I was first assigned to the 817th Engineer Aviation Battalion at Chelveston & later to the 928th Group. I was a surveyor & was always TDY somewhere.

The 928th Engineer Aviation Group was a Headquarters Unit which did High Level Planning, Drafting, Consulting & Engineering support for several (subordinate) Engineering Construction units. 928th Group oversaw the several construction & maintenance units across the UK but our senior HQ was in Germany. The 817th at Chelveston, the 804th at Greenham Common and the 820th at Molesworth were attached to the 928th (during the time I was there).

Our headquarters was located at a small base (with no airfield) at Colliers End Camp along the A1 near Hertford & Cambridge. Colliers End had been a searchlight installation to get the German bombers attention instead of bombing the midlands industrial areas. Curiously, there were no Brits at our location since it was an American Army Engineer installation. (John Barton & Joe Klotnia wrote a book about our "Camp.")

Serving in England, France & Germany as an "Airborne Engineer" was a treat for those of US who were specialists who did work at many stations. I was in a Survey Group which staked projects from Plans & did finals before the projects were turned over. Chelveston was the only site which I "engineered/surveyed" from start to finish but our team was TDY to many locations as Engineering Support. We had a lot of freedom with our specialty.

We had a design shop which served our 817th EAB at Chelveston & 803rd at Molesworth. We built bases to serve our large heavy bomber Air Groups (Strategic Air Command).... We "upgraded" the WW2 bases for large jet aircraft like B-47s & B-52s. All of the bases we worked on in Great Britain were built under the British Air Ministry & were turned over to them upon completion. We were a hybrid organization under a "lend/lease" arrangement with the Brits but it was a joint effort with the Air Ministry.

Most of our group were Professional Engineers as draft/enlisted & career people. Robert J. Nash was a graduate Architect as was Bob Bennett & Bob Ackermann. Tony Traversone was a mining engineer & Anthony DeAlteriis was also an Architect doing his "National Service."

We were airborne but not parachutists. We were Army supervised by the Air Force since AF had no engineers. There were no American "fighting forces" in the UK.

There were no RAF personnel on our sites but there were Air Ministry people on regular review & direction. Our work & mission was different from units in Germany, France, Italy & Spain.

We were in an area that "the powers to be" had built for Luxembourg troops that were going to be used for guards - never happened. We pulled guard duty on the clover leaf parking areas for “84’s” then “86’s” (= F-84 and F-86 aircraft) -- real fun in the winter. I was on duty one night at a radar trailer, saw the “bleep” run into a mountain in the Alps. It was a plane transporting pilots back from Tripoli (they had gone for training).

I took a hop out of Frankfurt in May of ’53, ended up in England down south of London then I went to Ireland and met some distant kin.

I did Paris, Luxembourg, Belgium - saw the big monument with the names of guys killed from every state we had at that time.

Met a lot of nice people in my travels over there. Fun times like having an officer that was a real pain in the ass, advance and be recognized, while he had to walk thru about 6 inches of mud to be seen.

Col. Scott, who wrote "God is my co-pilot” was base commander for a time. When the 86’s came in he took one up and wrung it out, his Sergeant said he loosened rivets. He picked me up once, I was hitchhiking back to the base. He had an English Jag soft top. Driving with the top down on the mountain roads scared the hell out of me - no seat belts.

The trip home by sea as Air Force was great. There were about four of us, we found our duffel bags back at Fort Dix, the Air Force handled all that for us.

Then in a door Air Force and out a door Army. They tried to give us shit details to keep us busy. They had a nice movie theatre in Dix. I’d skip the details. All in all it was a good tour of duty, worked my butt off and basically had a good time. One of my chores was compacting cars guys (airmen) had wrecked and left behind when they went home - using a D-8 bulldozer.

Over the years I have looked for the 862, no luck. I found Bitburg but that’s all, no reference to my outfit. I’ve met some of the guys thru the Legion magazine from an ad for a reunion in Tennessee although most of the guys I met were before my time. I was quiet surprised to come across this page about the Brigade.

In Aug. 1990 I went to the museum at Fort Belvoir and no one knew anything about SCARWAF. All these years meeting many Air Force people and no one had ever heard of SCARWAF. I was even at the air museum in Oregon that houses the Spruce Goose that was manned by Air Force volunteers, both officers and enlisted men. At the Glenn Curtis Museum, a man made up a board with patches, ours was on it but there was no name. I sent them the information of the 862 and he was very pleased.

Sixty years and several name changes later, the 435th Construction and Training Squadron now includes both civilian and military, and serves three primary missions for U.S. Air Forces in Europe.

"Just as our name implies, the squadron's main missions are construction and training," said Lt. Col. Michael Miller, the 435th CTS commander. "We have a team of 189 local nation civilians and 86 military experts who execute USAFE-wide support in three main areas: construction and repair of facilities and infrastructure, depot rebuild and installation of aircraft arresting systems, and civil engineer and force support squadron wartime task training."

The squadron completes about 20 projects per year, ranging from new construction to maintenance and repair.

Pivotal in the build-up of U.S. military bases in Europe, the 435th CTS helped build Spangdahlem AB, Sembach AB, Ramstein AB, and many other bases in Germany, as well as several throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

"In the 1950s, there were 41 units like us to help rebuild Europe," said Reinhold Brückner, the 435th CTS deputy commander. "The 435th CTS is the only existing unit that is still in action today."

To help meet the training mission requirements, the squadron presently has a staff of 41 skilled instructors. The 435th CTS conducts three types of training: Silver Flag, mission essential equipment training and specialized training.

"Silver Flag is about preparing engineers for contingencies, whether peacetime or wartime," said Capt. Patrick McVay, the USAFE AAS depot and civil engineer contingency training flight commander. "It's also an opportunity for the trades to get together to see what the other guy does."

Along with Silver Flag, the squadron conducts specialized fire rescue training.

According to Captain McVay, all of the training given by the 435th CTS helps to prepare the force support and civil engineer career fields, except explosive ordnance disposal, for what they may face during overseas contingency operations.

"Quite often it's the only chance students have to operate with their equipment and each other before they deploy," he said. "We try to make the training as immersive as possible, so that one, what we teach them sticks, and two, because it gets their head in the game and allows them to fully absorb it."

Another central element in the 435th CTS mission is the Aircraft Arresting System Depot, which was adopted by the squadron in 1971 as the Air Force's only all-military depot.

"The AAS catches, or safely stops, fighter aircraft during an in-flight emergency," said Master Sgt. Fransisco Hernandez, the 435th CTS AAS Depot superintendent. "The system comes in a set of two, one for each side of the runway, with a cable in between. As soon as the aircraft hits the cable, or tape as we call it, it pulls on the tape and creates higher pressure on the hydraulics system which puts more pressure on the brakes and safely slows (the aircraft) down at a steady pace."

The squadron owns more than 35 permanent systems and about six mobile systems. The mobile systems are used to support joint, NATO and U.S. European Command exercises.

The Ramstein AB depot is one of just three in the Air Force.

As the 435th CTS hits its 60th anniversary, the squadron will celebrate by holding several events to commemorate their legacy of service.

"It's amazing to still be here," Mr. Brückner said. "We are very glad to be the only unit that's still alive after the Second World War from the original 41 units."

This is a sentiment that's felt throughout the squadron as they press on with future challenges.