European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 7, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday april 72007 stars and stripes Page 3 photos by Kevin and stripes belgian civilian Laurent Pironnet welds the Hull of a world War ii Sher Man tank normally on display in Bastogne for the past few months a belgian army unit in Liege Belgium has been renovating the tank expected to be Back in Mcauliffe Square for memorial Day weekend Bel res ski aids honoured to Ore historic tank by Kevin Dougherty stars and stripes Liege Belgium an Ameri can tank recently got blasted though not by one of the usual suspects of All people it was a group of belgians and they sprayed the armoured vehicle hard enough to Peel paint which was the intention one of the participants a sol Dier even called the experience a privilege i never thought that one Day i would work on that tank said adjutant Daniel lib As the siege abated company b 41st tank battalion Lith a Mored division went into Battle near Renu amont a Village six Miles West of Bastogne Accord ing to an Lith and account a tank nicknamed Barracuda by its Crew got stuck in a Snow covered Pond the germans subsequently knocked it out of commission in the engagement the tank com Mander was killed and four Crew men were Geryl Ert a maintenance chief at a Bel Gian military Arsenal in Rocourt near Liege he spoke through an interpreter if s an Honor if All goes As planned the Sher Man tank that has been absent from Mcauliffe Square in Bastogne since november will return by memorial Day the Crew that has been refurbishing the world War n icon has already dismantled cleaned sandblasted and re assembled much of it a fresh coat of paint is next the belgian army is taking care of the labor while Bastogne is paying for the materials past custodians put some paint on it but not much Over the last 60 years belgian air Force it col Luc Geryl said anyone who has visited Bastogne probably has seen the m4 Sherman tank on display in the City Square tourists like to have their picture taken in front of it and for people from that Era it symbolizes a whole lot More Bastogne is inextricably linked to the Battle of the bulge the larg est land Battle in us military his tory it was there up in the ardennes Highlands where us forces valiantly held off the Ger Man army for several Days de spite being encircled captured after the War the Bel Gian Farmer who owned the land  let anyone touch the Jouvenaux tank until 1947 when the belgian army took Possession of it despite fire damage to the Crew compartment the tank was cleaned Given a new Turret painted and placed on display in Mcauliffe Square there it sat until nov 6 2006 when the old tank was lifted off its Low Stone Pedestal and taken to the belgian army Centre de competence Materiel Soulant it armament near Liege the Effort to fix and refurbish the tank started slowly it was difficult to find spare parts it Yanneck Jouvenaux explained As he stood next to the tur ret which is separated from the tank but not yet restored for historical purposes he said i under stand Why we Are doing it eventually the Crew found a set of Sherman tank wheels in Southern Belgium and replace ment tracks in the North the paint they will use comes from a company in Luxembourg during the renovation Effort the Crew found several items in Side the tank such As cartridges and buttons we still found munitions in the tank Geryl said that was kind of a Surprise email Kevin Dougherty acc German investors plan to build housing for troops by Scott Schonat Jer stars and stripes Ramstein air base Ger Many private German investors plan to build As Many As 1800 of base Homes for Ameri cans stationed at Ramstein and Span Dahlem air bases to help feed the growing housing de Mand Rhineland palatinate state Cabi net members created a develop ment company this week to implement the government facilitated housing program state Deputy minister president Karl Peter Bruch said wednesday while the government is Over seeing the project private Compa Nies will finance the construction of the town Homes and apart ments the consortium has not determined where to put the Homes the program initially will build 400 Homes in the Kaiserslautern area and 300 near Span Dahlem if the 1800 Homes Are built the estimated Cost of the project will reach million Rhineland a latinate minister of finance in Golf Denbei said Ramstein and Span Dahlem air bases Are in the midst of tearing Down old stairwell apartments and building hundreds of new Torii Homes on base for us ser Vic members and their families to meet Pentagon housing improvement requirements Al though the new base units offer More space and Are considerably nicer than the 1950style apart ments the housing construction project will result in a net loss of on base Homes if s Clear there is a demand for Ben and stripes towering cranes such As these in the Village of Achenbach near ram Stein air base have become commonplace in the Kaiserslautern area Ingolf Denbei minister of finance for Rheinland palatinate said there Are plans to build As Many As 1800 Homes to support Ramstein and Span Dahlem air base communities Over the next few years of base housing said Gen Rich Ard Johnston commander of 86th Airlift Wing and the Kaiserslautern military Community Denbei said the state govern ment is still working out the de tails with the us military and the private companies investors want a 10year contract and Are working out stipulations in Case the Pentagon decides to decrease troops in the area he said private companies also insist that the architecture and style of the Homes blend into the sur rounding villages and not look military part of the reason Denbei said is so the investors could sell the Homes to German residents if the us military could not place families in them Ramstein and Span Dahlem be came the air forces two major Airlift hubs in Europe after the clo sure of Rhei main air base near Frankfurt in 2005 the Kaiserslautern area is Home to 54000 americans and their families making it the largest us Mil itary Community outside the us email Scott Schonauer at 27th transportation battalion inactivated Jerry of the us army it col Wayne Stuntz 27th transportation battalion movement control commander left and command sgt maj James Riddick unit command sergeant major Case the colors for the final time thursday in Weis Baden Germany the battalion is inactivating As part of the us army transformation the unit has participated in campaigns from world War in to operation iraqi Freedom