Cpl. Duane Horn, son of Mr. and M. Hubert Horn, arrived home after completing two years in the armed forces.

Cpl. Horn entered the service on January 24, 1952, and received his basic training in Fire Direction Center at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. Upon completion of his basic training he was sent overseas and served with the U. S. Occupation troops in Germany. While in Germany he was stationed at Hammelhurg with the 631 A.F.A. Battalion. His position was Chief Clerk in the Bn. S-4 Section.

While in Europe he enjoyed his furloughs be taking trips to Berlin, Paris, Vienna and Holland.

Cpl. Horn, arrived back in the States on December 23, 1953 after spending 17 months overseas and received his release from the service at Fort Sheridan, 111.. on January 16, 1954.

My Soldier Days by Duane Horn

I was working in Eau Claire when the Korean conflict began. After a period of time, I quit my job and moved back to the farm. I thought I could perhaps receive some type of agricultural deferment. It didn’t work. On January 8, 1952, I received that wonderful "Greetings " letter. On January 24, of that year, 26 young Clark County men gathered in Neillsville, where we boarded a bus, which took us to the Twin Cities. While there we were given physicals, a series of written tests, and were inducted into the service. The scores we received on our written tests would, to a great measure, determine which army post we would be assigned for basic training. Five members of our group choose to enlist in the Marine Corps. As for the rest, we were divided into three groups. The ones with the lowest test scores were sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for infantry training. The middle group went to artillery training at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. The top few were sent to Fort Mead, Maryland. I was in the second group, so Camp Chaffee became my home for the next 7 months.

In June we graduated from basic training and most of our unit received their traveling orders. However, I was in a group of 12, whose names did not appear on those orders. Without our knowledge, our company commander, Capt. Jenson, had enrolled us in an officer training school, which was located at Camp Chaffee. As a group we protested those orders and signed documents stating we did not wish to go on to OCS. The result was that we had to wait another month for new orders to be issued. In July our new orders arrived and we were given a 10-day furlough, after which we were to report to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, for embarking to Germany. We packed our bags, and hired a taxi to take us to the Fort Smith airport. From there we were to fly to the Twin Cities. There were 5 of us going to the Twin Cities, and the taxi driver said he would take the 5 of us but he did not have room for our duffel bags. He promised us if we left the bags behind, he would take them to the railroad station and have them sent by train to our homes. We agreed to this. We flew to Mpls/St Paul and from there I took a bus as far as Chippewa Falls where my parents met me.

While at home for those 10 days, I continued to contact our local railroad depot about my duffel bag. It never arrived. On July 21 a cousin & her husband drove me to Eau Claire where I was to board a plane to begin my flight to Camp Kilmer. As you might guess, I left without my duffel bag. As we drove out the driveway, I looked at our home and saw my mother looking out of the kitchen window. I can’t imagine what was going though her mind. At least I wasn’t being sent to Korea and that had to be of some comfort to her.

I flew to Chicago, and there boarded another plane, which was to land near Camp Kilmer in New Jersey. Because of bad weather the pilot informed us that we would be landing in New York instead. There were 2 other soldiers on board the plane and they also had been assigned to Camp Kilmer. . We landed in New York and the pilot & some of his crew took the 3 of us to a railroad station where a group of soldiers had gathered for a train ride to New Jersey.

We arrive in camp quite late at night. When I reported in, I was informed that the orders for me and the 11 others had not arrived from Camp Chaffee. The fact that we could have spent more time on furlough didn’t set too well with us. So we settled in and waited. Several days after I arrived my duffel bag caught up with me. I had left home early in the morning on the 21, and my parents received a phone call later that day telling them that the bag was at the local depot. They immediately sent it on to Camp Kilmer.

Finally we received orders to begin our journey overseas. The morning we were to board our ship, everyone gathered, with all their gear, in an assembly area. Then came an announcement that several names would be called and those individuals would not leave that day. Of those names called, 11 of them were from my Camp Chaffee group. My name was the only one not called. I never did find out why I was not included in the order. So here I was a green horn country boy, who had never traveled outside of Wisconsin, before being inducted, and was about to sail overseas in a ship on which I didn’t know a soul.

We were at sea around 3 days when there was a mail call and I received a letter from home. My mother wrote that, while the neighbors were thrashing grain at our farm, Dad had fallen from the straw mow unto the barn floor. He had broken his leg and was now in an Eau Claire hospital. If I had received that letter while I was still in the U.S. I probably could have received some sort of emergency or hardship furlough. Being in the middle of the Atlantic, there wasn’t much I could do.

After many days at sea, we arrived around Aug. 22 or 23 at the Port of Bremenhaven, Germany. From there we boarded a train which took us almost the entire length of Germany to a camp known as the West Point of Germany. I can’t recall its exact name. It was quite a place. Every day there would be a posting of names of those who were to ship out the following day and their destination. After being there almost a week my name appeared on the bulletin board. But to my surprise, I was the only one being sent to Camp Denny T. Clarke near Hammelburg, Germany. Again I was alone. The next day a group of us boarded a train, which took us to Frankfort. It was at this station that we went our separate way. There were many trains in Frankfort and I had no idea which one I was suppose to board. I tried to communicate with some civilian railroad personnel, but they couldn’t understand English and I knew no German. Finally one gentleman noticed the name Hammelburg on my orders and he directed me to the correct train. I was in some luck because as we left the Frankfort station in the same car was a soldier who was headed back to Camp Clarke after a scheduled furlough. He sort of took me under his wing and told me a few things about the camp. It seem that during the war this camp was a POW compound. A son of Gen. Clark was a prisoner there and the general liberated the camp and that is how is received the name of Camp Denny T. Clarke. I was also told that the camp was located on high ground overlooking the community of Hammelburg and was between 1 & 2 miles from the town. He then explained that the camp was divided into two battalions, at tank battalion and a field artillery battalion. He was from the tank unit and was to report to the artillery co.

We finally arrived at the Hammelburg train station only to discover that there was no one from the artillery unit there to meet me. We waited a short time and finally asked a taxi to drive us up the hill to camp. It was late in the evening when I finally reported to the headquarters office of the 63l Armored Field Artillery Bn. The night clerk was surprised to see me. There were orders on his desk that I was to arrive, but not until the next day. He put me up for the rest of the night and the following day I was assigned to S-4, which is the supply division. I spent most of the next 16 months in that unit. I should note that all the officers and many of the enlisted personnel were from a National Guard Co. from Biloxi, Mississippi.

The USO came to our camp & entertained us on many occasions. They also sponsored several 3 and 4-day trips throughout Western Europe. I took advantage of 4 of these trips. My first one was to Vienna, Austria, over valentine’s weekend in 1953. A bus took us from camp to Salzburg, Austria. From there we went by train toward Vienna. One must remember that in 1953 the country of Austria was divided and controlled by the four big powers, France, England, Russia, and United States. To go from Salzburg to Vienna our train had to travel through several miles of Russian controlled country. Around midnight our train stopped at the Russian check station. A Russian officer and 2 armed guards boarded the train and requested everyone to present their passes. The officer was not satisfied with our papers and we were escorted, at gunpoint, off the train. As the train pulled away, we were left standing in a small group guarded by Russian troops. Remember it was February and we were not allowed to enter any building. This could have become an international incident if we had disappeared behind the Iron Curtain. Am not sure how long we stood out in the cold, but would guess it was about 2 hours. At that time the train coming from Vienna stopped for its routine inspection. We were allowed to board that train which took us back to Salzburg. When we arrived there army intelligence already knew all about our little encounter. We were each taken aside and interviewed by this agency and had to sign documents, which stated, among other things, that we had not been mistreated or that any of us had been separated individually from our group. Our USO guide was able to obtain new passes for us and we were on the next train to Vienna. This time we had no problem at the Russian check station. Being one-half of a day late, out Vienna tour was a little shorter than planned. It was a beautiful city, but I wish I could have seen it in some other season.

My next trip took me to Holland in May, 1953, during the tulip festival. I couldn’t have traveled to that country at a better time. There were fields and fields of blooming tulips and other spring flowers. My one regret was that I only had black & white film in my camera, so all my photos came out in that color.

In Sept. of 1953 the USO sponsored a trip to Berlin. Again we had to travel through part of Russian controlled country to reach that city. As our train entered the Russian section, we were told to cover all our windows. Berlin itself was also divided among the four big powers. In the American section the city was full of life. That part of the city was mostly rebuilt since the war. Stores were full of merchandise. The nightlife was in full swing and at night the streets and buildings were brightly lighted.

We were allowed to take a bus tour into the Russian section. There the streets were empty, and the buildings were dark and drab. Certain sections were still in ruins from the war. The only time we were allowed to leave the bus was at a Russian War Memorial. Back in the US zone we stopped at a rather large warehouse style building. It was here that the people from East Berlin would come and receive

Eisenhower food parcels. I feel that some who came never went back to East Berlin and sometime later the Berlin Wall was constructed.

My last trip was in November when we went to Paris. Although we had a great time, I would again have liked to seen that city in the summer. One trip I didn’t take and regretted was to England for the Queen’s coronation.

Late November, 1953, I received orders returning me to the states. While on the train traveling to the seaport, I was reunited with the 11 Camp Chaffee crew. Our paths never crossed while I was stationed there, but we were all on the same ship sailing home. We reached New York either the 22 or 23 of December. We were processed at Camp Kilmer and traveled by train to Fort Sheridan, Ill. I remember our train going through parts of Chicago on Christmas Eve. We looked out the windows and saw all the beautiful Christmas lights. At Fort Sheridan clerks stayed up all night completing our orders so we could be out of camp some time on Christmas Day. A buddy & I called the airport and were informed a plane to Mpls. was leaving around 11:00 Christmas morning. My buddy lived in River Falls and he decided to take that flight. I was told that a plane was to leave Chicago at 7:00 that morning and would land in Eau Claire around noon. (Remember the Blue Goose). We had no idea how far we were from the airport and to arrive there by 7:00 became the challenge. We boarded a train around 5:00 and headed for the airport. We traveled & traveled 5:30,5:45,6:00. We finally decided to leave the train and attempt to catch a taxi. This we did and located a wonderful Chicago taxi driver. We explained our situation and off we went. I did not count the red lights we traveled through or how many miles per hour we were going. Bless that taxi driver’s heart, we reached the airport with minutes to spare. We landed in Eau Claire around noon as scheduled. A young male clerk was the only personnel on duty and he was anxious for us to be on our way so he could lock up. He allowed me to telephone home and I was told that someone would leave immediately to pick me up. We lived 60 miles from Eau Claire so it would take over an hour before they would arrive at the airport. I told the clerk that he should lock up and I would wait outside. The weather wasn’t that cold. He wouldn’t listen to me and stayed there until my mother, sister and brother arrived to pick me up.

We arrived back home around 4:00 on Christmas Day. Dad came out from the garage, where he was working. He came up and put his arms around me. It took me completely by surprise, as he had never done anything like that before. To end this story, in January I traveled back to Fort Sheridan where on the 16th of that month I received an honorable discharge.

Note: I feel that by being held back after basic training, perhaps was the reason that I was not sent to Korea. After our basic training camp completed their training, over half of the soldiers were sent to that country.