LT Anderson & LT Crane, H D Smith Barracks, Baumholder 1986

At risk of repeating myself, since I can't seem to find records of two gentlemen I thought I'd previously posted, here are a couple of fellows who were there with 1/39 Inf (M) in Baumholder when I arrived in 1986:

LT Rick Anderson
LT Ken Crane

Last thing I heard of Rick, he'd left the Army (circa 1988) and gone back to work for the government out on the east coast.

Ken (and wife Julie) left around the same time and moved home to Phoenix. I've been in touch with Ken over the past six months or so and he and his tribe are busy and well.

AAAO!

LT Mark Barnes: The 1/39 Inf (M) Chemo

LT Mark Barnes arrived in Baumholder pretty much the same day I did back in 1986. He had some time in service by then and was already a 1LT.

Mark and his wife were the best of folks and kept an eye out for a lot of us junior single guys. They had a lovely apartment (that they'd helped renovate) in a farmhouse down in Niederalben, at the far end of the south tank trail. They didn't live far from SGT James Farrell.

'Round about 1988, the Barnes family moved up to a Division level slot at Bad Kreuznach where they had an immense Bavarian-style house overlooking the fields set just around the corner from where the spy Conrad had lived and been arrested.

Last time I heard from Mark he was an LTC up at Rheindahlen (circa 2005), with many, many kids and expecting to retire not too long after he hit twenty years.

Twenty years! Well, those were good days and perhaps with time I'll write more about them here. Meanwhile, I hope he and his tribe are doing well and I would be very happy to find a current email address for them if anyone's got one.

AAAO!

UPDATE: in 2018, Mark and LaDean caught up with me while they were travelling overseas. There's much goodness in their lives, and they haven't changed a bit since we were in our twenties. I have their contact details.

Paddy's Gang: SSG Russ Nehmer (2006)

I've belatedly posted news from Russ Nehmer over at the 4/12 Inf (M) web beacon, in which he's listed a number of fellows who may have also served with Paddy's Gang before the redesignation from 1/39 Inf (M) to 4/12 Inf (M).

Russ is up in Darmstadt right now and looking to get in touch with anyone who served with him back in Baumholder. His contact details are available through the link above.

AAAO!

Bruce Van Hoozen, Paddy's Gang, Baumholder FRG

Bruce Van Hoozen just sent me news of several fellows who started in Paddy's Gang and ended up with 4/12 Inf (M). Bruce himself was at Delta for 18 months (both as platoon leader and acting XO), then he spent 10 months as mortar platoon leader followed by some time in the S-3 shop. He left the Army in June of '91. These days Bruce is up in northern Wisconsin, running his own electrical business: you can contact him at bvh71@frontiernet.net

I've posted a more complete message here at the 4/12 Inf web beacon, but also note the names of a few fellows below:

LT Ken Sampson

LT John Hill

CPT John Farmer (formerly of the S-3 shop, went up to Bad Kreuznach in 1991 and later left the Army)

CPT Burnsworth (briefly Delta Company CO)

CPT McKinny (Delta Company CO after CPT Burnsworth)

Thanks to Bruce for the info.

AAAO!