Herzo Base 1965 Christmas Memories - Alex Mitchell
One day in December of 1965 a friend of mine Larry
Drouin (he's the one who supplied the picture of the fire team -1967),
and I having the day off work decided to go into Nuremburg. We had both arrived
at Herzo Base in October and had not done much sightseeing, and we wanted to.
Both of us had heard about a place in Nuremburg that we wanted to check out. I
know right now you may be thinking this is story about "The Wall", but it is
not.
Every year in December in the sqaure in front of
the Church of Our Lady they hold the Christkindlemarket. If is much like a flea
market here in the States. There were over a hundred stands set up selling just
about everything.
Larry and I took the bus that ran from Herzo Base
to a hotel in the downtown area of Nuremburg (I believe it was called the
Nuremburg Hotal, but I am not sure). This is only about four blocks from the
Christkindlemarket. We arrived there about 4:30PM (16:30 hours) just as it was
geting dark. It was also just beginning to snow. As we walked around the sound
of the Christmas Carols being played from some of stands and the chrimes from
the church every fifteen mintues worked wonders on me. I can never remember
anything that put me in the Crhistmas spirit more quickly than the sights and
sound of that market.
We stopped at one stand that had beer,and those
warm soft Bavarian Pretzels. I can still remember the taste of both. As we
walked around I noticed a few items that would be nice as Christmas presents to
sent back to the family. Nothing I got that day cost more than twenty marks
($5). I guess to the local people this stuff may have looked like cheap
touristy junk, but to me they were treasures. From the letters I got from the
family after Christmas they felt the same.
There was a bus back to the post at eight so Larry
and I walked back over to the hotel and caught it. All the way back I had this
warm Christmas feeling,and it is still one of the best memories I have of my
time at Herzo Base.
SP/4 Alex Mitchell -98C - Herzo Base Oct 65 to Dec 67 email:
amitch@charter.net
Herzo Base 1967 The
Fire Drill - Alex Mitchell
Many of those
stationed on Herzo Base may not have even known that there was a Volunteer Fire
Team on the post. It was made up of 15 guys, and we lived in the fire house
which was attached to the post supply warehouse.
Every year there was
a competition among the teams from several posts. The judges for the
competition would come to the post and administer a written test to three members
of the team and then observe an exercise done by five other members of the
team.
The summer of 1967,
I was picked to be part of the five-man unit that would do the exercise. Our
task was to approach a one-story building, lay two lines about 100 feet from
the water supply to the building, and secure a ladder to the building. Then two
of us would climb on the roof, cut holes in it, and attack the flames from
above. Three other members of the team
were to lay a larger single line and attack the fire from the side.
We had about two
weeks to practice before the test. During one of the practice runs, the truck
drove up to fire hydrant where I stepped off and pulled the two lines that were
to be laid the 100 feet with me. I had my arms inside the coils of the lines. As
the truck drove away, about 25 feet of hose came off, and then one of the
couplings got caught on the edge of the truck. I still had my arms wrapped in
the hose, so the truck started to drag me along. Hoping I could free the lines, I dug my heels
into the ground, but that did not work. I was running behind the truck still
trying to hold onto the lines. Finally it dawned on me that the truck was
definitely going to win this competition, so I let go.
As I turned around,
I saw two of the other team members laughing away. I walked up to them and I
asked what was so funny. They told me they were placing bets on who would win
that little tug-of-war – me or the truck.
I could not help but laugh myself.
Fortunately, on the
day of the test, things went just as planned. We found out about two weeks
later that our team had won the competition. The picture you have displayed
under Herzo Photos from the 1960s is of that team. The awards are being held by
the two people in the front row
SP/4 Alex Mitchell -98C - Herzo Base Oct 65 to Dec 67
Herzo Base 1967 The
Barracks Rat - Alex Mitchell
It is the firm
belief of this observer that there is something strange that happens to a
veteran as he reaches old age. During his time in the service he hates it. He
is away from home and those he loves most. According to him, the food is bad,
the work sucks, and anyone over the rank of E-4 is an ass****. He even hates it
so much that he counts the days until he gets out. I can remember the second
day of basic training I got up and said, “Only 1,459 days left” – my four-year
enlistment minus one day!
After he has done
his time and has been discharged, he goes home, and during the next several
decades, he pretty much forgets about the military. Other things take over his
life: school, wife and kids, job, and
paying for it all. Those times in the Army get lost in the daily grind of life.
However, when he
reaches maturity, he begins to look at his service years differently. As he
looks back over his life, he sees that his time in the military has some of the
best memories of all. Not to say that the rest of his life was bad, it’s just
that there is something special about the memories of the night he and his
buddies got drunk and had to climb over the back fence because they missed
curfew, or the leave he took to Spain with a couple friends, or the trip to go
skiing in Garmisch.
However, there is a
group of veterans that do not have to worry about this. They are what we on
Herzo Base called “Barracks Rats.” I’m sure every unit in the Army had some.
They are the ones who never went off base. They went to work, to the movies, to
the EM Club, and to the PX, but never off base. Really, when you think about
it, they really never left the States. The base was a little piece of America,
and that is where they spent their lives.
The worst barracks
rat I knew was a kid from Virginia. Once a month – the day after pay day – was
the only time he would go off post. He would take the bus to Nuremburg, visit
“The Wall,” and then return to base. During the rest of the month, if anyone
asked him to go to town for a beer or anywhere else, his answer was always the
same – “No.” When asked about it, he would explain that the Germans all hated
us and were only out to cheat the GI out of anything they could. He felt any
woman who married a GI was only looking for a ticket to the States. He never
built any memories to carry with him the rest of his life. All he ever did was
count the days until he got out.
Well, he got out and
grew old. The sad thing is that now in his old age he has no memories to enjoy,
and the worst part of all is that he does not even know it.
SP/4 Alex Mitchell -98C - Herzo Base Oct 65 to Dec 67

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