The 1st US Army Missile Detachment supported the 150th Rocket
Arty Bn and the 110th FA Bn.
1964
(Source: Email from Paul Herbold, 1st USA MSL Det, 1964)
I recently found some online info about the 1st US Army Missile Detachment and
the 150 Bn (German SERGEANT missile unit) under the 59th Ordnance page.
I was one of the 2 second lieutenants who was charged with organizing and
deploying the detachment to Germany in 1964. I have a very good recollection of
its early history and many of the individuals both US and Bundeswehr with whom I
served. I was with the detachment for 2 years. I would be very happy to provide
my recollections "for the record" if you are interested.
1st USA Missile Detachment (Sergeant) - Recollections of Paul E. Herbold, Maj,
FA, USA (Retired)
Alphonse (Al) A. Masella and I were in the same class at the FA OCS School at
Ft. Sill. We graduated in class 5-64 in April 1964 and were both assigned to the
3rd Bn, 38th Artillery (Sergeant) at Ft. Sill. We both attended the Sergeant
Missile Officer course in spring of 1964.
One day in early summer we were both summoned to the Bn Cdrs office. After
reporting, the Commander handed me a DA Telex addressed to him. It read: “You
are hereby directed and authorized to organize the 1st USA Missile Detachment,
TO&E 6-500D, to deploy an advance air detachment to the Federal Republic of
Germany (FRG) on/about October 1964”. The colonel handed me the “twix” and said:
“Lt, your mission. Since Al and I had the same date of rank, it became a matter
of age, who was senior. Al was a couple of months older than I, so technically
he was in charge. In practice we shared responsibility. We obtained the TO&E and
begin recruiting personnel for the advance detachment. The individuals were: SFC
James Allen; SGT Bryce Holcomb (MN); SP4’s Gilland; Watts (TN); Koepnik (IA) &
Frye, plus me (WA) and Al (NJ). These individuals were selected after interviews
from within the ranks of the 3/38 th. We begin requisitioning our equipment and
materials, and training for a Ft. Sill and then a 4th Army nuclear technical
proficiency inspection/nuclear safety inspection (TPI/NSI).
The TPI/NSI format included a simulated convoy, during which there would be an
air or ground attack, then movement to a launch site where the missile would be
assembled (rocket motor; guidance section; and warhead). Then we would go
through the process of enabling the warhead and missile pre-fire procedures. The
process was very structured and every task was read from the manuals by a
reader, and then executed and checked. We continued recruiting personnel to
leave behind with the main detachment, and I believe we were at about 50%
strength when we deployed, but the Det Cdr had not yet been assigned.
I drove my POV from Ft. Sill To Charleston to put it on a ship to Germany, then
met the other 7 member of the Advance Air Detachment at LaGuardia (I think). We
flew a commercial jet to Rhein Main in Frankfurt, then took the train to
Muenster where the 570th Arty Group was located (This was our higher HQ). We
billeted there for the next several month’s, during which time we contacted the
various elements of the 150th RAK Arty Bn. The 150th was spread all over N.
Germany, with 6 Batteries, each in a different location. We conducted joint
training with these elements, and successfully completed TPI/NSI’s conducted by
the 514th Arty Group (Next higher HQ above the 570th), SASCOM (Special
Ammunition Support Command), and USAREUR (U.S. Army Europe).
During the USAREUR TPI/NSI, I was serving as the “Courier Officer” for the
simulated Nuc Wpns Convoy when I was involved in a very serious motor vehicle
accident. I was initially treated at a local German hospital, but was
transferred that same day to the British Military Hospital in Muenster. This was
because we were still attached to the 570th Arty Group, and they received their
support from the British. Despite me being out of the picture, Lt Masella
stepped in and our team successfully passed the inspection.
These SASCOM units operated under an agreement between the U.S. and the FRG
called the “Service to Service Technical Agreement”. It specified the
relationship and responsibilities of each party, particularly logistics and
support. We were to provide immediate custody and control of the warheads, and
technical training to our supported unit, and they were to provide the outer
layers of security forces, and virtually all logistical support. Our TO&E was
extremely lean. We had individual weapons (M-14’s and M1911 .45 Auto pistols),
some tools, off line cipher equipment (TSEC/KW-7), electronic equipment for
enabling the warheads when authorized by Presidential Authority and we were
provided with the codes. In accordance with our “Service to Service Technical
Agreement” the 1st USA Missile Det was to receive virtually all other support
from the FRG. This included everything from German tactical vehicles (with
drivers, since we had NO vehicle of our own), primarily DKW jeeps and 5/4 Ton
Mercedes Unimog’s, to toilet paper and typewriters. Some of the detachment
members we left at Ft. Sill had been in Germany before and were wise enough to
fill a conex container with good old U.S. toilet paper. (The German variety was
similar to paper towel material). Our clerks had to get used to the German
typewriters because several of the keys were different. It fell to me to do most
of the negotiating with the German Standortverwaltung (Similar to our General
Services Administration) to secure the support the unit needed. Despite the
agreement, nearly everything we got required some negotiating, and I was the
only unit member who spoke German.
After a major surgery for a ruptured spleen, performed by a Colonel Newton
(British Army) and a couple weeks of recovery, I was transported by Huey on a
stretcher to the 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt where I completed my
recovery. When I returned to the unit, it had moved from our temporary quarters
in Muenster to the Schill Kaserne in Wesel, and had been joined by the remainder
of the personnel and dependents who had remained behind at Ft. Sill. This
included our 1st Detachment Commander, Capt. Bill James. Later he was replaced
by Capt. Chuck Fleming during my tenure there.
While the Detachment was in Muenster, Lt Masella met Claudine Montfort, the
daughter of Sergeant Major Montfort and his French War Bride. After the unit
moved to Wesel, the relationship continued and they were married at the great
gothic cathedral in Muester. This would have been sometime in 1965 or 1966. I
was not able to attend the wedding because the Detachment had become operational
and we had a 7-24 on site duty officer requirement. With only 3 officers in the
unit, the commander elected to go and I had the duty that day. Al and Claudine
are still together, and he has an insurance agency in partnership with their
daughter.
Although the unit was operational, our warheads were temporarily stored with
another unit, pending completion of our own storage facility near Wesel. If
necessary we would convoy to this facility, pick up our warheads and deploy with
the 150th to the field.
The officers of the 150th Bn all spoke very good English, some even with a
noticeable British accent, and most of the NCO’s spoke at least some English.
Many of the Senior officers and NCO’s had served in the “Wehrmacht” during WWII.
Some 150th Bn personnel I remember were its Commander, Oberst Leutnant Kuhne;
Deputy Commander Maj. Karl Conrad Woerple; Hauptman Michael Gerischer and his
wife Antje (my younger daughter is named after her); Leutnant’s, Luetten; Von
Der Mosel; OberStabsFeldwebel Hoek; OberFeldwebel Glaetzel. Michel Gerischer and
his wife lived on the first floor of the two story duplex we shared at Juelicher
Strasse 9 in Wesel.
Most of the German Officers and many of the NCO’s had spent time at Ft. Sill
receiving training on the Sergeant Ballistic Missile. I remember a very funny
incident involving my comrade Hauptman Michael Gerischer. We both parked our
cars in the vacant space between our duplex and our neighbors (and my life long
friends: Theo and Marianne Wassenberg. They have both passed away, but we still
have some contact with their children who were 7 to 12 years old when we were
neighbors). One fine Saturday, I was there washing my car when Michael pulled in
in his Opel Record. He was the epitome of a fine German Officer in the Gray
uniform. He climbed out of the car, and then said in a voice loud enough for me,
and anyone nearby to hear: “G__ Damn GERMAN drivers”, then slammed the door.
Mike and Antje became very good friends and when he was promoted to Captain, my
ex-wife and I were invited to celebrate with them with a bottle of the “wine of
the century” which was a 1959 Riesling (“Trocken Auslese”) from the vineyard of
Aloys Fischer on the Mosel. He and his father always bought a supply of wine
from that vineyard. By the time we drank it in 1965, it was selling for nearly
$100 per bottle. We 4 spent several hours sipping it a drop at a time. Later
when I was promoted to Captain he gave me a bottle of it to celebrate. Michael
retired from the Bundeswehr as an Oberst Leutnant.
I have more to tell about how the Detachment was welcomed to Wesel by the
Burgermeister, field maneuvers with the 150th, joint weapons familiarization
with the 150th; life in Wesel; St Barbara’s Day Parties in the German Kasino
(Officers Club); “Dining in with the officers of the nearby British 154th
Forward Ammunition Depot in Wuelfen”.
I will continue this later. Let me know if this is the kind of stuff you are
interested in, and also perhaps questions you might have. Those might help jog
my memory.
1971
(Source: Email from Dean Rectenwald)
On my first overseas tour duty tour in Germany, in March 1971 I arrived at the
1st US Army Artillery Detachment, a Sergeant Missile unit. At the time, I was a
PFC, trained in MOS 15E10, Pershing Missile Crewman. Because of the MOS mis-match,
I was put into a 15B10 slot.
This was the on Schill Kaserne, some distance SSE of Arnhem, Holland. The
Kaserne was physically located outside the village of Hamminkeln, and Wesel was
the nearby city (where the Lippe River flows into the Rhine). A favorite son of
Wesel was Peter Minuit (or Minuet) , who purchased the island of Manhattan from
the (Native American) Indians.
This was a small detachment, commanded by a captain, supporting a German Army
(Deutsche Heer) unit which had Sergeant Missile System equipment. (In the short
time I was there, I never learned the designation of the German Army unit.). The
detachment’s purpose was to maintain custody of and provide security for the
warhead sections for the missiles. The lower ranking, field artillery trained
enlisted personnel who received their Secret clearances thus became Custodial
Agents.
The unit had one single-story building (with the typical “H“ floor plan seen in
Germany), containing commander’s office and orderly room, small “dining hall“,
supply room, mail room, and billeting for single or unaccompanied personnel. The
concrete flooring was continually breaking down under the weight of bunked bed
frames, and had to be repaired under work orders to the German facility
maintenance office.
As evidenced by the soft-top vehicle in front of the Det building (see above
photo), all military transportation for the unit was provided by German Army
personnel; a small vehicle and duty driver on a daily basis, and trucks for
field exercises. Encrypted messages addressed to the unit had to be picked by
the assistant CQ at the German radio room of the nearby Reitzenstein Kaserne,
brought back and delivered to the crypto specialist who was on standby that day.
The Special Ammunition Storage (SAS) site (where warhead sections in containers
were stored in bunkers) was located separate from the main Kaserne, so those
scheduled for duty there each day had a short drive after breakfast.
Behind the detachment building was a unit lounge building. Open Friday, Saturday
and Sunday evenings, it had a bar and a “theater“ room where movies picked by
the mail clerk (through the US Army Theater Program) were shown for 25 cents
admission, for personnel and dependents.
When I first arrived, the attached Signal team operated out of the main
detachment building. Then a separate radio operations building with radio tower
was built for them behind the unit lounge. A corner of their security fence can
be seen in Photo #3.
For sick call, detachment personnel and dependents could go to the German
dispensary. US medical services were a considerable distance away.
In July 1971, the USAREUR Personnel Center notified the detachment that four
individuals were to be re-assigned to their proper units. Three of us were
Pershing 15E’s, and would go to the 85th Artillery Detachment; I never found out
what the fourth fellow’s actual MOS was, or what unit he was going to.
Source
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