1971 - 72 One year with the 2/15 Infantry

Pictures provided by Bruce Reno - Thank's Bruce!!

I arrived at Wildflecken on a cold January morning 1971 at 2:am in the back of a Deuce and a half. As we were going up the Hill, I could see street lights and more snow than I have ever seen before; being from Texas, I thought it looked like the North Pole! Later I found out that they had a record snowfall for that winter. As we moved up the Hill, I noticed all the lights went out; street lights and everything else, they came back on after a few minutes, but I thought, what am I getting myself into! Come daylight, I really got a chance to see how beautiful this place was. Snow-covered hills, cobblestone roads, ancient looking barracks. I felt I had been transported back to the time of World War-2. Later we got a chance to walk around and explore and as we were walking down the road we came up on the Service Club. What a magnificent building! The inside was just as grand; hardwood floors, huge high ceilings. What a great place!

In front of my barracks.

The back of my barracks.

I was assigned to the 2ND. BAT.15TH. Inf.3rd Inf. Div. Mechanized. We sure tore up a lot of countryside with our new 113 APC'S. They had just changed over from gas to diesel. It was so cold when we were in the field. I got good use of my field jacket, in fact, I still have it and wear it to work in the winter; what little winter we have here in Texas. While we were tearing around the country-side I got a chance to see lots of great sites: old castles, WW-2 ruins, the monastery, great beer, beautiful place, great countryside! I remember one summer when we were out in the field, we were on top of a hill and you could look down on a village (don't know the name), and all the way down that hill was nothing but yellow flowers, all over the place. Maybe they were weeds but it sure looked nice with that village in the background.

Me in Wildflecken, 1971.

With some other guys in front of my barracks.

Sept. 7, 1971 - view from my window

Once they had a carnival in front of the Service Club. They had rides and games. What I thought was cool was that if you played the games and won you could get a bottle of wine. I just turned 21 so I thought that was great! It didn't taste too good, but we drank it anyway!

My buddy Eddie Strunk-
think those blankets are not army issue....

Wildflecken Feb.26, 1971

Me on May 3, 1971

I have such great memories of Wildflecken, so many stories, some I better not repeat (ha, ha). Some people say they hated it because of the isolation, but I loved it! When I got my orders to come home, I felt like I was leaving my home. I will never forget Wildflecken! It will always be a part of me!

Bruce Reno