In the Winter Wind ...
Fall arrives as the Eilzug at Bad
Kissingen; the Summer guests crowd on the platform in a mad
collision of luggage and expectation. Long felt before seen,
the express rolls in on the last Summer day, bathed in
shimmering yellow light, whistle screaming as though there was
just this one chance to depart. In a flash they’re gone, the
train, the guests and the long Summer days, the platform
covered with the accumulation of red, yellow and brown ticket
stubs, caught and swirling in the chilled wind of the
departing train.
The rail schedule changes and the
Winter local begins, arriving and departing several times each
day. The doors slide open and dark, cold days, sleet and then
snow disembark and greet the town. Unwanted guest but they
arrive each year and seem to stay too long. As this gray
train creeps into the Bahnhof, it pushes the last remaining
warm air and most of the color from the city with its pale
headlight. The cold sweeps down from the dark hills.
On Halloween night, the scene in the
modern business park that once was Daley Barracks features
pools of stark white light from the overhead lamps and the odd
jack - o - lantern pattern of yellow window lights as
custodians work through the offices. Neon and back lit
corporate signs of the modern new economy add a few desperate
splashes of color. Beyond the light ... shadows and
darkness.
There are a few remaining
places you can stand, with the moon darting between low
clouds, beyond the glare of the security lights, where the
view still is 1943 or 1977. The outline of the former cavalry
mess hall framed by the stone obelisk still recalls
Manteuffel Kaserne / Daley Barracks, further to the left, the
Bismarck Tower on the hill. While standing there and pawing
the earth with my boot where the HHT barracks / Squadron
Headquarters once stood, caught in the cold night air, a few
bars of music can be heard drifting from the distant parking
lot.
First recognized as some modern
German techno - pop, then, as I imagine the driver works
through the radio pre sets, the music changes. Next heard is
swing dance music from the 1930s and after only a few bars,
the start of an American bluegrass standard. Over in less
than half a minute, the sounds are lost in the wind, musical
ghosts of Manteuffel Kaserne - Daley Barracks.
The Boys in the Band: 1943
Colonel - Doctor Leidermann
Bad Kissingen
Wehrmacht Heer
I am not so sure that my military career is worthy of being
recalled in any great detail. Like so many, I did my job to
the best of my ability and unlike many, I lived to see the new
Germany. I would hope to be well remembered as a doctor who
tried to serve both Germany and the people for all of my adult
life. You have asked, however, about the band and my brief
time as musical impresario in Bad Kissingen, so I shall honor
your request.
As you may know, in Germany we had
the tradition of the “Winterhilfswerk“ (winter aide effort)
charitable campaign. Although started by the Ministry of
Propaganda in 1933, it was built on the existing Catholic and
Protestant traditions. As was the case in those days, the
Nazis pasted a flag and a slogan on something, called it their
own and made it a state wide event.
To assist charities in their efforts
to look after the less fortunate, through the Fall and early
Winter season, most areas of the Government organized ways of
raising funds. So, from the firemen to the police and so
forth, everyone was expected to do some small part. Even
during the war years, the Army was expected to take part in
the WHW campaign, and in Bad Kissingen, as the Commander of
the 13th Medical Replacement Training Battalion, organizing
our contribution plan fell, with a thud, on to my busy desk.
I noted to the Adjutant that he
should alert the staff and determine a plan for my approval
and, with a thud, the folder landed on his desk! My guidance
was that even in this war where the fortunes may have turned,
we should do something more creative than sending the troops
into town to beg for coins to put in our collection cans. On
a trip to Meiningen, I had seen the trainees from that
barracks collecting five Pfennig pieces on street corners and
they sadly looked like so many children in the beggar’s army.
Now in the staff, and unknown to me,
one of the officers had a background in the cabaret
entertainment business and together with the Adjutant, they
crafted an intriguing plan. Bad Kissingen had changed much in
the war years, the Kur industry increasingly supported our
military hospital system. Many of the civilian doctors had
been called to active duty, the guests were mostly gone as
were the entertainers and hotel staff that made the city come
to life in happier times. In that Winter of 1943, there were
increasingly fewer bright lights.
The plan presented to me by the
staff was that the officers and men of the battalion, as well
as the current class of trainees, would create either a winter
carnival or a musical review, invite all the city of Bad
Kissingen to the affair, charge an admission price and donate
the proceeds to the Winterhilfswerk.
For this gray soldier, the idea
sparked memories of my long ago student days, it was an idea
that caught my imagination as very creative. Many of my
battalion staff and men were reservists who had left their
civilian careers for the war; it was amazing just how many
hidden “ talents “ there were standing in the ranks. I
decided that the mostly comic musical review was my choice and
for a venue, I persuaded the Lord Mayor of Bad Kissingen to
allow us to use the City Theater. What theater staff
remained, primarily the older men, volunteered to help us out
and the rehearsals began.
Well, it is a longer story now made
short ... we trained as usual in the day and then the actors,
musicians and entertainers from the battalion refined their
performances. During the week, as I would walk the Kaserne at
night with the Sergeant of the Guard, from the squad rooms one
could hear the hard practices at work. On Fridays, we
entertained ourselves and the trainees with our level of
progress; the soldiers clapped and shouted approval or hooted
the less talented off the practice stage set up in the mess.
I had the final decision as to what acts were approved and
what the order would be.
We had so many soldiers involved!
The show consisted of a number of acts, there was a magician,
a trick - pistol shooter, a comic strong man act, a brief two
act ‘ mystery play ‘, a classical music interlude, singers,
medical soldiers dressed up as chorus girls, a ‘ swing music ‘
band, dramatic readings from famous German literature and so
on. Those who were not performers helped out as stage hands,
ushers, and footmen. We even had soldier - waiters to serve
to the audience a little wine and cheese I found as the
intermission snack.
So, finally, that November, with the
full support of the city of Bad Kissingen, the men of the 13th
Medical Training Battalion put the war and our worldly
concerns behind us for a few hours. They lit and heated the
theater and the audience arrived in full anticipation. It was
mostly the older people of the town, soldiers on leave, some
of the wounded and staff from the clinics now in use by the
Army, the politicians and others who somehow had avoided the
war. We charged a reasonable admission and made a noteworthy
financial contribution to the WHW campaign.
I will not tell you that every
musical note was perfect or that the acts were not without
unintentional humor but I will tell you this, as a doctor and
a career military man, there was little to happily remember
from that war. In later years, when asked of my service, I
would quickly cover my surgical, staff, command and inspection
positions but then tell a happy story of how we put life in
the cold theater, of the musical review my men and the
trainees created in the Winter of 1943, before the war swept
over us all.
I have not recalled that event in
many years now and express my thanks for allowing me to
remember the event one last time.
The Boys in the Band: 1977
LTC ( Ret ) John Gilbreath
Bad Kissingen
United States Army
If by chance, while moving through
the municipal airport in a thoroughly professional and
business like manner, you should observe an Eaglehorse trooper
you had not seen since 1977 ... and, upon establishing
contact and exchanging call signs and frequencies, you should
determine there is sufficient time to move into the local hide
position, pop the caps on a few long neck beers and swap tales
from what were, without doubt, the finest days of your young
lives ... and while laughing and telling lies, you should
suddenly notice that the best stories you told, either started
or ended with ... “and then that sum-bitch SCO, LTC Gilbreath
...“ ... then I would say that while the years may have
clouded you memories in some respects, you still clearly
recall the key part of the story!!!
Most of the stories you hear about
me are true, except for the boring ones, those are made up or
lies! I looked upon that Eaglehorse as my herd of young stud
mustangs ... and I was the big stallion. We went down the
trails I chose, at the speed I chose, we took water or feed
when I chose, we would walk, cantor, trot or charge when I
said. All I wanted was that we be fully combat ready and not
be bored. Hell!! You want me to tell the story of that
Eaglehorse band I dreamt up but there were so many other
outrageous things I pulled off ...
Let’s see ... charging the border
with the squadron in full combat formation, AVLBs rocking in
the wind when we pulled up to a stop within 200 meters of the
fence just to scare the shit out of those commies ... or the
time when on a terrain walk, some East German guard kept
giving me the eye and then pulls out a sandwich and starts
eating it right in front of me as though it was the best damn
commie sandwich you could ever find west of Moscow ... big
surprise when the next week, I held a formal sit down meal
within five meters of that same spot on the border, complete
with the silver squadron punch bowl ... or the time I spent
the entire day at Daley ending each conversation with ... “and
if it’s not done correctly, you’re fired!!“ ... no one lost
their job but everyone got the message .... how ‘bout the time
when the troopers just couldn’t live together in the barracks,
so I moved the entire squadron into the LTA for a week of
“refresher training“. Hell, the stories just keep coming ...
I kept badgering the H Company commander to do something
fantastic like steal the ½ track display vehicle from some
VII Corp post ... he finally found that junker at Graf, and
got it running ... so I liked to ride it around Daley when
the mood suited me ... or the time that warrant officer
married that beautiful German girl about ½ his age ... he
thought he was the big stud of the ranch ... I’ll tell ‘ya, I
was parading her sister and girl friends through my quarters
in groups of six!! And these are just the stories that are
rated PG!!
Anyway ... about the band ... when I
took command, the RCO made a big point of bragging about the
Fulda band that had accompanied him to BK ... this put a burr
under my saddle ... he had a big band but I doubted they could
shoot straight, I even told him so. I got together with my
Command Sergeant Major and told him to shake the rafters ‘
till we had a squadron band. Well ... he came up with some
troopers who had played in high school, we got the instruments
from Rec Services and by luck and by God, they actually
managed to organize themselves and learn a tune, one of my
favorites from my youth in Muleshoe Texas, “The Old Gray Mare
“!! They practiced a couple of times a month in the Squadron
HQ after duty hours.
So ... we would drag the band out on
any occasion possible, ride them in the ½ track, play at
functions formal and informal. I told the RCO, he could come
to BK anytime and hear them play a selection of Texas
favorites, (one tune) and I guaranteed they COULD shoot
straight!! Anyway, that’s the band story ...
Ya’ know, a few weeks back, I
watched that movie “Apocalypse Now“ and whenever I see that
Robert Duvall character, the Air Cav Squadron Commander,
doing battle management and organizing a surfing expedition
at the same time, I always smile and say, “ that guy reminds
me ... of ME! “ ... ‘course one of my buddies from those
days says that the Brando character, Colonel Kurtz, is a
better fit. Damn!! I just don’t get it, but he says it's
true ... go figure ...
Hey ... if ever you guys are in west
central Texas, recall your scout days of hot tracks in the
cold air and remember how to read a damn map, swing down the
road toward Clovis, New Mexico. As every local school kid
learns to tell that joke ... when you see Earth in the rear
view mirror you’re ½ way to Muleshoe. Check it out on a map,
HELL ... I might even be there, we’ll swap some lies and throw
back a few Lone Stars. I’ll tell the stories that weren’t
fit to print!!!
Note:
We have dramatized the first person
accounts of both Colonel Leidermann and LTC Gilbreath to help
bring this Hidden Story to life, however, the key facts
contained in the accounts are fully researched and presented
as accurate.
