The Early Neureut Days
As a "US" brown boot, I signed in o/a 8 March 55 with Company B in Neureut Kaserne, north of Karslruhe--the last of the Occupation replacements. (deros o/a 3 Sept 56 via troop train and troop ship to NY--the reverse of the trip over)
The battalion was apparently newly arrived (no one told us squat) and housed in brand new barracks and kaserne, which were more than I expected, even in the "Real Army". You could still smell the new clean white stucco.
France
I was assigned as an electrician-rifleman, and did a lot of digging in the many projects we had for the next 18 months I was there. The Bn did road repairs in several French locations around Metz, France in the spring of 55.
We were housed in a WWII hard back camp called Tournebride Caserne, which was on the west side of Metz near D'Frescaty Airfield.
Co B did grading and road work in Woippy Caserne across Metz and into the area north east (a daily 5 ton dump ride)-- a French Quartermaster Depot. I even got to set a pole and run electrical feed wires to a storage shed; Ft Wood training coming through. Also, as an electrician I got to go north to Angervillers just south of the Luxembourg border and help expand a USAF tropo shot comm center. (Several wonderful rides by duce on pass to Lux.)
The Bn also convoyed to Wildflecken in the fall of 55, reconstructing roadways and tank training earth works up in the cloudy, and shaggy mountains of the Boehmer Wald near Wildflecken (guard duty and KP too).
Pirmasens
In the spring the Bn changed places with the 17th Signal Bn, and moved to D'Isly Kaserne in Pirmasens. While settling in, the Bn went to Ansbach to create ammunition bunkers for newly deployed Hawk Missles. Interspersed in these jobs were frequent field war games and maneuvers, which included practice in the arts of fighting back from being ambushed on marches, timber trestle bridge building and constructing pipelines. We fired for qualification while on one training job and I qualilfied on the M-2, the technician's tool.
Italy? Polish Riots? & Just Simply Confused
Because of a long pass to Italy--Naples/Pouzzouli-- I was rear party for awhile on the Ansbach job, and sat out the Polish Riots which had USEURER on alert.
I hope to dig out some of the pictures I made, especially at Woippy.
While in Germany about 20 years later(76-79,81-84) I revisited many of the sites and even attended some joint USAF-USARMY meetings (Vinson-Parkhill field radios) in the Pirmasens barracks, which I believe was renamed Huesterhoeh Barracks. Not clear on that any more.
Another Little Detail About Pirmasens
Within the last several days I had an echat with Royal Kramer regarding the Husterhoeh/D’Isley Barracks names which housed the 79th in Pirmasens. As it turns out when I referred to the Husterhoeh Barracks I was jumping ahead into my USAF days. Re: several visits to Pirmasens from Ramstein to work the secure voice issue.
Royal noted that I seemed to have referred to Husterhoeh as a place of the 79th move in May of 1956 to take the place of the 17th Signal Bn which took our place in Neureut. Anyway, the barracks in Pirmasens was named D’Isley Kaserne at the time I was there (May-Sept 56); and also when another 79th emeritus Dan Woolsey was there 57-59; but was called Husterhoeh in 63-65 when Royal Kramer was there. Obviously politics prevailed somewhere in the early 60s (Berlin Crisis?) and the name likely went back to what it may have been in Wehrmacht/Heer days – that’s Kramer’s guess.
I will check out from my survey maps of the area whether the hill top kaserne sits on the Huster Heights (Husterhoeh). So what this means is this: 79th Engineer CB transferred to D’Isley Kaserne, Pirmasens in spring of 1956. It displaced the 17th Signal Bn which moved to Neureut.
I had a high school buddy in the 17tth Detachment at Neureut who spent most of his time at Neureut playing on the Battalion baseball team. Finally he was joined by his whole Bn. 79th stayed at D’Isley, later to be known as Husterhoeh Kaserne, until the next battalion move.
The First Recollection of Gersewski
The kaserne I first visited thinking it was Neureut was not Gerzewski. We visited Gerzewski several times with Co. B in big parades; for some reason never explained to us we just dressed out in bloused ODs and climbed into our duces, with weapons, and wound up at Gerzewski Barracks. One of the rumors was that it was a headquarters of engineer units. We didn’t get much information and rarely asked much. For a long time we didn’t know where Karlsruhe was in the German world. Except for the elite minds, it didn’t seem to be very important to know.
As I was trying to remember, I confused your comment with a little story I told to Sid Friedman, about a revisiting of Neureut in 1977 or so while I was assigned to HQ USAFE, Ramstein and out rehiking old trails.
The Bundeswehr/Neureut SNAFU
I wrote what follows, thinking I was clarifying the confusion of at first finding a new large Bundeswehr Kaserne where I expected Neureut to be. So I’ll tell you the adventure of why I knew the Bundeswehr Kaserne wasn’t Neureut, which was, about a quarter mile behind it, as I discovered later.
The german kaserne was clearly large and modern. It was probably three times the size of Neureut, with very large service buildings. I knew something was wrong when I approached it.
During our periods in garrison at Neureut I would go to the little village gasthaus, and on occasion over stay the regular pass. One night I was coming back late, and did not want to embarrass myself with being caught on the morning report so as a matter of dignity I felt fearless and bold, and crawled up on Neureut main gate, guarded by Arbeits Dienst guards (labor service types – competent “comrades”)
I crawled along the ditch until directly opposite of the gate. I waited until the two guards separated, then up and dashed hell bent for life and safety flat through the gate (under the lowered bar, can you believe that?) and on into the kaserne; I can still feel the alcohol gutty-sick feeling and the fear of collapsing or being shot.
No shots, a few yells and I was in the company area and good old 2nd platoon. Anyway as I approached this kaserne I was looking for this place; but the field across from the kaserne was facing on the yards of the village. I remembered the rebuilding of the village. There wasn’t enough room. It wasn’t right.
Major Bruce Just Drives By
On June 6, 1984 (on another assignment to Germany, 601st Tactical Control Wing, Sembach 81-84) with President Reagan on Omaha Beach celebrating the D-Day invasion, I was revisiting in Gerszewski and noticing the 79th HHC sign. I wanted to go over and have my own reunion, but it didn’t seem right to walk into a memory as trivial as mine. I went to the AAFES Cafeteria and had a burger and fries, and drank a coffee to the whole damned Army.
Wiederhoeren
Major Bruce E. Gearhart USAF (Ret)
POB 680932
Prattville, AL 36068
Email: bgearhart@trenholmtech.cc.al.us
New!
Bruce reveals how the 79th prepared him for the Air Force!
No problem on printing anything I write. I like to feel open to your effort and any and all who come to the site. Tomorrow I will begin with my secretary on documenting some Co.B pictures for the site. I am also becoming a contributor to another famous organization’s site 1st Mob. This is a site recognizing USAF Combat and Mobile Communications in the Pacific dating from inception as the 1st Airways and Aircom Communications Service (AACS) in 1952. This unit was part of the USAF communications field which became a major command called Air Force Communications Command (AFCC). I spent most of my USAF time in AFCC including some command time.
I was in the 1st Mob as my first assignment out of OTS and a year’s training in the Communications Officer School at Keesler AFB in 1965. I got a chance to take teams (ground navigational aids systems) to some “nasty” places as has been described by others – Khe Sanh 66, Kham Duc 67 and DaNang 67. There were many others, but at these three places I got to know the war personally, and seemed to have satisfied the desire to reinlist in the USAF I had in 1961 and 1962 -- to see the war and participate in what looked the “big one” -- Berlin ’61 -- was going to bring upon the world as well as the other “little one” getting up to real speed in Vietnam. In several pictures I’ll eventually get on the site as Projects, I’ll credit the 79th ECB where I learned to shovel, cut with an axe, and thrive in the elements in a big way. Other combat engineering skills were useful too: bulldozers, hand grenades, marksmanship, and mines. I’ll let you know when they are put up.
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