Hello Fellow Schneeberg Vets and other comrades ....

It has been quite a while since the last update - June 2007.  Time flies these days in retirement!  I am working on updating the links on the web site and hope to have them completed by the end of this week or at least before Thanksgiving.

For those who have not yet found the new area web cams they are really terrific - we now have a web camera located on the old German Tower which does include some of The Hill and, of course, the Bisch web cam has been relocated on the top of the church in the marketplace.  Fritz Foltz has sent a 360 degree "video" of The Hill - Spring 2008 which should be available shortly ...

I have almost completed the Google Earth Cold War Listening Posts project and will be adding the link to the web site.  Not much to add related to photos as I have not received any lately from folks.  Get out those old shoe boxes and scour the attic for some relics to include on the web site.

You will read later in this update about the 2009 Reunion planned by the Hoherbogen Det K folks.  The 2004 reunion was wonderful and the group hopes to top that in 2009.

Several additional vets have found the web site ... welcome aboard!

On a sad note four veterans have gone to their  final listening post since our last update:  Al Gray, Lt. Col. Larry Medlin, Col. John McFadden and Tom "Flapper" Ellis.  I am in the process of creating an "obit" web page in addition to their being listed in "taps".

As for me, I'm really  busy and have started a journey as an automobile fine artist ( http://www.moondoggiegraphics.com )  Anyone interested in providing some material for my collection? - just contact me off-line phillip@moondoggiegraphics.com 

Enjoy the correspondence below as there are many items of interest .. and several books are now available.

Keep the memories alive!

Phil Ward

....an old Cz intercept op from the mid 60s -  Schneeberg, Hoherbogen and Wobeck

Remember for those outside the US please use my  phil.schneebergvets@yahoo.com email address.

I was stationed at Schneeberg during this time and recognize several of the unknown GI’s in the Mountaineers Photo section. The photo labeled uigi1.jpg is of Abe Hernendez our admin/clerk guy (71L type) who had a real fetish for all things Marilyn Monroe. The photo labeled uigi2.jpg is of Charles Bogino (apparently the Mountaineers called him Jerry Lewis).  Chuck was a 98GRU.

If I remember any more names I will send those in.

Cheers,

Kevin Farmer

SFC (Ret.)

98G4LRUC8

326^th ASA Co/511^th MI BN. Augsburg 1981-1983

Schneeberg 1983-1986

      http://picasaweb.google.com/joedgan/Monterey1968

I once again should like to thank You for the support which You have given to me. I hope , we shall stay in contact in the future. I have two projects in the box for next year and also two printing houses which will furnish me some support for the project. One of the books will  deal with the developments in the area of SIGINT within the Western community after 1989 , the other one will cover the German Air Force SIGINT between 1933 and 1945.

Once again , all the best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year  and all the best to You personally
kindly yours
Guenther Weisse

Hi Gene,
Let me introduce you to Ron McGraw, who is cc: on this email.  You may wish to share this with others whom you know are Schneeberg vets.
Ron wrote a novel based on his experiences in ASA—and at Schneeberg in the late 1950’s.
 

Here’s a quote from Ron and a website:
 

“…Take a look at it, at www.outskirtspress.com/thewaldentalgasthaus. ...
 

Incidentally, it's amazing the response I'm getting from ASA vets; in fact, it's actually heartwarming.  The Waldental Gasthaus is a testament to our outfit without extolling our virtues.  We all know what we contributed to the defense of Europe and the world during the Cold War; but that's not what the novel's about.  It's about the men living, adapting and interacting with their surroundings in addition to their duties.  You'll find it extremely difficult to put down.
 

The Waldental Gasthaus is a work of fiction, but as with any work of fiction, it is based upon experiences and a knowledge of the human condition.  As Hemingway once said, "There's more truth in fiction than there is in truth."
 

I was living in the village of Bischhofsgruen in the late fifties, long before they built a barracks on Schneeberg.  It was a wonderful experience that I've long remembered with affection, but my experiences there could have occurred at any number of stations in Germany and elsewhere.  I admit I was very fortunate, and about that I could write another novel!”
 

Ron, I am also sending a jpeg of the Gasthaus Post, which I found on Phil Ward’s site.
 

Bil

Schneeberg Project....

   DOGS 

When I arrived on Schneeberg in October of 1960 (from Berlin/Rudow), there were two dogs on the hill: Teddy and Shadow.  Of the two, Teddy was the most dominent; a very large (yellow) mixed short haired breed which looked like a cross between a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and a Golden Retriever, with the Chessy winning out.  He was a fantastic playmate who loved to chase rocks and deer, which I believe one day lead to his disappearance at the hands of the local Forstverwaltung.  Shadow was cared for (during the 1960-1962 timeframe), by SP4/5 Jim Youngblood, who also ran the small PX located in the hallway of the old ops (or Admin) building.

   THE DEER INCIDENT (summer of 1961)

Schneeberg was ecologically administered to by the Forstverwaltung Weissenhaidt (on the Voitsumra-Weissenstadt side of the hill) under the occasionally sedated (burp!) hand of Herr Eitner, the local Oberforster and great protector of the flora and fauna.  In most of his dealings with us, I served as the site translator, having lost my clearance due to marriage (and awaiting a waiver for almost a year).  While he is nowadays a friend, it was not always so.

Herr Eitner was a burly giant, standing about 6 foot 4 and holding a firm 270 pounds of Bavaria’s finest beer and bratwuerst.  He professed to speak no English; and, while he did not hate Americans, he feared our impact upon the German culture. (A fact he subsequently revealed during our many hours in the forest together).  His great size and glowering presence were pretty imposing.

One day (in fact, the day that we had just returned from qualification with our M1’s at Grafenwoehr) the German guard (Herr Flessa) called from the gate to say that Herr Eitner was there in a rage and demanded entry...  He charged that the Americans killed one of his hirsch (elk) and taken it inside the compound.  I was summoned from mop and buffer duty in the dayroom to translate.  As I walked down the hall, I couldn't help but notice the blood and deer hair on the stone flooring. Passing by the kitchen, I saw SGT (“Brad”) Bradford, locally feted as the best cook in the universe, wildly slicing meat while his assistant, SP4 Baumgartner was fervently wrapping the product in waxed paper and carting it off to the freezer.

“Murdock!” Brad called. “Stall for time!  We need 20 minutes!”  “What happened?”, I asked. At that moment Captain Robison, who’d overheard us, appeared and stated that an unfortunate accident between Herr Eitner’s 350 lb. stag and our returning supply truck had occurred an hour earlier.  I felt kind of funny about this, because there were five spent and misshapen bullets sitting on Brad’s cutting board.  But, as the Germans used to say “I haff my Ohdahs”.  So I first ducked into the toilet, had a smoke (6 minutes) and then headed for the guard shack.

Herr Eitner was, ah, as we used to say, pissed.  He told me that he didn’t want to deal with underlings and to get Captain Robison to admit him at once.  I asked him to please tell me what this was about, to which he replied “You have murdered my prize animal!  I heard the shots.  There were about 20 of them. I saw the blood.  I heard your truck.  You have poached our wildlife!  You are attempting to destroy the evidence!

I knew at once that we were in trouble, and that the accident thing wasn’t going to wear.  So I told Herr Eitner that I knew nothing (but would inquire), and dramatically seized the field phone, cranked the ringer and asked for Captain Robison.  Herr Eitner was no dummy, and while he stood within earshot, professing no English knowledge, I knew that I had to be careful.  One can never tell.....  “Captain Robison.  Yes sir; Spec 5 Murdock here, sir. Ah, I have Oberfoerster Eitner here sir.  He is looking for one of his deer.  He says that the Americans shot it.  About 20 rounds were fired; sort of like a semiautomatic.  He says he also heard a truck.  What should I do, sir?”

Herb Robison was a really cool guy.  Coming up through the ranks, he’d won his lieutenant’s bar at Fort Sill and was, consequently, more mature that his peers.  He immediately grasped the situation and said “Murdock, deny everything.  Tell your forest master that this is an outrageous assertion.  Tell him that there is a military exercise in progress and that we have infantry low-lifers from Graf and Vilseck all over the area.  Tell him I’ll immediately call Grafenwoehr and request the Provost Marshall investigate.  In fact, tell him that I will be happy to open my facility to his inspection.  But we need another 10 minutes; so stall for time.”  I offered Herr Eitner an American Marlboro.  He froze.

It is a tribute to Brad and his outstanding mess crew (which included Heinz, a local lad from Bischofsgruen forever bonded to silence), that, when I entered the admin building with Herr Eitner in tow, the aroma of chlorine from the freshly mopped floors was omnipresent.  Brad and his crew were were calmly sitting in the mess area, drinking coffee.  The kitchen was spotless.  Captain Robison was there to meet (for the first time) with Herr Eitner and provide his condolences for the apparent loss of a fine animal.

Herr Eitner left with a carton of Marlboros and a 20 pound tin of coffee.  It was, as Humphrey Boghart once said, the start of a beautiful friendship.  As of this writing, he has long retired and still lives in Weissenhaidt with his second wife.

THE FUEL TANKER INCIDENT OF 1963

I recently read a Schneeberg memoir which mentioned that fuel was drawn from a multi thousand gallon tanker during the early 70’s.  Some of you may recall that the tanker was severely damaged on the side away from public view...

During the early 60’s, the Schneeberg POL (fuel) area consisted of two 500 gallon steel tanks mounted on a scaffold about 10 feet above ground.  Local regulations prohibited in-ground fuel storage.  The area around the scaffold was a mixture of berm (small diameter gravel) and sand.  As Schneeberg was the primary watershed for all of Upper Franconia (Oberfranken), the POL area was inspected for leakage every month by the Post Engineers from the Army Sub-post in Bayreuth, as a spill could have disastrous consequences for the area’s water supply, and, more specifically, our beer.

As it turned out, a thousand gallons was an insufficient supply, which meant that the POL trucks visited Schneeberg often.  While this was simply irritating during the summer month(s), it was often impossible during the winter and caused significant hardships which even affected the run to Bisch for midnight trick changes.  The situation was ripe for a solution.

Enter our motor sergeant. During his latest visit to the Bayreuth Sub-post, he’d seen an old tanker, covered with rust from years of abuse unique to the Army environment, which was to be destroyed.  With the fervor of a kid with his first jalopy, he seized upon the vast storage opportunity and asked that it be shipped up to Schneeberg.  The Bayreuth property officer, at once alert to an opportunity to rid himself of a local eyesore, immediately agreed and threw in ten thousand gallons of gasolene plus several gallons of army green paint and the use of a semi to tow it away with!

We were all proud of our motor sergeant when he victoriously appeared at the gate with his prize.

But wait.  As the tanker passed through Schneeberg’s portals and was being backed, perpendicular to the downhill slope, into its final position, the motor sergeant noticed that two of the rear tires on the uphill side were flat.  Not lacking in initiative, he stopped the proceedings and immediately started jacking up the uphill axel to change out the tires.

The resulting crash was spectacular!  A river of gasolene gushed down the hill, plunging headlong toward the Eger, Weissmain, Naab and Saale  rivers which originate on Schneeberg and spread throughout the region.

I read about the settlement in the Bayreuther Abendblatt.  It was for over $125,000, which, in the early 60’s was a staggering sum.  The press said we got off easy.  As this event was unreported, they couldn’t be absolutely certain that we had poisoned their beer; just reasonably so.

Indeed, a good deed does not go unpaid.  But it at least went unpunished.

THE “NEW OPERATIONS BUILDING”

The new (corrugated aluminum) operations building (designated an “AKAMOL” (sp?) hut) was erected in conjunction with the installation of the PROFERF (PROtotype, Fixed Electronic Receiving Facility) system during the summer of 1961. In that timeframe, the PROFERF systems were installed at Schneeberg, Berlin and Meissner.  The lead contractor was EDL of Mountain View, CA.  The Project Officer was CPT (later COL) Paul Sparo of ASA’s DCSRDA at Arlington Hall Station, VA.

Previous Updates:

read on but it's old news ....

From Jim Rooks: 

Dear Friends,

I am very sorry to report to other ASA veterans the death of the Rev. David W. York on January 21, 2007. Dave died in his hometown of Norco, California, of injuries he had sustained on January 6 when he was hit by a pickup truck while walking across a street (in the crosswalk, with the traffic light in his favor). He was 62 years old and was Pastor of the nondenominational Community Church of Norco.

Dave (also known to many Army friends as “Duke”) was a 1967 graduate of the 47-week Czech course at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. >From fall 1967 to December 1969 he was stationed at the 16^th U.S. Army Security Agency Field Station, Herzogenaurach, West Germany (“Herzo Base”). His MOS was 98G3L22 (voice intercept transcriber and Czech linguist). Most of his work at Herzo Base on “the Czech Problem” involved traffic analysis of the Czechoslovak army’s communications. He participated directly in the Army’s monitoring of the Warsaw Pact countries’ 1968 military invasion of Czechoslovakia, which precipitated an international crisis. As a result of its work during and after the invasion, the Field Station was awarded the USASA Commanding General's Award for outstanding accomplishments. During his service Dave was promoted to Specialist 5^th Class and was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.

After his discharge from the Army, Dave received a B.A. degree from Simpson College in San Francisco, taught school in Red Bluff, California, and earned a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree from Western Evangelical Seminary in Newberg, Oregon, in 1976. (The school has since become a part of George Fox University, a Quaker institution.) Thereafter Dave pastored in Oregon and Montana, and for 16 years in Tucson, Arizona, before moving to Norco in 2001. Once the Internet became available he enjoyed “discovering” ASA friends and exchanging personal news, comments on current events, and the occasional joke or cartoon.

Dave’s first wife Brenda died of cancer in 1998 after 27 years of marriage. He married Linda York in 2001. Dave is survived by Linda, two sons, and two grandsons. His older son Nathan works for the U.S. Army in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, is a master sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve, and has served in Iraq as a company first sergeant. (“He’s a better soldier than I was,” Dave once told me proudly.) Nathan has two sons (Dave’s grandsons): Rand (age 10), and Nicholas (age 7). Dave’s younger son, Peter, lives in Dixon, Missouri.

Dave’s wife Linda can be reached in care of the Community Church of Norco, 3871 Valley View Avenue, Norco, CA 92860, or by email at shockingandawesome@sbcglobal.net. Memorial gifts may be sent to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Donor Services, P.O. Box 4072, Pittsfield, MA 01202, and should be designated “In memory of the Rev. David W. York of Norco, California.”

“Duke” York will be remembered by his Army friends as a quiet, friendly, thoughtful, kindhearted, funny, modest and loyal soldier who was usually satisfied with his lot in life. He enjoyed having fun as much as anybody else, but he was also as serious about --- and accomplished in --- his Army mission as was anybody else at Herzo Base. He was a fine man, beloved by both his family and his congregation in Norco.

Sincerely yours,

Jim Rooks

Washington, D.C.

P.S. If you have email addresses for others to whom it might be appropriate to send this notice, please pass it along to them. If you can take an extra minute to let me have their address as well, I’d appreciate it. I’m always glad to hear from or about ASA acquaintances. I would particularly like to get this message to the other students in Dave’s (and my) DLI Czech class for whom I presently have no working email addresses: Fred Haack, Dennis Walker, Harry Martin, Jim Diodato, Bill Steen, and Tim Newman. J.R.

Read more about Larry's plans .....

Larry Bunch retirement

Phil,

I found this Obituary (email attachment) on the internet.

Gary Magner was one of my heroes on Schneeberg.  He was on Schneeberg during the late 60’s.  He was still there when I left for USASA-FS, Augsburg in Dec. 1970.  This was when Schneeberg was closed……the 1^st time.

SFC Magner said it was OK if I put beers (German bottled beer with the spring-loaded stopper) on the window ledge in my room next to the orderly room to get them real cold at night…..but to make certain I get them off of the ledge before he arrived in the morning.  He liked a good cold beer, too!  If I left some out, he would get them and put them in his car.  We had many laughs about the “Window Beers”.   I cried, too…..I lost many beers!!

Please enter NCOIC Magner’s Obituary in the TAPS section of Schneeberg-Vets Website.

Thank you.

Tom Ellis

SB, ’69-‘70

Gary E. Magner (January 2001)

Magner, Gary E., 64, retired Army security agency employee and Boeing Wichita security guard, died Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2001. Service 10 a.m. Monday, First Baptist Church, Haysville.

Survivors: wife, Phyllis; sons, Gary, Robert both of Wichita; daughter, Teresa Rosendale of Hesston; brothers, Ronald of Drumwright, Okla., Duane of Ponca City, Okla.; sister, Sharon Drake of Ponca City; 14 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren. Resthaven Mortuary.

My dad was stationed up on Schneeberg 64-67 and I got a chance to go back to
Germany just last month.  My job sent me to Grafenwoehr and I got a half day
off and drove up to Bischofsgrun to see if I could find the old house I grew
up in.  I didn't find the house but attached are some photos of the town.
Enjoy.

Dave Yonkey  david.yonkey@gdit.com  
 
FTI - Network Engineer
General Dynamics Information Technology
Information Systems Group
CCTT Building 22028 Room 117
South Range Road