Military  File

 of

                                       David  W. Demmy,  Sr.

 

Service Numbers		US 51 517 758
Years & Months	US Coast Guard – Cape May, NJ 1966.	Honorable Discharge
Served:	PA National Guard 1967. US Army  9 Feb 68 — 29 Jan 70. US Army Reserves  1970 — 1979.	Honorable Discharge Honorable Discharge Honorable Discharge

 

 

Where Served:	Ft. Jackson, SC;     Ft. Ord, CA;     Ft. Knox, KY;     Ft. Dix ,NJ;
	Ayers Kaserne, Kirchgöens, FRG; near Butzbach, Germany.
	Fort Indiantown Gap, Annville, PA.

                                        

                                            

Miscellaneous:	(experiences, rank, awards, etc.)
Experience:	Advanced Infantry Training; Armored Personnel Carrier Driver;
	3rd Armored Division, NCO Academy Staff Personnel Sergeant. 441st Personnel Service Co., Personnel Management NCO, USAR.
	Adjutant General Personnel Training.
Rank:	Sergeant First Class.
Awards:	Army Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon.
	Sharpshooter Badge, With Auto Rifle tab.
	Marksman Medal, With machine gun tab.
	1   Good Conduct Medal with bronze clasp bar.
	2   USAR Achievement Medal.
	3   National Defense Service Medal.
	4   Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal.
	5   U S Army Cold War Victory Medal.
	6   Overseas Service Medal.
	7   US Army Service Medal.
	Letters of Appreciation.
	Cold War Certification.
	4 Honorable Discharge Certificates

                                   

 

 

General Comments:	Born in Harrisburg, 1947 and raised in Colonial Park. Graduated from Central Dauphin High School 1965. Harrisburg Area Community College
	Inducted into US Army in February 1968.
	Boot Camp:  Fort Jackson, South Carolina
	Advanced Infantry Training:  Fort Ord, California
	Track Driver school – Armored Personnel Carrier, Fort Knox, KY
	Departed Fort Dix, NJ – Arrived overseas in July 1968.
	On Stand-By Alert:  Russia walked into Czechoslovakia, Fall of 1968.
	Personnel Staff NCO at 3rd Armored Division NCO Academy.
	Attached to 1st Brigade Headquarters Ayers Kaserne, KG
	Departed Germany, January 1970; joined U S Army Reserve.
	Received another Honorable Discharge, 7 February 1979.

 

Good Conduct	USAR Achievement	National Defense	Armed  Forces Reserve	Cold  war  Victory	Overseas Service	US  Army Service

 

                                   

                       

Welcome
to the Rock,

Ayers
Kaserne

 (U. S. Army Post)

Outside
of the small village of

 Kirchgöens,
Germany

 

 

 Front   Gate

  

 

Tank in front of 1st Brigade Headquarters next to Flag Pole at Parade Field.

 

	3rd Armored Division Non-Commissioned Officers Academy Aetfon My home for a while!

  

 

Aerial
Photo of Ayers Kaserne, “The Rock”, taken in 1996

by the
Stadt Government of Hessen,
Germany. 

Note that this photo of Ayers Kaserne which was the home of the largest
combat brigade in Europe during the cold war years, was taken after the US Army down-sizing and retirement of the 3d Armored Division, thereby forcing the closure of the Kaserne by the US Army and subsequent return of the facility back to the German Government where it has deteriorated into tall grass and broken glass.

NCO Academy, indicated below by blue rectangar item,  located
across street from Post Movie Theater!

Bar
and Grill

outside of Kaserne!

This photo is viewed from the front gate at bottom of photo; the parade field is visible in the center.  To the immediate left of the parade field is the brigade headquarters buildings and the post flag pole and the two tanks.  To the immediate right of the parade field which for those veterans serving on Ayers Kaserne in the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s remember being a vacant field is the barracks and admin buildings for the 2/3 Field Artillery which were constructed in the early 1980’s when the 2/3 FA moved from Schloss Kaserne in Butzbach to Ayers Kaserne.     In this photo the motor pool is empty since the brigade no longer existed when the photo was taken.

 

Ayers
Kaserne
movie Theatre

The NCO Academy was located two
doors to viewers left, catty-corner from theater.

Rod and Gun Club was several
blocks to the right and then an immediate right turn!

When not working in the Orderly Room of the NCO Academy as the Personnel Staff NCO, David W. Demmy worked part-time evenings and weekends at the Rod and Gun Club.  An employe there could have passed
for Rob Dixon of ABC-27.  Another employe was Ron Moody and he resembled someone I have seen in Central Pennsylvania.   A fellow who did quik-draw shooting against TV stars like James Arness of Gunsmoke fame was stationed with us at Kirchgöens.  He had to have a special permit from the Army to transport his double six-guns from duty station to duty station.  We always enjoyed his trick gun and fast draw antics.

 

The weather was generally dry and mild all year round; not harsh winters like in Pennsylvania.  Hardly any snow; more like cool autumn in Harrisburg year round.  Winter, gloves were welcomed, but heavy duty coats were not necessary in this area.  Summer time was cool, not really warm enough for swimming.
The Fulda Gap was a different story.
Parkas were needed there to keep warm and 2 sets of long johns too.

 

The trooper, facing the camera above, could easily have been the Personnel Staff NCO, David W. Demmy, of the Noncommissioned Officers Academy, during 1968, 1969, and 1970; however, David’s boots were always highly spit-shined and his uniform was always heavy starch and freshly pressed.

David was always one ‘Strac’ Trooper!

 

Strac is Army slang for very
sharp, with high military bearing!

Always squared away, ready
for anything!

  

Image of Kirchgöens Rod & Gun Club Patch
available to members of the club.

The KG Rod and Gun Club located at the rear of Ayers Kaserne near the obstacle course and Class VI store was a source of relaxation and enjoyment for many service members through the years stationed at Ayers Kaserne. Although the physical facility was small, it housed a bar, which offered American, and German Beer (Leicher was the house favorite), sodas, various hot and cold sandwiches and others snacks.  It also had a jukebox with the favorite country-western tunes of the day. 

The KG Rod and Gun Club also had a gun store, which carried a good supply of rifles, shotguns and pistols for sale.  If they didn’t have the weapon you desired in stock they would order it for you at reasonable prices.  They would also assist service members in preparation and shipment of, personally owned weapons, back to the United States. 

The KG Rod and Gun Club was more than just a bar with a jukebox.  Across the street from the Club there was a skeet and trap range where members routinely practiced the sport and more often than not several local German friends from the villages of Kirchgöns, Pohl Göns, Butzbach, and even Geese frequented the club and joined the Americans at the skeet and trap range and later into the club to enjoy a warm beer.  Many of the American members were routinely invited to join their German neighbors to hunt in the German countryside with them during the particular seasons, and did.  

The KG Rod and Club periodically held skeet shoot competitions with other Rod and Gun Clubs through Germany and USAREUR.  The Hanau, Giessen, and Graf Rod and Clubs were routinely visited by members of the KG Rod and Gun Club.  

Continued

This is not the end, but a
preview of “The Rock Soldier” by David W. Demmy, Sr.

 

GI Joe on his way to becoming a Noncommissioned Officer

 

This is a view of my desk in my room

Bed headboard shown in background

Circa
1969

This is not the end, but a
preview of “The Rock Soldier” by David W. Demmy, Sr.