When our football team won European championship, at Freedom Bowl, down in Frankfurt, in 61. Cold day but that yak kept us warm. How our boxing team usually knocked out the German fighters, usually by the 2nd round. The trooper who owed every body money including the 5 for 10 guys, didn't pay all his debts one pay day,he was broke within the hour. Was threatened with bodily harm by many people. We are going to field, he is AWOL. Doty grabs me sends me downtown to check all the gin mills in my jeep hoping to find him before it becomes official. I have no luck, just before we head for field,trooper goes up to their room for something. Finds him hiding in his laundry bag tied to his bunk. Don't remember what they did with him. The jumpmaster 2nd Lt. who fell out of the plane when it banked ten clicks or so from the DZ. Apparently banged his head on the side of the plane and activated his reserve at same time. Witnesses (Germans) said he came down, both chutes open, then one would collapse, then both at same time, then one or both would open, on his way down, finally came in last 50 to 75 feet, neither open. Was busted up pretty good as I recall, never so him again or heard if he completely recovered. The troopers fully clothed, frolicking in the pond, slipping and falling on the algae,almost drowning, they were blasted out of their gourds from that Rhine wine, the bottles of which they were waving around, caused a mass exodus by the German population. The troopers got away before the cops and or MPs came. Winefest in Rudesheim. Octoberfest in Munich Lou Schreiner
I practice taking many spills, especially on wet cobblestone streets for the next few months. Now I feel I just know I am machineing hard justan old pro that I yam, I yam. Over night pass in hand I head up to the Tannes Mountains for some strange reason. To shorten this tale, I am zooming along, feeling no pain if you will, and forget to follow the road. Me and bike Go Airborne, I exit while in fright, and slam into a tree. I come to I don't know how much later, it is now dark as hell. Don't know where bike is. Climb 30 or so feet back up to road. In a complete daze, a comrade stops his car, speaks English, gives me a lift to the local bierstube and leaves. I drink myself into a stupor and somehow or other made it back to Lee Kaserne, before my pass was up. Lou Schreiner
Anyway do you recall his visit to Omaha Beach, where he happens to find all of those pretty white rocks among all that sand, and arranges them in the shape of a cross? Say "Willie" you think maybe some of those guys may have been atheists, jews, or other non-christians? You should have made every religous symbol out there. But then again where did you find those rocks? I visited that beach, all sand as far as I could see. Ask anyone who landed there or went back there about the rocks. And I really wanted to puke when you happened upon that G.I.'s grave where the flag had fallen to the ground and you so reverently replanted it. Funny how that just happened to be where you were. And just happened to have all those cameramen around. How do you have the audacity to so solemnly place the wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldiers. You are one phoney . To close "willie", if this comes to your attention and you stay true to form, the IRS can audit me all they like cause I don't have the proverbial pot to piss in. And the way you bravely send our armed forces in harms way and shoot off missiles really makes me wonder how a coward like you can so bravely send others into battle. When your term is up I hope they prosecute you for perjury and send you to the slammer. Lou Schreiner
Figured he knew what he was doing, I did not know how to drive at all. Next morning motor pool Sgt. hands me a pamphlet with about 120 traffic signs in it. Tells me study it when you are ready I'll give you the test. I take it and pass easily not because I am smart but because they are readily apparent as to what they mean because they had pictures on them. Next morning he hands me a license, guess he thought I could drive. Grab Norman Pico, he shows me where brake is, gas pedal,clutch, and how to start it. He goes off to sleep. I sneak over to library get a book on driving and start to drive around motor pool. Stalling, bucking etc. some days later shows me 4 wheel drive. First couple of weeks, especially in field, give the guys quite a few exciting, road trips, near brushes with disaster and gray hairs. Cause this didn't stop me from learning to ride my motorcycle til I crashed. By the way what probably saved me that time, was it was a big old fir tree and I was already numb when I went off that mountain. Lou Schreiner
Going to Baumholder one day, in a plain old jeep, driving an Lt. up there for some reason, flying along, kraut cops around curve in road clearing up an accident scene, again stupidly slam on brakes, skid lord knows how far, jeep becomes airborne, we fly in komrad's sugar beet field, land in a cloud of dust. No damage Lt. has a case of the ass, as we used to say, kraut cops shake their heads, into 4 wheel drive and voila, journey resumed no harm done. Lou Schreiner
Your a - s is grass and I'm the lawnmower. I'll jump in your s - - t boy if you don't shape up. Even my s - - t has muscles. Get down and get 10 boy. Give me 20 more you looked like a monkey f - - - ing a football. Police call, move out men, all I want to see is a - sholes and elbows. You men give me a case of the a - s like a russian jumpmaster with a plane load of Whatever man or men he was chewing out. Give me 50 squat jumps boy. My three or whatever amount of stripes he wore is trump. When on the pull up bar, which he so kindly let you do to build up your muscles before you could enter the mess hall, he would say I'll count them for you boy, and they better all be F - - - ing Airborne ones. And no matter the number all of a sudden you'd hear three, three, three, what are you a leg? This also was a favorite of the N.C.O.,s in jump school. No matter they were good pull ups it was just sarge"s way of shaping you up. Of course sometimes in jump school, and once in a while in your unit, you'd be chuted up,all your gear if it wasn't a hollywood jump, and you'd hear that gruff vocie shout give me 50 squat jumps. Or to the new guy on the block he'd send you off to the other company supply sergeants to get him a f - - -ing canopy light if you were making a night jump. Or maybe a sky hook. Or a broom for the stick pusher to sweep up the plane as he made his way to the door. And always he said best you don't come back without one boy, or your a - s will be on K.P. for a month. More will follow as time permits, cause there was a lot of these quaint expressions from dear old sarge. Lou Schreiner
Looking good troopers, you people are Strac today. In the old army, any number of quaint sayings, such as: Ah pulled K.P. at the last supper. When Christ was king ah was a pvt. in the rear most rank. Ah was a sgt. when Christ was a corporal. During manuevers in the woods, you people are making more noise than a cow p - - sing on a flat rock. If this s - - t was real you'd get yore poor old sgt. kilt. Then what would his dear old mooma do, Huh you spect her to go on welfare, shape up or I'll ship yore sorry a - ses out. To a junior sgt sneer and say look here cruit and commence to bust his boots. Ah ain't yo momma. I ain't yore godamned poppa, Ah'm you godamned Sgt. That clear troop? But he would be the first guy to lend you a sympathetic ear or a helping hand. He just had to maintain that hard bad a - sed AIRBORNE SERGEANT PERSONA.
Sometimes in my twilight hours when I can't sleep, in a sort of hazy vision, I can see myself and those I once knew so well, standing tall, looking STRAC, gleaming brass, that glider patch, spit shined jump boots, that blue infantry braid, but most of all I see those shiny silver parachute wings.You had to want them in order to get them. There was lots of sweat, physical pain, overcoming the innate fear man has of falling through space. I am not ashamed to admit that I momentarily froze in the door of the 34 foot tower. I don't honestly think I was scared but more like thinking how unreal this is. I believe it was that hard charging jump school Sgt. Conway, who yelled in my ear, "Boy do you want to be one, or you gonna be a leg". Out I went p - - s poor jump natch. Went back up did it over and over as we all did. No one razzed me because I think everyone knew it could have been them. And I wasn't the only one that day or probably some in every class. The ground training, mock ups, PLF,s PT, the runs, and of course the nutcracker. The first jump from an aircraft while in fright, eh I mean flight. Another 17 year old kid named Schaefer was #1 man, I was #2. He asked me to boot him out if he froze. I wasn't scared a bit, all that adrenaline, I guess. Schaefer went and I stood in the door (individual tap outs first jump), ground looked like a checker board, looked at the aircraft wing, Sgt. tapped me and instead of shouting "Geronimo" which I wanted to do, to keep up the tradition of the WWII troopers, I shouted, "Son Of A Bitch". Chute opened, seemed I was stationary in the air, once I got down to what we called tree top height, I knew I was falling at a good rate of speed toward earth. They told us it was the same impact as jumping from a 3 story building. Correct, I hit like the proverbial sack of you know what. Five jumps and I was in the greatest brotherhood on earth in my opinion. AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY Lou Schreiner 
Drive On Lou Schreiner  |
