US Army Chapter 4

NUREMBERG GERMANY
CHAPTER 4
(Be sure to start at Chapters 1-2-3)

Junior and I arrived by train in Nuremberg’s huge train terminal. It was an open steel framed dome structure without any glass. I realized that the bombing had removed all the glass from the terminal. Some of the steel beams were bent and construction was going full speed. We noticed piles of reclaimed brick on vacant lots on our way by Army Mercedes bus to Furth, a suburb town about five miles away, and the Headquarters of the US Army, Nuremberg Military District. Germany was divided into American, English, French, and Russian Military Districts. Germany was an occupied country and we were occupiers. I had never been an occupier. It was one of many firsts for me.

Furth was another German SS Army post. Our billet was a first class three-story building with high ceilings and two large, long windows in each room. My room was on the second floor and overlooked the old town of Furth. Old, meaning built about 1700 something. One has to go to Europe to see old housing still in use.

German MPs in OD uniforms with white helmets, and a carbine over a shoulder guarded the gates. German civilians were our guards, custodians, janitors, cooks, and gardeners. Germans were everywhere working. The American government was the biggest employer of German citizens. It was the best way to get the economy up and growing. We even bought their manufactured products and produce when possible. It was a shock to see OD painted Volkswagens all over the roads. Jeeps were hard to find in our Army motor pools. The Army bought all the first run autos the Germans produced.

We had two sets of commands. One was our Post Command of the US Army, Nuremberg Military District Headquarters; they were responsible for our room and board, sick call, role call, mail call, supply, and armory. The second and most supreme was the Signal Corps Headquarters Command; they were responsible for my time and duty. They determined my going and coming and assignments.

The first time I went to the evening chow hall, I saw Junior in line. We had our dinner together and exchanged room numbers. His room was one floor above mine. It was good to have someone I knew close by. Just before we finished our first German cooked meal, which was very good, I got a tap on my shoulder and a familiar voice asking if he could join us? It was SFC Frances Neary. He was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps, Nuremberg Military District. He was getting an apartment for his French wife to come on Post in a few weeks. He had arranged for his automobile to be delivered in France, and he would pick up his car and wife in two weeks.


LIKE YOUR DADDY TOLD YOU, “NEVER EVER BURN YOUR BRIDGES BEHIND YOU FOR YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT EVIL MAY LURK IN YOUR FUTURE!!!!”

I reported to the Photographic Lab on the first Monday morning after arriving in Furth. The Lab was across the parade ground from my billet. It was a two-story small brick building from the street. I noticed several old Chevrolets and an old Mercedes four-door convertible parked in front. The Mercedes looked like the one Hitler rode into the large Nuremberg stadium to have his troops salute him. Hitler never saluted anyone. The stadium is the one shown in the movies of the thousands of uniformed troops standing in rows as Hitler drove through and all hailed Hitler. It had a huge swastika on the rooftop, which the invading Americans blew up on their way to Nuremberg.

I walked through the front door, and the first person I saw was MSGT. Oscar Trost. It took awhile for me to get my chin off the floor before I could talk. (I would now love to have a picture of the expression on my face at that moment.) Trost never said he was leaving Monmouth when he bid me goodbye two-weeks before. I now had one and a half years of Trost before me. He was a different man in Germany, and it turned out well in the end. He needed me as much as I needed him to make the lab a success. He greeted me with, what seemed to be genuine enthusiasm to have me in his little domain. Trost introduced me to everyone and gave me a tour of the lab and equipment. I was issued an old 4X5 Speed Graflex camera, signed all the paperwork and told to go try it out. I knew the camera wouldn’t work when I saw the holes in the bellows. Trost thought I could patch it. I did get most of the holes covered with black tape but there was one or two small holes I couldn’t find. I always had fogged film. So I wrote my Honey to pack up my camera and send it to me ASAP. Every time Trost requested a new camera, the MP’s got it.

During the war, Trost had been in the Special Services branch of the Army. Special Services (SpS) produced training films and shows for the Army. They setup the USO tours during the war, and toured the country with mock battle shows for the War Bond drives in stadiums, armories, and coliseums across the country. As a little kid I saw one in the old ice-skating rink in DC. They had German uniforms on the losing side because we always won the battles. The shows were just like the ones we played in the vacant lots on our street as kids-except we didn’t have uniforms and blanks. Trost was part of the cast and never went overseas until this assignment. Trost always amazed me by what he knew at the right time. He spoke fluent German and was an excellent capable administrator.

Our Photographic Lab consisted of: three Sergeants, one SFC, one MSGT and me a PFC. The two German civilians were:
one female lab technician, and one male repairman for the 16mm Bell and Howell projectors used in our Military District.

Sgt One was a short fat man who fought with the First Army from North Africa, to Italy, to France into Germany. With all the battles he participated in, and only be a Sergeant showed his smarts and character. He was a real professional goof-off. But he did good photographic work. He had a Fräulein and lived off Post with her. She was ugly and twice his age, but he was happy. I accompanied him on his assignments until my camera arrived from the States.

Sgt Two was soon to go home. He was short and good-looking with a Fräulein living off Post. He was very allusive and didn’t want to be known. He would check in each morning and get lost most days. When he went on assignment he’d be gone all day. I remember asking about him after not seeing him for a few months and was told he had returned to he States for discharge. He owned the Hitler Mercedes.

Sgt Three is totally not in my memory. Guess he made no impression on me at all?

SFC Four had an interesting assignment. He was second in command of the Photo Lab, but with our small operation, he had nothing much to do. Four was a hunter with a passion. He helped organize the Nuremberg Rod and Gun Club. The club organized deer, stag, and boar hunts for German-American relations. An unarmed German accompanied every American hunter armed. German citizens were not allowed to have weapons while under occupation. I went on two hunts for boar while in Germany. One was under occupation and the second was after Germany was given back to the Germans. That will be another story. The day Germany went from occupied enemy to ally.



Elvis Presley, Steve Lawrence, and I were drafted at the same time. The Army tried to get Elvis to serve in the Special Service, but Elvis wasn’t going to sing for free for the Army and went into the 32nd Heavy Armored Division and spent his time in tanks at Hohenfeld on the Russian border. Steve Lawrence served at the Armed Forces Radio in Frankfort. Steve’s wife, Edie Gorme joined him there during his tour. Of the three of us, Elvis did the toughest duty in a tank on alert maneuvers ten months out of a year. They were armed and loaded at all times. The Cold War was real on the Russian border in 1952.

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