Neil Aikin
Regimental
Headquarters
United
States Constabulary
Army of Occupation Germany
Rothwesten - Constabulary training - Feb. 1947
Darmstadt - 14th Constabulary Squadron -July 1947
Fritzlar - 14th A/C Reg. U. S. Constabulary - Dec. 1947-1949
Korea - 1950 - 1952
April 1, 1951 awarded the Bronze Star for Valor and Purple Heart.
B. Aug., 28, 1929 Lakewood, OH.
D. Nov., 12, 2007 Las Angeles, CA.
To contact the family write to Sue
Aikin,
e-mail csue538@earthlink.net
Written by Neil Aikin
I entered the Army in Los Angeles, CA on
September 23, 1946 so I could
take advantage of the GI Bill which would be expiring at the end of the
year. By enlisting for 3 years, I would get full benefits.
I was sent
to
Camp Beale (now Beale AFB) in Marysville, CA.
Within a week I was sent to Camp (now Fort) Polk, LA for basic
training.
By the time I arrived there, the government decided to close the
facility
down. So, they transferred me to Camp (now Fort) Lee, VA.
Upon
completion
of 8 weeks Basic Training, I was shipped to Camp Kilmer, NJ to
await
shipment to Germany. I shipped over on a General ship. The
voyage was
to
take no more than a week. Due to storms the trip took 2
weeks. We ran
extremely
low on rations & when we arrived in Bramerhaven we were all
starving.
After a brief stay in the kaserne, I was sent to Marburg. From
there I
was sent to Rothwestern. When the train arrived in Kassel, I saw
the
extent
of the damage it suffered from WWII. It was February, 1947, the worst
winter
Europe had experienced in many years. Being from California, I
never
realized
what cold was until then.
I was to take Constabulary training in
Rothwestern
for a period of 8 weeks. After about 3 weeks, I was asked if I
wanted
to
become a radio operator. It meant an assignment to the 7718 EUCOM
Signal
School in Ansbach. It was located just a few kilometers outside
of
Nurnburg.
While there I came down with Diphtheria. I spent 11 weeks in the 385th
Station Hospital in Nurnburg. The 'Dip' ward was guarded around
the
clock
by MP's. I found out that 'Red' the guy in the bed next to me was
the
reason
for the guards. He was awaiting a Generals Court-martial.
It seems he
was
assigned to guard Hermann Goering during his trial there in Nurnburg.
When
he came on duty he and the guard he was relieving awakened Goering to
assure
he was OK. When Red's relief came Goering was dead from a cyanide
capsule
he had somehow secreted in his cell. Red was being
court-martialed for
dereliction of duty. I never found out the outcome.
I returned to school & finished with an
MOS of 0740. (intermediate
speed radio operator).
It served me well throughout the balance of my
career.
I was assigned to A Troop, 14th
Constabulary Squadron in Darmstadt
in
July 1947. By December of that year, I had been admitted no less
than 6
times to 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt with Tonsillitis.
When I
finally
got the tonsils removed my outfit was tired of my trips to the hospital
so they transferred me to Regimental Headquarters in Fritzlar. I
was in
The Radio Section, Hq Troop, 14th Constabulary Regiment where I
extended
my tour for 1year. It was at that time I met Gil
Matherne who would be
my roomate until he rotated back to the ZI in August of '49. I was
honored
to be his best man when he married Elizabeth. Bill Tevington was
also
there
during that time. I was sent home on an emergency furlough when My
father
had passed away in December, 1949.
After a 30-day furlough, I was
assigned to Hq Co, 1st Bn, 38th Inf,
2nd Division in Fort Lewis, WA as Bn Radio Chief to wait out my 7 month
balance of duty. 3 days before I was to be discharged, President Truman
froze discharges for 1 year. By then the Division was
alerted to
be shipped to Korea. In August of 1950 my Division sailed for Korea,
landing
at Pusan on August 19, 1950. By then only 17 miles of Korea was
not
controlled by the North Koreans. What was left was called the
Pusan Perimeter along the Naktong River. On September 18, the
38th
Infantry
Regiment spearheaded a breakthrough ending in Seoul and joining with
the
Marines who had landed at Inchon. By November, the Division had
pushed
their position to about 55 miles north of Kunu-ri. It was at this
time
that the Chinese Army entered the "Conflict". After attacking the
2nd Division's Quartermaster Depot 55 miles behind the main line of
resistance
at Kunu-ri, the Division's forward elements " attacked to the rear" and
lost almost 3000 men. The retreat ended at Seoul where we spent
Christmas
and regrouped.
On April 1, 1951 I was awarded the
Bronze Star for Valor. On
February
12 my outfit was pinned down in the vicinity of Hoengsong. Using my
radio,
I called in air strikes and artillery fire on the enemy for
almost
7 hours.
On the 28th of May 1951 at Hyong-Ni, I was
shot point blank while
sitting
in a jeep, by a Chinese soldier using an American 30 caliber carbine on
full automatic. The first bullet glanced off my dog tags leaving
a piece in my neck with the second bullet entering my left shoulder.
I was air evaced from a MASH unit to
Tokyo, Japan for a one month
stay
prior to being shipped home on a C54 MATS hospital litter plane. I
spent
from 2 July 1951 to 29 February 1952 at Camp Cook Station Hospital, CA.
(now Vandenburg AFB) where I was put on permanent medical disability
retirement.
I retired in 1992 after 32 years with Litton Guidance &
Controls
Division in Woodland Hills, CA.
Neil Aikin
Page updated June 22, 2008:
A note from the Editor Irene Moore. Neil Aikin passed away
Nov. 12, 2007. May he rest in peace. Visit our website TAPS.
