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2nd
Armored Division |
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| 2nd Armored Division Trains | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1952 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: SEVENTH ARMY STATION LIST 31 December 1952) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ORGANIZATION (Dec 1952): | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 502nd Replacement Company | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 502nd Replacement Co DUI |
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| 1952 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 502nd Replacement Company, 1952 (Webmaster's collection) |
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| (Source: 12th Anniversary Special Booklet, HELL ON WHEELS, 1952) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1956 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: HELL ON WHEELS newspaper, 2nd Armd Div, Nov 8, 1956) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The 502nd Replacement Company, with a permanent party of only 29 enlisted men, four officers and a warrant office, is responsible for processing all replacement personnel for the 2nd Armored Division. The unit is located in Bldg #5334 at Rose Barracks (until October 1956, the installation was known as Foch Kaserne). Replacement processing includes transportation from the Bad Kreuznach Bahnhof, initial greeting and welcome, issuing of bedding, division insignia and field equipment when required, orientation, partial pay, issue of EES ration cards, notifiction of assignment, publication of special orders, posting of personnel records, and delivery of men and records to the common carrier for transportation to their new units. Incoming shipments of groups of replacements as large as 200 are not unusual, and are handled within the time allotted. The company is capable of processing 400 replacements every 72 hours. |
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| 2nd Quartermaster Battalion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Des Gouttes Kaserne, Bad Kreuznach (Paul Pumpian) |
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 Supply Company building (Paul Pumpian) |
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 Our cast in costume standing in front of the entrance to the Field Service Company building (Paul Pumpian) |
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 Organization of a Quartermaster Battalion, Armored Division in 1952 (Webmaster's collection) |
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 2nd Quartermaster Bn DUI |
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| 1951 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: Email from Paul Pumpian) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I served with Field Service Company, 2nd QM Battalion, 2nd Armored Division between 1950-52 and shipped out to Germany in July of 1951. After landing at Bremerhaven, we marched in parade form to the waiting trains and for the first time I can recall, they lined us up with the shortest guys up front tapering up to the tallest. I found myself in the front rank and saw a camera man walking backward while filming us. Though I've searched for that film of our arrival I've never been able to find it. Our first stop was Camp Y-79 (outside of Mannheim in southern Germany) where we lived in a tent city. On the ocean trip there was no alcohol, so when we hit camp and found a place to buy beer, some of the guys went completely overboard. .. carrying two and three bottles at a time. Soon after our arrival we drew lots to see which 5 guys would be first into town and I was one of the lucky ones. On board the ship we had to exchange our greenbacks for military script and when we got to Mannheim we were delighted to find that one American dollar was worth FOUR German marks. That meant you could get a complete dinner with steak or a schnitzel for about 50 or 75 cents. After a short stay, we went by truck convoy to Baumholder. It was another tent city because there were no brick and mortar military buildings for the troops. The tents were situated on a sloping hill so every man had to scrounge up his own blocks of wood or stones to level our cots. It rained constantly and when it really came down in torrents, the water would rush down the hill pouring right through our tents ... sometimes washing away our props and toppling the cots. Right before winter set in, we were moved to our permanent barracks at Bad Kreuznach in the Des Gouttes Kaserne. Further up the road was the big kaserne (Foch Kaserne) where 2nd Armored HQ was located. My outfit was the 2nd QM Battalion consisting of 3 companies: Field Service, Supply and Headquarters. Alerts were a part of life at Bad K. They could come during the daylight but most often at 3 or 4 in the morning. That's when we had to pack up everything that was mobile and head for the field. They might keep us out for several days or call it off at the front gate but we had to be ready 24/7. On long road marches by truck, they'd send out a vehicle with half a dozen guys who'd be dropped off at spots on the route where the road split and a lagging vehicles could go the wrong way. I pulled that duty a lot and I'd wave the trucks along until the last one picked me up. We didn't have latrine duty or KP in our kaserne. German civilians did that work for us...and they were amazed at how much food we threw away -- especially on the days we had fish. On my one Thanksgiving in Germany the Army invited a bunch of kids from an orphanage to see what that holiday meant to us. Talk about wide eyed kids when the turkey and trimmings came rolling out! We also gave them a nice Christmas as well. Parades! Lord, we had lots of them to impress the Germans. When the first drum roll was sounded the civilians came pouring out of their houses. |
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 Click on image to view an enlarged image of Des Gouttes Kaserne (Webmaster's collection) |
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| ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Included in the changes after I left was that the Co. Commanders of Field Service and Supply Co. swapped companies. The Schneider Lens factory was down the road from our Kasern and we'd sell cigarettes and cans of coffee to their workers. Schneider made lenses for the Leika camera and probably would have escaped war damage but for the fact that they also made periscope lenses and bomb sites. This led to our Air guys dropping several tons of advice to stop making those things. The black market prices were pretty standardized...$3.00 for a carton of cigarettes that cost one buck at the PX. We were allotted a carton and a half a week I'd smoke half a carton and sell the rest. $3 for a pound can of coffee. I don't know the PX price because I never dealt with it. Lots of us went to the Bad K. civilian tailor to have our shirts tapered and put zippers in our flys. The zippers were for our convenience and the tapered shirts gave us a sharper look when standing guard mount. After guard inspection by the C.O. the top guy was relieved of duty, given a congrat by our light Colonel and had the next day off. The second best had his choice of posts. After my first guard mount on a cold and rainy night guarding the nearby gas dump I vowed to be sharp as possible. I got #1 one time and every other time I was second and always chose front gate duty. The tailor had been in Rommel's Africa Corps and told me that his wife and kids had to hide in the cellar when we bombed Bad K. But...he said...that was war and when war is over it's over. Life in our self contained Kaserne was really like family. We all ate together, dressed alike, shared the same regulations and celebrated the 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas together like any family would. And like any family there were always a few black sheep who had to be shunned. We hay have been described as a rear echelon group...but our Company Commander, our Top Sergeant and a few of our other officers and sergeants were as good as any soldier in the army. There were distinct groups among us. A number of Mexican guys hung out together as did a smaller number of those of Syrian background. Truck drivers usually hung out with their own as did motor pool guys and headquarter people. The company headquarter people were distinctly aloof and the only time the rest of us communicated with them was on business. I WAS THE EXCEPTION. It started in March of 1951 when the QM Battalion, like all the others in the 2nd Armored began forming at Ft. Hood. A number of us who took basic together were sent to 2nd QM and I was assigned to the Supply Room. A few days later I heard the Supply Sgt. griping that he only had a few days to show me the ropes and now I was being shipped off to Ft. Knox for 6 weeks of Supply School. It was at Ft. Knox when we learned that the 2nd QM was going to ship out to Germany. Ike had just been persuaded to leave his post as President of Columbia Univ. and take command of NATO. He agreed, but only if the US would send an Armored Div. to Europe ASAP....and we were the only one ready enough to go. We all had a 2 week furlough and I began mine from Knox without having to return to Hood. When I got back to camp I learned that the Supply Sgt. had taken on a new guy and there was no room for me there. While I was at Knox, all the other guys had been assigned to jobs and were set. What was there to do for me -- but every detail that came up. So from the time we spent waiting to ship out....and for several months after our arrival, I was the wild card...doing whatever someone wanted done. At Kreuznach, the first 2 floors of our barracks were 4 and 6 man rooms, but the top floor was one large flophouse. A few truck drivers and all of the graves registration guys slept there and so did I. Finally, they sent me to the Supply Room where I'd be working under the guy who took my place when I was sent to Kentucky...and was now a sergeant. Now that I was assigned Headquarters Platoon my best two pals came up to the attic, grabbed all of my stuff and moved me down into their 6 man room. Somehow, even though I was now in Headquarters Platoon whose members were exempt from duties, I found myself pulling guard mount. That meant I was the only Headquarters guy in the guard shack with all the truck drivers and graves registration people...making me one of them. That's why just about everyone in the Kaserne knew Paul the Pump. Growing up in a Baltimore suburb I had never seen--or known a Mexican. But when I lived up in the attic I kind of became one of them...learning all the good cuss words. And that's why I was the exception, because I fit in with all the groups--except the Syrians who were in class by themselves. |
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 Our cast doing a rendition of the number "Nothing Like A Dame" during the performance of "South Terrific." I am the second from the right. (Paul Pumpian) |
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 Flyer for the Platoon Level Finals (Paul Pumbian) (Click on the image to see the entire flyer) |
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| 2ND DIVISION CONTEST I'd think that every company that ever existed in the army had at least one funny guy who kept the other guys loose with his personality. In Field Service, I was the guy...and everybody knew it. We'd have military lectures from time to time and on this particular day when we all gathered, the Lt. said: Today, we're going to discuss troop movement by rail. Pumpian, start us off with a few train jokes. He didn't ask if I knew any train jokes, because that was a given. So I stood, told a few mildly off color jokes and the lecture began. Around Christmas of '51, two ladies came to Germany to put on a soldier show called South Terrific. The stars of the show were 4 guys who were an established act doing music and comedy bits. They even did a spot on the prestigious Ed Sullivan Show. There was a battalion Christmas party where the two ladies were invited because they were scouring the Division for talent to add to their show. Two of our officers suggested me and next thing I know, I was on TD Temporary Duty to appear in the show. I'd open with a stand-up monologue and that was followed by music and sketches. Two nurses and a WAAC were also in the cast to provide a little sex appeal....and we closed the show by all us guys putting on sailor suits and singing "NOTHING LIKE A DAME" from South Pacific. We played service clubs and post movie theaters and the troops seemed to enjoy it. After that, I was back in the supply room...but not for long. It was around March when the C.O. called me into his office and handed me a bulletin. It seems that the 2nd Armored was trying to increase morale by putting on a Division wide skit contest...and every company in the whole Division had to participate. The rules were: A maximum cast of 7 and a minimum of props. Groups of 4 would participate all over Germany. The winners would be awarded by loudness of applause and move on while the other three were out. He said: You put in for a 3 day pass to Holland. OK, handle this for me and you'll get your pass. At night, I'd go back to my supply room typewriter and write the skit. When it was complete I cast it with my best pals from HQ Platoon and we went into rehearsal. I figured that a bulk of our audience would be draftees like us who were getting close to discharge...so that was the plot. I had two guys playing my parents, one was the girl friend who I came home to and two other guys filled out the cast. We played hospitals, day rooms and movie theaters after the film was over...and kept on winning until we hit the finals....and won that, too. I was so proud of my guys because none of them had ever been on a stage before. In all of our appearances there was only one blown line....and need you ask who was the culprit? When the winner was announced it was a pretty big deal, but we did less celebrating than you'd see after a one point score in a pick-up volley ball game. We all shook hands, climbed back into our uniforms and that was that. Or so we thought. Two weeks later, we were dressing for another Saturday parade at the Big Kaserne. As I said before, the army loved parading and so did the civilians. That's when the top sgt. came into our room pointed to me and said: Get finished dressing in a hurry and go outside. There's a jeep waiting for you. We all looked at each other...what in the hell was that all about? So I went out, climbed into the jeep and was taken to the Big Kaserne parade grounds where there was a lot of activity, lots of saluting and a ton of officer brass. It seems that I was to be honored for winning the skit contest, along with one guy whose mess hall was the Division's cleanest and another guy who ran the Division's very best day room. The three of us were called to the center of the parade ground where I got a trophy and a plaque and the other guys got theirs. Then we were marched to the reviewing stand. First came the 2nd Armored band, followed by the troops...and when I heard that command: EYES RIGHT, I got a chill up my back that I've never forgotten. Do feel guilty about being honored like that when so many guys who did heroic things in combat were never allowed that privilege? Yes, I do...but you have to take what life gives you. |
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| 124th Armored Ordnance Battalion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 B Co sign in front of barracks, Mangin Kaserne (Walter Johnson) |
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 B Co, 124th AOB was billeted in this building at Mangin Kaserne (Walter Johnson) |
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 142nd Armored Ordnance Bn DUI |
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| 1953 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: STATION LIST, 15 Aug 1953) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ORGANZIATION (Dec 1966): | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| (Source: STARS & STRIPES, Dec 31, 1953) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Company A, 124th Armd Ord Bn, provides 3d echelon maintenance to units attached to Combat Command "A," 2nd Armd Div. The company, commanded by Capt Woodrow V. Pinkman, is located at Coleman Barracks, Sandhofen. The unit has a strength of 152 enlisted men and officers. When a CC "A" unit goes to the field, the company sends a team of five to 20 men along in support with equipment for repairing broken vehicle parts. Company A is mobile and can move out within one hour. All tool kits are portable and most of the repair equipment is kept on parts trucks. |
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| 1954 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: Email from Walter Johnson, B Co, 124th AOB, Mangin Kaserne, Gonsenheim, 1954-55) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Webmaster note: Additional photos submitted by Walter Johnson can be see on the Mainz Page (Kaserne section) I served in Company B, 124th Armd Ord Bn, at Mangin Caserne in Gonsenheim from 1954-55. |
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| (Source: STARS & STRIPES, June 3, 1954) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Ordnance Shop of Company B, 124th Armd Ord Bn is located in a large barn-like building on Mangin Kaserne, Mainz. This is where the track vehicles for six battalions and three (separate) companies within the company's area of responsibility are repaired. Shop OIC is 2nd Lt Harold E. Brown. The process begins with the receipt of a work request from a unit. The shop clerk reviewing the request shows it to a track vehicle inspector who determines the spare parts needed and who also fills out a job order and parts requisition form. Next, the track section chief takes charge and assigns a crew to work on the vehicle. A wrecker operator is sent to ordnance parts supply to pick up the requisitioned parts. If an engine change is required, a transmission expert steps in and checks for deficiencies in the working parts. Once the new engine is seated in the vehicle, another specialist makes the electrical connections. Another specialist puts the tank's electrical system under delicate tests which can last for several days. An armoring crew and the voucher clerk complete the roster of specialists who handle every vehicle that passes through the ordnance shop. |
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