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Fragments
If you happen to be in a mall with some time to kill, wander
through the biggest book store you can find and pause by the
History section. Even if the theme doesn’t particularly interest
you, just scan the titles and thumb through a few books to check
the length. Between all the words that string the narrative
together are the facts that were plucked, one at a time, from
sources, written or spoken. A lot of work can go into a very few
pages, the words are easy, the facts are difficult.
The work of historians is much like the passion of fishermen.
You cast the line at your favorite spot in search of something
worthy of taking home. There is always the anticipation that the
next cast and troll will bring up the trophy worthy of the wall
in the den. You watch the bass loll in the reeds by your
favorite spot, then surface to strike and dive for the submerged
tree roots. You regard the foe, change the fly, measure the cast
and play the lure … the strike, the dive and the line goes
suddenly slack. The mosquitoes bite at your neck and the
dragonflies humm in the breeze, the sun is low in the trees.
Fishing and history are hobbies united by full measures of
anticipation and frustration. Regardless of what you bring home,
there is always the feeling that the best one somehow got away.
From the New York Times, some of the ones that remain deeply
hidden in the reeds.
Murder-Mayhem … and Golf
G. I. Stabs 6
Germans
2 Jan. 1965
Bad Kissingen Germany UPI
An American soldier knifed six Germans today in a restaurant
near here, the police said. PFC Gary L. Stone “ran amok” when he
was ordered to leave the restaurant after he fought with another
G.I., according to police. Seized by authorities, he was
transferred to an Army stockade. Two of the Germans were
admitted to a hospital.
- Who knows if this guy was in the 14th Cav or some other unit
at Daley? Luckily, the name is so common that the chances of
finding him are slim and, what would you say if you did make
contact? “Hey, remember the night you went crazy in BK … what
was up with that?!!” Chances are good that Erwin can find
something in the archives but maybe this story is best untold.
Golfer’s Aces Go
Together
7 June 1959
Bad Kissingen Germany AP
CPT William E. King of Durham, NC, aced the 150-yard fifth hole
of the Bad Kissingen golf course for the second time today. Last
Saturday, using a 5 iron, the captain who is serving with the
United States Army in Germany, scored a hole-in-one. Today, he
repeated.
Here’s a happy and interesting story! Who was this dead eye
golfer and what was he doing in BK in the late 1950s? 14th Cav,
some other unit, just playing the course?? What stories could he
tell and what images does he have stashed in his attic? Does he
still hang around the 19th hole at the club and in retirement,
bore the guest with tales of his mastery of the 5th at BK or was
that just an average week for a scratch golfer?
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Cover and
inside score sheet of the BK Golf Club under US military
administration in 1946. |
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We tried every
search engine and every combination of key words and were foiled
by the absolute numbers of “William E. King”s found in the
United States. Short of making 300 phone calls, this story may
also go unexplored. Any of you guys from the 14th ACR recall CPT
King?
German Girl a
Suicide
9 June 1946
Frankfort am Main AP
Dies in U.S. Soldier’s Quarters near Bad Kissingen
A 17 year old German girl was found shot through the head
Thursday in an American enlisted man’s billet near Bad Kissingen
the Army announced tonight. She was the fifth German girl to die
in a soldier’s quarters within a month.
The theatre provost marshal said that the girl, an employee of
the American Red Cross, was alone at the time of the shooting
and declared: “She is alleged to have shot herself.”
According to the official report, the girl went to the billets
looking of CPL Woodrow M. Kemp, whose home address was not
given. Kemp was away at the time, the report said. She then
entered the room of PVT Richard E. Chappell, where she
apparently shot herself through the head with a .465 caliber
pistol.
I spent a lot of time on this and came up empty. Find first hand
recollections from the constabulary period in Bad Kissingen have
become very difficult to find. If you were 19 in 1946, you are
78 in 2005. Scanning the SSI National Death Index for the names
of Woodrow Kemp and Richard Chappell revealed that both men are
deceased. Through obits published in their hometown newspapers,
next of kin might be found, maybe they recall something, maybe
they’d rather not.
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This image of Red
Cross employees from Britain, part of the Service Club
staff, was taken in Bad Kissingen during the immediate post
war period. German women apparently were also hired at some
point and soldier romances occurred with tragic results on
at least one occasion. |
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I do not think that
the Saale Zeitung had returned to operation so soon after the
end of the war and with BK firmly in US occupation, I doubt
there was much independent coverage of this event. Likewise, the
Red Cross probably has a historian but whether their records
recall this event or, as is often the case, whether they would
choose to spend the time to find a long filed document that does
not recall their best day is problematic.
Of note, the figure
of five dead German girls in US billets probably refers to a
total from the European Theatre of Operations. Even standing
alone, however, the statement says much about young men
occupying a country following a war with time on their hands
and weapons still at the ready. To learn more about the
topic of US military attitudes towards fraternization in
Germany in the immediate post war period, please follow this
link:
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