I was stationed at Maison Fort from 1961 t0 1964 in HHC and worked in the motor pool as a wrecker operator and mechanic on heavy equipment. I met and married my wife there and we have been married 44 years. We had a good times there and we travel back to France on occasion to visit my wife%26#39;s family. I visited Maison Fort back in the 70%26#39;s when I was in stationed in Germany and there wasn%26#39;t much left after we moved out of there in the 60%26#39;s.
Be happy to hear from anyone who was there!
tomlt35@yahoo.com
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Hello. I arrived @ Maison Fort I was assigned to the 553 Eng Bn . I was originally in B Company but was transferred to C Company a few months after I got there. I arrived in France in Jan of 1961. I had two small stoves at each end of the hut. You know I think it is funny but I think I knew you. Where did you get married, was it at the chapel in Maison Fort? Hmmm you sound very familiar I met my wife who is Dutch 22 years ago when I was in London and we have been married also all this time. Perhaps it was good that Maison Fort fell apart, as it was really a dump with huts all over the place except for the communications bunker there, by the way the Germans originally built that bunker during the Second World War. I have some pictures of the sign in front of the 553 Engr Bn. Const, I can always scan it for you if you would like.
Funny, I can still picture my first Sgt., his name was Sgt. Dacey, my platoon Sgt, was a gentleman by the name of Sgt. Faber, inst it funny how you can remember little bits of things. The best I can say of Maison Fort was the day I was put on TDY to Paris St. German just outside of Paris (USAEURHQ). I just loved Paris and really spent some quality time there, when my time was up I really hated to leave I loved quite a few of the French people, I even entertained the idea of going back to Ft. Dix to get discharged and then fly back as a civie to hang out for a year or two. It never worked out the way you think it will...I thought of going back to Maison Fort about 25 years ago Hubbard Barracks was converted into an apartment complex, when I saw that I just turned the car around and headed back to Paris on N-20...and so the story goes on and on and on. So nice to hear from you after all of this time. I would really like to hear from you.
Walter Bernstein
Davenport, Florida
walterberns@yahoo.com
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ps try to respond to me at my yahoo.com address..thanks
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Hi Walter,
There has been a lot of water under the bridge since I was in the 553 in Maison Fort. I remember the heaters that were oil fired and the quonset huts or barracks that we lived in what a place.
I remember our 1stSgt his name was Roller and the PltSgt was Sfc Meeker. The SgtMaj was Jack T Quimby they were some of the best NCO%26#39;s I ever knew and I wonder what happened to them. I didn%26#39;t realize that Harbard Barracks was now a hotel. I%26#39;m glad you had a good tour over there, I certainly did and hope to go and visit in the near future. Nice to hear from you and write when you have a chance.
Tom Thomas
tomlt35@ec.rr.com
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I arrived at the 553 EBC in January 1966 and stayed until it deactivated that summer. The Battalion Commander left about 2 weeks after I arrived and a LTC Myron took over. The CSM was named Englebritson (sp?). What memories!
We drove from Belvoir to McGuire AFB in a snow storm. Then for three days in a row we would process through customs, sit all day, process back through customs, catch a bus to Trenton for the night and return back to McGuire at 5AM and repeat the process. When we finally flew out it was with at least 500 sick crying kids, mine and my wife included. We arrived at Orly with orders for the 553 EN BN with an APO somewhere in France. We just stopped people in the airport asking if they knew where the Unit or the APO was. We ended up catching a French bus to Orleans and then a military bus to Coligny Caserne and another military bus to Maison Fort. It was Sunday morning and the bus pulled up right in front of the Battalion Headquarters. I remember taking suitcases off the bus and literally throwing them at the Battalion sign (the one right next to the %26quot;Keep off the grass” sign). The duty officer came out and I guess my look said it all- he never said a word just started stacking the suitcases on the sidewalk. He got his wife to come pick us up and take us to a hotel.
Monday morning was my first encounter with the CSM. When I walked in he greeted me with %26quot;Lieutenant, don%26#39;t you know how to sign into a unit? You signed in the return from TDY book.%26quot; Still reeling from my trip I replied %26quot;CSM I signed the book that your Duty NCO gave me”. %26quot;Harrumph, harrumph%26quot; said he. He never said anything else about it to me but I did notice that the same NCO was on duty for the next several weekends. I was a platoon leader in C Company for a very short time. Then I was the Maintenance Platoon leader in A Company. The CSM eventually became the man I went to for advice. He changed my life when he convinced me to apply for a Regular Army commission.
When the 553 deactivated most of the HQ went to the 97th EN BN in Verdun. The rest of the battalion was split into the 68th Engineer Company which was attached to the 97th EN BN and the 78th Engineer Company which was attached to the 83rd EN BN in Chinon. I went to the 68th and eventually to the 97th which was in Germany by then.
I loved the time we spent at Masion Fort. My wife and I went back for a visit in 2005. Things had really changed. I couldn%26#39;t find anything around Masion Fort that I remembered. We did find the house where we lived in Saint Pryve. The house looked great but all of the open fields around it now have houses in them.
sammie.simmons@us.army.mil
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I left Maison Fort in 1964 and was assigned to a Maintenance Company in Fort Polk, LA and then went to Viet Nam with that Company in 1965. I was in the 68th Engineer Company in Fort Bliss after my 2nd tour in Viet Nam.
I too have some wonderful memories of my time in Maison Fort and haven%26#39;t been back there since the 70%26#39;s.
We will go next year and visit my wife%26#39;s family.
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i was stationed in d company the 553 eng. bn. from feb. 1964 until nov. 1965.we were a rowdy group . %26quot;q%26quot; stick (quinn) eventually went to jail in mannheim germany.we also went tdy to chinon france where we always got in trouble.I guess that was the engineers mantra. I certainly loved those years I would love to hear from someone from that era.
ebraley@nycap.rr.com
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I flew over to Orleans France to marry Robert Waldrop who was stationed at Maison Fort and he stayed in the Harbord Barracks until we married in January 1964. I worked for Colonel Merlin E Harvey in Supplies and Maintenance until our son was born in February of 1965. I am planning to take my son over to France this summer and try to find anything left of Maison Fort, La Chappelle where he was born, and where we lived. If you walked over George V bridge toward the Fort, we lived in an apartment on the right side of the street, but it looks from the map like it is a main highway now.
Does anyone know if there are any of the army buildings, etc. left to visit or show him?
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MsEagle,
flickr.com/photos/…
has some recent photos of the hospital. Maison Fort and Harbour Barracks are pretty much gone. Coligny Caserne has been renovated and is now a city office building complex.
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I worked at the Engineer Supply Control Agency (ESCA) from June 1960 through the end of 1962. ESCA was in a 2 story masonry building in the back corner of Maison Fort (on the side closest to Harbord Barracks. Enlisted folks working there lived at Harbord Barracks. I worked (at different times) either evenings or graveyard shifts in the ESCA Data Processing Section for the duration of my French experience.
In Oct 2001 (3 weeks after 9/11) I took my wife to Orleans to show her where I%26#39;d served my country. Harbord Barracks had been torn down, except for the water tower and I think the gym. Also, it looked like the football field was still there, but used for soccer now, I%26#39;m sure. The French Army, having dropped conscription in the early/mid 1990%26#39;s and gone all professional, had built what looked at a distance like many one story buildings that probably held no more than a platoon each. It was the barracks for an armored cavalry regiment. It was a very permanent looking facility. Maison Fort, or the front 1/4 of it had been rebuilt completely as what I guess you would call the %26quot;motor pool%26quot; for the armored cavalry regiment%26#39;s tanks. Both the barracks back where Harbord Barracks used to be and the motor pool at Maison Fort looked very modern to me, but with everything fitted together very compactly, taking very little space. The Maison Fort facility was surrounded by a low wall topped with steel bars that curve outwards at the top. Not much else seemed to remain of the old Maison Fort except the three masonry buildings that housed ESCA, the Transportation Supply Control Agency and the Ordanance Supply Control Agency. There was no problem drivng past the Transportation and Engineer buildings, but area around the Ordance building and where the truck company (or companies, I can%26#39;t remember how many there were) were posted with numerous warnings forbiding further travel in that direction. Don%26#39;t remember what, if anything, the Transportation building was being used for, but about half of the first floor of the Engineer building was being used as a stable for a local children%26#39;s riding club. That%26#39;s right, horses were living there! I had heard in the mid 70%26#39;s that Harbord Barracks was being used as a chicken house, but to drive around the corner of the Engineer building and almost run into a horse with an 8 or 9 year old French kid on its back was an experience.
Because it was so close to 9/11 and everybody was very jumpy, I chose not to try to get into Harbord Barracks or the new Maison Fort. I was happy to be able to see the space where I worked (the data center such as it was in 1962).
The old downtown caserne (OAC headquarters?) appeared to have been converted into an economic development center/business incubator type of operation. Orleans has grown tremendously, having become a big university town and high tech development region (a mini-Silicon valley?) I don%26#39;t speak French so I could have mis-understood some of the local area info. The Loret River was still a pretty area though even more crowded now. Also, no more traffic circle around %26quot;Joany on the pony%26quot; in downtown Orleans. The statue is still there but traffic has been rerouted. There is also a light rail/street car system in Orleans.
I feel very fortunate to have been able to go back there even if it was 40 years later. Hope those of you posting here have a chance to go back if you haven%26#39;t been able to do so.
Slowjohn
jorrock@mindspring.com
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Slowjohn again with a couple of updates/corrections to my Sep 29, 2008 post.
I just Googled Orleans, France and zeroed in on Harbord Barracks and the place looks much like the layout I remember from 48 years ago (with a few additions likely). So I think the French Army must have used new roofing of a different style when they renovated the place and didn%26#39;t completely tear down everything.
As for the ESCA building being used as a stable, it looks like there is now a modern building adjacent to it that could be a horse stable.
Oh, I said that Maison Fort was now the %26quot;tank motor pool%26quot; for the armored regiment at Harbord Barracks, maybe I should have said that the armored regiment%26#39;s %26quot;tank barns%26quot; are at Maison Fort.
Slowjohn
jorrock@mindspring.com
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You mentioned %26quot;Joanie on the pony%26quot; in downtown Orleans. I wonder if %26quot;Dottie on the potty%26quot; is still there%26quot;?
I worked in the Ordnance Supply Control Agency building in 1960-61. Sorted all my decks and ran all my listings every Friday, probably at your DP center. I had to wire my own PBs.
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