CONSTABULARY CONSTABLES
BY JIM DOLLAR, Lt. Col., USA (Ret.)

DATELINES:
--------->December 7, 1941–A Day of Infamy----Pearl Harbor
--------->May 7, 1945–Germany Capitulates-----Europe Rejoices
--------->August 7, 1945–Truman Shakes the Rafters–Atomic Disaster

If you were in Las Vegas and three sevens came up on the slot machine, you would win a bucket of change. If you were President Roosevelt, General Eisenhower and President Truman on the above dates, you would be facing changes that would affect the entire world and all the people on this earth and praying for the luck of three 7s.

After World War II ended in Europe, major decisions were required immediately. As the war with Japan was still ringing with bloodcurdling sounds in the Pacific and all the islands, the big decision had to be made as to which personnel from Europe would go to help General MacArthur. Next, what to do with all the thousands of displaced persons roaming all over Europe and how to get Germany back to normal.

But the major question, as far as the American GI was concerned, was when do I get to go home and who is going to Japan?

The answers to all these questions and the actions taken by all parties could well have been the beginning of the Cold War Era of the Twentieth Century. But, when President Truman shook the rafters of the world’s structure on August 7, 1945 dropping the first atomic bomb on Japan, the major problem of shifting troops from Europe to Asia was mostly solved.
     
Being in the army on all three of the above dates brought a future for myself and millions of others that we would have never imagined. Having gotten discharged in late 1945, my lot for the next nine months was civilian life. It wasn’t to my liking so I returned to the army. My next overseas assignment was to the U. S. Constabulary in Germany.

Having fought with the 315th Infantry, 79th Infantry Division from Utah Beach to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia and being wounded twice, it was obvious that the next three years with the Constabulary was going to be a different assignment with many challenging missions. It would be my second military overseas assignment in the European Theater in less than three years. On our sea voyage from New York to Bremerhaven, Germany, it was a cold, rough Atlantic Ocean that was either mad at the troops or at Neptune. The waves were high and mighty.
Picking up a new friend, who was also a 1st Lieutenant by the name of Bob Glaser, made the trip a little more enjoyable. Bob was an energetic soul who was all soldier. He wore the Combat Infantry badge,as I did, so, we had something in common.
Neither of us knew who or what the U. S. Constabulary was or what our assignments would bring into our lives. We landed at dusk on a cold December day in 1946. We traveled by train to Darmstadt, Germany to the replacement depot for processing and final assignment
to our units. Bob was assigned to the 14th Constabulary Squadron in Darmstadt and I ended up with the 15th Constabulary Squadron in Schwetzingen, Germany.

We were now members of the U. S. Constabulary, commonly known as “The Circle C Cowboys.” The motto was MOBILITY, VIGILANCE, JUSTICE. As we walked down a quiet street on that snowy Christmas Eve, 1946, it was a lonesome feeling in a strange land to be away from family and friends back home. But this was the army and absences like these could be expected. The one dim street light gave us an eerie feeling.

The United States Constabulary was a superior, elite element of the United States Army, serving as soldiers, policemen, diplomats and Cold War Warriors. We had our problems and we knew it would take time to solve them with discipline, leadership and a lot of hard work.   

My first assignment was to “B “ Troop commanded by Captain Veachel A. Dennison, an old calvary trooper who rode for the army as a trick rider in the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. The four line troops in the squadron took turns in operating the border crossing point at Mannheim, Germany. It was the main southern crossing between France and Germany. There were many problems of smuggling contraband items, narcotics and anything else to make a buck. Mannheim was the venereal disease Capital of the world as far as we were concerned. Displaced persons still roamed Germany like ants at a Tennessee picnic.

Controlling the German and Austrian borders, operating checkpoints, supervising traffic control with speed traps and maintaining law and order was our job. The Germans called us the Blitz Polizei. We had all the modes of transportation. General Ernie Harmon, the first Commanding General of the Constabulary had his own plane and train. We had horses, jeeps, tanks, M8 armored cars, motorcycles and Hitler’s private yacht.             
Our squadron was located in a former German barracks (called kasernes) between Heidelberg and Mannheim on the Rhine River. It was outside of Mannheim on this road that General Patton was injured in an automobile accident and later died. As this road was in our area, I passed this spot many times.

A priority for new officers assigned to the Constabulary was to attend the U. S. Constabulary School in Sonthofen, Germany The school was the former Adolf Hitler Schule in the Upper Allgau region of Bavaria.

The school was commanded by Colonel Harold G. Holt.  Later he was to be my commanding officer in the 15th Constabulary Regiment. It was a different kind of military school due to the subjects it taught on German History and, Geopolitics, the Weimar Republic and the many subjects pertaining to our mission. Getting involved with the German government their people and their customs created many different situations, some interesting and some distasteful. We survived.

My old friend, Bob Glaser was in the same class. We started on 7 February 1947 and graduated on 6 March 1947. Geopolitics was a favorite subject of most of the class.

Returning to “B “ Troop, 15th Squadron, Captain Dennison informed me that he would be returning to the states in a few months and that I would take over the troop. On 19 June 1947, I assumed command of the troop. The problems were the same but things were getting
better. The men had improved their training. Esprit de Corps was more evident and morale was higher. Discipline was much better.
In August 1947, there was more reorganization throughout the Constabulary. The 15th Squadron was put in a sleep status and our personnel was scattered in the reassignment of units. My next assignment was as a platoon leader in “B “ Troop, 72nd Constabulary Squadron in Boblingen outside of Stuttgart, Germany. We had a full complement of officers, all 1st Lieutenants. Colonel Holt, former Constabulary School Commandant, was our new commander of the 15th Constabulary Regiment.                                                                                 

The regiment was required to have a football team and they needed players. Another officer and I decided that we would try out. We did and made the team. His name was Bob Shadle and he had played B Squad at West Point against two of Army’s greatest players, Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis. Bob played left guard and I played center. Our left tackle, Bob Smith, was from Texas A & M and our star player was a 275 pound fullback from Oklahoma State, Bill Crimmins. The right guard was John Valentic from Pennsylvania.                                                                                                  
General Harmon had returned to the states in May, 1947 and Major General Withers E. Burress had assumed command of the Constabulary. When we played the U.S. Constabulary team on their home field, General Burress and Colonel Holt made a wager of $500 but the Colonel didn’t tell the 15th Regimental team about it. Due to a blocked punt and a safety for their side, we lost the game 2 to 0. Come Monday morning, myself and the other two officers on that team were standing in front of Colt Holt and learned about the bet and his loss of $500 as well as some army kind words. We never lost another game until we played the 2nd Constabulary Regiment for the European Championship. We lost that game 7 to 0 thanks to an army All-American by the name of Dale Hall. C’est la Guerre!
From September through December 1947, we were moving officers from troop to troop to maintain a balance. My final assignment with the 14th Squadron was as Commanding Officer of Headquarters and Service Troop. We spent a lot of time in Grafenwohr at the huge

Army Training Area. One of our choice assignments was to be attached to the 1st Infantry Division (The Big Red One) for a three-month period as a reconnaissance squadron. We had a large sign of an eye and an ear painted above the 1st Division insignia and identified it as “The Eyes and Ears of the Big Red One.” The   U. S. Constabulary and the 1st Infantry Division were the only combat troops left in the European Theater at that time.

In August, 1948, my final assignment came as a complete surprise. Our squadron commander was notified that he was being transferred to Headquarters, U. S. Constabulary to become the Headquarters Commandant and he was taking me with him to command the Commanding Geraral’s Honor Guard with the 820th Military Police Troop. Major General I. D. White, another of General Patton’s proteges, had assumed command of the constabulary from General Burress.                        

My happiness with the assignment didn’t last long. Having been in the new job for only three days, we drew an honor guard assignment on a Sunday morning. Senator Chan Gurney, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee,  was visiting the headquarters for a briefing visit. We had to escort the General to the airport, near Stuttgart, to bring the Senator back to the Constabulary Headquarters. 
From what I had learned in three days, the 820th was a shambles and far from being what an honor guard should be. After arriving at the airport, General White inspected the honor guard and all hell broke loose. He hit one of the motorcycle tires with his riding crop and said:

“Why do we let the tires get worn like that?”
My reply was, “ No Excuse, Sir. “   
As the inspection continued, he kept asking “ Why this? Why that?’” And my replies were the same, “No Excuse, Sir.” 

I could tell he was mad because of the senator’s visit and he didn’t get to play golf that morning. I could see my career going down the tubes and I had to make a stand. I called his aide-de-camp over and requested permission to talk to the general before the senator arrived. The general motioned me over to where he was standing.

I approached the gereral, saluted and the conversation went as follows: “General White, I know you are unhappy with the honor guard and it is below your standards but I have only had command of this unit for three days and there are many problems to be solved. It took Jesus Christ Seven days to build the earth and I cannot fix all the problems and rebuild this unit in three days!” I saluted and returned to my post.        

The senator arrived OK and the honor guard went well. When the general returned to the headquarters, he called his Assistant Chief of Staff G 1 and gave him hell because he was unhappy with me, my clothes and the troops, the vehicles and the motorcycle tires. At his Monday morning staff meeting, he was still upset. He told the Headquarters Commandant that I had 30 days to make this outfit #1 and that every staff officer, regardless of his rank was to contact me and give us maximum support. The next thing I knew, Captains to full Colonels came calling to fulfill our needs and help us to improve the situation. .

The first thing I did was give everyone a short leave as they had been working 15 to 18 hours a day. We put new motors in the jeeps, repainted all the vehicles, got everyone new clothes that were tailored to fit and started a new training program. Oh yes, we got new tires for the motorcycles, jeeps and armored cars. At the end of 30 days, we were the best. General White was happy and from then on we did our job in a superb manner and earned the respect of the entire organization. The troopers we kept on the general’s train were the very elite. Remaining in that job until returning home a year later, the General and I became good friends. After returning from 18 months in Korea, it was my honor to serve on his staff again at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas in 1954 when he commanded the United States Fourth Army.

My three-year tour with the United States Constabulary was one of the highlights of my military career. It was a Cold War Blue Plate Special for education, experience and furthering my army career. We exemplified Mobility, Vigilence and Justice.

Whether you are fighting hot wars or cold wars, the 18th Century philosopher, Jean Jacques Rousseau had it right:

“WAR IS NOT A RELATION BETWEEN MAN AND MAN BUT BETWEEN STATE AND STATE, AND INDIVIDUALS ARE ENEMIES ACCIDENTALLY.”