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SSG Kirkpatrick; Washington State, Served in Vietnam, S-3 Drafting (Deceased)
SP5 Wesley Husband; State Unknown, Served in Vietnam, S-3 Drafting
SP4 George T. Tompkins III; Iowa, S-3 Surveyor
SP4 Williams; Illinois, S-2 Clerk
SP4 (Forgot name) S-3 Surveyor
SP4 John B. White; California, S-3 Soil Analyst
SP4 (Forgot name); Arizona, S-3 Soil Analyst
Warrant Officer (Newell?), S-3 Drafting Section Chief, Served in Vietnam
SP4 Bruce Christman; New York, S-3 Soil Section Chief
SGT Marsh; State of Strange, Two Tours in Vietnam
(Had a metal plate in his head, awarded Purple Heart), Top's Clerk
SP4 David Georgiana; Pennsylvania, S-3 Clerk
SSG Pelfry; State Unknown, S-3 Survey Section Chief, Bronze Star, Vietnam
SP4 Gonzolez?; State Unknown, S-3 Drafting
PFC Schwall; State Unknown, S-3 Soil Analyst
SP4 Winkfield; California, S-3 Surveyor
SP4 (Chang?); New York?, S-3 Surveyor
SGM Huckaba B. Barnes; North Carolina, TOP, Served in Vietnam (left)
"The Rock"; New York City, Surveyor (center)
1st SGT Leonard; Somewhere in the South, Served in Vietnam (right)
Major Phillip L Hall, Operations Officer in 74, Executive Officer in 75
1Lt. Hugh C MacDonald, Construction Officer
1Lt. Phillip S Morris, Ass't Construction Officer
Capt. Fred T Weems, Company Commander
My soil lab was in the basement of headquarters and the door was up under those trees. The picture shown above of S-3 was taken on the lawn up there.
We had formation every morning in the street in front of headquarters, then we would fall out and go to work. My soil boys normally went to the soil lab and I would head over to operations to see Top and find out what was going on.
Winkfield (the smooth black soldier) and I (filling out the accident report) were delayed that morning when the long-haired-hippie-freak with a sore mouth from hitting the steering wheel, slammed into my truck with the side of his car. I should have punched him.
I think I got another article 15. The Captain was pissed.
In December of 1973 I took a 30 day leave and went back to New York for the holidays. Before I left I sent myself a little package, and one of the items in the package was a can of boot polish. I melted the paste out of the can and put a big hunk of hash in it wrapped in plastic, then re-poured the melted paste back over it. A few days after I got back it came. My mother wondered what the hell I was sending myself a package for. I forgot about that part.
I didn't go back alone. Red Gridley and Thomas Sherrer from B-Co Earthmoving Platoon took their leave too. Thomas Sherrer was nicknamed "Moose". He was a big, jolly, and really nice guy. Gridley was going to Boston. Moose was going to Syracuse. I was going to Niskayuna, near Albany. All three of us booked the same flight from Frankfurt to Logan Airport in Boston. I could probably find the exact date because the plane that landed after us crashed and they must have a record of it. It kind of freaked us out.
We said good-bye to Red at Boston. Moose and I then caught a bus to Albany where my parents picked me up and Moose switched buses for Syracuse.
Shortly after we returned from leave I was at Gerszewski and I think Moose was TDY again, maybe it was at Gerszewski. Anyway, Moose hopped in the back of a Deuce-and-a-half that Rocky Bushong was driving. When Rocky took off, Moose fell out, hit his head on the curb and died. Everybody was shocked. Rocky was devastated.
We all went to his memorial service at the Gerszewski Chapel.
Because Moose gave his life with the 79th, and because he was my friend at the time, and because nobody remembers -- I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the Lord for his life, and wherever his relatives might be now, I ask the Lord to bless them. Moose was a really nice young man. Amen.
I remember two times we packed up and went to war training exercises in 1974 but I can't remember when they were or where they took place. One must have been in the late spring and the other in the summer or early fall.
I think the sheep shit adventure was first. It might have been out by Crailsheim. That seems to ring a bell. Anyway, this is what I recall. We convoyed to some farm area and set up camp in a sheep pasture in a low spot. I remember that the popular song on AFN was "Love to Love You Baby" by Donna Summer and I couldn't stand it. We slept in a GP-Medium Tent with Kerosene heaters. It must have been Spring; because were not there very long and it began to rain, and rain, and rain. Soon we had about two inches of water and sheep-shit-stinking-mud in our tent. I recall we packed up and moved to another site.
I think that was the time too, when it was so muddy that I got 8 flat tire on the deuce-and-a-half and I found a German farmer on a tractor to pull me out. I can't remember what happened after that. Probably scorn and ridicule. But there was no greater scorn and ridicule on that training excercise than that given to my number one soil analyst PFC John B White. He went to get potable water for drinking with the water trailer and filled it with non-potable water. Those of us who drank it got the shits the next day back at Gerszewski. I remember shitting about 30 times one day. So much that my ass was raw, and I was only one of many. No wonder I can't remember anything else about it!
The next time we went to the field we must have went to Wildflecken because it had to be in the Fulda Gap. It was a strategic location in case the Russians invaded and it was the actual mission the 79th had to do if we went to war, something known as "When The Balloon Goes Up".
As surveyors and soil analysts we didn't have a whole lot to do in war games. I had a pressure gauge on a magnesium rod to stick in the ground to measure the soil traffic-ability, but I don't recall ever using it. What we normally did in the field was sneak around and attack the line company positions trying to get their flag (I think). Anyway I remember that the earth movers of the line companies dug a big trench and piled all the dirt on one side. It was a tank trap to stall the Russians. That's what I recall was our main mission. Dig a big trench to stall the Russian invasion and then get the hell out of there I guess.
During one of those exercises I remember one of the dirty-old-man sergeants brought some porno movies that they showed one night in the HQ office tent. One was Linda Lovelace in Deep Throat. Funny the things you remember ain't it?
David Georgiana, who was transferred to us from 7th Army HQ in Graf said that, at Graf, if the balloon went up, his section was supposed to fall out on the parade field, and after the women and children dependants, just get in any chopper and go anywhere. Graf was supposed to fall quick and the Russian plan was to take the Rhein in three days. That's what I recall. I have no idea if it's right.
Those are the two training exercises I remember in 1974.
