We quickly developed a routine. We awoke, dressed and waited for the mess gong which told us to report to the dining facilities. In the Army we call it the mess hall, in the Navy they call it the ward room. After a pleasant meal we returned to our cabin for a little rest before we had to leave again so the cabin boys could clean it.

We went top side and found deck chairs where Lucile, Cindy and Sallie took sun baths, weather permitting. We enjoyed the salt air and watching the ocean waves. Tricia and I took our daily walk around the promenade deck to stay in shape. We often stopped at the bow of the ship to view the ocean. Then it was back to the cabin to await lunch call. Following lunch it was siesta time. After siesta it was back top side to a recreation room where the children could play. Lucile, as avid reader, spent a good part of her time reading.

We were able to make some friends on the ship. One in particular, which we were to run into several more times in our service, was Lester R. Patrick, an armor officer, and his family. The ship’s passengers were mainly officers, with most being company grade. There were also three warrant officers and three sergeants and their families.

There was not much excitement so one day when someone said they had sighted dolphins or some other type of marine animal, we all rushed to the railings to see. We did run into some bad weather about halfway across which confined most of the passengers to their cabins due to seasickness. The Spurrier family, I am proud to say, did not miss a meal, even though at several of them, they had to put side bars on the tables to keep the plates from sliding off.

The old hell of a Ballou lived up to its reputation as a roller as it sure did in rough weather. At times it was difficult to walk in the aisles and on deck because of the rocking, but our first experience at sea was almost over as they told us we would be docking soon. I think it took eight days to make the crossing.

Germany

Sailing to Germany gave me time to think about my assignment in relation to the world situation. Germany was divided into four major zones of occupation; the British, French, Russian and American. Foreigners could move easily between the zones with the exception of the Russian one.

Shortly after the defeat of Germany and its occupation by the Allies, it became apparent that the Russians did not trust anyone, and in reality we became their enemy. There was no free exchange between the Russians and the other Allies. If you crossed into their zone of occupation you were arrested. In fact, at the time of our sailing, the Russians had cut off all ground resupplying of Berlin which was in Russian occupied East Germany.

East Germany

To correct the situation, the Allies established what was known as the Berlin Airlift, which supplied the non Russian portion of the city by air. This was quite a feat and the Russians backed down. Following World War II the major mission of the occupying forces was the demilitarization and reconstruction of Germany. The U. S. Constabulary was organized to assist in these post war efforts. The Constabulary was the only law and order the Germans had. It assisted them in reestablishing their own government and by trying to weed out the undesirable elements ( the Mafia so to speak ) that always take advantage of lawless situations. At the time I arrived, most of the demilitarization had been completed and the Germans were able to handle the law and order. So American troops were assigned the mission of patrolling the Russian controlled East German border.

The Constabulary was organized in a similar manner as the Cavalry Groups of World War II. It consisted of a Constabulary Headquarters, two Constabulary Brigades and three Constabulary Regiments: the Second, Sixth and Fourteenth, each having two or more Squadrons, that were assigned zones of operation. The Constabulary troops were equipped with M 8 Armored Cars and ½ ton trucks or jeeps. I addition, each Constabulary Regiment had a horse platoon to assist in patrolling some of the more inaccessible areas.

Because of the international situation and the escalation of the Cold War, it was decided to reorganize the troops stationed in Germany along conventional military lines in order to meet the threat of the Russians. Since the reconstruction of Germany had progressed to where the Germans now could control and operate their own government, there was little need for the Constabulary, as organized. The major effort of the American forces was patrol of the Russian border. Thus, in late 1948 the Constabulary Squadrons were retained - one for each regiment.

Each regiment was moved to the border area and given the mission of patrolling it. The attached Constabulary Squadron had the actual mission of patrolling the border with the armored cavalry units as back - up. The situation required that we have detailed emergency plans in the event that the Russians decided to attack across the border.

In addition to the Constabulary, there was the First Infantry Division and separate artillery units and Air Force units. When I arrived the highest command was USAREUR, or U. S. Army Europe, and they still had the Constabulary Headquarters which soon was to be redesignated the Seventh Army. The two Constabulary Brigades remained.

Armored Cavalry Assignment

We arrived on the morning of August 4, 1949 at the Bremerhaven Port of Embarkation after an eight day crossing. We were assembled, given our assignments and told how to disembark. I was assigned to the Headquarters of the 14^th Armored Cavalry regiment at Fulda , Germany. We were to immediately board a train to a town named Fritzlar where the Army had a hotel. We arrived the next day and were put up in the hotel. It was very nice with adequate service.

The next day I reported for duty to Colonel Jack Ryan, the Regimental commander. He informed me that I would be the Regimental S2, which is the intelligence officer. This was an active office, mainly just keeping abreast of the various intelligence agencies in the European Command ( EUCOM ). Everyone had a finger in the pie with no one talking to the other at the grass roots level. It became apparent to me why our intelligence was often distorted and incomplete. To me it was rather disgusting..

New Assignment: 2^nd Bn, 14^th ACR

I contacted the Regiment Adjutant regarding quarters and I was told that there would be quite a wait. After a week in the hotel with the girls getting restless, I knew they couldn’t stand much of this type of living. I requested to speak to the Regimental Commander and informed him that I was willing to take any assignment where I could get quarters. I must have hit him on a good day as he called the 2^nd Battalion which was located in Schweinfurt, Germany and found that I could get immediate quarters. So, I was transferred to the Second Battalion on the 12^th of August, an assignment that turned out to be a boost to my military career. The next morning we departed via Army sedan

Conn Kaserne

After arriving we were shown to our quarters. I left Lucile and the girls to take over and get the house in shape. We were assigned a set of completely furnished quarters at 2 Am Sand, on the 14^th of August. A maid came with the quarters, and we hired Marta Smyth as a nursemaid for the children. Since security was important, we purchased a Schaferhund ( German police dog ) and we named her Crystal. At least the girls could get settled and start enjoying their new adventure.

Tangerine Returns Home

We had a few days before the maneuvers started and I had the opportunity to fly down to Stuttgart in one of the battalion’s L - 5 light aircraft to pick up Tangerine, the long missing cat. The Dix had had her since we departed from New York and I figured they were getting tired of her by now. She was glad to see me and I was right, the Dix were glad to see her go. She had traveled a lot better than we had, as she had flown all the way from New York to Schweinfurt.

Exercise Harvest

I arrived at a critical time for the battalion because it was scheduled to participate in the first large maneuvers in Germany since World War II.. Also, it would be the first time the battalion would operate as an armored cavalry unit. The maneuver was called Exercise Harvest, and as the operations officer I was deeply involved in getting the battalion ready to participate. After being on the job for about four days Bud Simmons came into my office and said the we had a new Battalion Commander. I asked if Colonel Dickie had arrived, he said no, so I asked who the new commander was, and he said you, meaning me. I said that can’t be true as the dates of rank were checked before being ordered to the Battalion. He informed me that there was a mistake in his date of rank as some of his reserve time was credited as active duty time. Reserve time was not accountable in computing dates of ranks. I often wondered why he suddenly came forward at that particular time.

This was a very awkward situation for me. Taking the battalion on maneuvers with so little experience with them and being there only a few days was going to be tough. I did not know the personnel. To further compound the problem it was the fist time that I had been assigned to an armored cavalry unit.

Here I was as a new commander taking the battalion on one of the most important post war maneuvers in Europe. The situation was such that it could make or break me. The only good thing was that I had a general idea as to what the maneuver would be. There comes a time in one’s life where luck takes the upper hand. Such was my case.

Being my first assignment with an armor unit, I had a lot to learn. Though I generally knew the organization of Armor Cavalry units, I was not sure of their equipment. I did know how to lead and had a good head for tactical situations so I learned as I went. I found out quickly that the battalion was not disciplined and was lax in responding to orders. I let them know that when an order was given they were to respond immediately. I ruffled some feathers right at the start but it paid off.

I think I think I performed quite well on the maneuver. The first day, the Regiment attacked in two columns, I was on the left flank and had the mission of securing a bridge over the Main River at Aschaffenberg. We didn’t waste any time getting there. However, upon arriving we found that the bridge had been destroyed so I immediately changed the route of march to the bridge at Hanau that the other battalion was to secure. I arrived before that battalion secured the bridge and set up a defensive position at the bridge. The Regimental Commander was surprised to see me. I guess he wondered how I got there so fast.

My Major Maneuver Feat

At that time, the 1^st Constabulary Brigade had only one regiment under its control the 14^th. The brigade was commanded by Brigadier General Arthur G. Trudeau, who saw an opportunity to command a unit directly and ordered my battalion to be detached from the regiment to operate independently. We were called Task Force Sugar and performed several missions that pleased him.

The major accomplishment that set a feather in my war bonnet occurred toward the end of the maneuvers. I was ordered to go into Brigade Reserve and was given the general location of my assemble area. This was near Grafenwohr, one of the major training areas which had a dominant terrain feature called Hopfenohe Ridge. According to the scenario of the maneuver, the Constabulary had been fighting a delaying action against the 1^st Infantry Division. The forward troops retreated through my reserve position and no one ordered me to move so I stood pat. From my position, I saw the 1^st Infantry Division in a typical infantry division text book attack formation with two regiments abreast and one in reserve followed by their tank battalion. As they neared my position they turned right and moved across my front toward Hopfenohe Ridge. The 1^st Infantry Division’s Tank Battalion was commanded by Creighton W. Abrams, Armor’s most respected tank commander from World War II and later to be Chief of Staff of the Army. I could not have been in a better position to cause the 1^st Infantry Division some embarrassment by attacking their tank battalion which was completely out in the open.

Since I was under control of the 1^st Cavalry Brigade, I immediately contacted General Trudeau and apprized him of the situation and told him that I could cross the “ T “ if I could get more tanks. He immediately ordered that I was to receive the tank companies of the other two battalions. I was in the process of deploying my troops when General Handy, USAREUR Commander, chose that time to visit my CP.

He was directed to my location where he could observe the actions of the 1^st Division and the positioning of my tanks for the attack. He was briefed on the situation and told me to continue what I was doing. He could see by the situation that we could embarrass the Big Red One, and being its former commander and an infantryman, he apparently did not want this to happen because as I was about to give the order to attack I received a frantic call from General Trudeau. I mean frantic as he kept yelling several times into his mike, “ Do not attack, I repeat do not attack”. This terminated my one moment of glory. However it was noted, recorded and reviewed by my contemporaries as well as higher commander. Shortly thereafter, the maneuver was terminated ahead of schedule. I was proud of my performance and that of the Battalion. Our actions during these war games was another feather in my war bonnet.

Back to Garrison Duty

Upon returning from maneuvers I became acquainted with my unit. It was a modified armored cavalry reconnaissance unit with three reconnaissance troops, a tank company and a headquarters company. Each reconnaissance company had three platoons with a scout section of four jeeps, a tank section of two M 24 light tanks and infantry squad mounted on a ¾ ton truck and mortar section also mounted in a ¾ ton truck. The tank company had three tank platoons with five M 26 medium tanks each. The headquarters company was a normal one except it had an air section of two L - 5 light aircraft.