Ranger school started immediately after jump school was over. Needless to say, our numbers were reduced significantly during jump school. Many of our classmates could not put up with the intense physical requirements of jump school and so returned to Camp Pickettto their former units. Others were not able to jump from the 34 foot, or the 250 foot towers, while others could not jump from the planes. The eventual TO&E of a Ranger Company was about 120 men, so drop-outs were expected during the training phase and others were to be weeded out for other reasons, until the TO&E was met. In the picture on the right (Click for a larger copy) I've identified myself, Harold (on my immediate right); Herman Boldt, who will later become more a part of my life; Harry Beers, a very good friend from Waterbury; Bob Ladow, who married my cousin, Claire Archambault, and our company commander, Captain Victor Harwood. The picture is 1/4th of class 36. Many others were from the 187th RCT, the main airborne unit in Korea.
Airborne Class 36 Jump School - Ft Benning GA, 1951
After graduating from jump school, our company moved to the Harmony Church area of Fort Bennng, where we began our Ranger training. This training was extremely physical and arduous, and many times went on for 24 hours without stop. Which meant we were away from home a lot, leaving the two wives alone. They soon couldn't get along with each other and made life difficult for Harold and I. But eventually, Betty hopped a plane and went home. So Harold moved back to the barracks.
Warm Springs Rd, Columbus GA. Harold's car.
One incident I recall was a jump we made at Fryar Field, across the Chattahoochee river in Alabama. We then had to get back across the river into Georgia by a team paddling across in a rubber raft, pulling a rope behind them. When they got across, they tied the rope to a tree and the rest of us got across by raft and just pulling along the rope. It was a hot miserable day, and I must have forgotten to fill my canteen. When I reached the river, I was so thirsty that I scooped a bit of the river water in my hands and swallowed just a small amount. The water was brown and filthy. But I was so overcome with thirst, that I needed water, any water. When I got back home later, I was so sick, I almost died. The only thing that saved me was the tender care I got from Therese. I can never forget that. Years later, when I made a business trip to Atlanta, I ate at a restaurant on the Chattahoochee river. The food was great, but one look at the river, it hadn't changed at all.
At the end of June or early July, we embarked on the next phase of our training,namely, mountain training. We boarded a troop train for Camp Carson, (now Fort Carson), Colorado. The trip took 5 days. We went west towards the Mississippi, then North to Chicago, then west to Colorado. It was a long trip, but I got to see a lot of the country. We spent a month in the mountains of Colorado, around Pike's Peak, doing all sorts of mountaineering, but mostly walking from one mountain to another. One day we walked up Pike's Peak, which took us eight hours, and then back in two.Pike's Peak, Colorado springs, CO
Starting out from our camp, about two mountains away from Pike's Peak, we eventually got on the road going to the top. That made walking a lot easier. When we reached the top, there was an indoor canteen where we were able to get coffee and donuts. There were also a lot of civilians there who had gotten there in their cars. Coffee was 50 cents a cup, quite high at the time, (usually 5 or 10 cents a cup in 1950), but of course, we were quite high, 14,110 feet, to be exact.
Not too far away from our camp was Cripple Creek, CO, an old, at one time prosperous, gold mining town. But now, mostly a ghost town. There was a hotel in town that catered to the tourist trade and with a theater that featured old melodramas. One night we were able to hitch hike into town where we were treated to the show, pop corn and beer, by the civilian tourists. A quite enjoyable evening. The local sheriff shuttled us all back to our camp. It was while in the Rockies that I received a Dear John letter from Therese. She had stayed in Columbus and my being away so much was getting to her. But before we were done training, she returned to CT.
At the end of August, we returned to our home base, Camp Pickett. We had been promised a leave when we got back. We had been through a long and arduous training period and we welcomed some time off. However, we soon learned that we were to leave the following Monday for Fort Bragg, NC for maneuvers with our Division.
My concern was the immediate problem that Therese and I were having and I needed to get back to CT to see her. So, with Harry Beers, we went AWOL and hitch hiked to CT. Maybe half of our company went AWOL. In fact we had a sign out sheet for those going AWOL. I did make it to CT, where we resolved our difficulties and then Harry and I hitch hiked back. We got back before our company was scheduled to leave for Fort Bragg, but General Cramer wanted all of us who went AWOL court martialed.
The court assembled that Monday morning and we missed the convoy to Fort Bragg. But after it was over, they trucked us down separately. We didn't want to miss the maneuvers, because we needed to make a jump to keep our jump pay intact. A paratrooper must make at least one jump every three months to get jump pay, which at that time was 50 dollars a month. The last time we made a jump was at Fort Benning the previous June and it was now almost September. I was fined 50 dollars and reduced a grade. Years later I had to get a waiver from the court martial in order to become a Warrant Officer.
We made our jump right into a field surrounded by newsmen with cameras that of course, alerted our enemy (these were only maneuvers) of our impending jump. I was captured by a tank crew along with other members of my Company, but we were later ordered released by the umpires because of the fact that this would not have occurred in real life, that is, with all the cameras and newsmen around. So now I was separated from the rest of my company, I guess there was one other trooper with me, so we just started walking down this dirt road, when we saw a truck come by with the cooks from our company. So we hitched a ride with them and got back to our company area. We spent the rest of the day swimming and having ice cream from a Good Humor vendor who also had gotten a heads up.
When we got back to Camp Pickett after the maneuvers, we learned that all Ranger Companies were to be disbanded and we would be given our choice of assignment to either return to our original units, or with any airborne unit. It seems that the Ranger Company concept was not working as had been hoped in Korea.The Company sized units were too small to have an impact. From then on up to today, Ranger units would be of at least Battalion size, though the Ranger school would be open to individuals. That's why in today's news reports, when you see carreer officers, they all sport the Ranger tab on their left shoulder. You can't get ahead in today's army without being a graduate of Ranger school. It seemed to me that going into combat with men that you've trained with, as our company had, was one thing. But going to Korea as a replacement infantry soldier with guys you haven't trained with was something else. So, that was not an option for me.
After mulling it over for a while, I selected The Airborne School at Fort Benning. There were at least 7 of us who opted for the Airborne School. Among them, besides myself, were Harold Hodgkinson, Bob Ladow, Herm Boldt and our commanding office, Capt. Victor Harwood. But before being accepted, we had to make a trip to Ft Benning and be interviewed. I was interviewed and accepted a job with the Heavy Drop group as an assistant instructor. So in September of 1951, my grunt work in the Infantry was over. So back to Fort Benning we went into a new job.
