116th Signal Service Company
332nd Communications Reconnaissance Company
(A Capsule History)
These pages by James W Clinton
I received the following email on 12/22/2008.
My name is Joseph James Clinton Cpl USMC Active, James W. Clinton Sr.
was my grandfather. I am unsure if you are aware but he passed away
on Nov. 28. As I sit here as a MP Desk Sgt. I begin to think I could
Google him and learn a bit more about him because I do not have a coy
of his autobiography. He was part of the 116th Signal Service Company
332nd Communications Reconnaissance Company. I'm not sure if you know
or met him any information otherwise would help. Thank you and god bless.
Cpl Joseph Clinton email to joseph.clinton@usmc.mil
USMC Active
The same day I received a Christmas card from Jim's widow with the
same information. I was really sorry to receive this
information. Jim was a great soldier and helped me so much with these
pages. Please send a kind thought to his widow and his family.
The link to pictures of Germany taken during and after WWII were
found in Roy Garrison's foot locker by his grandson, Patrick, after
Roy passed away some time ago. Patrick has uploaded them to the
internet so we all can enjoy them. Roy was in the 116th at the
end of the war and during the early occupation. Thank you Patrick for
this great contribution.
Read about Scheyern
in Wikipedia
Visit Scheyern online: Scheyern.de
The history of the unit that eventually evolved into the 332d United
States Army Security Agency Company began with the formation of the
116th Signal Radio Intelligence (SRI) company at Camp Crowder, MO, on
27 March 1942.
The 116th SRI Company, along with other SRI units, notably the 114th
SRI Company, contributed greatly to the victory in Europe by forces
allied against Adolph Hitler's Nazi Germany. Upon the cessation of
hostilities in Germany the unit had positioned itself in Scheyern,
Germany, where it remained until March 1951. (Photo
of the town of Scheyern) is a view of Scheyern taken from the 2d
floor of the main building. The company was redesignated 116th Signal
Service Company under the command of the United States Army Security
Agency (USASA, or simply ASA) on 15 January 1946.
Almost immediately after occupying the former Luftwaffe site, the
troops began "plushing in". The original kaserne consisted
mainly of a 3-story typical German Army (wermacht) barrack building
(on the left in (Photo of Lt Sarbaugh on horse),
quite unlike American encampments stateside (two-story wood barracks
built as "temporary" quarters).
The operations area was located in the attic above the third floor.
Modern intercept equipment supplied by the National Security Agency
(NSA) via Vint Hill Farms supply operations, was installed in
standard RETMA racks. Receivers, principally Hammurland BC-1004's and
BC-794's, were coupled to the antenna field located in farmland
across from the kaserne, via rack-mounted multicouplers. Antennas
installed on 80-120 foot high steel towers were mainly rhombics,
doublets, and longwires giving coverage over a wide band of
frequencies. Mission coverage was assigned by NSA in accordance with
our "cold war" defense strategies.
A Direction Finder (DF) site was assembled on some farmland on a hill
a few miles from the kaserne, near the village of Vieth. A small out
building (Photo of Joe D., Roth & Pappy Commings)
was built to house the operating elements of an SCR-291 direction
finder set. The SCR-291 (originally installed in an HO-17 shelter),
consisted of a very sensitive receiver, a signal sensing amplifier,
and a goniometer (an electro-mechanical device driving a CRT display
to indicate the direction of arrival of a target signal). The antenna
was a U-Adcock system consisting of four corner poles, with a center
pole that was used to determine the direction of the target. This DF
site was aligned with sites at Bremen, Herzo Base, and Passau,
providing an adequate baseline for triangulation and target location.
Power to the site was furnished from two trailermounted PE-95
generators alternated on/off at four-hour intervals. Target
assignments were received from our own operations area or from one of
the other DF sites on the baseline. Communications were via landline
teletype with data encrypted on one-time pads. The success of
locating targets by the triangulation method and establishing an
order of battle scenario contributed greatly to the ultimate end of
the "cold war".
An end now to piddling detail; on to the more important stuff:
welfare and morale of the troops. Support logistics for this remote
site, located roughly between Ingolstadt and Munich, a few miles in
from the Nurenburg-Munich autobahn on Route N13, was a real task on
one hand, on the other, it was convenient to be located a distance
from Headquarters ASA Europe, and from Munich Military Post. All
available vehicles were required to make the several daily runs
to-from Munich, to-from Herzo Base, and to-from Frankfurt (Hq ASAE).
Most vehicles were used to make runs to Munich Military Post for
rations, POL, and supplies. Personnel had to be transported to Munich
for sick call and dental care. Transportation had to also be provided
for travel to-from the dependent housing area in Pfaffenhofen a.d.
llm as well as a periodic "bus" run to and from
Pfaffenhofen for the troops who were off duty. Consequently most
shelters were off-loaded from 2.5 ton trucks and .75 ton trucks and
put into limited storage. Since no permanent drivers were assigned to
the unit motor pool, operations/administrative personnel were used to
augment the assigned mechanics to fill the void (Photo
of motor pool personnel).
The first major construction project was building another barracks
building (Photo of Don Cook & MSgt Smith
at wild west party). There was an old one-story building at the
back of the compound where supply, signal supply, utilities, and
other support sections such as the wire crew were crammed in. The new
building was used for troops on two main floors, and the
aforementioned elements in the basement. Other comforts of home added
were a gym, a movie, hobby shops, and a bowling alley. A new motor
pool garage was constructed to facilitate vehicle maintenance in
professional style (Photo of new garage).
When this building was completed, a Wild West party was put on and
all had a great time (Photos of Wasson,
Stephenson, Capt Rogner, Lt Horseman and wild west party dance).
The bowling alley was hauled board by board from Mutch-Riems AFB by
volunteers who were off duty.
Another innovative move was the instillation of a water supply with
pumping equipment for fire fighting - - thankfully the need never
arose, but, good planning dictated that this water supply reservoir
could double as a swimming pool (Photo of
reservoir diver).
Another diversion was the ASA Europe Olympics held at Herzo Base; 3
days of competition in track and field events (Photo
of ASA days, discus) and team sports between competitors
from Headquarters, ASA Europe, Herzo Base (mainly 114th Signal
Service Company and the 6th Detachment . . .the 6th later became the
8606th Field Station), and the 116th from Scheyern); with nightly
beer fests at the Peacock club. Travel to Herzo Base for those who
wanted to participate or spectate was strictly first class(Photos
of ASA days, travel to Herzo) (Photos
of ASA days,shooting craps). These Olympics provided a strong
camaraderie between the various units of ASA Europe.
Sports competition between the several organized sports teams of the
116th against various other elements of the European command kept the
sporting spirit alive and the company teams compiled an enviable
record for our unit.
Off-post activities were available and well used. The
"trick" schedules in those days were based on a 5-trick
system: 3 tricks worked days and swings, 6 days on and 3 days off.
Two tricks worked only the mid shift, 3 days on and 3 days off. To
while away all that free time one could visit the town of
Pfaffenhofen a.d. llm (Photo of Pfaffenhofen,
view from the church), a pass bus ran a regular schedule to town
and back.
While in Pfaff one could enjoy the amenities at the Bortenslager
Gasthaus (great food and beer) and a weekly dance. There were also
the Cafe Fussmeyer (Sonny's place) and the Muellerbrau Haus where the
food and drink were great and the company was most enjoyable.
Alternatively one could jump on the "Schnellzug" at
Pfaffenhofen Bahnhof and venture into Munich (Photo
of church from hauptbahnhof) (Photo
of bomb damage near hauptbahnhof) (Photo
of bomb damage) (Photo of more
bomb damage) where the diversions were endless, especially
during Fasching season and the Octoberfest.
In the main building, besides operations up in the attic, there were
2 floors of sleeping quarters (2nd and 3rd). On the first level there
was the orderly room, sleeping quarters for single senior NCOs,
kitchen, dining room (Photo of Skyline room),
and the dispensary. In addition to sleeping quarters on the 2d floor
there was a small library and a dayroom where many a pinochle game
was played. In the basement there was a barbershop, small PX, armory,
education center, pool tables and Ping-Pong tables.
An appendage to the main building was the "Bar Charlie"
club and a snack bar. The club had a small stag bar and a main room
that had tables around the perimeter of a good-sized dance floor with
a small stage(Photo of Bar Charlie dance floor).
Floor shows entertained regularly. An adjacent patio (Photo
of Bar Charlie patio) made the summer months enjoyable - - since
the club stayed open all day. (shift schedules demanded this), it
made the summer days comfortable.
Putz fraus who cleaned the sleeping areas, KPs, and waitresses who
served in the dining room were paid out of a "slush fund"
taken up at pay call each month.
There were very few dependents with the unit, they were housed in
private housing in a small area of Pfaffenhofen. Eventually two
apartment buildings were built near the kaserne for them.
A tour of duty in Scheyern was a much sought after assignment. There
were some vestiges of military maintained such as four hours military
refresher training each week, and occasional inspections; short field
exercises were part of the lifestyle also (Photo
of temporary latrine) (Photo of soldier shaving) (Photo
of two soldiers) (Photo of machine gun).
A roster was kept of those who didn't "toe the line", they
were eventually enrolled in a "goon platoon" (Photo
of the Goon Platoon). Men assigned to that platoon were relieved
of all normal duties and were subjected to rigorous refresher basic
training. This exercise made believers out of the worst cases. With
this as the one strictly military course of events, life was, for the
rest of us, very pleasant.
In June 1950, the North Korean Army drove south in an attempt to
unify their country which had been divided along the 38th parallel at
the end of WWII. When the US Army started looking for the SIGINT
support they thought they had, they could only come up with the 60th
Signal Service Company at Ft. Lewis WA. Soon the 114th and the 116th
were ordered to get back into their roles as SIGINT support units for
elements of 7th Army Europe. Both units started restoring the mobile
intercept equipment (TC-9 Intercept Centrals, if memory serves),
taking them out of limited storage. The 114th headed out of Herzo
Base to Giessen; some of their personnel, led by Capt. Eldon J.
Burgett with 1st Sgt Israel Sternberg, joined us in Scheyern for the
road march on March 15th, 1951, to Herzo Base. At Herzo we set up
operations in the field across from the operations hangar, troops
were billeted in the barracks vacated by the 114th (Photo
of 114th Headquarters building). The other half of the 116th had
remained in Scheyern and eventually became the 8608th USASA Field
Station. At Herzo Base, the 6th Detachment remained in operation in
the hangar; that unit eventually became the 8606th USASA Field
Station. The original 116th operations mission was picked up from
Scheyern, and was continued as assigned by NSA, dropping it for any
period the unit hit the autobahn for a new location (there were to be
many). For a continuation of the 114th Sig Srv Co (331 Comm Recon
history, see Dean Slagle's website at: nasaa-home.org/asa/slagle
In May 1951, the unit was march-ordered up to Coburg where operations
was resumed on the flugplatz above the Coburg castle (Photo
of Coburg Castle) and (Another Photo of
Coburg Castle), with the billeting area set up in pup tents along
and in the wood line (Photo of solder
along wood line) and (Photo of pup
tents in wooded area). After a couple of weeks in pup tents
troops were moved into town to share a kaserne with the US
Constabulary border patrol force.
In July that same year the unit moved into the French Zone of
Occupation and set up operations on a hill above the French Army's
kaserne that was to be vacated by the French troops and readied for
the 2n Armored Division being airlifted to Germany from Fort Hood TX.
While the troops were allowed the use of shower facilities and other
amenities in the kaserne, they remained billeted in pup tents (Photo
of pup tents in French zone) until their departure for Heilbronn
in October. When the unit departed Baumholder a few men were left
behind with Warrant Officer Pete Balyk to site test for a field
station location. The field station was instead located in Harrogate, England.
In Heilbronn operations were again resumed on a flugplatz, with
billeting in pup tents set up in the woods. On 31 October
barracks in Badnerhof Kaserne were ready and the unit was finally
billeted in what was believed to be a permanent garrison; dependent
quarters were allotted for the married troops. The 502d Group with
the 302d Battalion were moved into the kaserne also, which we shared
with two transportation trucking companies. At this point in time all
units were redesignated as Communications Reconnaissance units. The
116th became the 332 Communications Reconnaissance Company).
In spring 1952, the unit moved up to Hof, a border town, and set
operations not too far from the east-west border. During this and
subsequent moves the families were left behind in Heilbronn. Small
units were sent to set up operations in the wood line on the edge of
the east-west buffer zone for better reception of low level signals.
Again, operations was set up in a field and pup tents were used for
billets. Shower and other facilities were available a few kilometers
away in Bayreuth. In October the unit returned to operations and
billets in Heilbronn.
In the spring of 1952 the unit again march ordered up to Coburg where
operations were set up on the flugplatz and pup tents were again
pitched in the woods. After a few weeks the troops were billeted in
the kaserne now occupied by the newly formed Bundesgrenshutz (German
border patrol that had replaced the Constabulary). Normal garrison
living resumed with Saturday inspections in ranks outside and in
quarters inside being the highlight of the week.
In December 1953 the unit was moved into Bamberg and was later
redesignated the 332d United States Army Security Agency Company.
This Narrative was written and submitted by Jim W. Clinton. All
photos also submitted by Jim W. Clinton.
116th shoulder Patch
Updated 9 Feb 2009