European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 03, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse In a fifteen americans and 11 others died when two army Black Hawk choppers were downed by two air Force-15 pilots Over Northern Iraq. Is Dave Casey More than 2,000 , military troops from Europe were deployed to Rwanda and neighbouring countries to assist in water purification site grading and other Aid efforts. S4s. Michael Abrami arc s popular Chi Emsee Lake resort closed after More than four decades. _ catering to american military folks their families and allies year deployments accomplishments and tragedies 7 by Vince Crawley staff writer or americans stationed overseas 1994 was a year Triumph As they brought water to a million rwandan refugees Ngoma Zaire it was a year disaster As two air Force pilots shot Down two army helicopters killing All 26 aboard. It was a year farewells As gis departed from Berlin and Fulda and Mogadishu. It was a year wariness As they continued their often dangerous Vigil on the sidelines the civil War in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was a year nostalgia As thousands Silver haired or \ world War ii veterans the founding fathers the half Century . Military presence in Europe passed their memories to a new generation at ceremonies marking the 50th anniversaries their bloody Battles. It was a year trials both inside and outside courtrooms. Gruesome killers like the sergeant who beheaded his wife s Lover and the Soldier who raped and murdered 2-year-old Elora Mckemy had their Day in court. Others like Saddam. Hussein continued to taunt the world. In the final weeks 1994, the top army commander in Europe said that the draw Down forces was finally drawing to a close ending years confusion and erosion for the Quarter a million americans who remain stationed Over Here. T for the first time since 1945, american troops Are no longer stationed in the cold War outposts Berlin and Fulda Germany. All military installations Are to close in the historic troop City Nurnbe. Erg and the Alpine splendor Lake Chi Emsee an american recreation Center for nearly half a Century is being returned to the germans. Currency traders said 1994 was supposed to be the year the sagging . Dollar would soar on foreign Exchange markets. It did t. Now they re betting on 1995. In february the department defense once and for All banned smoking within any non residential government building. It was not a history Book kind year for americans stationed overseas. There was nothing to compare to the persian Gulf War or the humanitarian crisis Somalia yet combat readiness had dwindled As troops patrolled far Flung peacekeeping outposts. It was a year that continued to test people s knowledge obscure geography with gis on missions to places like Kigali and Kazakhstan. Several dozen Caribbean born soldiers i Europe found themselves on translator duty in Haiti. A ice despite political unrest in Moscow the former cold War enemies Russia and the United states held a historic joint peacekeeping exercise in the Volga military dist id. Troops spent another year wondering their leaders would make Good on president Clinton s Long standing Promise to dispatch 25,000 peacekeepers to the former Yugoslavia. Instead with less than one Day s notice 2, troops raced to Rwanda Uganda and Zaire to Avert a Refuge crisis epic scale. Millions rwandans fleeing civil a a sub saharan Africa were dying by the thousands until gis began pumping clean drinking the army s Berlin brigade pulled out the German capital ending a five decade presence that symbolized the cold War. N water from the picturesque shores Lake Kiva. r purification specialists and Tanker truck Drivers not hardened combat troops faced scenes death disease and War As they brought water to coma. American pilots took part in nato air strikes against serb positions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Directed by a . Command determined to maintain neutrality the strikes achieved Only limited and fleeting Success and bosnian muslims appeared to finally Stop hoping that the american cavalry would Rescue their besieged Homeland. Braving the unfriendly skies above the bosnian capital Sarajevo pilots . Cargo planes ran a Gauntlet hostile fire As they delivered food and Medicine in history s longest Airlift. Unfinished business from the persian Gulf War haunted americans. April would have marked the third anniversary patrols inside Northern Iraq where american and Allied planes prevented iraqi air attacks against local kurdish citizens. The Lull Success exploded midday april 14 when two 15 jets on routine patrol shot Down two Black Hawk helicopters.,.". the pilots it col. Randy w. May was charged with 26 counts negligent homicide one for each person aboard the two army helicopters that he and a fellow Pilot mistakenly shot Down. A 2,000-Page military report. Blamed negligence complacency and poor communication at All Levels. But charges against May were. Dismissed five Days before Christmas and although senior commanders were relieved duty the Only person going to trial is capt. Jim Wang a comparatively Junior air Force officer who was in charge air traffic controllers that Day. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein briefly recaptured the. World spotlight in october when he massed tens thousands troops on the kuwaiti Border. A Hasty american show Force sent him Back Home under the Shadow a new . Resolution that threatened devastating air strikes he did t keep his soldiers nearer to Baghdad. Troop reductions and dangerous missions were responsible for a marked increase in Domestic violence among families overseas. But two crimes defied statistics. Sgt. Stephen a Schap who beheaded his wife s Lover was sentenced in april to Normandy. 45 years for .,./. v. Premeditated murder. Schap s pregnant wife Diane testified at the court martial that spec. Gregory Vav. Glover had fathered her child. After the killing Schap had carried Glover s head to his wife s Hospital bedside in Fulda. By mid May an eight month manhunt seemed to have. Led nowhere As German and american police desperately tried to solve the murder Elora Mckemy an american. Toddler who had mysteriously disappeared from her family s military quarters in Babenhausen Germany. Investigators resorted to testing the dam in blood samples Frank Pepitone 69, a clone fla., was among the veterans marking the 50th anniversary the invasion drawn from l900 soldiers and civilians in the Babenhausen area. And in May test number 1,412 turned up positive. In a pre Christmas plea bargain that stunned Elora s parents spec. Patrick Smith admitted guilt in Exchange for a life sentence. He claims he was drunk and can recall no details what happened. Smith is eligible for parole in 10 years. Elora had she not met him that night would now be 4. _ there were heroes too. Master sgt. Gary Gordon and sgt. 1st class Randall Shughart were posthumously awarded the medal Honor this year the nation s highest award for valor. Gordon and Shughart lost their lives while trying to Rescue comrades during the oct. 3, 1993, Street fight in Mogadishu Somalia a Battle that hastened american withdrawal from the deteriorating humanitarian Mission on the Horn Africa. In Vilseck Germany following a Chase at More than 110 Mph a criminal investigator opened fire on a Drunken Driver _ who ran a military police Roadblock. But special agent Jeffery _ j. Brady found himself on trial for attempted murder after one his bullets struck a passenger in the Back seat Brady described As a Model agent by witnesses i Broth the defense. _ and prosecution was found not guilty in a court martial that. Questioned the limits deadly Force. And in Aviano Italy a civilian veterinarian sped on base to perform emergency gastric torsion surgery on Nero 9, a patrol and explosives dog that had been named the air ,.f Force s top dog in Europe. Or. Guy Beretich did not charge the air Force for the 3 i hour operation that saved the animal s life. -_.-. _. 16 the stars and stripes tuesday january 3, 1995 the stars and stripes 17 \
