European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 8, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday october 8, 1985 the stars Aid stripes Page 9 Wii vets remember How it was then they All agree on one thing Europe was coif Merenf 40 years ago by Chris a St a staff writer Wiser attn. Germany  was different then. Bombs cracked the flare lit night. Fighters strafed. Hult cts who cd by. Tanks roared. Infantry slogged through mud and Snow. Men died. Some members of the society of the 5lh i of an try a group of veterans on a tour of Europe recently recounted some of their War memories. The 5th inf div served in five european campaigns in world War 11. Leon  Veteran of co i 2nd inf regl 5th inf div has his memory of the War. My first Day of combat he remembers we had wrong information. I was a scout we had been told to go up to a certain Road and look around. Which i did. Since Only one person Gol hit on the patrol the company commander said go ahead and Cross the Road. We lost about 33 percent of the company. And we lost the company commander. Six of the Fel lows i knew four i threw across the Road two i wrapped to. One i carried Back. When 1 got Bac i had been a private. They made me a staff sergeant. And i had one Bath in 60 Days he burst out laughing and breaking the ten Sion. That i la never  it s an entirely different feeling said George Sherman. Now you see it re built. It was total chaos and destruction. Danger was around every Corner every Road crossing every wooded  of very Church  added turn Small Wood. Your life was in danger constantly Sherman said. Sherman and Small Wood were in the division s 5th medical in. It s 10.000 times  Bilardi Neltie said. It s in Here he said tapping his Chest. I Don t know any better Way of saing  now we re trying to reminisce Sherman said. You look Back and you think about the tremendous Job of re building that s gone on. You see sky scrapers you Sec new highways new houses. It s surprising How Little of the War damage is still visible. Especially in Frankfurt. We were in Frankfurt in the Spring of 45 for about three weeks. It was just one pile of rubble after another. It was difficult to find a House intact to use for  George Bachman who had been in the 21st arty also remembered the devastation. When i was Here Between Frank Furt and Offenbach there was a Bulldozer path Between the two cities with rubble on both  he said. Bachman remembered crossing the Rhine River. We crossed at Opp Nchim and then we captured Frankfurt he said. We went across that Nihl with the 155s." he said explaining that the infantry crossing had been made that morn ing but they wailed until night to bring Over the 155mm artillery. The night we crossed the service Bat Tery of our unit had a gasoline truck thai was towing a Trail Road of wine we had just  he said. It had just Gol across the Pontoon Bridge and it got strafed and the truck and the wine All went up he said laugh ing. It lit up the Bridgehead. Those Gas Oline cans went up like  i remember walking to the River s Edge Early that morning Sherman said be cause we had to set up a red Flag at the collecting Point for the wounded Corning Back. And the infantry was slogging up on both sides of the Road. What amazed me. There were shells coining in and nobody was Hilling the ground. By myself i would be scared i would have spent All my time on the ground. 1 said to myself. If these Guys can walk i can walk.1 they were so damned dog tired he said. I remember that night was like the movies Bachman said. Flares and bombs confusion. We were coming up to the Airport Anu the infantry stopped us and asked where we were going. We said we were going to set up an of operations headquarter Sand they said the Airport had t been captured  you wonder How we won Sherman said. A Day on Omaha Beach is pm Maxi vivid memory  . He said he was t in he my inf div but inc eth Engineer  brigade 5l dih collect ing c n. Collecting  Illies he said. We would put them Hack on the ships ind they would go Back to   left the War the hard a. After Landing at Omaha Beach in the Normand invasion and f 0 Days of fight ing up in gravel tic. Near met trance he was wounded when a sniper s Bullet slammed into his knee. He left the army Wanh a Silver Star. The week before an artillery Shell had landed near him leaving 0" apparent wound except a chronic headache. Bachman was in Czechoslovakia when the War ended. His unit was in the process o attacking when the charge was called off. That s How he knew the War was Over. The Williamson mich., native remained in the army received a commission and retired As a lieutenant colonel in 1972. Sherman says he knew the War ended when suddenly All the car and House lights were Lii the end of the wartime  he served for 26 years was commissioned Anil retired As a lieutenant colonel. Small Wood knows exactly How Long he was in the army five cars 5 months and 22 do " he left the service As a first merge and. But they All agree.  was differ ent then. A program urged to reduce deaths from heart surgery fort Lauderdale Fla. A the death rate for heart surgery in veterans administration hospitals could drop if Small surgical units were closed and safety standards were tightened according to findings by a a advisory panel published sunday. A officials established the panel in january after the fort Laud Crdal news and Sun Sentinel reported that death rates were higher in a dozen Low use a cardiac programs than in other High use a centers. Reducing the total number of heart programs would probably result in lower operative moralities and lower Overall costs according to advisory panel records quoted sunday in the news and Sun Sentinel. The report was released to the newspaper under the Freedom of information act. Many authorities say cardiac surgery units should perform a minimum of 200 cases annually to ensure proficiency. The a has required 100 cases annually since 1980, but the regu Fauio often has been ignored the newspaper said. A officials and the advisory panel s chairman l. Thompson Bowles the Dean of academic affairs at George Washington University school of Medicine declined to discuss the report the newspaper said. Sensitive issues require study since Many sensitive issues must be considered i will study the recommendations and develop an implementation plan Over the next few weeks the a s chief medi Cal director John w. Diller wrote in a letter accompanying the  a spent about $50 million in fiscal 1984 to perform 6,450 cardiac operations at 43 a hospitals and nine affiliated University hospitals. The a s average mortality Rale was 3.7 percent for bypass surgery the most common heart operation. A news and Sun Sentinel investigation earlier this year found that about a dozen Low volume a programs repeatedly reported death rates several times higher than the a norms Between 1973 and 1983. Public hospitals have not been required to report patient mortality  newspaper also reported that a cardiac surgery consultants frequently tailed to Correct longstanding safely problems saying excessive mortality was cited at the Miami a heart unit five times Between 1978 and 19ko. The checks were made every six months. The 12-Mcmber advisory panel eight of its Mem Bers Are either a employees or former Agency heart consultants agreed that underused programs May pose a Hazard to patients and urged that no new pro Grams be approved without identifiable need. Mos shortages and overages cuffed main personnel problem by Charlie Bov Den Munich Bureau garm1sch. Germany balancing the army s enlisted Force to fill critical vacancies is one of the most important issues facing personnel specialists today the commander of the army military person Nel Center says. Maj. Gen. Jim Hall said the army has the people it needs but too Many arc doing the same jobs. Right now the army has 98 percent of its e-8s and e-9s, and 100 percent of its e-5s and f.-6s." Hall said. This sounds Good. However the problem is that we have overages and shortages in he Moss military occupational specialities Hall discussed the Force alignment programs Dur ing an interview Al the annual personnel and administration symposium sponsored in Garmisch last week by the 1st personnel come. The army has started some programs that have Cut the number of soldiers in unbalanced jobs by about so percent during the past year. According to army statistics about 25.000 soldiers in grades e-5 and e-6 and another 5,000 in the top two enlisted grades were in unbalanced skills. A series of programs started in june 1984, including promoting voluntary re classification of soldiers into shortage jobs has trimmed that number to about 15,000 As of september. We need to reclassify these soldiers for the Good of the army but it also will increase their chances for promotion Hall said. To ensure that neither the army nor the Soldier is Hurt by rectification Hall said a recent change requires that soldiers not be awarded an mos unless they attend technical school if one is available for that Job. On Lac Job training for reclassification and award of an mos will be the exception rather than the Rule. Hall said such cases must be approved at the army level. To enhance the schools requirement. Hall said soldiers assigned overseas vill be Able to attend for Mal schools and return to their overseas assignment if they have at least 12 months left on their Lour after graduation. Curtailment of a tour also will be authorized up to six months for a Normal re classification or nine months for a medical reclassification he said. Hall also said he believes the promotion picture for Middle Grade cos will brighten based on recent changes in the enlisted promotion Structure. Most significant perhaps. Was the revision of the 1.000 Point worksheet which  said was designed to promote soldiers who Are professionally competent self disciplined committed to self improvement achievement oriented and Are pm Wicall  absent from the worksheet arc Points for time in Grade and time in service something Hall said opens doors of promotion Opportunity for Bright Oung sol Diers. Young soldiers can make out like a  he said of the new worksheet. The worksheet was first used in May 1985 for e-5 promotions and in August for e-6 promotions. Hall said the average scores in each Grade dropped about 100 Points. The average for e-5 was 606 and the on the Job training for re classification will be the exception rather than the Rule average for e-6 was 689. However Hall said the scores for soldiers in the secondary zone increased primarily because the Points for time in service and Grade were eliminated. Several other change that affect enlisted promotions have either been started or arc in the planning stages Hall i Aid. These include elimination of the requirement for a waiver be cause of an article 15 waivers Are still for soldiers with court martial offences and a record of being absent without leave. Soldiers must meet the education requirement for the a Cal higher Grade. High school diploma or the equivalent will be required for promotion to e-5 and for re enlistment for a second or subsequent term. This is scheduled to take effect in March 1987 to allow soldiers time to meet the new requirement. Under study is a proposal that would limit e-6 promotions to those soldiers who have completed the primary leadership development course. Also proposed is the lowering of time in service requirements for secondary zone promotions to 18 months for e-5 and 48 months for e-6. The program could begin As Early As january 1986