11th& 14th Cav OP ALPHA
I am sending on this email I received, on to you
fellow troopers for looking
over.
What do you think about this museum?
Ed Anderson
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Fellow members of the Border Legion (11th and
14th ACR);
See the below message from Reinhard
Schumann.
I had the opportunity to run into and meet
Reinhard while visiting OP Alpha
about 2 weeks ago while we were in Bad
Hersfeld visiting my wife’s family
there. We also visited with the current OP Alpha
manager (Reinhard – I
misplaced her business card with e-mail
address. Please reply to this
e-mail with this information for all).
OP Alpha needs our support!
As many of you may know, there are now 2
museums at Point Alpha:
1) OP Alpha located in State Hesse, and
2) A new museum across the former border
and a few hundred meters
south in State Thuringen (formerly East
Germany).
The new museum is quite modern and does an
excellent job of presenting the
border from the East German perspective. It is
set up with a good walk-thru
flow pattern with many exhibits, vehicles,
mannequins, sand tables and
excellent audio visual presentations.
The new museum is also directly adjacent to the
road between Rasdorf and
Geisa making it easily accessible, along with
excellent parking for many
vehicles and tour buses. (During our 3-1/2 hour
visit we noticed 6 tour
buses parked there with most of the people
visiting the new museum, but very
few taking the walk down to and into OP Alpha.
During the same time frame,
we saw no tour buses at the OP Alpha parking
area).
Meanwhile, there were relatively few quests in
OP Alpha. Of note there were
a group of approx 15 German children on a field
trip there and a few couples
however. As we all remember, the route into the
back of OP Alpha is down a
narrow asphalt road with several bends, then
thru the forest to the back of
the OP. The road continues thru another turn
and down the side of the OP to
a good parking area adjacent to the former
border; but at the end of the
day – OP Alpha is a little of the “beaten path”
and a little more difficult
to get to.
The equipment displays at OP Alpha have been
consolidated at one location
with all vehicles moved outside where a few
were formerly located (with the
exception of the M113 that remains by the
Memorial Stone).
The inside displays that were located in 2 of the
barracks buildings have in
large measure been placed into storage;
however the former warehouse
(located adjacent to the Blackhorse Inn) has
been renovated and made into a
one room museum with some of the former
displays and a few new additions.
It is a nice new display, but it falls short of
being anywhere near the
level of the new museum.
So OP Alpha needs our help! Please spread the
word to all former members of
the Border Legion.
Here is a listing of what I see and what Reinhard
and I discussed
(Reinhard – please add in anything that I may
have missed).
1) A new American flag is needed for the
OP’s flagpole. The current
flag is undersized and torn in many places.
(From the active regiment in
Ft. Irwin?)
2) If you know of any former members of the
14th or the 11th Armored
Cavalry Regiments or the Constabulary that
served on the border please pass
this along to them as well.
3) Any former members of the Border Legion
that are currently living
in Germany:
a. Veteran lead tours of the OP and the
personal knowledge/history of
how it was there during the Cold War would be
greatly appreciated by the
Point Alpha staff for recording, and for tour
groups, especially children’s
groups. Anyone who could volunteer some time
would be greatly appreciated
and it could be coordinated in advance in
support of upcoming tour group
visits.
b. Spread the word to other vets in Europe.
c. Any monetary support would be greatly
appreciated.
d. Any plaques, items of equipment/uniforms,
certificates, old maps
are needed.
e. Any copies of old video/film footage or
even DVD copies so that the
staff could convert these into constantly running
AV presentations would be
welcomed.
f. Spread the word to any members of the
US Army serving in Europe
or visiting, as this is the only remaining site in
Germany that represents
why we were there from the US Army’s
perspective during the Cold War.
Veteran and current Active Duty visits by
individuals, families or organized
groups from Europe would be welcomed. Not
just Border Legion folks, but all
US military.
4) All former members of the Border Legion:
a. When visiting Germany, try to stop by OP
Alpha.
b. Spread the word to other Border Legion
Vets + all Army vets from
Germany Cold War Period
c. Any monetary support
d. Any plaques, items of equipment/uniforms,
certificates, old maps
e. Any copies of old video/film footage or
even DVD copies so that the
staff could convert these into constantly running
AV presentations would be
welcomed (I have given the OP Alpha staff the
hybrid 59 minute DVD that I
made after the year 2000 Reunion based on Tom
Smart’s 11 minute video, video
that I took during the reunion, several video
tapes that Glen Snodgrass
loaned me and video received from Jeremy
Dobo’s interview on Gen Donn Starry
on the tower at OP Alpha during the reunion).
f. Spread the word to other Border Legion
and US Army Cold War Era
vets about the OP, request for support and
welcomed visits by all.
5) Local Support to OP Alpha:
a. We need to show our support for Point
Alpha and demonstrate to our
German friends our continued commitment to OP
Alpha.
b. Any contact with Renate Strieber, Lord
Mayor of Fulda, State of
Hesse officials would be helpful. I was left with
the impression from the
locals that we (us vets) have very little contact
with the folks at OP Alpha
and local German leadership folks. We need to
individually and collectively
utilize our contacts from the past to shown our
continued support to the
museum and to let the Germans know thru our
actions that we want the museum
to continue to succeed, not to disappear into
history. It is my impression
that we are at a critical juncture. Reinhard
Schumann/Steven Steininger –
please relay on your comments as well.
6) On A More Positive Note:
a. As many of you may know, Point Alpha
was visited by President Bush
(the elder), Helmut Kohl and Michel Gorborchev
last June (several weeks
after the 2005 Reunion). This was certainly a
highpoint for the museum and
did bring some focus to entire complex.
Anyway, folks – your support individually and
collectively would be greatly
appreciated in Germany. As noted below by
Reinhard; Steven Steininger is
now is taking the lead in support for Point Alpha
in Germany.
By copy of this e-mail to Bob Hurt, I am asking
that this topic be added to
our Houston Area BlackHorse Association
Chapter Meeting Agenda for our
upcoming meeting on 14 June. Everyone, please
add this to your agendas for
any upcoming BlackHorse or Suivez Moi local
chapter meetings/reunions that
you may be having this summer.
Thanks Everyone!
ALLONS/SUIVEZ MOI!
Glenn Allardyce
3/14 ACR 1970 to 1972
11th ACR 1972 to 1973
