European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 16, 1967, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 8 1hf stars and stripes saturday september 16, 1967 24th div battalion is first outfit to get Ger Many special Gen. James h. Polk Usa eur and seventh army commander in chief has made the first presentation of Usa eur s big m award Here to co d of the 24th inf div s 724th maintenance in. The company was chosen Best maintenance com Pany in Usa eur for the p a Rod March to september 1967. Receiving the big m award Fortis company was 1st it. Robert e. Esser co d and third place awards in the judging were also presented by Polk to the seventh army support come s 30thtransportation co 85th maintenance in and he and co a of the 708th maintenance in 8th inf a plaque for the 30th transportation co was 1stsgt. William r. Hattfield and for he and a co 1st sgt. Morri Tabor. First sgt. Merle r. Geske received the first place plaque for co d. The big m award will be a perpetual award in Europe and will travel from Winner to Winner Ona semiannual basis. Each win Ning company s name will be in scribed on the trophy s base. Established in May by the of fice of the Deputy chief of staff for logistics he Usa eur the big m award was instituted to recreation scheduled Stuttgart Germany Spe Cial the annual meeting of the european recreation society is scheduled for oct. 19-22 at the Berchtesgaden or Hof in Berchtesgaden Germany. The ers which is an affiliate of the National Parks and recreation association Usa pro motes professional growth among recreation specialists inthe american red Cross Uso youth activities special service Sand All other personnel. The theme of this year s con Ference is world horizons in recreation and the importance of recreation internationally will be stressed. Among speaker scheduled to participate Are or. James j. Raciti of the european division University of Mary land k. L. Morgan Secretary of the Institute of Parks and recreation administration England Gordon Davis of radio free Europe and col. Lionel Gregory head of the British common wealth expedition 1967.for further information Call Nell Holcomb at Munich Mili tary 7263, or write special serv ices Agency Europe attn a ass. Service club Branch Apo 00184. M Soldier Driver gets award Kaiserslautern Germany is spec. 5 Robert Switzer 66th transportation co 53rdtransportation in received an engraved watch for driving 100,-000 Accident free Miles. Provide proper recognition to de serving maintenance units in the Choice of the Best maintenance company in the commands based on the results of the unit s command maintenance management inspections the an Nual general inspection and logistical supervisory technical in were chosen on Divi Sion level corps level then the final decision was made from the three top maintenance units Inu Sarteur present for the ceremony along with Polk were maj. Gen r. Wetherill 24th inf div cd maj. Gen. E. L. Rowny Deputy chief of staff for logistics usar eur and it. Col. John o. May Hall 724th maintenance in com Mander. Following the ceremony , and Rowny inspected the shop area of cod Here atthe seventh army training Cen for the ceremony was provided by the 24th inf disband under the direction of two Joseph Murat. Usa eur s Best Gen. James h. Pol presents the big m award to 1st it. Robert e. Esser commanding officer of cod 724thmaintenance in. The company was named the Best maintenance company in in the background is the first sergeant of the company Merle r. Geske. This is the first big m award to be made. Army of chaplain9s wings Are for real by Dan Dean staff writer Wiesbaden is when Chapel goers Here say they see wings on the chaplain they Renot having hallucinations or making puns. Chaplain it. Col Angus chief of Safe s command chaplains plans an professional division wears air Force Pilot feels in the pulpit chaplain Youngblood and in the cockpit having logged Many hours in both. Although the soft spoken Chap lain does t Fly for the air Force these Days he can unwind wit the Best of them when it comes to telling spine chilling hangar born stories. He easily switches a Conversa Tion about flying to that of a chaplain s Job then Back to Fly ing. It s obvious that he loves to talk about both often relating the two. Flying people As i see it Farewell aware of a controlling guid Ance outside the cockpit the Pilot chaplain said and added my own flying experience has been helpful in understanding special problems and pressures common to flight , who holds Multi engine instrument instructor and other a a civil ratings first embarked on his Aerial Trail Blaz ing through the aviation Cadet program from Baylor University in 1942. He won his wings a year later at Foster Field near Vic Toria Texas. He stayed on at Foster for year As instructor Pilot putting cadets through rigorous flight training in t6s and p40s. Later he taught students How to handle p47s at 4th training air Force bases. As a chaplain now i have special appreciation for those go ing through their year of under graduate flight training. This is the one of the mos unusual years of their lives in that they Are right out of col lege have a new car adjusting to married life and meeting the demands of professional develop ment he Youngblood after at tending Southwest Baptist Theo logical Seminary and pasturing for four years put on his air Force blues in 1954. While attending Seminary he continued logging flight time As an instructor Pilot in the Reserve. His keen interest in flying continued to pull him like a Magnet to the cockpit after entering Theair Force chaplaincy. As an Aero club Booster he helped organize several clubs including the one at Ellington fab near Ellington club was one of the first in the air Force and today it ranks among the country s Large clubs with its 45 air planes. Aero clubs offer a constructive use of off duty time the Chap lain pointed that private flying in the states is on the upswing he said this healthy interest in flying is a Good indication of the Quality of today s before coming to Safe last some Safe airmen can extend overseas Wiesbaden special air Force officers and enlisted personnel in Safe can now Volun Teer to stay in Europe up to six months longer under certain conditions. The military personnel Centeral Randolph air base tex., announced that officers planning to leave the air Force but whose Active duty service commit Mentor obligation is not satisfied on the Date of return from Over seas May Volunteer to extend their overseas tour up to 42months. Such action must result in the individual being eligible for separation upon completion of the Extension. The same policy applies to air men who desire to retire or sep Arate from the air Force upon completion of their overseas tour. Extensions under this policy will be granted Only when the adjusted Date of return from overseas will coincide with the individual s expiration term of service or Date of retirement. Gen. Pezdirtz takes new 4th army Post Nuernberg Germany Spe Cial Brig. Gen. Joseph w. Pezdirtz is the 4th army div s new assistant division commander for support. He was formerly com Mander of the 4th army div s 2nd replaced Brig. Gen. Tobias r. Philbin who left the division Early this month for a new assignment As head of National Security Agency rope. July he spent three years on the chaplain s staff air train ing come at Randolph fab Texas. Here too Youngblood was heading for the cockpit. With Many staff visits to make the chaplain found that the most economical and fastest Way to destination was in a san Antonio based twin Apache. Chaplain and mrs. Kathleen Youngblood have two boys. One has followed dad s footsteps to Ward the wild Blue yonder. Craig now in his third year Asa business major at the univer sity of Houston has earned his commercial and instructor Pilot ratings. Lloyd meanwhile has started his fourth year of pre med at Rice University. What does the winged chaplain do to pass the time while Riding on military flights our guess i that when the seat Belt sign is turned off he wastes no time ingesting out of his passenger s seat to see what s happening up front. A Zey see excessive Speed by drink ing Drivers still our biggest killer. Usa eur fatal accidents since july 1 army motor vehicles non army motor vehicle weapons and explosives asphyxiation drowning other As of sept. 15 1966 1967 20 2227 22 2 10 25 3 1 s 12 totals 63 72
