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102nd
Signal Battalion |
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| 315th Signal Battalion History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19.. - 1955 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
315th Signal
Bn (Construction) DUI |
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| (Source: History, 315th Signal Battalion (Micro-Wave & Radio Relay), 1954) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The 315th Signal Battalion (Micro-Wave & Radio Relay) came into being 20 October 1953 for the purpose of merging several smaller radio relay units into a single battalion for the maintenance and operation of the largest single micro-wave & radio relay system in the Army. Prior to the creation of the unit, micro-wave radio facilities available for use to USAREUR had been operated by two radio relay companies, one separate radio relay platoon, and one radio relay detachment (1). These units were under the supervision of the 4th Signal Group. On 13 October 1953 a letter was published by USAREUR ordering the transfer of the 315th Signal Construction Battalion less personnel and equipment from Worms, Germany to Karlsruhe, Germany and redesignated it the 315th Signal Battalion (Micro-Wave & Radio Relay). Personnel and equipment were made available by the inactivation of the two radio relay companies, the separate radio relay platoon, and the discontinuance of the radio relay detachment. With the complement of twenty-five officers, one warrant officer, and four hundred seventy-three enlisted men, the newly designated battalion undertook its assigned mission of administering to, operating, and maintaining the terminal and relay sites of the micro-wave & radio relay system which had become, in effect, the USAREUR MULTI-CHANNEL RADIO TELEHONE NETWORK. YEAR IN REVIEW (Commander's Summary) The increase in operational commitments throughout the year 1954 posed operational and administrative problems to challenge the ability and perseverance of all concerned. The year began with the commitment of elements of the battalion to provide toll circuits for the Berlin Conference. Elements of the Battalion, under the operational control of 4th Signal Group, participated in four (4) maneuvers during the year. Seven (7) mobile terminals, two (2) mobile relays, and thirty-three (33) fixed stations of the battalion were utilized to proivde one hundred three (103) toll circuits via radio relay facilities, nineteen (19) telephone trunks, and two (2) telegraph systems during these maneuvers. The outage factor was slightly over 0.5% of total operational time. The experience gained in maneuvers, and data gathered from a series of test shots, provided experience which was used in expanding and improving the radio telephone network. The ever-increasing need for maintenance of the facilities resulted in the organization of (a) maintenance section at Karlsruhe, Germany. The expansion of the system to include a micro-wave link from Germany to Maison Fort, France began in the spring of 1954 and by close of the year this link included five (5) terminals and six (6) relay stations. All towers were completed, and all antennas and coaxial cables were installed on towers. The permanent buildings were completed at seven (7) of the sites and contract awarded for the completion of the remaining four (4) sites. The estimated date of completion of building construction is 15 March 1955. The equipment at six stations is still installed in temporary structures. Sixteen (16) systems are complete with eleven (11) of these on the air. The first system on the French link was committed to traffic during July 1954. The year closed with the network having six hundred seventy-four (674) channels, six hundred fifty-two (652) voice and twenty-six (26) TT channels occupied and plans progressing for an additional three hundred nineteen (319) circuits. The plan allows for one hundred fifty-one (151) spare channels and sixty-three (63) reserve channels. (1) Webmaster Note: per STATION LIST 15 Dec 1952, these were possibly the signal units that had operated USAREUR micro-wave radio facilities prior to the formation of the 315th Sig Bn (MW & RR) in 1953:  503rd Signal Company (Radio Operation), Karlsruhe 550th Signal Company (Radio Relay), Karlsruhe22nd Signal Detachment (Radio), Kaefertal506th Signal Platoon (Long Lines), Karlsruhe
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| (Source: Email from Andy Bart, 550th Sig Co, 1951-52) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Originally I was with the 552 AAA Gun Bn (90MM) in Knielingen, Germany just outside of Karlsruhe. I was transferred to the 550th Signal Radio Relay Company in 1951. This outfit was located in Karlsruhe. The company was supposed to have radio/telephone links from Berlin to Paris and was part of EUCOM. I was in charge of a relay station which consisted of myself and 6 men. Shortly after setting up the station I received a Letter of Instructions dated 12 January 1952 outlining my duties. In a Letter of Instructions dated 14 February 1952 I received, outlining my duties had the heading of 7793 Signal Radio Relay Platoon. Shortly after this my tour of duty was over and I was shipped back to the States. My last name at the time was Barszczewski. I changed my name to Bart several years later after I was married and started a family. |
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| (Source: Email from Allen Hall, 7793 Signal Radio Relay Pltn, early 1950s) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I was a member of the 7793 Sig Radio Relay Pltn in the early 1950s. Since it was over a half century ago, my memories are kind of dim although I do remember the name and address of a girl friend there at the time. <g>
As I recall, the mission was to establish a microwave radio relay series of stations between Headquarters EUCOM in Heidelberg and NATO Headquarters in Paris. I was there for probably something less than a year and never saw any radio equipment or had any training in the subject. We just seemed to do nothing except maintain ourselves and the facility. I think read someplace much later that the equipment we were trained on was already outdated. When we graduated from Ft. Monmouth the rates were frozen and we all ended up permanent PFC's except for some who flunked out of school and showed up as Sgt's at the separation center. I recall Smiley Barracks, of course, and there was a Smiley member of our unit along with a Koski, McClanahan, Hurley, none others I remember right now. As you probably know, we had to be in uniform at all times and off the streets by midnight. I remember being in a bar around midnight when the proprieter suddenly herded us up onto the roof just before the MP's showed up. He must have had a lookout. After the MP's left we were called downstairs and continued our beer. Due to a dalliance on leave in Place Pigalle in Paris I had my pass pulled for 90 days. I used to sneak out the same hole in the fence at Smiley in the motor pool that the German cab drivers said the German troops sneaked out of at Forstner Kaserne when they were there..and they went to the same women downtown . I guess soldiers are the same everywhere. I can't recall the name of the 1st Lt. commandant when I was there. I remember the train station still had a big hole in the roof from the bombings. |
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| (Source: Email from Sam F. Baribeau, 315th Sig Bn, 1954-56) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I arrived in January 1954 and eventually assigned to the 315th Signal Battalion in Karlsruhe, Germany. After a number of months, I was assigned to Lt. Sidon's power and construction crew. We were soon relocated to Seckenheim (near Heidelberg) Germany.
Although I'm sure a number of the guys we worked with are no longer with us, I am including a batch of pictures with as many individuals I could find. I would be very pleased if you could put these on your web site and what a thrill to hear from any of my old friends. |
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| (Email from "Walt" Gelnovatch, 102nd Signal Battalion at Hohenstadt radio site, 1957-59) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As most members of the 102nd Signal Bn are aware of, the 315th Signal Battalion was our predecessor in Europe and created the USAREUR Multichannel Radio Telephone Network. Conspicuously absent on this excellent website is any information pertaining to it’s history or origin. |
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| (Source: Email from Bob Voss, 315th Sig Bn, 1954-March 55; 102nd Sig Bn and 4th Sig Gp, March 1955-58) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A former member of the 315th alerted me to your web site which I found very interesting. I joined the 315th in April 1954 at Smiley Barracks as a Pvt (E2) fresh from Ft Gordon, Ga. Was (then) part of the 102nd for a short time, and left USAREUR in October 1958 as a MSgt (E7), Installation and Maintenance Section, 4th Signal Group for assignment at Microwave Branch, USA Signal School, Ft Monmouth, NJ. Left the Army on July 1961 for a 30-year stint with RCA/GE as a Program Manager for Army Automated Test Equipment (ATE) at Burlington, MA. prior to retirement in 1991. Memory dims with time, but I seem to remember that, when activated, the 315th was based on several units designated as "...... Platoon, Microwave Radio Relay". Most of the sites were in operation at the time of my arrival in Germany, equipped with Lorenz VHF (Southern Germany-Berlin Link) Siemens and Halske 2400Mhz Microwave gear and the "French link" based on GE stuff originally designed for pipeline monitoring, running 24 channels of voice and/or teletype. CO at that time was LTC Lloyd Colvin who later was the OIC for the USAREUR Radio Telephone System, until relieved by Col George F Moynihan Jr, after Col Rose left. My major efforts during my time with 4th Sig Group were equipment installation, antenna work, and panic maintenance throughout the network, reporting to 1st Lt (later Major) Alexander P Sidon and later 1st Lt Max Hoyer both of whom I met again at Ft Monmouth (Hoyer) and Japan (Sidon, who was on R&R from Saigon in 1963). As I said, memories dim with time, but I may be able to dig up some pictures of 315th activity in the field providing comm support for Hq 7th Army CPX, using mobile Microwave Terminals and repeaters using Siemens and Halske van-mounted equipment which we also "smuggled" into France and installed at the Thionville (Angevillers) site (at that time, the folks operating the site were billeted with a Signal Company stationed at the local French Army garrison). I would love to know what happened to Maj Sidon and a SFC George Dumke since we all lost track in all these years. You may know that Lloyd and Iris Colvin became legends in Amateur Radio and the subject of a book published by American Radio Relay League (ARRL), title:"Yasme". Bob Voss ADDITIONAL INFORMATION The web site segment contributed by Phil Konitshek (I & M Section) caught my eye. He joined our fearless band in Nov 1958, about one month after the end of my service as NCOIC and my return to CONUS. Phil must have worked with most of the people assigned to the I&M Section at the time of my departure. The origin of the section goes back to 1954 (315th) when we started mobile activity in support of the 7th Army Command Post Exercises (CPX’s), did actual validation of new, add-on links, and antenna/coax/equipment installations and modifications throughout the system. At some point our little team was transferred to the 4th Signal Group (Hq Det) and augmented with other MOS skills. I think this transfer to Group was from the 102nd, after the 315th was deactivated. We were billeted at Patton Barracks, with work activity located at the Neuostheim Tape Relay facilities and the 7774 SCU Motor Pool. We had a stand-alone building which accomodated offce supplies, tools and shop space. Vehicles included V17 line trucks, V18 Diggers, 2½-, ¾- and ¼-ton trucks and VW “Caravans.” As Phil states, we installed antennas, pressurized-dehydrated copper coax (cables), RF equipment, carrier equipment, mainframes, and towers in France and Germany, ranging from the Cherbourg Cablehead to Angevillers in France, and just about everyplace connected to Koenigstuhl and Donnersberg in Germany. We stopped however, at Bocksberg in the Harz Mountains ( Berlin link) which was originally (with WWII VHF stuff) designed/activated by Col Loren Gaither whom I met years later via ham radio. |
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| (Source: Email from Phil Seltzer, 315th Sig Bn, 1954-55) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I was an enlisted man in the 315th from Aug 1954 till May 1955. I was in Karlsruhe briefly, then went to the Koenigstuhl Microwave station in Heidelberg and shipped out to Donnersberg. This was a station situated in the mountains above Kirchheimbolanden. I was a Lorenz repairman. We also had Siemens and General Electric Equipment. We served as one of the link stations - 30 miles apart that supported the telephone system. I left in May 1955 and the 315th still existed at that time. Donnersberg had about 12 personnel living under separate rations. One was Air Force Sgt but I cannot remember his function. We hired two cooks from the village below. There was no officer residing at the station. We had three microwave repairman for each Lorenz, Siemens and GE equipment. I was responsible for the Lorenz equipment. We would be on duty for three full days and then have considerable time off. I cannot remember the technical aspects of the equipment other than the physical appearance of the equipment. We seldom had a break in communications and the repair activities were not difficult. |
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| (Source: Email from Irving (Nick) Nicoll, Det 1, Co A, 315th Sig Bn, 1954-57) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| During the years 1954 to 1957, I was assigned to Det 1, Co A, of the 315th Sig Bn, commanded by Capt L. J. Richards and stationed in Frankfurt, Germany.
The 315th later was formed as the 102nd Sig Bn and was part of the 4th Sig Grp under Brig Gen Guest. Headquarters was in Heidelberg. During my tour, I served as Company Signal Supply Sgt and, in this capacity, made many trips to the microwave radio relay stations served by what was now Co A, 102nd Sig Bn, commanded by a new officer, Capt B. S. Rosen. From Co Hqs in Frankfurt, I traveled to our most distant stations of Bocksberg and Hohes Lohr and had many interesting adventures driving during the winter to those mountain top locations. Bocksberg was on the East-West line and produced some chilling moments when the Russians and East Germans decided to hold some maneuvers. We had other relay stations in our command, some of which I remember in Würzburg, Wiesbaden, Breitsol, and a few others whose names escape me right now. The 315th, when I arrived in June of 1954, had its Battalion Headquarters Karlsruhe and the first assignment given to all new personnel, at least those with a Microwave Radio Repair MOS, was to attend a 6 to 8 week school to learn the Lorenz and Siemens microwave equipment. We had some GE, but most of the equipment was of German origin and took a little getting used to. Germany at that time, was broken down, not only into American, Russian, French, and British Zones, but was also broken down into Area Commands and Karlsruhe was the Command Headquarters of the Western Area Command (WAC). The 315th was made up of several Companies and additional attachments within each Company. After schooling, I was assigned to Detachment 1, Company A, located in Frankfurt. Company Headquarters remained in Karlsruhe. The 315th, which was formally designated, the 315th Signal Construction Battalion, not only maintained communications for most of the American and Allied forces from the "Cable head" at Cherbourg, France, throughout West Germany into West Berlin, but also handled much of the communications utilized by the State Department as part of HICOG, High Commission of Germany. Our responsibility for these communications was limited to servicing the equipment and problems encountered between the German - French border and the HICOG Command Center in Bonn. During this time, as I previously mentioned, the 315th was part of the 4th Signal Group, under the command of Brig Gen Guest, and headquartered in Heidelberg. On my arrival at Frankfurt, even though I had gone through almost 7 months on schooling at Ft Monmouth, and an additional 8 weeks in Karlsruhe, the Detachment Commander, Capt L. J. Richards, decided that, as I could type, I should stay in Detachment Headquarters as a temporary Company Clerk. I was scheduled to go as a microwave radio repair specialist, which would have been on a per diem basis, to our radio station in Bocksberg. By the way, this temporary assignment became a permanent one and ultimately lead to a Signal Supply Specialist and, ultimately, a Signal Supply Sergeant. In mid 1955, I think, the 315th was disbanded and became part of the 102nd Signal Battalion, still headquartered in Karlsruhe, and the Detachment designations were eliminated. Detachment 1, for example, became Company A, 102nd Sig Bn. Frankfurt was the Headquarters of what was then, the Northern Area Command (NAC), Heidelberg was Headquarters of, strangely enough, Headquarters Area Command (HAC). The 102nd was spread out during these years and had many of its support elements, Supply, Motor Pool, etc. located in Mannheim. If I am not mistaken, Battalion Headquarters was also later moved, on a temporary basis, to Mannheim. Shortly after the redesignation of the 315th as part of the 102nd, Company A had a new Commanding officer, Capt B. S. Rosen. Just as an aside, the US Navy was in charge of patrolling the Rhine River and we would often travel to Wiesbaden to purchase items from the Ship's Store as these items were cheaper than in our own PX's. We were charged $1.00/carton for cigarettes, but could buy the same from the Navy for $.75. Trouble was, these were rationed, so we were limited in just how many cartons we could buy. Unfortunately, the Navy moved out early in 1955. I hope I am not boring you with these early details, but I can later fill you in on many more interesting details involving trips made to Bocksberg and Hohes Lohr, which were our last radio relay stations before the East Zone. Although, I didn't get stationed in Bocksberg, I visited there many times on various Supply and personnel runs and managed to spend several evenings in the town of Bocksberg in the company of Russian GI's. In many respects, they were just like us, but we had to be careful at all times as to what we said and to whom we said it. Some of the memorable stories involve the happenings to Company Overhead personnel, of which I was one, when an "Alert" was sounded. If you would like details on how each of these relay stations was staffed and operated, I would be glad to fill you in. This could include both Summer and Winter visits as there were great differences between the two seasons. By the way, I visited Germany in 1980 when my son was stationed, as an MP, just outside of Frankfurt, and he managed to get me into the area still occupied by the 102nd. It brought back a ton of memories when I entered the Day Room and saw all the pictures on the wall of previous Company Commanders, and there, way down near the end, were the pictures of Capts, Richards and Rosen. Brought tears to my eyes. Nick |
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| 102nd Signal Battalion History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1955 - 1995 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: 102nd Signal Battalion web site, www.102sigbn.army.mil - now a dead link) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Constituted on
11 December 1944 in the Army of the United States as the 102nd Signal
Heavy Construction Battalion, with initial activation, and the redesignation
on 1 March 1945 as the 102nd Signal Light Construction Battalion with
duty in Italy. The Battalion participated in combat in World War II, with combat credits for the North Appenine and Po Valley Campaigns. The Battalion returned to the United States and was deactivated on 2 October 1945 at Camp Miles Standish, Mass. On 1 February 1955, while still inactive, the Battalion was redesignated as the 102nd Microwave and Radio Relay Battalion and transferred from the Army of the United States to the Regular Army. Shortly thereafter, on 18 March 1955, the unit was activated at Smiley Barracks, Karlsruhe, as the 102nd Microwave and Radio Relay Battalion. The Battalion was assigned the mission of installation, maintenance and operation of the USAREUR Multi-Channel Radio Telephone Network, until deactivation in November 1967. The Battalion was reactivated on 1 July 1974 in Frankfurt, Germany, as the 102nd Signal Battalion, with the mission of providing Telephone, Microwave, and Non-Tactical Telecommunications for eight major commands and their subordinate elements, encompassing an area of over eight thousand square miles. In 1995, as a result of a major drawdown of US Forces in Europe, the 102nd Signal Battalion moved from the Abrams Complex in Frankfurt to Rose Barracks in Bad Kreuznach. Its mission is to provide installation signal support yo include automation, telecommunications, printing and publications and records management to the warfighters and organizations of the communities within the 53rd and 104th Area Support Groups. The Battalion's area of responsibility covers over 30,000 square kilometers and the German states of Rheinland Pfalz and Hessen. For more information on the 102nd Signal Battalion see the History of the 5th Signal Command, 1958 - 1977 and the Annual Historical Report, 1 July 1956-30 June 1957, 4th Signal Group, APO 403. |
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| If you have more information on the history or organization of the 102nd Signal Battalion, please contact me. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1968 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: Email from Larry Lang) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I was with the 102nd until it became the 68th, I believe, in Aug of 1968. I was first assigned to the Co headquarters in Munich, after about two weeks there I was sent to the station at McGraw (Munich Microwave). Life was good at the station. The shifts did get boring but all in all it was good duty. After about a year at this station, I was sent up to Stuttgart (Nelligen Barracks) for the start up of a direct support maint facility. Stuttgart was not as nice as Munich, but we made the best of it anyway. I have a few pictures stuffed in some old shoe boxes in the attic and lots of good memories. |
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| (Source: Email from Michael Johnson, Co B, 102nd Sig Bn, 1968) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| It's really great that there are folks like yourself that keep people like me from just kind of slipping through the cracks. I was stationed at Neureut Kaserne for a year and a half starting early in 1968. I came to Neureut as a Personnel Specialist (E-4) and began training as company clerk for Company B. I loved my duty and the location. All the officers, NCO's and enlisted I supported were all great to work with and I had many friends. My First Sgt was Sgt Bullock and Captain Cashour was commanding when I first got there. Later, I had First Sgt Flake and, well, the captain I can't remember. There was also 1st Lt Addington. After about 6 months there I was promoted and became the company clerk and the old clerk transferred. I believe he volunteered for Vietnam. It was great being company clerk because I didn't have and extra duties so after work and on weekends I traveled everywhere I could afford to go; different places in Germany, Switzerland, France, etc... I really loved it there. My plans were to actually end my service there and work at the PX. However, my dad and my sister died and that changed all my plans. I can't remember what the battalion commander's name was.... I wish I could remember. Also, all my pictures of the barracks and stuff were all lost. When I came home on emergency leave the army wouldn't let me go back cause I was getting short. I had left all my stuff there at the 102nd expecting to return. However, I didn't get to go back and when I asked for my stuff.... well, it kind of disappeared. My bicycle, personal rifle (I was a member of the gun club), cloths, pictures, things I had collected.... everything... well, someone got lots of nice stuff. My duties at the 102nd were great. First I had the Morning Report. That was like a record of everything that happened with the company for the last 24 hours. Next, was the mail, mis typing, filing, answering the phones, sometimes shortwave radio, switchboard, etc. We only went out in the field a few times with tents, etc. Mostly that was a team effort with the Brits and local German Army folks. Our job was communications, so I supported my guys in the field who setup the communications anyway they needed as far a paperwork goes. Sorry, I don't have very good details but I'm happy to talk about this anytime. I sure wish there was a reunion or something. My friends in the 102nd all went to Vietnam when I as on emergency leave... I don't know if they are still alive or not... Our buildings were right across the street from Battalion HQ. As you come in the front gate, directly in front on the right I believe was a cafe, small restaurant. Then, going left I think was the theater, some other buildings, then, on down on the right was HQ. On the left of that were our buildings. I think we occupied the 3 buildings just there. On down and to the left were tanks. The T ank Battalion came and went... on and off, they were not permanent there as I remember. I have no knowledge of how the organization came about. T here were many detachments. I don't remember much about them except that we were always kept busy. I wish now I had kept better technical knowledge of everything... you just don't think about it at the time. I'd like to go back and do it again right now... ) |
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| (Source: Email from John Stice, HHC, 102nd Sig Bn, 1970) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I was stationed at HHC, 102nd Sig Bn at Neureut Kaserne, Karlsruhe, Germany from January 1970 through June 1970. The unit operated a battalion motor pool, TROPO equipment repair facility and set up Tropo equipment near Landstuhl during field problems. The unit deactivated in June, 1970. I was restationed to USATTC (Transportable Communications Command), 102nd Signal Battalion also at Neureut Kaserne. One of your writers addressed a relay site at Neuostheim. If this unit was next to a grass airport, then it became COMMEL (Communications and Electronics) Support Company which serviced all of Europe with third echelon eleactronics repair and an AK (4613) for electronics equipment. The only other unit like it was in Viet Nam. Our mess hall was at Patton Barracks, just up the street from the company. This unit moved to Sullivan Barracks on the north end of Mannheim and became AMSF (Area Maintenance and Supply Facility). This unit is probably still in operation with the same name) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AMSF formed around Easter, 1971 at Sullivan Barracks, Mannheim North. It retained the third echelon electronics repair shop and the AK (supply for electronics equipment and parts) of COMMEL Support Company and still supported all of Europe. I worked in the unit supply room as supply specialist and armorer. I reviewed the status of AMSF a few years ago on the Internet and it appears that the unit is still in existence. I wasn't in Karlsruhe very long, and I worked in the unit supply room in the two companies I was assigned to, so my knowledge of the units is limited. We're also looking back 37 years! |
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| (Source: Article written by Charlie and Roger Stegall that appeared in the Winter 2007 issue of 5th SIGCOM's ECHO magazine) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Silk Purse | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Sources: Photos from Donald R. Elmore; "Silk Purse" information from Nuclear Command and Control in NATO, by Shaun R. Gregory, 1996; and United States Military Forces and Installations in Europe, by Simon Duke, 1989) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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C CO, 102nd SIG BN - KOENIGSTUHL |
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| Project 102 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 MISSION OF PROJECT 102: To increase interest among the many former members of the 102d Signal Battalion, friends of members of the group, and members of Military Groups that either worked with the 102d or were attached to the 102d |
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| Walt Gelnovatch and Don Roupe are asking for support to pursue making the 102nd Signal Battalion group (The One-Oh-Deuce (102nd Sig Bn) MSN Group) bigger and better than ever, and something former personnel would be proud to join following the completion of Project 102. |
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| 261st Signal Company | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: Email from John D. Mercier, 261st Sig Co, 1978-80) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I was the station Chief at Breitsol (
 ) from November 1978 through March 1980 when I was promoted out of the best job I ever had in the Army. I then went from Operations NCOIC at the 261st Sig Co in Hanau and to the OPS NCOIC of the 102 Sig Bn in Frankfurt. The fond memories I have of Breitsol will last a lifetime especially the wedding reception held for my wife and myself at the site by the site personal and local German friends on 30 July 1983. Tilly and Marianne, the cooks, did all the food and made us a wedding cake. The site personal acted as waiters and a German friend as Bartender. This was their wedding gift to us.On a business trip in May 2007 I visited the site. It is no longer in operation. The old barracks and Mess Hall buildings were sold to a German gentleman who uses it as a hunting lodge. He invited me in to look around and one of the technicians from the Bundespost site came over and we all talked about when the site was under US Army control. They both knew locals who had worked at the site such as Tilly, Marianne, and Potzel. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to look them up, but plan to on my next trip to Germany. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION |
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There also was a Tactical Interface connection that was used during some exercises. The tactical unit would set up outside the Ops building and connect their circuits to our DCS system and we could connect them to any other fixed site in the command. The site consisted of the Operations Building and generator buildings shown in one of my pictures and two barracks buildings. All communications equipment was in the lower floor of the operations building. We had three 100KW generators which provided power in case of a commercial outage. The system would start and come on line automatically when commercial power went out. There was a water system which had a wellhead about 1500 meters down the side of the hill. Water was pumped up to a treatment facility in the basement of the new Barracks and Mess hall building. This supplied all drinking and cooking water for the site. There was a additional old well system on the site proper but it was Non Potable. This water was used for fire points heating and irrigation. The barracks consisted of the older building in the picture (Built in the 30s )and the newer building built sometime in the mid 70's. We had around 20 to 25 personal assigned with about 15 living on site. We had two German cooks Tillly and Marianne, , two Local Technicians Potzel and Rudy and a generator tech Wolfgang who also did all the gardening (the troops loved him). We were very involved with local harpings in Markhidenfeld and had many local national friends. The site was part of the Aschaffenburg military community (18 miles away) and received support from them. The Mess hall was a Non-appropriated mess with those living on site buying the food thru the class 1 facility in Aschaffenburg. We had a SPC 5 mess sergeant who did all the paper work but only cooked if both local cooks were out (thank God that didn't happen very often). >>From 1967 to 1970 I was at Lohnsfeld and Kaiserslautern M/W sites. Lohnsfeld was about 4 miles from Sembach AB and the HF receiver facility for Pirmasens. I had the M/W portion. We had Siemens PPM-24 Radio's which were then replaced by a temporary AN/GRS-66 van mounted system while they installed the Motorola MR-300 system. The rest of the site consisted of HF Radio Receiver Systems. Kaiserslautern DCS was a terminal site. It was located on the hill behind Panzer Karserne, and provided Communications for the Kaiserslautern Military Community (which was Army controlled at that time), We had a single space diversity M/W shot to Donnersberg using Siemens PPM-24 (Pulse Position Modulation) system which was replaced with Motorola MR-300 radios and MX-106 Multiplex during my time there. |
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| 1985 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: ECHO, Nov 1985) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Breitsol Radio Station was operated by the 261st Sig Co, 102nd Sig Bn, until Oct 1985 when it was transferred to the 535th Sig Co, 69th Sig Bn, as part of the IMA realignment. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Site List - 1959/60 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: from a Telephone List provided by Howard Safstrom who served as a Personnel Records Clerk in Battalion Hqtrs at Feudenheim from March 1959 to July 1960) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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