Dick Castle was the CO, and R. Brown and another LT Brown (not related) were the other platoon leaders. M/Sgt Pinkston was my platoon sergeant, and he ran a squared away group of troops -- he had these track drivers doing “silent drill” during our PT sessions! As a result of being part of two winter exercises---Freeplay in ’59 and Wintershield in ’60 -- I had been supported with 4 M59 PC’s from C Company for my infantry platoon, and boy, were we glad to be riding rather than walking in the snow/mud of late January when those exercises were held. The track drivers were skilled at handling those beasts in some really bad weather, particularly during Wintershield, when it snowed every day after the first day of the exercise. We never had a breakdown, and they were always ready to go when we were!

I was in the commanders hatch during the nighttime river transit R. Brown spoke of, and I remember watching that cold, black water climb up the front of the track until I thought we were going to cross the river like a hippo---by walking along the bottom! At the last second, we started floating and slowly (very slowly---4 mph, or less) across the river. About halfway,the driver came over the intercom with “Sir, I think I forgot to put in the hull drain plugs!” We made it without sinking, but who knows by how much?

When I joined C Company, they were supporting the Battle Groups undergoing summer training at Hohenfels, so I reported for duty there. Our BOQ was, for me, deluxe -- that meant the shower and latrine were in the same building, totally unlike what the infantry had. Since we were there while two Battle Groups cycled through their training (ATT’s, live fire assault courses), I didn’t feel too badly about our quarters situation. When we weren’t on commitment, we were in the motor pool, seeing to our tracks, strapping down the basic load of 50 cal MG ammo that was stowed aboard, along with 10 days of C-rations (with Lucky Strike “greens”!) for 12 people. There were two GMC engines, two right angle drives, a control transmission and two final drives, plus the track tension, radios, the 50 cal. And a host of other gear to look after, clean, adjust, oil; whatever. One thing I learned while in motor stables -- never approach an M59 from the right rear, because that where the bilge pump discharges the bilge water from the top of the vehicle. I had to go change uniforms, and I’m not sure to this day if it was a “welcome to the new guy”, or not. I got a real dousing, but also got a good laugh out of it, especially seeing the expression on the driver’s face when I confronted him! We were there for 6 weeks or so because it cost a lot of money to ship all those tracks and supporting vehicles via German rail. Loading the tracks on the flatcars was a really hairy operation -- the treads were overhanging the flatcars sides by at least four inches on each side. I watched my squad leaders jump up on the flatcar and guide the drivers up and on, with hardly a hesitation. They made it look easy.

You may have heard that, ”Attitude is Everything”, and I believe that is true in whatever situation you find yourself. First Platoon members hung out together after duty hours, yet never seemed to get into the kind of scrapes that brought down DR’s, or the MP’s. I’m certain they had their moments, but it never arose to the point of official notice, and in my five months as prosecuting counsel, tried only two cases for the entire battalion. Across the street we tried two a week. Good leadership at the junior nco level really does pay off.

I really enjoyed my short stay with C Company, and although anxious to get back to the “Land of the Round Door Knobs”, felt real regret at leaving. R. Brown’s article brought all that back.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
I joined the 1/21 Inf straight out of the IOLC at Ft Benning in Nov ’58. Here are a few items that may be of some interest:

1/21 was billeted at Warner Kaserne
2/28 was also billeted at Warner, replacing the last Airborne unit from the 11 Airborne Div.
3/34 Armor was billeted at Henry Kaserne
31st TC Bn (Hq, A, B and C) were billeted at Will Kaserne, along with HQ & HQ Co, 24th DIVARTY

One unit not listed was, I believe, the 46th Armored Rifle Battalion, billeted on Henry Kaserne, along with the 3/34 Armor

A short story about Will Kaserne: The DIVARTY Commander’s Aide fell asleep driving up to the Kaserne front gate one morning, demolishing the wooden sentry box (and doing his sports car no good!) Fortunately, no one was injured. Magically, the sentry box was totally rebuilt and painted by the end of that day! I’m told the Aide was handed the repair bill to pay.