3 December, 1954

Ringing Phones, Exploding Bulbs Mark 63d's Job

Ringing telephones, exploding flash bulbs and clacking teletype machines at installations throughout the command all point to the 63rd Sig Bn, which operates and maintains fixed communication facilities. Photography, radio, teletype and telephone are the battalion's main business. Relay stations, maintained by the unit, are located in Salzburg, Linz, Innsbruck and Vienna.

The battalion is divided into four companies, and has three attached units. Hq/Hq Co, A, B and C Cos, 258th Sig Co, 7644th STIT and 541st Sig Depot have personnel spread throughout the command as radio operators, linemen, telephone operators, telephone repairmen and teletype operators.

Under the direction of Mr Samuel Fisch, Sig Photo Section Chief, the 63rd's lensmen provide photographic coverage, still and motion, ground and aerial, for USFA Hqs, Area Cmd and Tac Cmd. They also supply aerial and motion picture coverage for Vienna and Spt Cmds.

Recently a film on Tac Cmd's Mountain Training Center called "USFA Troops Learn Their A B Skills," was used by NBC and Universal News. Other films sent Stateside for processing and possible release to television and newsreel companies covered Vienna guard changeover ceremonies and various honor guards in the command.

10 September, 1954

USFA Signal Supply Point

"Mobile" and "independent" are the labels which best describe the USFA Signal Supply Point at Grödig. When a teletype machine at Brenner Pass starts printing garbled messages, a team is dispatched almost immediately to make the necessary repairs. The organization also maintains similar emergency service for units using radio, radar and other electronic equipment. Military personnel working at Grödig are members of the 541st Sig Co (Depot). They are commanded by Capt. Martin R. Preville, who is also in charge of all supply point operations.

The men are billeted and mess at Camp Roeder, but the orderly room and all other company facilities are at Grödig. The unit maintains its own motor pool there. When it moved from Wels two and a half years ago, it found that its assets amounted to only two large buildings. Members of the company went to work putting in partitions, making offices, painting signs and setting up electrical circuits.

With the exception of the Signal Depot at Leghorn, the 541st is the highest echelon of signal supply and maintenance in the command. The only camera and movie projector repair point in USFA is at Grödig. The projector section conducts 36 classes a year throughout the Austrian command.

Captain Preville estimates that 15 of his men are traveling continually. Some are making service calls throughout USFA. Others are conducting projectionists schools. Three or four men are inspecting signal equipment throughout the command. Passes are issued by MOS because men from each section must be on call 24 hours a day. When the mobile teams are not on the road, they service their own equipment and replenish the supply drawers of the trucks. Preville uses the inspection team to check his own company. "We don't want anybody to find us guilty of the very same things we criticize elsewhere in the command," he says.

10 September, 1954

69th Engineer Company (Topo)

The 69th Engr Co (Topo), located at Camp Roeder, furnishes the entire command with maps for training and maneuver purposes. The unit performs a highly technical operation.

Map production in the 69th consists of five phases - Operations, Photo Mapping, Plates, Reproduction and Distribution.

The operation section plans the map, the area it will cover and its final size. This is accomplished by using aerial photos or by surveying the area. The photo mapping section, made up of draftsmen, draws up the map in detail for the lithographers at the plate section. Actual printing of the map takes place at the reproduction section. Multi-colored maps must go through the presses one time for each color desired. "Actually, the process goes quickly," says 1st Lt Herbert W. Nichols, 69th Engr CO. "Approximately 5,000 four-color maps can be turned out in four hours." The distribution section handles the final phase - storing for future use and completing orders for units in the USFA command.

25 March, 1955

'Copter Ambulance Det Observes 2d Anniversary

USFA's 58th Med Det (Helicopter Ambulance), the first unit of that type to be organized in Europe, will celebrate its second anniversary on April 1.

Activated in 1953 to perform air rescue work in the Austria Alps, the unit employs operational techniques carried over from the Korean War. In Korea, copters were used to fly wounded from terrain inaccessible to any other type of transportation.

Last July, during the record Inn River flood, 58th pilots flew 21 straight hours rescuing water-soaked victims from isolated farms and flying supplies to homeless survivors in Braunau, Linz, Passau and Rosenheim. A month later, 1st Lt Darwin S. Yoran participated in the rescue of two workers from the Saalach River. Yoran maneuvered his copter onto a small island where the pair was dragged by lifelines.

The detachment's officers, headed by Capt Donald L. Miller, CO, are rated helicopter pilots and aid men. One of the men daily is on standby duty, and a copter, equipped with litters and blankets, is in readiness. Asked how long it would take to get a plane into the air once an emergency was announced, 1st Lt Cecil H. Grimes, company training officer, said, "Fifteen minutes probably, although we have gotten one up in 10." Enlisted men are assigned to either administrative, medical, air maintenance, communications, supply or ordnance sections, and the unit is "practically self-supporting," according to the first sergeant, Sfc Nick J. Leone. The company draws its own equipment, fuels and maintains its planes, handles its own communications and operates its own motor pool.

The supply sergeant, Sfc James H. Vandegriff, has a full-time job keeping the 58th in the air. "We have 700 spare parts on hand for these babies," he explained, "mostly small stuff like spark plugs and bolts." "And the men to install them quickly," added the line chief, Sfc Stanley K. Fergusen, whose mechanics keep the copters ready to fly.

Pvt Glenn R. Strausbaugh, who jockeys the outfit's tank truck, remarked: "These ships burn about 13 gallons an hour in the air. Last month was pretty light on flying time, and we still used 1,500 gallons." During maneuvers, such as "Exercise Roundup," the company headquarters hums with activity, as air rescue teams, composed of a pilot and an aid man, fly reconnaissance and pick up casualties, real and simulated.

25 February, 1955

640th Engr Co (FM)

The 640th Engr Co (Field Maintenance), located at Camp Roeder, was activated near Linz on January 6, 1945 (sic) and has remained in Austria since that date.

The company has a dual mission - direct support supply of engineer spare parts and third and fourth echelon maintenance of all engineer equipment in Austria. Each piece of equipment which is sent to the 640th for repair must have its organizational maintenance up-to-date. In the process of repairing the equipment, the unit will correct any deficiencies which are brought to light through the removal of parts.

The company, which has been commanded by Capt Manse R. Sharp, Jr., since June 16 of last year, prides itself in being composed of more than 50 percent Regular Army personnel.