Remembrances of 4th Armor Group: 1958-1959

Note: I arrived in Germany to join the Fourth Armor Group as a private in July 1958 and was stationed with them until December 1959. These remembrances are based on contemporary letters to my parents with minimal reliance on memory. The letters are what one might expect of a young twenty-year-old soldier, away from home for the first time and on foreign soil. So, I have culled factual information from the letters, thinking that would be of most interest.

Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Gibbs Kaserne. Frankfurt am Main
Headquarters and Headquarters Company was stationed at Gibbs Kaserne. Our Commander was Colonel Kane. We controlled five battalions, which were scattered throughout Germany. 4th Armor Group totaled approximately 5000 men. It was roughly the size of a Combat Command, which is one third of an Armored Division. We were a component of V Corps, under the aegis of the Seventh Army. Our shoulder patch was the familiar "Seven Steps to Hell."

The photograph on Mr. Elkins' website with the caption: "19th Armor Gp Headquarters Building, Gibbs Bks, 1954" is of the same building that housed 4th Armor Group Headquarters in 1958 and 1959. We worked there when we were not in the field at Baumholder or Grafenwoehr.

The Colonel's office, Administration (S-1), and Supply (S-4) were to the left of the entrance. On the right were Operations and Plans (S-3) and Intelligence (S-2). I worked in S-3, which was headed by Major Prichard. I recall that he once whimsically reminisced that he had served under Patton in World War II and had, on occasion, told the General that he was going the wrong way. Our officers were all armor men who had fought in World War II and The Korean War and each had a tale to tell.

S-3 had three captains: Capt. Leroy Lafayette Schaefer, Capt. Seymour Weiser and Capt. Parkhurst. (Personnel changed regularly while I was there but those three were there during most of my time.) The S-3 Operations Sergeant was Sgt. Jack Cummings of Enid, Oklahoma. He was later replaced, in 1959, by Sgt. Campbell, who had been a prisoner of war in Germany in World War II. We had two operations assistants (I was one) and, for a while, a draftsman.

Headquarters Company comprised three main sections: Headquarters, Motor Pool and Communications. We had approximately 90 men of which "only eight were privates."

The picture of the Headquarters building brings back memories of late afternoons when I left work and walked across the parade ground to our quarters. Occasionally, if I left early, the walk across the field would occur when "Retreat" was sounded. I recall stopping in place as the flag was lowered and reflecting on my surroundings. It is a sharp image and a moving memory that I have carried into my later years.

Headquarters and Headquarters Company in the field: Baumholder and Grafenwoehr
The Company had just returned from Baumholder when I arrived in Frankfurt in July. The Group also went there for ten days later in July, and in the fall. A letter indicates we left October 16 and returned November 7. I wrote that we departed Gibbs for Baumholder at "3 in the morning". However, some of the Company did not leave until October 29. Those in the advance party slept in barracks but once the whole Company arrived, we slept in the field. I wrote in November that "three of our five battalions are here."

I was told of, but did not see: " … an atomic bomb simulator which has a mushroom cloud of 2500 feet."

I wrote to my parents "The food here is OK. The weather and terrain are atrocious. They fly our mail up from Frankfurt by helicopter." I also mentioned that while in the Baumholder advance party I had attended an army football game.

We spent substantial time in Baumholder and Grafenwoehr during 1959 but I have no actual record of it. The Group was also scheduled to be involved in tank gunnery in Belsen-Hohne in the British sector from 31 March to 16 May 1959 but that obligation was later given the Third Armored Division.

In addition to scheduled field duty, we had an unscheduled "Alert" approximately once a month. Usually "Alerts" were called during the week but occasionally on a weekend, which was an oddity.

A Note on the Lebanon Intervention
United States intervention in Lebanon took place in July 1958. I referred to the impact of this operation in a letter (but only after the crisis atmosphere had calmed):

"The situation seems at a standstill as of now and things are pretty quiet. With an easing of the situation, I guess it is safe to admit now that things were really jumping then. It was an army changed overnight. You'd never know how it was unless you were here."

"Overnight, surgeons are attached, Majors shifted all over the place. Drivers (nine in number) were taken out of the Transportation Company upstairs. Dependents were issued evacuation instructions. Orders came through that all men, and dependents, not having dog tags do so immediately. We are a Headquarters, and control five battalions. The day after it happened the first of our battalions was alerted and shipped out the next day to Turkey. If two more of our battalions had gone, we would have had to go also. In Frankfurt-Main Air Base, 200 flying boxcars were flown in within one day."

Headquarters Company: Life at Gibbs Kaserne (Gibbs Barracks)
The troops referred to the Post as "Gibbs Kaserne" but officially, it was called "Gibbs Barracks."

The following groups were stationed at Gibbs in 1958. (The names are taken from the Gibbs Barracks Consolidated Mess 1958 Christmas menu.) ·
Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Armor Group
Headquarters Detachment, 45th Armored Medical Battalion
Company A, 45th Armored Medical Battalion
Company B, 45th Armored Medical Battalion
69th Engineer Topo Company
92nd Transportation Company
35th Transportation Company
7772nd Signal Service Company
109th Military Police Platoon ·
32nd Signal Detachment

We lived in a three storey building in comfortable rooms that held four or five. Our Company occupied the ground floor. We drew guard duty about once every three weeks at Gibbs and every tenth weekend or so. The Guardroom was in the same building as the EM Club. Once or twice a year we had guard duty at our Frankfurt airstrip, where the Group had an L-19 and a helicopter. Captain Carley and Lieutenant Missildine were our air officers. Guard duty at the airstrip was the only time we were issued live ammunition.

German civilians did the KP for which we paid $3.00 a month. And we had a company tailor, also German, whom we paid a standard $2.00 a month.

There was a library, a coffee shop and a movie theatre on post. The three entities were all housed in the long, multi-windowed two storey building shown on Mr. Elkins' website with the caption: "Gibbs Barracks, Frankfurt am Main, probably 1952 (Unknown Photo Album, Signal Unit, 1952)." I remember seeing Merry Andrew and Cry Terror at the theatre while there. My roommate and friend, Carroll Chapman from Texas, was one of the projectionists.

We read Stars and Stripes, copies of which cost five cents daily and ten cents on Sunday. The paper included the Peanuts comic strip, which was very popular with the troops. One of the organizations maintained a Snoopy doghouse in front of their building. You could purchase American magazines (e.g. The New Yorker and Downbeat), but they were usually one month old.

The EM Club
The EM Club at Gibbs was in a building located on one side of the parade ground (facing the front gate off in the distance). It was a two, perhaps three, storey building and the Club was up one flight. The NCO Club was on the ground floor. The 69th Engineers Topo. Company had offices in the basement. When one left the Club, 4th Armor Group Headquarters building was on the right side of the field and our billets on the left side.

I wrote a letter home describing the EM Club when I first arrived, from which:
"Over here they have what they call an EM Club. It is a far cry from the beer halls in Fort Dix. It is for Privates, PFCs and Specialist 4s, which are the first four grades of rank. They have German help working as waitresses, barmaids, bartenders and manager."

"The Club is separated into about five big rooms. The first is a beautifully modern bar that looks just like those fancy cocktail lounges downtown (in New York). Drinks are fantastically cheap. Canadian Club is 30 cents, good champagne is $2.00 a bottle and a good bottle of German Beer is 15 cents." (During the last week of each month, there was a 'two drinks for one policy' to help us through the dark days before the next payday.)

"The next room is a dining room and dance floor. You have to remember the whole place is beautifully decorated in soft plush colors, wood paneling, amber drapes and all the works. In another rumpus-type room there is a long table shuffleboard, tables, chairs, and a bowling machine. Off the main lounges they are putting in a new bar with a western type theme and swing doors. It is not really what you would expect to find on any Army post."

The Club's operating hours on weekdays were 0900-1000, 1130-1300, and 1700-2330. It was closed Wednesday. On Saturdays, it was open from 1300-2430, on Sunday 1000-2330. There was music and entertainment on Saturday night.

Each outfit at Gibbs Kaserne had one or two representatives to the EM Club. SFC Eugene Schwartz who oversaw the Club, held a monthly meeting with the representatives. At it, he solicited our thoughts on services provided or that might be added.

We occasionally visited The Plantation Club, a different EM club at a nearby kaserne. There was a "Trinkhalle" (German beer stand) across from the entrance to the post. And Frankfurt had ample restaurants and "gasthouses," places at which to drink and mix with civilians or other military personnel. The regular restaurants were inexpensive and one could get a good meal for a few dollars (10 marks equated to approximately $2.50).

So, a soldier's life at Gibbs and the surrounding area was not without its pleasures and when we were off duty we had sundry places to eat non-army fare, have a drink, relax, and join with friends.