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237th
Engineer Battalion |
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| 485th Engineer Battalion History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 195. - 1954 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
485th Engr Bn
(Cbt) DUI |
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| A very interesting
article on the Strategic Railway
Denial mission that was assigned to the 18th and
485th Engineer Battalions in the1950s, can be found on the 18th
Engr Bn Page. Any former members of the 485th who were assigned to the battalion in Germany during that period and would like to provide further details on the role that the 485th played are kindly asked to contact me. We would really like to hear the 485th's side of the story! |
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| (Source: Email from Donovon Carr, Co C, 485th Engr Bn, 1951-53) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I was with the 485th Engr C Bn, Company C stationed outside of Munich, Germany from 1951 until 1953. Can you tell me what has happened to the Bn. I understand that it was an Illinios Army Reserve unit that may have been sent back to Illinois. I know that there is supposed to be an 485th Engineer C Bn Association, but i cannot find any info about it. I received my basic traing in Ft Belvoir (both basic and engineer ). Afterwards we were shipped to Germany in 1951. Our first post was in Kaufbeuren. Later we were transferred to Schleissheim, just outside of Munich. After arriving at our new post we were assigned the job of taking up the metal strips used for the landing strip. This was an old army air strip. After completing that job each squad in the company was given two bridges to be destroyed in the event of an attack. i I was in Third Platoon, Third Squad. Our targets were a railroad bridge and a vehicle bridge that were next to each other not far from Schleissheim. When not inspecting the bridges as we did every week we spent the rest of the time in training building timber tressles and baily bridges. We also practiced laying anti tank mine fields. Every so often we were given the job of demolishing old damaged buildings. |
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| (Source: Email from Bob Dierks, 485th Engr Bn) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Following 8 weeks
infantry basic, 8 weeks engineer basic and 10 weeks leadership, at
Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., I was assigned to a line company, Co. A,
485th Engr. Bn. (C) in Erlangen, Germany around April, 1954. The
485th was later redesignated as the 237th. Bn. HQ was in Regensburg. The orderly picked me up at the Bahnhof. Just as we entered the barracks, an alert was called. I was immediately posted as gate guard, without a weapon, and stood there for several hours until the troops returned. After a few days of some strenuous road repair, I was sent to C-W Radio Operator School in Regensburg. Our main job was demolition so we maintained a 24 hour tactical radio net even during alerts. We had an SCR 399 in a deuce and a half, AN/GRC-9s in 3/4 ton pickups with radio shacks, and a number of VRC 10s in jeeps. In the field we had to work to best orient our antennas to establish communications. I later became chief radio operator and trained company radio operators, etc. In the summer, our field problems involved bridge building, aggressor games and other training. We usually went to Hohenfels for winter infantry training. We had PT tests occasionally. I was also on the rifle team. Initially, our CO was Capt. Mitchell Pietrzyk (not sure of the spelling) from Chicago, my home town. He was a short barrel chested man. He sometimes stood on tiptoes to check our brass during inspection, (but no one laughed). He had an open invitation to anyone who objected to the way he ran things to meet him in the gym. He was a wrestler and pretty gruff but we all liked and respected him. Sometime after I arrived, we got a new first sergeant, a Korean vet named Ernie Mancuso. I helped him try to track down some stupid pranksters and he befriended me. We occasionally went to the gym so he could teach me and another sergeant some martial arts. We had some top notch veteran medics. One pretty much saved my life by noticing I was out of it during a field problem and sent me to the hospital. I was later airlifted to the Army General Hospital in Frankfurt. The head infection I had was resistant to everything they had at the time except, fortunately, a new drug called Cortisone. I posted a few photos on a Classmates Military web site. I haven't visited it lately to learn if it's intact. Bob Dierks |
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| 237th Engineer Battalion History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1954 - 19.. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: History of the 237th Engineer Battalion, HQ 237th Engr Bn, Wharton Bks, Heilbronn, early 1980s) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| (Source: Email from Charles D. Black) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I was stationed in Regensburg Ger., 1956 to 1958. Enjoyed my stay there. We were at the Raffler Karserne. PFC at the time. Company CO was Capt. Cameron and Plt Ldr was Lt Francis. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| (Source: Email from William Beumer, B Co, 237th Engr Bn, 1955-57) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Just checked out the site and see that Charles Black sent in a few more pictures. Have sent a few more along that you might add. The color ones are off 35mm slides I have in my collection. I am in the process of putting an album together and am trying to copy all the slides to photo paper as the slides are starting to show signs of deterating. I also have about a dozen rolls of black and white 35mm negatives “put away” and I have yet to locate. |
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| 1962 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: Email from Joseph T. Chetwynd) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I joined the 237th Cbt Engr Bn at Heilbronn in Jan 1962. I was in A Co. I remained there until Jan of 1963 when I received orders to go to join the VII Corps Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol Co ( Airborne ) at Nellingen, some 25 miles south of Stuttgart. It was a volunteer unit and I followed four other former 237th men there. I have some vivid recollections of my time in the 237th as well as some photos and a few items of memorabilia. Mostly I remember being in the field, building a timber trestle bridge over a newly blown chasm up in the hills behind the kaserne. We had to use 60 inch pry bars to break the frozen rocky ground in order to install shape charges. Once the area blew, there were earthen boulders strewn everywhere the size of a VW . Once it was cleared by dozers, we commenced to off-load and erect a timber frame bridge across the hole. We worked all night to complete it. Then, the CO drove a truck and jeep across it and they gave the order to take it down and put it all back onto trucks. Then, of course, there was the bridging of the Rhine River with pontoon swing bridges in torrential downpour and deep, thick muddy ground, in March at Speyer, Ger. There was also a Bailey Bridge exercise where the newly minted First Lt from West Point pushed the bridge beyond its fulcrum point and sunk it in the river. There are two of us former 237th C.Engr Alumni still standing and kicking: myself and Patrick Smith in Oregon. We would also like to remember two others of our brothers both of whom are now deceased, Mark J. Whiteside and Tom McDaniel, and both of whom preceded me to the LRRPs from Heilbronn. |
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| If you have more information on the history or organization of the 237th Engr Bn, please contact me. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Newspaper Articles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| (Source: Heilbronn Community Circle, May 2, 1983) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 237th GIs
bridge gap on the Rhine with "marriage" By C.J. Costello, 7th Eng Bde PAO Recently, soldiers of the 237th Engineer Battalion, 7th Engineer Brigade participated in BRIDGEX, an annual training exercise held in the 7th Eng. Bde. The exercise, which took place on an inlet of the Rhine River near Speyer and Schwetzingen, provided an opportunity for the combat engineers to develop proficiency in constructing bridge equipment. According to Capt. Joe Miller, a training officer from the 565th Eng. Bn., 7th Eng. Bde., who was in charge of BRIDGEX, "The main purpose of this exercise is to train the VII Corps combat engineers how to utilize the different bridges available in case of war." |
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| (Source: Heilbronn Eagle, Dec 9, 1985) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Local
construction and repairs teaches soldiers saves money by Mike Novogradac Everyone, including the Army, wants to save money. CARES (Construction and Repairs by Engineer Soldiers) is one way the Army saves big bucks. "CARES provides lower cost projects for the community by using soldiers as laborers and any Army assets we can, to keep costs down," explained 1st Lt. Dennis A. Faker, assistant S-3 of the 237th Engineer Battalion, 7th Engineer Brigade. "All the Army has to do is buy materials for a CARES project and give soldiers TDY (Temporary Duty) pay if we go outside the community," continued Faker. "The Army doesn't have to pay soldiers overtime, so about 60 percent of a project's cost is saved by not contracting to a civilian construction company." One recent CARES project performed by soldiers of the 237th was the parking lot located across from the Wharton Barracks dispensary. The project consisted of getting vehicles owned by the 22nd Maintenance Company moved, tearing a fence down and upgrading the area to parking lot standards by dumping and compacting 140 tons of stone. According to Sgt. 1st Class Richard K. Zeger, the 237th's construction NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge), CARES projects allow good training for engineer soldiers in planning, construction and equipment utilization. "We can't use our dozers unless we go to a major training area, which are few and far away," Zeger said. "CARES allows soldiers to use their heavy equipment during projects right here in Heilbronn." Zeger explained that from submission to completion, a CARES project can take from two to three years. "If a company, battalion or organization wants a project completed, they justify it on a request to DEH (Directorate of Engineering and Housing)," said Zeger. "DEH figures the cost, gives the project a priority and then decides when it will be completed. "Next, VII Corps makes a decision as to which USAREUR engineer brigade will work the project and when it will be completed." Another CARES project is near completion in the Kleingartach community. "Delta Company has torn down three bunkers, 14 or 15 buildings, moved 700 cubic yards of dirt and 3,000 square meters of concrete to turn a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Hawk Missile site back to nature," said Zeger. "This is a good project," he continued. "We've trained in `open demolitions,' instead of being confined to an explosives range. We're working with our heavy equipment and the project has placed us into our German/American partnership with the 210th Pioneer Battalion from Munich. "The soldiers are also receiving training with German munitions and the Germans are training with our explosive. "That project will make the Kleingartach community happy," Zeger added. "The site has been abandoned for five or six years and it was really an eyesore. No one liked it and it was always in the German newspapers." Since renovation and re-opening of the Wharton Barracks Child Care Center in October, engineers from A Company have been building a new parking lot for the center. "The parking lot is the first time we've had the opportunity to lay down German 'Dog Bone' bricks," said Zeger "We couldn't use asphalt or concrete for the lot because the post's main ETS (European Telephone System) cables are buried in that area." "With the bricks," he continued, "no major cost will be involved if repairs are ever needed. We'll just remove the brick and lay them back down." The engineer, have layed 27,000 brick to make the 38-space parking lot. Two German mason from DEH provided help when the project began. Not only do CARES projects save the Army money, but they also lend something that's important to the engineer soldiers. "The soldiers enjoy keeping busy," explained Faker. "They come in the Army to do the kind of work that CARES allows them to do, but we're a combat engineer unit. I think they'd rather do a CARES project than go to the field any day." |
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237th Engineer Bn (C) (Army) DUI
