Recently I was in Baltimore on a trip for GAMA. I was with Bruce Neidlinger, the treasurer of GAMA. He told me that I should book some extra time in the trip so we could go to the Aberdeen Proving Ground which is about 40 miles north of Baltimore.

I had heard of the Aberdeen Proving Ground, but I was not prepared for what I was to encounter. So, Saturday morning we set off. The weather was less than good, raining in fact, but not too hard and Bruce told me that we should go, even if it was raining. So we went.

Aberdeen was the best trip I have ever taken to view history, absolutely the best.

When we arrived we drove onto the grounds, rounded a corner, passed by some trees and were confronted with a huge field full of virtually every type and piece of WWII armor that you and I are familiar with. Almost everything was there, including:

PzKw I
PzKw II
PzKw III
PzKw IV
PzKw V
PzKw VI
Jagdtiger
Jagdpanther
Jagdpanzer
Hetzer
Marder II
Marder III
Hummel
Wespe
Brummbar

... and more-Italian tanks, British tanks, Soviet tanks, all types of Pak guns, all types of artillery, weird tanks, mortars, a German rail gun, a V-2, a U.S. coastal gun, a 21.5 ton bomb and much more.

There was an enclosed area that housed the first American tank, the T-3 [and then it struck me that we had not seen any other American armor such as the EZ-8 or other such on the grounds-more on that later].

In this museum section were displayed large numbers of small arms and special weapons such as the German auto-loader mortar [a sign said it was not widely used, as rounds tended to get stuck in the tube and when the the next round auto-loaded into the tube-boom]. There was the famous "shoot around the corner rifle" the Germans developed and a wide range of other things that were very impressive.

While I was viewing an M-16, quad .50 cal. anti-aircraft halftrack I met a Mr. Mack. He was touring the grounds with some friends. Mack was a veteran of the war and participated in the battle at St. Vith. He was also one of eight Americans who crossed the Elbe River and met the Soviets. He appears on the cover of the Life magazine issue that chronicled that well-publicized event.

His remembrance of the battles that occurred during the Ardennes fighting were incredible. He was with H Company, in a heavy weapons platoon. He was deployed in St. Vith when the Germans attacked the town. He had a vivid recollection of two events during that battle. The first was the direct fire of the German 88s, using AA shells, and how those rounds would airburst. He was hit numerous times from the shrapnel from the rounds, but was not wounded more than three times. Most of the time he could brush the shrapnel off his uniform.

The event that most unnerved he and his comrades was the German armor assault on the town. His platoon had taken cover under a water tower. One Pzkw VI rolled up the road toward his position, stopped, lowered its gun and pointed it "right at me" he stated.

I asked him what he did, and he answered, "we ran like hell."

Mack recounted how his unit was driven out of St. Vith, dug in west of Malmedy and held, then fought its way back to St. Vith. On the return he remembered marching by a field outside of Malmedy and observing a number of Americans digging in the snow. It was only later that he found out that the unit was digging up the bodies of the American prisoners who had been executed by the German forces.

Mr. Mack was very interested in the fact that we were doing the Europa series and pleased that we were involved in keeping this history alive. The hour or so that I spent talking with him was mutually rewarding.

The rain was returning so I went back inside. There I met a group that had founded an association, a non- profit group, to enhance and maintain the park. As I spoke to them it occurred to me that GR/D should sponsor this group and that all of you should have the chance to contribute to the maintenance of this part of history.

I urge you to support this effort, and, in 1996, if all else works out, part of Europafest will be a tour of the park. Since the convention is scheduled to be in Baltimore, we will get a bus or as many busses as it takes, and go to Aberdeen.

But what about the American armor? Why didn't the park have any of our tanks?

In my conversation with the guys I asked them about Little David. Where was it? They directed me to the site and, as a last trip before we had to return to Baltimore, Bruce and I decided to visit the mortar.

It is big. It is very big! So as we ended our trip and headed out of Aberdeen we took a wrong turn and went out another direction.

There was about two miles of American armor parked in the median of this four lane road. You name it, it was there. DD Sherman, EZ-8, and on and on and on.