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102nd
Signal Battalion |
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| 102nd Signal Battalion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| KOENIGSTUHL RADIO SITE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Email from Hank Bartosik, 102nd Signal Battalion at Königstuhl radio site, 1954-55) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hank arrived
at Smiley Barracks, Karlsruhe sometime around August 1954. The unit
at that time was still known as the 315th Signal
Construction Bn. Hank spent about two months at Smiley
for retraining. Shortly after being assigned to the radio site at
Heidelberg (Königstuhl), the Battalion was redesigned as the
102nd Signal Bn. Hank still has a copy of leave papers for July of
1955 that stated that he was in Hq & Hq MW&RR 102nd. Hank was in Heidelberg
from November 1954 -September 1955. Hank has several photos of the radio station, because he spent his time with a camera and at the photo labs. The photos below show the set up inside of the station and the outside during one of many daily volleyball games. Webmaster Note: The 102d Signal Battalion (Microwave & Radio Relay) was activated on 18 March 1955 at Smiley Barracks, Karlsruhe, West Germany. The Battalion was assigned the mission of installation, maintenance and operation of the United States Army, Europe, Multi-Channel Radio Telephone Network. The gate guards at the radio site were hired from the displaced persons. I was told that they would eventually be able to enter the U.S. as citizens, having thus served in the U.S. Army. I befriended an elderly Polish guard who had been a prisoner of the Germans. I spoke a broken, dialect of Slovak and some German learned from high school, and we barely understood one another. When I arrived, there were about 30 assigned to the station, and I think that when I left a year later, there were over 50. It was easy to go off to your room and read for a couple of hours! I think that Heidelberg became the training station instead of Karlsruhe, where I spent two months of training after Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. The Day Room was off limits during the day, a constant controversy, but one way to control the "goof-offs", I suppose. Once you were on a shift, it stayed that way until you left. We only saw others during our meals, and then not everyone because if you worked the "grave yard shift" it was not unusual to sleep past lunch hour. Many fellows were off base on their days off, especially the days between the "grave yard" and the normal day shifts. We would forge passes and have coverage during our last day on the mid night shift so we would leave early in the morning and be off base until we reported for the next 8 A. M. shift. This gave us three to four day "passes" every three weeks, that would fall during the weekday and occasionally on a weekend. It was really tough to have a social life with a local girl! |
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| Our station became a sort of show case, since many high ranking officers were constantly on the scene and the presence of "locals" in the station quickly abated. I was told that in the past years it was not unusual to find a girl sleeping in your bunk on a Saturday night when you arrived with the late "run" from the town. The station was on a very popular walking-hiking trail and it was not unusual for some young girls to have missed their ride down the mountain with the Zugbahn, so I was told. A 3/4 ton vehicle used to make a late night run, around midnight at the foot of the Koenigstuhl, somewhere near or at the first entrance or first stop of the Zugbahn, cable car that operated on the mountain. Sometimes we would get a frantic call from a fellow who missed that run, and we, "unauthorized", took a Jeep down to pick him up. This was particularly tricky in the winter months if it snowed during the night, no one plowed until daylight! In 1955 I purchased a new blue convertable Volkswagon and was often called upon- especially when I was on the night shift- to go down and pick up someone. They always paid for more than my gas- which was still less than the fare of the Mercedes taxis! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| (Email from Don Roupe, with Bn Hqs, 102nd Signal Battalion in 1957-58, at Feudenheim) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I've attached
a few pics to this email, all from Company E, Königstuhl of the
102d Sig Bn. I was there only one month before going to Headquarters, 102d in Feudenheim. All were taken at Konigstuhl (overlooking Heidelberg) with the exception of the last one. This is the first commanding officer of the 102d, William Felty. Bill was Battalion CO before I got there as he was replaced by Mitchell Saikley, the CO when I arrived. Unfortunately, Bill passed away on the operating table in Lexington, KY about 2 years ago now. One item I will never forget is that I returned to the US via the (USS) Simon Buckner the last week of September. At the same time, Elvis was shipping over on another troop ship. And truly, while we were on the ship, an object was floating in the water. I had many witnesses; the object was a guitar. We did have some jokes about that guitar since we knew Elvis was in the same shipping lanes on his way to Bremerhaven. I'm fairly certain it was the Buckner as I thought I went over on the Alexander Patch. But that was in 1957, 45 years ago. You can contact Don via email by clicking on this link - Donald Roupe  |
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| (Additional
information from Don Roupe, with Bn Hqs, 102nd Signal Battalion, at
Feudenheim) The first commander of the 102d Signal Battalion was Major William Felty. Bill took over in 1955 and was eventually replaced by Mitchell F. Saikley, my commander in 1957-1958. I have two pictures to send to you, first one will be Bill.  Bill passed away about 2 years ago in Lexington, Ky. I had been in touch with him and he even sent me copies of a proposed book he was writing. One chapter was devoted to his taking over the Battalion and making it military ready. The second one will be of Saikley, the only picture the webmaster could find. On the previous 102d website, they had all of the commanders from day one but the one of Saikley was provided to them by me. Unfortunately it was not of Saikley alone, it included me when I received Soldier of the Month award for May, 1958. 
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| (Source: Wesley Hall, Co E, 102nd Sig Bn, Königstuhl, 1957-59) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I was a microwave radio repairman stationed in Konigstuhl from July 1957 to June 1959. Enclosed are some photos I took during my memorable stay in Germany. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| CHRISTMAS 1957 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: Wesley Hall, Co E, 102nd Sig Bn, Königstuhl, 1957-59) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| (Source: Lowell Haggard, Co E, 102nd Sig Bn, Königstuhl, 1959-61) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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