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28th Infantry Division
Keystone Division

Looking for more information from military/civilian personnel assigned to or associated with the U.S. Army in Germany from 1945 to 1989. If you have any stories or thoughts on the subject, please contact me.


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109th Inf Regt

110th Inf Regt

112th Inf Regt

Div Arty



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109th Infantry Regiment
109th Infantry Regiment crest

109th Inf Regt
Gablingen

 

1. 109th Inf Regt NCO Academy

2. Entrance to NCO Academy

3. Cadre look over new students
 

4. Academy sign

5. Ready to move out for an exercise

6. Hq/Hq Co motor pool
 

7. Sexton in front of barracks

8. Gablingen Kaserne street

9. Football field
 

10. The album owner at Hohenfels
     


Main gate, Infantry Kaserne (Amerika in Augsburg Assn.)

3rd Battalion motor pool, Infantry Kaserne (Amerika in Augsburg Assn.)
1951
(Source: Email from David H. Lee via Max Lohrmann, Amerika in Augsburg Assn.)
While searching the Internet, to try and locate my duty station in Augsburg, Germany, during the time period 1951-1952, I kept finding Flak Kaserne, Sheridan Kaserne and Reese Kaserne, but no mention of Infantry Kaserne.

I was stationed there in late 1951 with Heavy Weapons Company M, 3rd Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment, of the 28th Infantry Division. Also, Company L, a rifle company, and Headquarters Company of the Third Battalion was also stationed (billeted?) in the building.

I returned home in 1952 and I believe the 28th Division was replaced by the 5th Division. I assume the 11th Airborne Division took over for the 5th Division in 1956.

Our barracks were Bldg #301. A soldier fell from a window under mine and was killed in the fall, I believe, early 1952.

The metal fencing near Bldg #308 I remember as a fence I spread to enter one night after bed check and then I straightened the fence to appear as not being spread, thus missing the guard at the gate.

Our Regimental Headquarters was located at Gablingen Kaserne, a short distance from Infantry Kaserne. This was where all trailers were kept, loaded with ammunition for our 81mm Mortars, Machine Guns and 75mm Recoilless Rifles, which were picked up and accompanied us on all alerts when called out. We sometimes were called out 2-3 times in a 24-hour period.

(Source: Max Lohrmann, Amerika in Augsburg Assn.)

3rd Bn, 109th Regt
Augsburg

 

1. Training

2. 385th Trans Co truck

3. 3rd Bn soldiers
 

4. Mess tent

5. Fire truck

 

110th Infantry Regiment

Ludendorff Kaserne (Wiley Bks), Neu Ulm - home of the 110th Inf Regt (Roy Davis, website)

Ludendorff Kaserne, Neu Ulm (Roy Davis, 110th Inf Regt)
110th Infantry Regiment crest
 
(Source: Email from Bill Mcdaid)
I served in the 110th Inf. from March of 1951 until February 1954. I served in A company at Hindenburg Kaserne and was mostly on tdy at the 110th Inf. N.C.O. Academy as cadre at Ludendorff Kaserne.

Reading the history really brought back a lot of memories. Thank you
Bill Mcdaid


The 110th Infantry Regimental Band plays at the Ulm train station during
the arrival or departure of a dignitary (Walter Elkins)
(Source: author's collection)

110th Inf Regt
Ludendorff Ksn

 

1. Ludendorff Ksn, Neu Ulm, 1953

2. Barracks at Ludendorff

3. Field inspection


4. 110th Inf Regt awards ceremony (KB)

 

5. Field inspection (KB)

6. View towards main gate (KB)

7. Post chapel, back view (KB)
 

8. Post chapel, front view (KB)

9. EM Club (KB)

10. New artillery barracks (KB)


 

110th Inf Regt
Ford Bks

 

1. View towards main gate

2. Ford Barracks, 1953

3. Part of the installation
 

4. PX and Snack Bar

5. Inside the EES Snack Bar

6. Ford Bks swimming pool
 


Truck of the maintenance section on a rural road in southern Germany
 

A detail cleans jeeps after a field exercise
 

110th Inf Regt
Ford Bks

 

1. Around the motor pool

2. Around the motor pool

3. Around the motor pool

 

4. Around the motor pool
 

 
 
1953
(Source: STARS & STRIPES, July 28, 1953)
110th Inf Regt NCO Academy
The 110th Inf NCO Academy was established at Ulm in March 1952. Lt Col Dured E. Townsend was the first commandant. The first four-week class consisted of 82 students, 70 of which graduated successfully.

In July 1952, the academy initiated a six-week cycle with a class of approximately 80 NCOs or potential NCOs. Lt (sic) James B. Gustafson assumed the role of NCO academy commandant at that time. He was later succeeded by 1st Lt Francis E. Howard. Of the 636 students who have attended the academy since the first class, 414 have graduated.

Subjects that received the most emphasis at the academy included tactics, methods of instruction, mapreading and weapons. Cadremen of the academy also performed other duties in addition to instructing classes. Both during cycles and in between, they acted as umpires during company testing, conducted the regimental expert infantry badge tests, taught air transportability, and gave instructions to special units and Air Force personnel stationed in the Ulm area.

 
1954
(Source: STARS & STRIPES, March 7, 1954)
A first increment of six school-trained counter-fire technicians have joined the 110th Inf Regt at Ulm. They have been assigned to the Counter-fire Platoon of Hq/Hq Co, 110th Inf .

The platoon consists of 20 men and one officer and has the mission of locating hostile weapons, particularly mortars and artillery, with the aid of the sound locator set GR6.

CO of the 110th Inf Regt at this time is Col Sam J. Rasor. (He replaced Lt Col Ricard A. Dana as CO in October 1953.)

112th Infantry Regiment

Wharton Barracks, Heilbronn - home of the 112th Inf Regt, ca. 1952 (Pinterest website)
 
112th Infantry Regiment crest
 
(Source: Heilbronn Eagle, October 12, 1987)
Retired soldiers returns to reminisce

By Mike Novogradac

Upon swinging through Heilbronn and Wharton Barracks after 33 years, Army reserve Lt. Col. (Ret.) Robert E. Houle only remembers the things that were important to him as an infantry Private that long ago.

In November 1951, Houle's unit, the 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, Pensylvania National Guard, was activated for the Korean War. His unit crossed the Atlantic and made its home at Wharton Barracks until January 1954, when they all packed their things and headed back to the Keystone state.
 
His memories of living in Building 9 (where Headquarters Company, 26th Signal Battalion is now) are simple -- and one new addition to the building caught his attention immediately. "The tile floors is what caught my eye," Houle said. "We used to have to polish the old wooden, slotted floors with steel wool and wax. We kept it looking good always."

Houle also remembers the John F. Kennedy Housing Area as it used to be. "The housing area was nothing but forest," he said. "And the big parking lot where the flag pole is now was a gravel lot for unit formations."

Another thing important to him then was family. "At that time, everyone lived on post. Very few soldiers brought their families over, except for high ranking officers and NCOs (noncommissioned officers). And of course, no one in the National Guard brought families."

During his recent tour of Germany and France on a Deutsch Bundesbahn Eurail pass, Houle made a mandatory stop at the Heilbronn train station. I didn't even recognize Heilbronn," he said. "I remembered the Rathaus with it's clock and I remembered marching down the main street in a parade.

"It's hard remembering after 33 years, because so much has changed. It all stopped me cold. Even the roof of Killians Church was still bombed out from World War II."

Houle does remember two other areas of Germany, though, but he plans on visiting only one. "Hohenfels Training Area -- I'm not going there," he said. "It's too military, and I won't even recognize it, it's been so long.

"But I do want to visit Berchtesgaden, because I skied for the 28th Division there."
All his time in Heilbronn was spent training "because the Korean War was hot and heavy." Houle was lucky never to see combat, and when he returned Stateside as a Staff Sergeant, he attended college, went on to become an officer through the Officer Candidate School, and spent 24.5 years in the National Guard. With three years enlisted time and four years in the Army reserve, he retired with 31.5 military years under his belt.

Houle is now the director of the Mount Anthony Area Vocational Technical School in Bennington, Vt.

Oh - there's one more important thing Houle remembers. When he was a young soldier in Germany, his dollar bought him DM 4.20.

Division Artillery

Organization of the 28th Division Artillery, 1952 (Walter Elkins)

Staff of Artillery officers watch the results of artillery firing at Graf, 1952
 
If you have information, personal recollections and/or photos of the 28th Division Artillery in Germany 1951-1954, I would be very interested in hearing from you (webmaster).

MISCELLANEOUS


HHB, 28th Division Artillery, Cooke Barracks, Göppingen
107th FA Bn, Neu Ulm
108th FA Bn, Bismarck Kaserne, Schwäbisch Gmünd
109th FA Bn, Dillingen
229th FA Bn, Heilbronn
899th AAA AW Bn, Nellingen

 
107th Field Artillery Battalion
107th FA Battalion DUI
 

 
108th Field Artillery Battalion

108th FA Bn artillery at Schwäbisch Gmünd, 1952 (28th Inf Div Yearbook, 1953)
 

108th FA Bn full field inspection, 1952 (28th Inf Div Yearbook, 1953)
 
28th DivArty




1. Maintenance

2. Getting ready for an inspection
 

 
229th Field Artillery Battalion
 

A prime mover of B Battery, 229th FA Bn towing a 105mm howitzer crosses
a steel treadway pontoon bridge during a field exercise

899th Antiaircraft Artillery AW Battalion (SP)
 

An M-15A1 of the 899th AAA AW Bn employed near a German train station
 

An M-16 Quad-50 halftrack of the 899th AAA AW Battalion in the field
 

Inside of an M-15A1

Inside of an M-16
 
899th AAA AW Battalion (SP) crest
 
(Source: FM 44-2, Employment of Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons, Dec 1944)
Self-propelled AAA automatic weapons battalion:

The battalion is the basic self-contained administrative and tactical unit of antiaircraft artillery.

Self-propelled automatic weapons battalion and medical detachment, T/O & E 44-75. The battalion consists of a headquarters and headquarters battery (T/O & E 44-76), and four self-propelled firing batteries (T/O & E 44-77).

MISSIONS
PRIMARY MISSION. The primary mission of automatic weapons is to attack all enemy aircraft within range, particularly low flying aircraft to destroy them, cause them to abandon their missions, or to decrease the efficiency of their operations.

SECONDARY MISSION. The secondary mission of automatic weapons is to attack and destroy enemy mechanized or other ground targets within range, particularly light and medium tanks and armored cars; in coast defenses, to attack and destroy enemy motor torpedo boats or other light naval craft within range; or in support of infantry, to act as reinforcing infantry weapons or tank destroyers.

The appropriate division or higher commander must decide in each case when automatic weapons will be diverted from their primary mission and employed to accomplish their secondary mission.

SELF-PROPELLED CARRIAGES.
Multiple gun motor carriage M15A1. The multiple gun motor carriage M15A1, used in self-propelled units, has one 37-mm gun and two caliber .50 machine guns mounted coaxially as a unit on a half-track vehicle. The gun mount is traversed and elevated manually. The mount can be elevated from 00 to 85° and traversed 3600. However, fire to the front of the vehicle is restricted at low elevations. (See FM 44-59.)

Multiple gun motor carriage M16. The multiple gun motor carriage M16, used in machine gun squads of self-propelled units, is a multiple machine gun mount mounted in a half-track vehicle. The machine gun mount is the same as used on the trailer mount M55 and carriage M51 (par. 14c and d). Fire to the front of the vehicle is restricted at low elevations (See FM 44-57.)

RADIO NETS, SELF-PROPELLED BATTALION.
a. Higher headquarters net. The SCR-506 located in the communications section at battalion headquarters is employed in the group command net when operating under group control. When the battalion is the highest AAA unit in the AAA defense, this set is utilized to communicate with higher headquarters.

b. Battalion command net. One frequency only is provided for command purposes from battalion headquarters to fire units. The SCR-508 located at battalion headquarters (communication section) is the control station of this net.

c. AAAIS net. This net includes the SCR-593 located at battalion headquarters (S-2 and S-3 section), the SCR-593's located at battery headquarters (communication section), the SCR-593's located at platoon headquarters (platoon commander's car), and the eight (8) SCR-543's located at observation posts. This frequency will be common to all AAA units in the army or air defense area,

 


 
(Source: Information Booklet for newcomers to the 899th AAA AW Battalion at Cooke Barracks, Göppingen)
  In Feb 1949, the 899th AAA AW Bn (SP) was assigned to the 28th Infantry Division, a Pennsylvania National Guard unit. The 899th was one of five battalions attached to Division Artillery.

The 28th Division was called to active federal service on 5 Sept 1950 and assigned to Camp Atterbury, Indiana.There it underwent rigorous basic training, culminating in the SOUTHERN PINES Maneuvers in August 1951.

Upon return from these Exercises, the Division was alerted for overseas shipment.

The 899th AAA AW Bn (SP) sailed from Hampton Roads, Va. on 12 Nov 1951, arriving at Cooke Barracks, Göppingen, Germany on the 30th of November 1951.


 
CHAIN OF COMMAND
  28th INFANTRY DIVISION    
  Maj Gen Daniel B. Strickler (1)   Div, CG
  Brig Gen John G. Van Houten   Asst. Div, CG
  Col James G. Mackey   Chief of Staff
       
  28th DIVISION ARTILLERY    
  Brig Gen Guy O. Kurtz   Div Arty, CG
  Col Stanley Sawicki   Exec. Officer
       
  899th AAA AW BATTALION (SP)    
  Lt Col Harold E. Rochow   Commanding Officer
  Maj Hubert A. Fulk   Exec. Officer
  Capt Joseph C. Holzwarth, Jr.   S-1, Adjutant
  Capt Francis G. Bolke   S-2, Intell
  Maj Glynn E. Wheeler   S-3, Oper & Tng
  Capt Robert B. Burgert   S-4, Supply
  Capt Alfred Morrow   Liaison
  1st Lt Jack B. Talbott   Commo Officer
  2nd Lt Winfield J. Pearson   Motor Officer
  Capt Gregg D. Breitegan   Asst S-3
  WO Elmer A. Anderson   Mil Pers Officer
  WO Robert J. Doncaster   Asst S-4
       
  Capt John T. George   HQ Battery CO
       
  Capt George H. Kaiser, Sr.   A Battery CO
       
  Capt Walter M. Smith   B Battery CO
       
  Capt Richard H. Pratt   C Battery CO
       
  Capt Orville M. Lasley   D Battery CO
(1) MG Strickler was CG of the division from June 1947 to November 1952.
 
899th AAA AW Bn
Göppingen




1. M-16 in motor pool

2. Bivouac

3. M-16 crew members


4. Looking for a target

5. Motor park in the field

6. Getting



Headquarters 28th Inf Div motor pool at Cooke Barracks, 1952 (Mark Pearce)
 

WWII-era tank retriever in Goeppingen
 
1952
(Source: Email from Mark Pearce)
I found your contact information while trying to learn more about my father’s deployment to Goeppingen, Germany in 1952.

My dad was Floyd Archie Pearce and he went by "Archie."

I have several pictures that he took during his time in Goeppingen.
 
899th AAA AW Bn
Göppingen




1. Hohenfels live fire

2. M-15A1

3. Post theater

4. Service Club

5. Archie Pearce
     

 
(Source: Email from Richard Robinson)
I was a draftee assigned to the 899th AAA Bn, 28th Div in Camp Atterbury. I spent the next two years with A Btry, in the Motor Pool, first as a mechanic and ended up Mtr. Sgt. over in Goeppingen, Germany.

During those two years I served with and under personnel that I have never forgotten, I still stay in contact with three. I have been browsing thru the Internet for 2 yrs looking for information about the 899th and the 28th. Plenty about the 28th but not much about the 899th between 1950 - 53, until now.

I have since become a member of the 28th Div Association and have received some info about the 899th AAA in 1950 - 53. In the most recent, "ROLL ON" newsletter I found a picture of Jay Lockard, who became First Sgt., C Btry 899 AAA. in 1951. It seems he is now Pres. of the 28th Div. Assn. and is also active in the 899th AAA AW Bn. Assn.

I really am enjoying your web site. Thank you very much!!!! I have found some information about the 899th.

 
1954
(Source: Email from Gary Morley)
I was assigned to the 899th AAA Bn., 28th Inf. Div., at Nellingen Kaserne in April 1954.

In November 1954, the 28th (Penn. Nat'l Guard) was deactivated. My unit became the 42nd AAA Bn., 9 Inf. Div., and remained that designation when I departed in August 1956.

The 42nd (four line batteries and Headquarters Battery) were quartered next to the parade ground, adjacent to the back gate (where the road went up to a village named Shulenbuk) (Webmaster note: Scharnhausen?). I recall that an engineering battallion (which designation I can't remember) was quartered just east of us next to the post EM club. Farther down lay the medical unit, the service area (theater, px, snack bar, library) near the front gate on the road to Nellingen, where troops on pass could catch the strassenbahn to Esslingen, thence the train to Stuttgart.

When I arrived, our battalion was equipped with halftracks, some armed with quad 50's, others with 37mm cannon flanked by two 50's (the gun platforms hand-cranked). In 1955 the unit was re-equipped with M48's armed with twin 40mm cannons.

I was a radio operator on the early warning net run by battalion S2 (Capt. William D. Corley). Capt. Robert Hollingsworth was our Headquarters Battery commander. In three-man units, our platoon, equipped with Jeep-mounted AN/GRC-9 radios, occupied high points in our operational area, to warn battalion of any aircraft bandits sighted. We ranged all over Baden-Württemberg on regular duty, went every winter to Hohenfels-Grafenwoehr for firing exercises, and all over Bavaria for spring maneuvers. My favorite of all outposts, though, was an abandoned (and badly damaged) castle atop Kircheim unter Teck, just off the autobahn toward Ulm.


Burg Teck (de.wikipedia.org)
  Eight three-man teams normally comprised the battalion's early warning net. Division Artillery assigned the area of operations, then the battalion S2 distributed the teams around the perimeter, with each team 15-30 miles from the weapons emplacement in the center of the AOA. Each team was assigned a general area of responsibility, then it was their job to find the best location for them -- usually a hill from which they had good radio communication and the longest possible sight distance to the horizon to do their business of sighting "bandit" aircraft and alerting the battalion's guns.

That's why Kirkheim unter Teck was ideal: from the castle parapet atop the mountain, you could see 10-12 miles in every direction. After two or three days, the teams would move as the AOA was shifted. Life was basic -- a lot of cold C-rations and a hand-cranked portable generator to power the "ANGRY9" radio.

I once spotted an F86 (which was playing bandit) somewhat below our observation point.

In the valley, in 1955, a glider club (Germans were not allowed to own powered aircraft at that time) had a launch and landing field. I took my first glider ride in one of their craft, with a young German named Rolfe piloting.

Once in late winter my team spent a week on top of Kirkheim unter Teck. We had a new driver, Pvt. Jesus Gonzalez, a young cowboy from the King Ranch in south Texas. Snow was coming down hard when we awoke one morning and received radio orders to return to kaserne for "replenishment." We carried our gear in a 5x8 two-wheel Army trailer. By the time we had packed up, there was about a foot of snow on the ground. Gonzalez had never seen snow before, though he admitted to having heard stories about it. Joe Olivero, a kid from Cincinatti, and I were uneasy about going down that mountain's twisted trail with Jesus at the wheel, so to speak. The cowboy insisted, however, that he was the driver and would drive. We hadn't gone 500 yards down the mountain when the Jeep skidded, jack-knifing the trailer, sliding into the ditch on the uphill side. Joe and Jesus were both ashen-faced, and I must have been, too. "Thees horse don't do right," Jesus said, voice quivering. It took us an hour to get the jeep and trailer back on the trail, and I drove down the rest of the way.


 
Related Links:
Letters From Deutschland - Letters written by John M. Holman while serving with Service Company, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, at Gablingen Kaserne, Augsburg, Germany 1951 - 1953. During these years, he has sent pieces to The Hampton Union (New Hampshire) about millitary life in Germany in the Army of Occupation. Some of these letters are now posted on a special web page of the Lane Memorial Library at Hampton, NH.