Warriors: 4/12 Infantry

First, let me tip you to Robert Tonsetic's Warriors: An Infantryman's Memoir of Vietnam, which provides some interesting history of 4/12 Inf back in 'Nam.

Returning to the main idea of the web beacon -- listing names in hope of helping people find each other -- let me briefly mention 1LT(P) Ed McLaughlin. As I recall, Ed came to Baumholder after a tour in Korea, so he was already a pretty senior Lieutenant when he first arrived. I think he was there in Germany for the winter of '88-'89, six months or so before the redesignation from 1/39 Inf. In any case, he was there with 4/12 Inf in late 1989.

Ed kept a collection of alarm clocks which he would time to go off mostly at once, but with one or two set on delay and left hidden somewhere in hope of finally rousing him at zero dark thirty each day. Must've been one hell of a treat for the neighbours. I'm not sure how well the alarms worked, but sooner or later each morning someone must have come around in person to hammer on his door and put an end to the racket. Otherwise, he'd probably still be there sleepin'.

Yep, yet another good guy among a whole bunch of good guys.

Ed, where are you now?

The Movie King, 4/12 Inf, Baumholder 1989

2LT Dan Albert arrived in Baumholder with what must have been the most comprehensive collection of movies on video ever found at H D Smith Barracks, not excluding the storeroom of the Wagon Wheel Theater. Will have to go back through my emails to find out what other news I've had of Dan. Understand he ended up in Japan as an Aide-de-Camp to some general, but don't know any details.

In any case, if he turns up in Hollywood one day then remember that you first heard the tip right here.

One day I decided to put Dan to the test by asking after a copy of Das Boot -- and sure enough, he walked over to his cabinet and pulled the tape right off a shelf. This at a time when your average joe couldn't get his hands on even art house blockbusters.

What an amazing run of films the New German Cinema had in the 70s and early 80s! Herzog, Fassbinder, Wenders, Petersen and so forth -- no matter how anti-American and left wing -- well, watching their period work takes me straight back to life in Germany in those days. Hell, you can watch it with the sound off and it's still worth your while.

I've been in touch with the German distributor of Edgar Reitz's Heimat series with a view to getting this stuff released on DVD here in Australia. Good luck with that, I'd say. So why do I raise it here? Because Heimat was shot just up the road from Baumholder, in Morfeld.

But, once again, I see that I'm beginning to digress.

A Blackened Peace: 4/12 Inf In Action

I recently discovered some on-line fiction, "A Blackened Peace", which centers on 4/12 Inf in Bosnia. Can't yet say whether it's a satisfactorily accurate account, since I haven't read it, but at a glance I'd guess the author's a 4/12 Inf veteran. Just sent him an email to find out.

Meanwhile, for your reading pleasure, check out the link above. One doubts that we'll ever challenge the Royal Welch Fusiliers when it comes to military memoirs, but at first glance this looks like a respectable start.

p.s. add your name to the roster now!

The Chemo, S-3 Shop, 4/12 Inf 1989

In 1989, the 4/12 Inf Chemo was 1LT David Livingston, an American, Chicago born. He started out working alongside us in the 1/39 Inf S-3 shop for Major Diaz-Pons, another memorable fellow who was also Chicago born.

I remember Dave out on an alert, zero-dark-thirty once again, mud-soaked, frozen, fingers cracked, stupid-tired like all the rest of us, curses flying around him like bullets, while he alone remained calm as we raised, and re-raised, and then raised again a heavy recalcitrant camo net over the M-577. The rain pissed cruelly down and somewhere nearby Noah hurriedly fitted the drain plugs back into the hull of his Ark. It all ran straight off Dave's back -- always calm, a decent sense of humor, unflappable -- he was a hell of a good guy.

Dave and his wife Stacey stopped by to see me after I'd gone down to Heidelberg as a civilian. I had sworn I would never pull the usual fresh veteran stunt of growing my hair long . . . so of course by the time he'd caught up to me, there it was, 1990-hippy-style, way on down past my shoulders. All part of that second long Summer of Love us expats celebrated after the Wall came down. Don't you remember?

The long black leather pimp jacket I was wearing, well, you'd just have to think of it as my own special touch.

Guess that's a whole 'nuther story.

Dave and Stacey went back to Detroit after they got out of the Army, and I hope they've lived happily ever after. They sure deserved to.