Practicum project

Section 4: The Cold War and Checkpoint Charlie

Download 204.12 Kb.

Page	2/4
Date	20.10.2016
Size	204.12 Kb.
	#6746

1 2 3 4

Section 4: The Cold War and Checkpoint Charlie

(Cold War Exhibit Case)

Learning Objective: To highlight and explain the role and organization of MPs stationed in the European theater during the Cold War period.

During the period known as the Cold War (1945 – 1991), the U.S. Army stationed MP organizations throughout Europe to fulfill a variety of law enforcement and security needs. As troop levels in Europe increased, the Army assigned a large number of MP units there for law enforcement, post security, and customs regulation. MPs patrolled towns and autobahns in traditional law enforcement duty, guarded classified weapons and missile sites, and secured confinement facilities. In addition, they guarded ports and railroad networks, enforced customs regulations, and controlled border crossings. They also reported opposing troop strength and movements and gathered intelligence information.³⁹

From 1948 through 1961, Soviet actions escalated Cold War tension. The U.S. developed a strategic defense plan that included an expansion of the MP Corps mission. The defense plan required MPs to secure, protect, and control the occupational troops and the defense force.⁴⁰ The Army established the U.S. Army Europe Command and the Seventh Army to provide the administration and control needed for the increasing number of force elements and to execute North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defense strategies.⁴¹

After the erection of the Berlin Wall, the U.S. military increased European forces including MP assets. In 1965, the U.S. Army created the first MP brigade, the 15^th MP Brigade. It unified all law and order units under the command of a single administrative organization.⁴²

Highway Patrol

The high speed limits of European autobahns presented a danger to Allied Soldiers who used the roads for duty and leisure activity. Accidents both on and off duty began to escalate to alarming numbers. Theater commanders and civil authorities agreed that the MPs should form a highway patrol unit to target and reduce speeding and the accident rate. Post commanders established highway patrol units from their existing MP resources from 1948 to 1951. In 1951, the 62^nd MP Company became the sole Highway Patrol unit and retained that position until 1958.⁴³

(Checkpoint Charlie Gate Shack)

Checkpoint Charlie

Occupation forces established checkpoints to control Allied movement between East and West Germany. Checkpoint Charlie controlled movement at the newly erected barrier separating East and West Berlin. MPs verified documents needed to enter East Berlin and prevented accidental crossings. They also provided instruction regarding policy and procedures to be followed while in Berlin to prevent conflict and diplomatic incidents. At times, the MPs provided escorts for individuals or groups traveling into and out of the Russian sector.

Confrontations and disputes were common but usually quickly resolved. However, in 1961, a dispute over access procedures resulted in a tank face-off that became one of the most widely reported and photographed confrontations of the Cold War era. The situation was defused within hours with both sides making concessions. ⁴⁴

On November 9, 1989, East German government officials announced the lifting of travel restrictions to the West. As a result, crowds of exuberate Germans began dismantling the Berlin Wall. By December 22, officials opened the Brandenburg Gate. Checkpoint Charlie remained in operation until June 22, 1990. Germany reunited on October 3, 1990.⁴⁵

Section 5: Military Working Dogs/Sentry Dogs

(Vietnam Sentry Dog Exhibit)

Learning Objective: To explain the creation of the Military Working Dog Program and its evolution. To explain the use of Sentry Dogs by MP units in Vietnam.

During World War II, the American Kennel Club and a new group calling itself “Dogs for Defense” urged pet owners across the country to donate their dogs to the Quartermaster Corps for military service. The Quartermaster Corps organized the War Dog Program, nicknamed by some as the K-9 or Canine Corps. At first, more than thirty breeds were accepted. Later the list of breeds was narrowed down to German Shepherds, Belgian Sheep Dogs, Doberman Pinschers, Farm Collies, and Giant Schnauzers.⁴⁶

The dogs went through basic training to carry out fundamental commands and to become accustomed to muzzles, gas masks, riding in military vehicles, and gunfire. They then went through specialized training as either sentry dogs, scout/patrol dogs, messenger dogs, or mine dogs. The majority of the dogs were trained as sentry dogs. Sentry dogs worked on a short leash and were taught to give warning by growling, alerting, or barking. They were valuable for working in the dark when attackers could take advantage of low visibility. Scout/Patrol dogs were trained in the skills of a sentry dog and also trained to work in silence in order to aid in the detection of snipers, ambushes, and other enemy forces.⁴⁷

During the Vietnam War, about 4,000 dogs were utilized. Of these, about 281 were officially killed in action. Dense vegetation and semi-darkness of the jungles afforded opportunities for the enemy to penetrate American lines and conduct reconnaissance and ambushes. Scout and Sentry dogs were instrumental in taking the advantage away from the enemy. Three MP Military Working Dog units served in Vietnam: the 212^th Sentry Guard Dog Company, the 595^th Sentry Dog Company, and the 981^st Sentry Dog Company.⁴⁸

MWD Chips

One of the dogs who gained fame in WWII was Chips. The German Shepherd-Collie-Husky mix was donated by Edward J. Wren of Pleasantville, NY, and was trained at Front Royal, Virginia in 1942. He was one of the first dogs to serve with the MPs overseas in WWII.

Chips landed on the beaches of North Africa with the 30^th Infantry Division on November 7, 1942. He went on patrols with his handler, Private John R. Rowell. He also helped guard the site of the Casablanca Conference where President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill formulated the policy of “unconditional surrender” of the Axis powers.

During the Sicilian invasion, Chips charged a machine gun nest that had opened fire on advancing troops. In a matter of seconds, Chips had knocked out an enemy machine gun nest. One Italian soldier came out with Chips hanging onto his throat and the others came running out with their hands over their heads. Chips suffered burns on his mouth from grabbing the hot machine gun barrel, a scalp wound, and a bullet wound in the hip.

After the action, Major General Lucian Truscott, commander of the American 3rd Infantry Division, awarded Chips the Silver Star for bravery, and the Purple Heart for wounds received in action. His citation read, in part “For a special brand of courage, arising from love of master and duty. Chips' courageous act, single-handedly eliminating a dangerous machine-gun nest, reflects the highest credit on himself and the military service.” However, Chips did not get to keep the medals. Higher authorities overruled the awards on the basis that it was inappropriate to award the decorations to an animal, thereby possibly demeaning Soldiers who received the same medals.⁴⁹

Chips stayed on duty with the 30^th Infantry until the fighting in Sicily ended in August 1943. He then joined the MP Platoon of the 3^rd Infantry Division, becoming one of the first K-9 dogs to be with the MPs. He guarded prisoners of war through the Salerno and Anzio campaigns. It was in Italy that he bit General Eisenhower when the general was bending over to pet the hero of the landings in Sicily.⁵⁰

After the liberation of Rome, the 3^rd Division moved to Naples and prepared for the landings in Southern France. Chips landed with the division at St. Tropez and helped guard German prisoners of war. From the beach in southern France through the mountains of Alsace, the Siegfried Line, across the Rhine, and on through Germany to Austria, Chips worked hard to guard the 3^rd Division Prisoner of War Cage as the prison population increased.

After the war, the Army discharged Chips and returned him to his owner.

Section 6: Vietnam War

(TET Offensive Diorama and Vietnam Exhibit Area)

Learning Objective: Utilizing representative equipment, weapons, uniforms, and photographs, to present the duties of MPs and the challenges they faced during the Vietnam War, and the transition of the branch into a combat support branch.

The Vietnam War brought another change in MP responsibilities. They assumed new and varied missions in a war without defined rear areas. Increasingly, the MPs began to assume a direct combat support role. They provided convoy security, often escorting supplies and equipment through districts subject to direct enemy attack. They provided traffic control throughout the four combat zones. They secured highways and bridges against both local subversives and North Vietnamese regulars. They worked with combat troops in locating and destroying enemy tunnels. They supervised the movement of refugees and the control of political detainees. Other MP activities included sweeps, reconnaissance patrols, cordon operations, and search operations.⁵¹

Increased responsibility resulted in organizational expansion. The Army organized seven MP battalions serving in Vietnam into three MP Groups. The 8^th MP Group performed all criminal investigative work in the theater. The 16^th MP Group provided command and control of all MP units assigned to tactical zones I and II. The 89^th MP Group controlled MP units in zones III and IV. These Groups came under the 18^th MP Brigade. The brigade commander also served as Provost Marshal of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam.⁵²

During 1968, the Army Chief of Staff, acknowledging the MP Corps’ active involvement in support of military operations in Vietnam, approved changing the branch’s identification from combat service support to combat support.⁵³

TET Offensive, 1968

In the battle for Saigon during the Viet Cong TET Offensive beginning January 31, 1968, the Military Police performed a myriad of missions. Their missions included the rescue of billets under siege, assuming holding or blocking positions to thwart or blunt concentrated Viet Cong attacks, performing reconnaissance missions within the fifty square mile area of the city to determine Viet Cong presence or strength, escorting combat units that were moving through the city, and the recapture of the U.S. Embassy compound. Of the twenty Viet Cong involved in the attack on the Embassy, nineteen were killed and the twentieth was wounded and captured. The battle for Saigon is one of the largest independent Military Police combat operations in the history of the Corps.⁵⁴

Sporadic fighting took place for several days in the Saigon area. During the period from January 31, 1968 to February 6, 1968, the MPs suffered twenty-seven killed and forty-five wounded in action; the majority were killed or wounded during the first twelve hours of the offensive. During this general offensive, the MPs responded to attacks by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army and prevented or delayed attempts to infiltrate major cities throughout the Republic of South Vietnam. Both the 716^th MP Battalion and the 90^th MP Detachment received the Presidential Unit Citation.⁵⁵

Private First Class Paul V. Healey, Distinguished Service Cross

Private First Class Healey was serving with B Company, 716th MP Battalion, 18^th MP Brigade, when the TET Offensive began in January 1968. The battalion was stationed in Saigon, an area thought to be relatively safe from major fighting until the surprise attack. Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese forces attacked nearly all major cities and many American bases in South Vietnam, including the American Embassy at Saigon. Private First Class Healey was on patrol with other members of his unit when they received the call that the embassy was under attack.

His medal citation describes the action best: “Private First Class Healey distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on January 31, 1968 while serving with a MP reaction force during a combined VC and North Vietnamese Army offensive against Saigon. The enemy had launched concerted attacks on installations throughout the city, and his unit responded to dislodge a VC suicide squad that had taken control of the American Embassy compound. Heedless of enemy fire directed at him, Private First Class Healey rammed the main gate of the embassy with a jeep in an attempt to gain entrance to the compound. When the gate failed to open, he shot the lock off with a pistol and fearlessly led a charge into the bullet-swept grounds. Braving a savage hail of automatic weapons fire and exploding grenades, Private First Class Healey moved from position to position, killing eight insurgents with rifle fire and grenades as he advanced. He then moved to the rear of the compound to rescue an embassy officer trapped on the second floor of a house occupied on the ground floor by VC. Fully exposed to withering hostile fire, he raced across the open lawn and hurled a riot gas grenade into the building. The insurgents continued to resist, and he fearlessly approached the building a second time through intense fire and tossed weapons and ammunition up to the unarmed officer. Assured that the man had a means of defending himself, Private First Class Healey withdrew to cover and placed fierce fire on the VC in the building until they were annihilated. His dauntless and aggressive efforts in close combat saved the life of the fellow American and were instrumental in the successful defense of the United States Embassy.”⁵⁶

During Private First Class Healey’s assault, one of the VC attackers he shot threw a grenade that bounced off Healey. Private First Class Healey moved behind the VC, with the enemy absorbing the blast. Speaking frankly of his accuracy in taking out the enemy, Private First Class Healey explained, “Every time a VC moved from behind a flower pot, I shot him.”⁵⁷

Section 7: End of the Women’s Army Corps

(MP Women Exhibit Case)

Learning Objective: Utilizing representative weapons, uniforms, and photographs, to explain the transition of females from the Women’s Army Corps to Soldiers in the Regular U.S. Army from the perspective of the MP Branch.

The Women’s Army Corps (WAC) was enlarged following the end of the draft in 1972. This increase of women in the all-volunteer Army also required more female MPs. On May 1, 1972, the Army initiated formal MP training for MOS-95B. By 1974, the Army authorized female MPs to carry a firearm, a .38 caliber revolver. On July 8, 1977, the first gender-integrated class of MP One-Station-Unit-Training began at Fort McClellan. The need for a separate Women’s Army Corps faded as women assimilated into male training, assignments, and logistics and administrative management.⁵⁸

In October 1978, Congress deactivated the WAC and integrated women Soldiers into the Regular Army. The role and contributions of women MPs continue to expand and soon the list of female MP “firsts” will be exhausted, for example, the first female Provost Marshal General and so on. The MP Hall of Fame includes Brigadier General Evelyn Foote and Brigadier General Sherian Cadoria for their significant service and contributions to the MP Branch.⁵⁹

Brigadier General Sherian G. Cadoria, Service Career 1961-1990

General Cadoria was a trailblazer throughout her diverse and stellar 29-year career. Initially, she served in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) and then branch transferred to the MP Corps in the early 1970s. She was one of the first women to serve as a MP officer. General Cadoria served in the Republic of Vietnam from January 1967 to October 1969, where she was assigned to the Office of the U. S. Army Vietnam Provost Marshal and later to the Qui Nhon Support Command. During this assignment, she received three Bronze Star Medals and an Air Medal for meritorious service at Cam Ranh Bay. Later, she served as Commander, MP School Battalion and subsequently, the Commander, First Region Criminal Investigation Division (CID) Command. She also served as a Director on the Joint Staff for the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. Her significant contributions to the MP Corps, the Army and to America are a reflection of her belief that "The dictionary is the only place where 'success' comes before 'work'."

Brigadier General Evelyn P. Foote, Service Career 1960-1989, 1996-1997

General Foote served our nation with distinction for over 30 years. Her contributions include a wide range of firsts as she led the integration of women into the active Army. A fair-minded and tenacious commander, General Foote has always set the standard when it came to leadership values of competence, commitment, candor, and courage. She pioneered the way to the future, breaking ground for all who followed. She took the path less traveled by and that made all the difference.⁶⁰

Section 8: Persian Gulf War/Desert Storm

(Desert Storm Exhibit Case)

Learning Objective: To present a brief overview of the Persian Gulf War and explain the enormous Enemy Prisoner of War (EPW) mission for MPs.

Another landmark development in the evolution of the MP Corps occurred September 26, 1986. On that date, the Department of the Army activated the Military Police Corps Regiment.

In early August 1990, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait. Alarmed by these actions, fellow Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on the United States and other Western nations to intervene. The United Nations condemned this act of aggression and demanded that he withdraw from Kuwait by mid-January 1991. Hussein defied the United Nations Security Council demands. As a result, the United States sent military forces to the Persian Gulf as a part of a coalition to oppose the Iraqi threat. The Persian Gulf War began with a massive U.S.-led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm.⁶¹

The American contingent consisted of both Active and Reserve forces. Because of the force reductions in Europe and other factors, Army planners and commanders assembled complete divisions using battalions and brigades borrowed from other divisions and support components that consisted in part of Reserve and National Guard units from the United States and Germany. Corps-level combat support and combat service support organizations also mixed regular and reserve units under a single headquarters. For example, MPs from three regular brigades and two reserve battalions deployed under the VII Corps’ 14th MP Brigade headquarters.⁶²

The ground attack started on February 24, 1991. At the close of coalition operations on February 26, twenty-four Iraqi divisions had been defeated. In all sectors, the volume of prisoners continued to grow and clog roads and logistical areas. Iraqi soldiers surrendered faster than the Central Command could count them.⁶³ During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, over 17,000 active component and reserve component MPs from four brigades, twenty-two battalions, and one hundred companies, detachments, and teams either supported or conducted EPW operations.⁶⁴ From January 17, 1991 to May 2, 1991, the 800^th MP Brigade processed and interred 69,822 EPW.⁶⁵

After forty-two days of relentless attacks by the allied coalition in the air and on the ground, U.S. President George H.W. Bush declared a cease-fire on February 28. By that time, most Iraqi forces in Kuwait had either surrendered or fled.⁶⁶

American forces had rapidly deployed with very little warning to fight on a distant and unexpected battleground. Three successful aspects of the war stand out. First, the Army moved so fast that they found their enemy consistently out of position and oriented in the wrong direction. Second, American forces enjoyed substantial technological advantages. Third, American Soldiers outperformed their Iraqi enemies. The quick victory and low number of lost coalition lives surprised Americans. “Superb equipment, rigorous training, and the professional character qualities of the American Soldier explain the result. Never before had American forces been more fully prepared for a war they were called upon to fight.”⁶⁷ The international coalition considered the Persian Gulf War a success, but continued troubles in the region eventually led to a second Gulf War that began in 2003.

M1025 HMMWV – “Poison Ivy”

(At the M1025 HMMWV – “Poison Ivy”)

The M1025/M1026 Armament Carrier was derived from the canvas-top M998 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) that was introduced in the mid 1980's to replace the M151 MUTT utility vehicle. The original vehicle design featured excellent cross-country, road and load capacity, and was air and helicopter transportable. The M1025/M1026 featured a hardtop and solid doors and windows, plus a 32-inch weapons ring in the roof. The only difference between the two versions was that the M1026 had a front-bumper winch whereas the M1025 did not.

This M1025 is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 as well as many years of service with its home unit in Ohio. The 838th MP Co. (Ohio Army National Guard, 137th Service and Support Battalion) activated in support of Operation Desert Storm in January 1991 and deployed to Saudi Arabia in February of 1991. Upon arrival in the theater of operations, the 838th was attached to the 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Brigade from Ft. Hood, Texas. The 838th spent most of its time at Log Base Bastogne, Saudi Arabia, from where its vehicles patrolled Main Supply Route (MSR) Dodge, south of Kuwait. The 838th returned to Youngstown, Ohio, after honorably serving ten months in theater.

The crew named this vehicle “Poison Ivy.” It sported special individual markings, which included a bull's head signifying the 3rd Platoon (“3rd Herd”). Vehicle crewmembers during deployment were Staff Sergeant Clifton R. Ferrell, Sergeant John Hissom, and Specialist Vince Urichich. The inverted “V” symbols are field-applied Desert Storm IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) markings. Poison Ivy returned to Ohio with its unit and remained active until 2010 when the MP Museum acquired it.⁶⁸

Download 204.12 Kb.

Share with your friends:

1 2 3 4