Under this policy USAREUR had established, and as of 1 January 1953 was operating in Germany, 10 specialists schools, which offered a total of 101 courses. During 1953 their total combined attendance was 2,845 students. The mission of these schools was to supplement U.S. schools in providing the minimum required number of school-trained specialists; to provide special centralized instruction necessary to meet command requirements; and to qualify unit instructors.

They were located as follows:
the Bandsmen School at Dachau
the Engineer School at Murnau
the Finance School at Friedberg
the Intelligence and Military Police School at Oberammergau
the Medical Training School at Degerndorf
the Ordnance School at Fuessen
the Quartermaster and Adjutant General School at Lenggries
the Signal School at Ansbach
the Troop Information and Education School at Dachau and
the Transportation School at Mannheirn

The following table provides statistical data concerning these schools:

Early in 1954 the need for graduates of the Bandsmen, Finance and Medical Training Schools was so low that these schools were temporarily inactivated.

SEVENTH ARMY SCHOOLS
Seventh Army operated the NCO Academy at Munich; the Tank Training Center at Vilseck; the Chemical, Bacteriological, and Radiological School at Kirchheim-Bolanden; and the Electronic Maintenance School at Karlsruhe.

During 1953 approximately 32,000 trainees graduated from these schools.

(Source: Command Briefing, US Army School Command, Europe, Oberammergau, Germany, December 1960)

MISSION OF THE SCHOOL COMMAND

The mission of the US Army School Command, Europe, is to:

a. Provide centralized control for the operation and administrative support of the following schools:

The School is open to all American soldiers interested in any of nine phases of technical training.

The nine courses, conducted eight hours a day for five and a half days a week, are in internal combustion engine, diesel engine, general automotive, carburation, ingnition, welding, body and fender, watch-making and machine shop. Students are quartered in a steam-heated school building with modern facilities.

Among European Command technical schools, the EUCOM Engineer School in Murnau is somewhat unique: It offers more courses (some 30, varying from eight weeks to one-week courses) than any other school; offers a greater variety of subjects — from mine warfare to cost accounting; and is the only EUCOM school that trains U.S. Army and German civilian personnel under the same roof. (Bilingual Murnau instruction involves a big translation operation. All course materials and key Army training manuals are translated into German and printed at the school.)

Since its arrival at Murnau a year ago January, the center has graduated 2,936 U.S. Army students and 1.401 German civilians.

Commanded by Lt Col S. A. Armogidea, the school has a two-fold mission:
(1) training engineering specialists for the support of combat units;
(2) training specialists for post engineer and engineer depot units.

Combat Engineering
In the combat line, Murnau provides courses on demolition, mine warfare, water purification and bridge carpentering.

Post Engineering
In the post engineer section, the Murnau curriculum reads like a trade school catalog. Approximately 200 EUCOM students are being groomed as draftsmen, electricians, fire fighters, mechanical construction equipment specialists, refrigeration mechanics, utility repairmen, welders, electric motor repairmen, cost accounting, water supply technicians and post engineer managment specialists.

An equal number of German students are being drilled in fire fighting; fire pump maintenance, operating heavy construction equipment, repairing
refrigerators, welding, in post engineering management, cost accounting and as warehousemen and stock record clerks.

In addition to the above courses, the Post Engineer Instruction Team, stationed at Murnau — Maj J. Cushing is team chief — makes periodic training visits to the engineer section of each military post to assist the post engineers in accomplishing their missions. Members of the team are specialists in real estate, supply, engineer equipment maintenance, fire prevention, and such operations as construction, repairs and utilities.

The men pair off with their counterparts in each post engineer organization for three days. They analyze and make suggestions in line with current policy. After four days of this, a critique is held. This service accomplishes much in improving engineer services and correcting deficiencies at post level, and in presenting new post engineer problems to the chief engineer.

Training Areas
Murnau operates three outside training areas near the school. In one area, fire-fighting students practice starting fires and then putting them out. In another area, more trainees are learning to build roads and repair bridges, while across the way combat engineers are learning to blow them up.

Col Richard L. Jewett is in charge of the schooL

Since its move to Murnau in 1947, the school's student population has also included German civilian post and depot employees who receive training in Amercian engineering procedures, in mechanical construction, in maintenance and in fire fighting. After NATO was established, foreign students from allied countries also have entered the school. Many of these students have returned to their respective homes and are now training their own countrymen.

The courses run an average length of five and one-half weeks and include training in construction procedures, crane and shovel operations, mechanics, cost accounting, rodent control, utilities maintenance, demolitions, and safety.

Complex equipment regularly is taken apart and reassembled by the students.

A large technical library is maintained and in the "exhibition" attic are materials and instruments used by Army engineers in Europe.

Besides training students, the school also has increased German-American amity through aiding in some German community projects such as building athletic fields.

I’ll also look for any additional picture, but I’m not optimistic about finding any. I do have a friend who was a Captain with the 53rd Transportation Battalion, however, and while I don’t think he is even hooked up to the internet, I’ll see if I can get him to submit some information as he is a great story teller and we were both stationed at Kapaun Barracks at about the same time.

TDY FOR THE FIRST TIME
In the spring of 1957 I applied to attend the Intelligence, Military Police and Special Weapons School (IMPSWS) in Oberammergau, Germany and took a test to qualify which, as I recall, consisted mostly of map reading. Apparently I did well enough and went off to beautiful Southern Bavaria to see if I couldn’t change my MOS to that of a Photo Interpreter. There seemed to be more opportunity for advancement within the company in the PI section and the duty was better.

LIFE AT IMPSWS
The school was located on Hawkins Barracks. The kaserne was formerly the headquarters of a German army mountain unit and the billets were typical Bavarian architecture with cream-colored stucco, outside bracing and wide eaves. The buildings were set into the side of a mountain and overlooked the town of Oberammergau and the iconic sight of Mount Kofel.

All during the time I spent in Germany a nominal amount of money was deducted from our pay in order to have German nationals pull KP for us. These men worked in the mess hall under the supervision of U.S. Army cooks, but at the school we even had women to clean the halls and the latrines for us. All you had to do was make your bunk in the morning. I don’t recall anyone complaining about the small additional cost!

We stood no inspections or formations.

We had our weekends free and Garmish was just a short bus ride away, so very often some of us would stay at the U.S. Army run hotels there where, if I’m not mistaken, a room was $1.25 a night. Even a Pfc like me could afford that. Excellent German beer could be had for about one deutschmark (.25¢) if you bought it in town, cheaper in the hotel bar.

Incidentally, we were always paid in Military Payment Certificates (MPCs). The Army did not convert to greenbacks until early 1959, I believe, which left a lot of bar owners in town scrambling to convert their ill-gotten MPCs into deutschmarks when the unannounced switch was made.

THE SCHOOL
Class work was intense and we put in full days, but there was no homework and the instructors were well qualified officers who we all respected. The classrooms were Spartan, but certainly adequate. The curriculum consisted of plotting and identifying targets on the ground and writing reports about the terrain as well as the targets themselves. All off this came fairly easily to me and shortly after returning to SAARSCO I was promoted to E-4, which at the time was a Specialist Third Class.

I really don’t know much about what went on elsewhere on the post as much of the instruction was classified, as was some of ours. I do know there was a language school where I’m sure one of the tongues that was taught was Russian.

ADVANCED PI SCHOOL
In the fall of 1957 I returned for the Advanced Photo Interpretation course. These classes were even more concentrated and included some material that was classified Top Secret. I don’t think it is any secret now, but at the time we did not want to openly admit that as some of our transport aircraft flew the Berlin corridor they drifted a bit off course and photographed Soviet tanks and other military hardware. We had some spectacularly clear images of tanks and other weaponry.

I’m certain of the dates on this occasion because it was during the time when Sputnik was launched and the U.S. was somewhat surprised and more than a little embarrassed.

I made E-5 shortly after my return, prior to rotating back to the Zone of the Interior in May of 1959.

Well, there are some of my recollections of life in the Bavarian Alps. If you have any questions or requests, please let me know and I’ll do what I can to answer them.

I think you are doing a great service by collecting these data and I like your website a lot. Keep up the good work!

This month marks the fifth year of operation of the EUCOM Medical Training School.

Originally activated in Bremen in 1946, the School has been successively located in Bremen, Nürnberg, Munich, Bad Cannstatt, and finally here in Degerndorf at May Kaserne.

When first activated the School was equipped to handle a student body of only 75. Last year, 1,405 men received training at the school and the average student body numbered about 235.

In November 1949, the School supplied a mobile first-aid instruction team which traveled from post to post throughout the US Zone. The team covered more than 5,000 miles in a year and trained 1,946 men in first-aid procedures, including highway patrolmen, medical personnel, and labor service personnel attached to medical units.

The School has also furnished instructors for training troops in the field. In July 1950, a program of instruction for the US Constabulary joint medical-chemical training camp was presented at Nellingen airstrip. More than 500 chemcial and medical personnel received training.

At present, the Medical School under the command of Lt Col Joseph M. Cameron, offers instruction in three courses:
the NCO Course
the Combined Course for Medical and Surgical Technicians and Aid Men
the Nurses Field Service Orientation Course

At the present time, the headquarters building is occupied not only by the headquarters of the medical training center but also by the EUCOM Medical Training School and also serves as quarters for nurse-students. Messing facilities are provided in two large, attractive mess halls. The former stables of the kaserne have been transformed into a motor pool with adequate facilities for the proper maintenance of vehicles.

One of the buildings in the kaserne has a fine bowling alley, and another is used as a combined theater and gymnasium. Training facilities include a sand-table room, training-aid rooms, a reference library, and a model ward with a central supply room adjacent to it. The classrooms are improvised from renovation of attics and are serving temporarily until better facilities are provided. Additional construction has been planned, including a dispensary, chapel, theater, service center, a combined post exchange and commissary and a number of large outdoor horseshoe-type classrooms.

An integral part of the center is the EUCOM Medical Training School. The mission of the school, as stated in related directives, is "the training of Medical Service enlisted and officer personnel in the European Command, as directed by higher headquarters, to better perform their assigned medical duties,"

I started my military life in March 1951 at Ft. Devens. I had basic training at Aberdeen Proving Ground and completed the Army Machinist School at the Allied School in Chicago.

Spent time at Camp Kilmer awaiting shipment to Bremerhaven on a troop ship. Rode a troop train to Sonthofen and saw the devastation remaining from the war.

In an interview preceding my assignment I was told there was no need for machinists in Germany as the Army was hiring Germans to help their economy. Furthermore, since I had some experience in the automotive field, he was quite certain that I would be a good instructor and I was sent to Eschwege.

I spent 1 week reviewing the 12 week course and passed all the tests and was immediately judged to be an instructor. Much later on I did complete an “instructor methods” course. Almost all the permanent personnel at Eschwege were “Regular Army” and the few of us draftees were not treated very well so we kind of tried to outdo the “RAs” by excelling in our assigned jobs. I did find teaching to be rather easy for me and I did very well.

The school's courses included organizational and field automotive maintenance; wrecker and field recovery; fire control; machinist; heavy truck and tracked vehicles.

Normally we had about 1200 students. Regular classes were on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesday was reserved for inspection and secondary training.

My school consisted of 3 shop buildings and a bunch of classrooms. There were written guides fur each and every hour and we usually had about 40 students in each class. Instructors usually were teaching about 6 hours each day.

At first I was assigned to assist in a shop building and later became the lead instructor and basically in charge of that building. I also served as a classroom instructor.

Our students came from all over including Navy and Air Force and some students from NATO countries.

Since our school served many countries we frequently had visitors and had inspections. As part of that routine we had an ‘Honor Guard” that welcomed the dignitaries. I was one of the lucky ones selected for this unwelcome extra duty. We really weren’t that great but got to ‘enjoy’ many hours of practice.

Toward the end of my time it was ordained that our 12 week course would be shortened to 8 weeks. Each instructor was assigned sections to rewrite (the manuals) consolidating 3 hours to 2. I did mine and submitted them like everyone else and thought I was done. Unfortunately most of the instructors were better mechanics than writers and the botched result was rejected by higher ups. The captain in charge of our course selected me, gave me a desk in his office and told his secretary to give me anything I wanted and I was to correct all the errors and put it back together in an acceptable form.

I did do just that and in a short time completely rewrote every piece of paper correcting spelling, grammar, technical content and appearance. It was resubmitted and accepted and adopted immediately. I was promoted to corporal and was the first on the post to be promoted as most promotions were being given to soldiers in Korea.

We were right on the border of East and West Germany and could see Russian and East German border patrols. We had “alerts” about once each month and all of us had assignments in case of an invasion. The alerts were always at night so classes were not disturbed and it seemed that all the bars knew when one was coming. Our 1200 students were taken westward in busses and we permanent people had assignments like destroying the equipment, rear guard, etc. We usually ended up camping overnight in the woods and returning back to the kaserne about noon on the next day. God was looking out for us and none of the alerts turned out to be real war.

Toward the end of my time the entire school was getting ready to move away (to Füssen) from the border to safer surroundings.…

Eschwege was kind of isolated and I went to Kassel several times although it was almost totally destroyed. Along the way to Kassel there was an area just off the road that had been an undergruund munitions factory. I was always curious about it because I was told that it was never bombed and actually mysteriously blew up about a week after hostilities ended. I was warned to stay away from that area as it had been filled with poison gas and then sealed. I have never since seen anything about this place. Do you know of it?

"Input is then made through 7ATC telling us how our courses can be improved and we try to implement these improvements as soon as possible."

Several courses are offered under refresher training which are geared toward the first line supervisor using the training the trainer concept.

There are two specific areas in which new equipments is involved. One of these is the Vinson Secure Voice System in which net controllers and maintenance personnel are trained.

"This system is a new secure voice system for use with FM radios," explained Toler. "It is a big improvement over the old system.

"It allows you to encrypt your voice traffic. When you're speaking over the radio, nobody can pick you up unless they have the same key in their radio that you have in yours.

"We also have operator and maintenance courses for the new UGC/74 computerized terminal," continued Toler. "The UGC/74 is basically a typewriter. You first type in the message and then send it forward at 1,2011 bits per minute,
which is a lot faster than the older equipment.

"It can also store messages in the computer memory and has an edit function that allows you to make corrections in the message if you make a mistake.

Lt Col John King, CO of the transportation school, said the transportation center had completed its mission of training entire transportation units, and that the new school will train only individual officer and enlisted personnel of transportation, service and actual units.

Courses to be offered include a seven-week highway transport officers course and a six-week motor transport NCO course. In addition, two-week cadre training courses for Transportation Corps units will be presented.

The school also will provide a technical library service system for all transportation units of EUCOM.

The transportstion center at Hammelburg was established on Jan. 8, 1949, and trained more than 900 officers and 5,700 enlisted men from 48 truck companies.

In addition to the newly assigned officers, the staff and faculty of the school includes Lt Col Richard J. Pollard, school commandant, Maj Joseph P. O'Connor, plans and training officer; Maj Franklin E. Duda, supply officer; Capt Leonard V. Swann, Capt Gordon C. Keppard, 1st Lt John L. Carr, 1st Lt William H. Weller and CWO Ralph F. Gerwitz

USAREUR Transportation School closed
The USAREUR Transportation School at Turley Barracks has been closed. In operation since April 1951, the school has graduated more than 1,100 students.

The mission of the Transportation School was to increase the technical and military efficiency of transportation officers, noncommissioned officers and civilian employees.

Orginally, only highway classes were offered. In April of this year the transportation documentation course was added to the school curriculum.