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Jive At Jena Airbase - The battalion removed to Jena airport, on the heights overlooking the city below, May 18. The 1200-foot elevation presented one of the most magnificent valleys we had yet seen. A range of mountains appeared as an enveloping backdrop to the sprawling villages and city whose structures hadn't been damaged too severely. All companies were housed in the permanent field and operational buildings. Barracks, which had recently sheltered enemy air-force personnel, and the frame one-story shacks of slave saborers [laborers], were readied for our use.  Our barrack at Jena airport An intensive Information and Educational program was formulated and all men attended showings of films depicting operations concluded in the ETO and PTO. The theatre in Apolda, a few miles from Jena, was chosen for these performances -- a must. All men expressed desire to visit the notorious Buchenwald Prison camp near Weimar and observe vestiges of Nazi brutality and planned murder. Many trips were made, and prisoners, since liberated but now recuperating from the years of torture and slow starvation, acted as guides, conducting us through the vast prison compound. Social relationships were encouraged at the first dance on enemy soil. Inside one of the hangars, the men danced to the music of a Trains band, with Polish, French and Russian partners from the Displaced Persons Barracks which our camp overlooked from atop the mountain. All attending had an excellent evening and the German beer flowed freely. The girls enjoyed the American music after some hypnosis by the wolfish glint in their partners' eyes. They became over exuberant when the band burst forth with a medley of native polkas. "A" Company boasted of its own private bowling alley in the basement of our barrack building shared by Headquarters Company and an air force unit. Luftwaffe men had been considerate enough to depart without this equipment -- they may have been rushed -- and we converted it to our use. Former high-average bowlers didn't have much chance with the Kraut balls and pins. Outstanding bowlers, when not otherwise sitting aside awaiting their turn, were Lambert, Lovera, Keeley, Semenowitz, Marquard, Ladzinski and Rachwal. Lt. Wurst also ran a fair average and took his turn setting up pins. Team tournament winners were Lovera and dark-horses Loschiavo, Kampmier and Metz. A cool brew was offered on the premises as our able bartenders and promoters, Novak, King and Kennedy, polished off the mahogany after a busy evening. The Krauts had apparently enjoyed themselves taking a turn from the bar to the bowling alley, and we were surpassing their performances, consuming the bottled stuff purchased at the Jena brewery. The place became even more popular when wine was on hand, and some men went about collecting individual ration tickets from those who did not imbibe. Lt. Wurst had established a company exchange across the corridor, presided over by Schaeffer, McLean, Loudenslager and Oberheu. All cigarette and candy rations, freely distributed to the men prior to the war's end, were now purchased at a nominal cost. An ample stock of German film rapidly disappeared from the counter when nearly all became afflicted with a photography craze. The carbine had given way to the shoulder-slung camera. A dark-room for development of company negatives was staffed by Redmond, Keller, Filogomo and Calverly. Motion pictures were changed daily. Two evening performances were well-attended at the battalion movie house, and we all appreciated the good work of the Headquarters Company men who converted a former stockroom into a little playhouse equipped with soundproof projection booth, record-playing devices and a public-address system. Ascending the 1200-foot hill after a descent into the villages below was no mean feat, and we were amazed to note the number of Alpine Mountain climbers in our ranks. We've often wondered what the attraction below might have been but we were "certain" the non-fraternization policy was being observed to the "fullest." The German Frauleins were off-limits -- if you were seen. Passes, with reason stated for departure from camp, were issued until curfew hour. All men were devoting several evenings each week to "fishing, scouting and patrolling," and just walking. Body building was going apace with athletic and recreational pursuits -- the battalion soft-ball team with company representatives, under the direction of Capt. Hall, was setting a hot pace and leading the division league. One evening, our guards at the hangar area, Mayo, Ricci, Koch and Gladke, seized 12 Italian displaced persons who had been looting our trucks and personal equipment stored in the vehicles and trailers. Ricci, acting as interpreter, succeeded in getting the full confessions and the captives were turned over to the military government authorities for trial. First Sgt. Woody Gatlin returned to us at Jena after recuperating at the French Riviera. But his adventures from one replacement center to another across France and Germany almost broke down his regained resistance, and he would have welcomed a further rest. Acting First Sgt. McKee resumed a variety of company duties after thanking all for their "splendid" cooperation. |
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"Pernts -- Pernts -- You Got Em?" - But the manner of life was close akin to that of civilian status, and morale was rapidly mounting. Conversation was primarily concerned with the point evaluation system, and "how many do you have, what's your chances of getting out?" We never did find a man who knew of a GI whose ideas on the plan of release had been sampled prior to its inception. Tech. Sgt. Coyner and Cpl. Warren were the first men to depart from the company. They hoped to be in civilian garb before July 4, but we wouldn't bet on their chances until the fall of the year. The blow fell June 12, when S/Sgt. Holz, 73 Hilger and T/4's Pearre and Johnson were released from the division and assigned to other units then releasing high-point men to the Sixth Armored. The men had been with us from the very beginning of our army career, and we were sorry to see them go. More changes were due, as we were informed by General Grow addressing the division in what was our last "bowl formation." His words fell on most attentive ears at the last division assembly in the public park in Apolda, Germany. We returned to camp that afternoon with a feeling all must have shared during those few days prior to induction into the service, a feeling of doubt and uncertainty as to our future status. The "sweating-out" phase of army life was once again confounding the day-to-day activity. For about a week we cast aside thoughts of the unit being broken up when all personnel with a critical point score below 85 moved to a firing range several miles from the airport to dispose of an excess of Ml ammunition. It had been determined the boys were getting rusty in the interval since the war's end and this oportunity [opportunity] would help considerably in sharpening up their eyes if not their tongues. The bitching reached an all-time high, but they shouldered the rifles and fired away at the targets marked by very uninterested scorers more concerned with acquiring a deep suntan than marking an honest score. |
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The Last Roundup - Midnight, June 30, the company and battalion units were prepared to leave Lehesten and Jena Airport. For nearly a week rumors had been rampant that we were to depart at any time, and all preparations had been completed for a lengthy journey across Central Germany. Several days before, all company personnel had gathered in a battalion formation to observe General Grow confer awards upon men of the battalion and our company. Over 90 officers and enlisted personnel received Silver and Bronze Star decorations for their meritorious achievements throughout the division's five campaigns in the ETO. This review and retreat formation was the last for the 128th Armored Ordnance Maintenance Battalion, for many men had already left for other units -- some for home. New faces had appeared in the company and more were soon to be seen as many of us were scheduled to depart for service with the Third Armored Division and other forces. The Sixth Armored Division and our Ordnance Battalion, as they had been activated, trained and tested under fire for over three years, were now organizations in name only added to their ranks were the high-point men who had been drawn from elements to facilitate an early departure to the States and home -- their army careers were drawing to a close. Some of us with a lower point score would be fortunate to remain with those now affixing the Sixth Armored shoulder flash to their arms for the first time. But that unity of spirit, performance and sport, which had earned us the reputation of "Super Sixth" and the fastet [fastest], hardest working battalion of its kind in the ETO, would be exhibited until the very last day we remained in the organizations -- new and old men alike. Early Saturday morning, June 30, we had received our pay in German invasion marks. Financial accounts between the men were wiped from the individual debit ledgers as card and crap games sprang up without a call for players. All vehicles were gassed up and on the line before 8 p.m. as we were scheduled to move behind Headquarters' column about midnight. The premises we had occupied for more than a month were bared of all equipment and the rooms and hallways swept clean for the new occupants -- probably Russian occupation troops. No one could ever have reason to state that the 128th Ordnance left a billet or bivouac without policing up the area to the satisfaction of newcomers or even the former enemy. In the hours remaining before departure, many a man made the last trip over the steep hill to bid a fond but regretful farewell to a fraulein who had made him happy to be in Germany. We rolled all night along the autobahn on which we had moved east, almost to Leipzig, several months ago. But on this occasion all truck lights were aglow and weapons lay cast aside somewhere in the rear of the vehicles. A number of drivers fell asleep at the wheel, but were aroused before serious injury and accidents resulted from the fatigue of the sleepless night. The tedious trip of 208 miles was completed in 13 hours as we marshalled with division units for the last time on the Continent. But for the lack of mile after mile of sand, brush and jagged mountain peaks, the division assembly grounds east of Frankfort, in the vicinity of Aschaffenburg, was reminiscent of those early camps on the desert and Camp Coxcomb, California. Upon an isolated fighter base at Zellhausen, screened from all roads by thick woods, row after row of pyramidal, squad tents and the lowly pup models stretched across a broad expanse of deep grass. The trucks were lined up side by side at the extreme end of "unit streets" which five hours before were a wind-swept plain.  Tent city and last encampment - Zellhausen A last encampment, so similar to those established on the Hunter Ligget Reservation in Northern California, was now a tent city of approximately 10,000 men who were waiting -- waiting as they had done so often before, enduring the trials and tribulations of war and the elements. The point system would determine the future of our army careers, but as Ordnance personnel for three years and more, we proved ourselves ingenious, resourceful civilians in uniform, exercising that self-will imposed by individual discipline. We would carry this training wherever we might go. |
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