S&S - U.S. Army Europe tries to save page in history

Stars and Stripes

U.S. Army Europe tries to save page in history


By Nancy Montgomery, Stars and Stripes

European edition, Saturday, February 7, 2009


HEIDELBERG, Germany — Just before Gen. B.B. Bell departed U.S. Army Europe, he gladdened the hearts of his command historians with a grand idea: a world-class museum and convention center to be built at Grafenwöhr.

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Snippet(s):

"(A)s units decamped from Germany in the force realignment, all manner of "artifacts" remained, piling up in warehouses, trailers and depots, or just hanging out near flag poles."

"(T)he 1st Armored Division is poised to return its headquarters from Baumholder to Fort Bliss, Texas. The question of what to do with all its artifacts — and the fact that when the 1st AD museum goes to Texas, there won’t be any museum in USAREUR — has raised anew the question of a museum to tell U.S. Army Europe’s story."

"That’s 140 big items like tanks and 2,700 little things such as uniforms, weapons, documents, rations, telephones."

"The 1st Infantry Division spent some $683,000 dismantling its award-winning museum and painstakingly packing and shipping, among other artifacts, 18 tanks to Fort Riley, Kan., when it left Germany in 2006."

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"Even while many artifacts have been returned to the U.S., others remain. Displays and artifacts from the 1st ID are being stored in a Thompkins Barracks warehouse in Schwetzingen. Then there is the depot in Germersheim, south of Heidelberg, where numerous old vehicles are being stored."