 |
As told by: |
|
As told by: |
CHRISTMAS EVE 1956
It was 50 years ago today that the Geiger arrived in Bremerhaven after an Atlantic transit of 9 days from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I had just been transferred from Kami Seya as a CT2 and I was the senior CT holding the orders for about 20-25 CT's straight from Imperial Beach. Amongst the group was Jack Hipp, Marty Ruggiero, Chuck Luby and Lee Gough. Would love to see if there are any others checking your website that made the trip with us. We hit a storm in the North Atlantic for 3 or 4 days that beats anything I experience before or since. When we checked in to the Staging Area all the rated men were given liberty but I don't believe the strikers got to enjoy Germany on Christmas Eve of 1956.
If any one sees this message and sailed on the MSTS Geiger from 12-15-56 to 12-24-56 please email me - thus far I have only been able to identify 5 of us. - Bob Haggerty (ex CT1 - '53-'61)
USNAB 1947-49
I was stationed at USNAB from 1947 to 1949. I was a DK striker and divided my time between the disbursing office and the gymnasium. I played on the 1948 Bremerhaven Blue Jackets. After winning the overall Bremerhaven championship, we played in the Eucom Northern Regional Tournament against the U.S. Constabulary. 1st Squadron "Blackhawks"; the USAFE Northern League champions Camp Lindsay "Commanders"; and the Berlin Command 3rd Bn. 16th Inf. "Green Hornets".
We beat the Constabulary, but lost in the final against the Green Hornets. I must confess at this point that I was a forward, but did spend a lot of time on the bench pulling splinters out of my butt!
After Bremerhaven, I spent the next twenty-some years on various ships and shore stations; retiring in 1969 as a Lieutenant Commander.
About two years ago, I did manage to contact one of my Bremerhaven basketball teammates who lives in Conn. Most of the other teammates have passed on.
One last note, I notice in your (Chuck Braun) photos of the team that you were wearing the same jackets that we wore on our team.
It's been sixty years since I arrived in Bremerhaven and the memories are still fairly fresh in this grey old head. What a great experience for a teenager! - All the best, Ken Livingston
The Cable Caper
There was a hog farm down the road, across the street, that bordered the antenna field. The farmer was laying water pipes to his pig stys and cut a 52 pair cable coming from the DF site to the Ops bldg. I was sent there with 3 or 4 other Matmen, whose names fail me, to splice it.
It was hard to find the ends of the cable as the farmer had covered them when the Army told him they didn't have any phone lines in that area and must be a leftover from the war. Yeah-Right!
Anyway, the farmer felt bad about it and we were working in the July sun to find the cable and splice it. He kept bringing out trays of ice cold bottled beer, Becks, Haake Beck, and several others. I was he only one who could speak German and politely refused the beer as we were on duty. As they day went on and I continued to refuse his offers, I could see he was getting someone insulted by my refusal of his hospitality. I called back to the base and told our boss, a CTM1 we called "Pappy" and explained the situation. He told me it was OK for us to accept the "refreshments as a matter of good will, but to go easy.
Long story short, by the time we were done we were all 3 sheets to the wind and returned to the base and went thru the gate somewhat crocked. MPs didn't notice, thank goodness.