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Sigh...I was one of the last few aircraft maintainers to leave when the operational side was closed (1994). The Housing side and French Caserne held on quite awhile afterwards) Lots of wonderful memories...
The school finally closed, Spang has a brand spankin' new BX complex that rivals Ramstein; it just opened in September.
They're moving the U.S. correctional facility in Mannheim to Sembach sometime next year.
I didn't know for years after I left Sembach in 1977 that the base had closed. Then again several of the bases I was stationed at in the AF are now closed. It's good there are plans for Sembach all these years later.
Never have been to Germany.My dad in the 1960s was offered a choice of England or Germany,but we wound up at Elemendorf AFB in Alaska instead.Momma really wanted to go to England more than Germany,probably due to the language barrier ,she didn't know any german.It would have been nice to go there. My dad spoke german with a Berliner accent,learning it from his mother,since his dad wouldn't speak it to daddy or his brother Uncle Tom.Grandpa told the two boys we are not in the old country,we are americans now and speak english. It would have been nice to see the old castles and museums. We could have even visited daddy's relatives in Garmisch and Nuremberg which would have been cool.
Loved it - Landstuhl castle watchin F-4's in the pattern, volksmarching, hang gliding in Bavaria, travel all over, to East Berlin in uniform behind the wall (trippy - friend and I still talk about it)
I was at Patton Barracks in Heidelberg in the 70's with the 529th MP Company and then at the Heidelberg MP Station which was the 17th MP Detachment, 15th MP Brigade. The 529th basically worked gate security at Patton, Campbell, and some other sites as well as "Honor Guard" ceremonies. There was a small platoon living within the 529th Barracks; 3rd Plt., Co. B, 95th MP Bn., that handled all the MP road patrol duties.
Heidelberg was a great duty station, the barracks were remodeled shortly after I arrived and the 529th even had their own bar in the basement. Some guy's hated it, they wanted to be "real MP's" but most stayed on as they soon realized there were a lot worse places to be stationed.
I used to meet tourists from the US, AUS, New Zealand downtown on occasion and they were amazed that we had a military presence in Heidelberg. Campbell Barracks was USAREUR HQ's so brass out the a$$. An 0-6 was just another Junior Officer as far as we were concerned. The CINC lived in a nice residence (which we guarded) in the hills, not far from where Albert Speer lived. I met him once and he graciously autographed a copy of his memoirs for me.
My WAC GF was in Hanau which I thought was an armpit.
Hey! Just wonderin if there are people on here who were stationed in Germany.. if so.. where? And.. any good memories?
I was stationed in Friedberg, Germany and I've got a couple to go round :-)
Yes, I was. In fact, I just found a video today that shows my old barracks in Wackernheim, just outside of Mainz. While watching it, I got the weirdest feeling...I actually miss those times. I can't believe I would ever say that, but while watching, I wanted to go back in time.
The front gate is not open anymore, but the video does show it. It also shows the length of the installation, and I just don't remember it being that big, but it was.
They also show the place where we used to go to get the best ramshnitzel mit kartoffel. LOVED that place. The owner loved us soldiers, and we would go in there, sit with all the Germans, and have a great time.
Some things look a little bit different, overall, but not a whole lot has changed. I wish he could have gotten on to base...it would have been neat to see my old barracks building where I stayed. It was way in the back. They were like little apartments, each had their own bathroom, they were fairly new when I was there.
Anyway, this is like showing slide shows to visitors, but I'm going to share it anyway:
And I also found a photo of the door we would go through, every single day, to "Moonbase", the MP station in the city of Mainz. According to some, it's now a Turk disco club. hahahahahahahahaha
The Army was okay, but I really, really enjoyed my time in Germany for the three years I was there. I do miss it pretty badly.
Edit: Ah, the Wackernheimer Hof has a FB page! Sweet.
One night, we were all bored so we rode through the x-ray machine...we were young. We all came out looking like frogs on the monitor. Anyway, when you first walked in, there was a huge open area, and on a back wall, was a gigantic mural. A military scene, can't remember it exactly. If you walked up to the huge mural, you could see the outline of the enormous swastika that had been painted on that wall. The new military scene that was painted over it was to hide that, but it didn't hide it completely.
This was, by far, the creepiest building I had ever been in. That was when it was a fully functioning facility. We had to walk the halls, go down to the lowest floor to check the arms room, go up to the top floor, (as far as we could go, there was one other floor above it that was sealed off to us), and check there, as well. Even if you never believed in ghosts, which I really didn't, you would start to think that maybe those things were real. Creepy, creepy place. Almost everyone who had to work in there said the same; they all felt some heavy "presence", and everyone had that slight feeling of creepiness while there.
Last edited by Three Wolves In Snow; 02-17-2014 at 12:20 PM..
I was (US army) stationed for two years, 1966-67, with the 4th Battalion, 41st Artillery (Pershing Missile), at Hardt Kaserne in Schwaebisch Gmuend, about 60 kilometers east of Stuttgart. Memories? More than several pages! The town, the countryside, the people, Heubacher Bier, Schnitzel sandwiches, trips to Stuttgart, going out to discos, doing KP, and on and on...
Stationed three times. The first really was an assignment near Paris, France. Spent a lot of time traveling about Germany...and rest of Europe. That was on active duty with the Army (I was an interpreter (French). Second assignment was as a civilian with the U.S. Army. Stationed in Rheinberg, Germany. Then got transferred to Schinnen, The Netherlands.
Third...my last assignment, was in Grafenwoehr, Germany...as a civilian with the U.S. Army. Traveled extensively throughout Europe during our 3-year assignment there. Back to retirement again.
Recently applied for a position in a French-speaking region of Belgium. So far made the best qualified list. Hoping to get out of retirement again and start enjoying another tour. I just don't do too well being retired. Too much energy and vive to be sitting around watching tv and playing silly games and telling war stories. I'd rather live the experience. BTW...also spent six or seven years hopping around the Far East both during active duty and as civilian- Japan, Thailand, Philippines, Korea. I'd go back there in a heartbeat. Maybe after the next tour in Europe.
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