close collaboration with British and French occupation forces. Relations with the USSR rapidly deteriorated as opposing concepts for the occupation and restoration of Berlin emerged. An elite platoon of 30 horse mounted troopers performed innumerable ceremonial duties for all levels of U.S. occupation forces in Berlin. On occasion the Horse Platoon made random mounted patrols on heavily wooded segments of the U.S.-USSR sector boundary.

The 16^th Constabulary Squadron (Separate) on May 1, 1946 wore the insignia of the parent Regiment, the 4^th Cavalry Group. However at a later date they wore the "Berlin Bears". On February 1, 1949 the squadron was identified as heir to "STRIKE HARD", the 16^th Cavalry Group insignia.

All troopers assigned to the Constabulary proudly wore on the left shoulder sleeve of their uniform the new Constabulary insignia (shoulder patch). The organization of the Constabulary is symbolized in the basic disk of Cavalry yellow, bordered by a ring of Infantry blue. The dominant letter "C" for CONSTABULARY, also in Infantry blue, is pierced by a bolt of lightning in Artillery red. The lightning bolt is symbolic of speed and armored power inherent in the Constabulary and was especially appropriate for the 16^th Constabulary Squadron whose origin is traced to the 78^th Infantry Division, "The Lightning Division". After successfully completing a brief, special training program and meeting certain disciplinary standards members of the 16^th Squadron were awarded a "flash" or "tab" reading "CONSTABULARY" worn 1/2 inch above the "Circle C". It was perpetuated by the "BERLIN" tab added to the U.S.Army Europe shoulder patch worn by the Berlin Brigade until it was inactivated in 1994.

        

On activation the 16^th Squadron was assigned a German Luftwaffe Anti-Airkraft Kaserne and an adjacent smaller Vehicular Repair and Maintenance Kaserne called "Emerick". Both had been severely damaged by repeated aerial bombardment and further abused by the first Soviet occupation force. No utilities functioned.

Bomb craters pot-marked the entire area. Concurrent with the first occupational mission was a self-help reconstruction project. U.S. Army engineers plus civilian contractors subsequently took over the rehabilitation. These Kasernes were in the area of Berlin called -Lankwitz- , part of the Bezirk (district) of Tempelhof.

U.S. Berlin Command selected the name "Patton Barracks" for the Squadron's Kaserne complex. Shortly thereafter headquarters U.S. European Command named a major installation in the U.S. Zone of Occupation after Gen. George. S. Patton Jr. of WWII fame. The 16^th Constabulary garrison was re-named "Oliver Barracks" in honor of LTC Francis McD. Oliver, a distinguished Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron commander killed in action in France in early August 1944.

In 1948 the Squadron was moved to a larger, more modern U.S. complex named "McNair Barracks", formerly a major headquarters and electronic manufacturing plant of Telefunken, one of Germany's larger firms. In addition to the 16^th Constabulary Squadron there was a battalion (subsequently a regiment) of Infantry stationed in Berlin. The two combat units plus the entire Berlin complex were supported by the traditional U.S. Army combat support and service units of varying size. These included battalions, companies, detachments of: Signal Corps, Corps of Engineers, Military Police, Ordnance, Quartermaster, Transportation, Medical, Army Security Agency, Counter Intelligence, Adjutant General, Judge Advocate General and Tempelhof Airfield. That Airfield was a U.S. operational air base under an independent Army Air Corps commander.

The Squadron maintained close operational contact with the infantry unit and was dependent on the day-to-day service suport of these technical service units. A small aviation detachment of light (observation) aircraft was part of the 16^th Constabulary Squadron. The total Army occupation force in Berlin was assigned to the U.S. Army Berlin Command headed by a major general. Also in Berlin superior to Berlin Command was the office of Military Government for Germany (U.S.), "OMGUS", under Gen. Lucius D. Clay.

By early 1947 there was growing community of several thousand American spouses and children of American servicemen living in Berlin. Security and support for these dependents was part of the mission shared by the 16^th Constabulary Squadron. Patrols of the U.S. sector streets of Berlin were usually accomplished by a team of one M-8 armored car and two 1/4 ton trucks (Jeeps), seven soldiers commanded by an NCO. On occasion an officer commanded; the strength of the patrol was increased; occasionally decreased to one or two jeeps. Routes and timing were continuously varied. The duration of patrol averaged about four hours. Night patrols were less frequent than in daylight. A basic load of ammunition accompanied each patrol; each maintained continuous contact by radio with squadron operations center. Fraternization with native Berliners was prohibited; courtesy and emergency assistance were required.

Some sample actions by patrol were:
- Report, investigate a traffic accident
- Transportation of an ill or injured German to a hospital
- Pursuit of a fleeing criminal
- Escort; assistance to a Berlin policeman or police patrol
- Apprehension of intoxicated Allied personnel
- Break up street fights
- Dispersal of unauthorized crowds

With occasional exceptions 16^th Constabulary patrols were well received. Violent incidents decreased as Berlin began its tortuous recovery.

In addition to metropolitan street patrols the 16^th Constabulary Squadron patrolled the 110-mile autobahn eastward to the British zone several times a week. Composition of the patrol varied; normally one armored car and two jeeps. British and French mechanized patrols alternated with the U.S. Army in this long, usually boring drive through the Soviet zone of occupation. Incidents of harassment by Soviet military forces varied in frequency and seriousness.

        

In late 1948 the USSR attempted to isolate the American, British and French forces in Berlin by blocking all roads, rail and canal routes into the city. This resulted in the famous Berlin AIRLIFT. The 16^th Constabulary Squadron's major effort switched to supervising the rapid unloading of cargo from aircraft arriving at Tempelhof Airfield 24 hours every flyable day. Additionally the Squadron maintained static security over the stored fuel, food, medical supplies, clothing, etc. stocks at Tempelhof before they were distributed to local rations points. Prior to the task being assigned to a U.S. MP Battalion the 16^th Constabulary Squadron provided security guards aboard the U.S. railroad train between Berlin and Hamburg. This procedure was considered necessary to preclude interference by Soviet forces as the train passes through the Soviet zone of occupation. Harassment (usually creating delays) occurred sporadically.

As the western (Allied) sectors of Berlin recovered, rebuilt and created traditional government functions the missions of the 16^th Constabulary Squadron were reduced. "E" Troop, the Squadron's light tank unit, was transferred out of Berlin in 1948. The Squadron Horse Platoon survived as one of the last mounted units of the U.S. Army. It was absorbed into the 579^th Military Police Battalion in late 1950 and was inactivated in 1953.

The 16^th Constabulary Squadron (Separate) was deactivated on November 27, 1950 at Grafenwoehr, Germany. Most remaining missions were assumed by a re-enforced MP Battalion. The majority of the 16^th Constabulary Squadron's officers and enlisted personnel were absorbed into the 6^th Infantry Regiment which was newly reactivated in Berlin. At the time of deactivation many official and unofficial commendations were written and spoken about the four and one-half years of exemplary performance of duties under the U.S. Zone Constabulary credo of "Mobility, Vigilance and Justice". The forty-nine years of U.S. occupation of Berlin ended on September 8, 1994.

The long, sometimes critical, always sensitive force that performed that mission was modeled on the standards of excellence of the first mobile, light armored 16^th CONSTABULARY SQUADRON (SEPARATE)

 

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Signal Company, 7781 AU, in BERLIN
by Jack Shepherd, U.S. Army, Oct. 1954 - March 1957

Hello Reinhard, I've never met you but I enjoy reading your postings on the BUSMVA website. It's refreshing to know there are some Germans who really liked the Americans and miss our presence in Berlin.

All troops stationed in Berlin at that time were known as Berlin Command and not Berlin Brigade. I was in Signal Company, 7781 AU at Andrews Barracks from October '54 - March '57 which was long before you worked as a GP with the MP's. My main function was as a radio operator and I drove a 2 1/2 ton truck with a radio hut and generator. I made the weekly convoy with the 6^th Infantry through the Russian Zone down to Helmstedt. We would go on down to Braunschweig where we spent the night and returned the next day. I did this for about 2 years. That trip would take 2 days, so the rest of the time we spent cleaning our truck, checking equipment and setting up practice radio nets with the other radio rigs in our unit. We had four trucks, four jeeps and a 3/4 ton truck all equipped with radios. My favorite place to set up was the Grunewald where occasionally we would park in behind the Waldhaus Restaurant (I believe it's still there). After we closed the station we would drive down to the beach area and check out the frauleins. What a way to start the day.