May 19, 2013

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This and That - A Salute to All Veterans!
Written by Helen Kaverman   
Monday, November 12, 2012 11:54 AM

Army soldiers at chow time.
Army soldiers at chow time.
Back in 1957, 11 young men from the area were sitting in Dickman’s Restaurant shooting the breeze and trying to solve the problems of the world.  The employment situation was not very good at the time so these guys decided to join the Army.  Nine of them went to Lima on Monday to enlist. They were:  Bob Calvelage, Bob Heitmeyer, Kenny Kramer, Gene Krietemeyer, Gene Metzger, Jim Miehls, Orville Neidert, Louie Saum and John Wittler. All nine of the young men became part of the 4th Armored Division of the U. S. Army. After surviving boot camp, eight of the guys were sent to Germany but Kenny Kramer was kept back in the states to fill a position of clerk. This was during the Berlin Crisis in Operation Gyroscope. While Bob Heitmeyer and John Wittler were stationed in Nurnberg as MP’s, the other six were stationed in Schwabisch. The best thing about their tour of duty was that four of the guys lived in the same barrack, with the other two living in the barrack next door. Their job in Germany was to guard the Czechoslovakian Border. It wasn’t just a picnic, sometimes the temperature dropped to 30 degrees below zero. This was peacetime in Bavaria so there were weekends for relaxin’ time.