Tom Marsh, Alpha Co 1/39 Infantry 1968-1969
Tom Marsh and I have shared a few emails, and this one was too good to keep to myself. Over to Tom:
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What do I remember? Oh, Lord!
I got there [to the 1st Battalion, 39th Infantry] in April of 1968. I had done a tour in Korea in the 2ID and those of us with any time left were sent to Germany. I got to A Company and got to meet 1st Sgt. Manfredi, and that was worth the trip. He was a WW II vet that had come back in the later 1940's and stayed. Several of the NCO's were of the WW II era, and although that sounds like a long time ago, at that time these guys were in their middle to late 40's. A lot of them were going into their third war.
The Battalion Commander was a Lt. Col. Campbell ( I think), and he was the type that would show up at the motor pool to help work on the tracks. He was well liked and, even more, trusted by us. He was promoted to full Col. and we got a Lt. Col. Black. He was another good officer and got along well with the other officers and NCO's. The Sgt. Maj. was a hard core type by the name of Tracy.
A Company commander was Capt. John A. Bondinilla (not sure of the spelling) an ROTC officer from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. He was waiting for an assignment to Military Intelligence, so was not there that long. He was replaced by a Capt. Jano. When he left the CO was 1st Lt. John Brownfield. Other Company officer I remember are 1st Lt. Mike Milo (sent to the 87th) and Jerry Bunn (KIA in Nam).
As I said, Manfredi was 1st Sgt. He got promoted and went to a Battalion that was in Nam (I think the 18th Inf.): I don't remember the name of his replacement, but in the end we got SFC Bob Morris, another WW II vet.
Other NCO's were SFC Sheehan, SSgt. Jackson (Big Jack), SSgt. Apo, SSgt. Barthlow, Sgt. Jackson (little Jack), Sgt. John A. (Woo-Woo) Gonzalas, Sgt. Fred Dodenhoffer, Sgt. Ronnie Kitchens and Sgt. Marty Pena. The Motor Sgt. was SSgt. Olivera. And there was Sgt. James C. Justice and SSgt. Ed Dodge.
The Company Clerk was 'Hap" Haygood, the armorer was Herald Rutledge, the commo Sgt. was SSgt. Jim Williams.
As you can guess, most of the NCO's and a number of EM's had been to Nam already. Some of us came from Korea and so were not new to the Army. The officers were pretty much just out of OCS's or ROTC, and we did have one West Pointer. It was an interesting mix.
All in all, Baumholder was a pretty boring place when I was there. We were too far away from a big town to get into to too much trouble and not many had cars to travel. We pretty much stuck around the company "rec room"(read bar). The NCO club was quite a walk away, and was not really worth the trip. I was only there a couple of times.
We did have some NCO's from a British outfit with us for a while (cannot remember which) and they were a decent bunch.
I can only remember going into the field a couple of times. We had alerts, but they were always called off.
The only real excitement was going on CP. That was grabbing the drunks in town before the MP's did. I was there just about the time that race relations were breaking down, but I insisted on walking into the Golden Angel (an all black bar), but never after 8PM. I was not that brave.
While I was there the Battalion went to Luxembourg for Patton Day and Graf for the "usual" training. The train trips were actually a lot of fun. One time one of the guys got drunk and they found him in the train engine. He was trying to get back to Amsterdam!
The truth of the matter was that FRG at the time was a holding area. Some just back from Nam, some with time in the Army, but not enough to do a tour in Nam, and those that were running out the clock. Don't get the wrong idea, I did have a good time there and I have fond memories of the men I served with it is just that after Korea, it did not seem like the Army.
If there is anything else I can help with, let me know.
Tom Marsh
tmarsh4@rochester.rr.com
Thanks, Tom, for permission to reprint that. Clearly the late '60s were a lot different than the late '80s . . . it kind of goes without saying, but still.
AAAO!
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What do I remember? Oh, Lord!
I got there [to the 1st Battalion, 39th Infantry] in April of 1968. I had done a tour in Korea in the 2ID and those of us with any time left were sent to Germany. I got to A Company and got to meet 1st Sgt. Manfredi, and that was worth the trip. He was a WW II vet that had come back in the later 1940's and stayed. Several of the NCO's were of the WW II era, and although that sounds like a long time ago, at that time these guys were in their middle to late 40's. A lot of them were going into their third war.
The Battalion Commander was a Lt. Col. Campbell ( I think), and he was the type that would show up at the motor pool to help work on the tracks. He was well liked and, even more, trusted by us. He was promoted to full Col. and we got a Lt. Col. Black. He was another good officer and got along well with the other officers and NCO's. The Sgt. Maj. was a hard core type by the name of Tracy.
A Company commander was Capt. John A. Bondinilla (not sure of the spelling) an ROTC officer from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. He was waiting for an assignment to Military Intelligence, so was not there that long. He was replaced by a Capt. Jano. When he left the CO was 1st Lt. John Brownfield. Other Company officer I remember are 1st Lt. Mike Milo (sent to the 87th) and Jerry Bunn (KIA in Nam).
As I said, Manfredi was 1st Sgt. He got promoted and went to a Battalion that was in Nam (I think the 18th Inf.): I don't remember the name of his replacement, but in the end we got SFC Bob Morris, another WW II vet.
Other NCO's were SFC Sheehan, SSgt. Jackson (Big Jack), SSgt. Apo, SSgt. Barthlow, Sgt. Jackson (little Jack), Sgt. John A. (Woo-Woo) Gonzalas, Sgt. Fred Dodenhoffer, Sgt. Ronnie Kitchens and Sgt. Marty Pena. The Motor Sgt. was SSgt. Olivera. And there was Sgt. James C. Justice and SSgt. Ed Dodge.
The Company Clerk was 'Hap" Haygood, the armorer was Herald Rutledge, the commo Sgt. was SSgt. Jim Williams.
As you can guess, most of the NCO's and a number of EM's had been to Nam already. Some of us came from Korea and so were not new to the Army. The officers were pretty much just out of OCS's or ROTC, and we did have one West Pointer. It was an interesting mix.
All in all, Baumholder was a pretty boring place when I was there. We were too far away from a big town to get into to too much trouble and not many had cars to travel. We pretty much stuck around the company "rec room"(read bar). The NCO club was quite a walk away, and was not really worth the trip. I was only there a couple of times.
We did have some NCO's from a British outfit with us for a while (cannot remember which) and they were a decent bunch.
I can only remember going into the field a couple of times. We had alerts, but they were always called off.
The only real excitement was going on CP. That was grabbing the drunks in town before the MP's did. I was there just about the time that race relations were breaking down, but I insisted on walking into the Golden Angel (an all black bar), but never after 8PM. I was not that brave.
While I was there the Battalion went to Luxembourg for Patton Day and Graf for the "usual" training. The train trips were actually a lot of fun. One time one of the guys got drunk and they found him in the train engine. He was trying to get back to Amsterdam!
The truth of the matter was that FRG at the time was a holding area. Some just back from Nam, some with time in the Army, but not enough to do a tour in Nam, and those that were running out the clock. Don't get the wrong idea, I did have a good time there and I have fond memories of the men I served with it is just that after Korea, it did not seem like the Army.
If there is anything else I can help with, let me know.
Tom Marsh
tmarsh4@rochester.rr.com
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Thanks, Tom, for permission to reprint that. Clearly the late '60s were a lot different than the late '80s . . . it kind of goes without saying, but still.
AAAO!
UPDATE: turns out Rock Griffin also remembers 1SG Manfredi, and Vaughn O'Loughlin remembers CSM Tracy.
p.s. You can add your name to the roster now!
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p.s. You can add your name to the roster now!
Didn't find what you were after? Try looking in the 'previous posts' over to the right, or use the search tool at the top left of this page.
posted by mhg at 11:13 PM
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