Building 9001 - Hq Det NAD and the 522 QM Co (think they worked the subsistence mission in the Depot)

Building 9002 - 85th QM Company (Depot Operations)

Building 9003 - 557 QM Company (Air Delivery)

Building 9004 - 9th (?) Combat Equipment Company

As you came through the Main Gate, to your right was Headquarters Company, then the 85th QM Co., then it was the 522nd QM Co., 557th Airborne, and next to them were billets but I am not sure for whom, maybe POL personnel. Directly across from the 522nd was the Mess Hall. Huge structure. Also had a dry cleaners and some other vendors, maybe a Barbershop, not sure.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATON #2 (added August 12, 2020)
The 557 was the only parachute resupply company in USEUCOM. The company’s mission was to provide resupply by parachute to USEUCOM units. At its authorized level of organization, the company could provide 150 tons of supplies and equipment by parachute.

As is typical with these types of companies, when it is not engaged in parachute operations it is used for other duties. Our duty was the operation of that portion of the Winterhauch Storage Site operated by NAD. That area stored the Theater Reserves of a nasty substance known as Fog Oil which Wikipedia defines as ‘(military) Petroleum based oil specially blended to produce a dense, efficient, screening smoke when vaporized and recondensed at atmospheric temperatures. Officially, fog oil is standard grade fuel number 2 (SGF2).”

The nickname of Winterhauch Storage Site was “POL Hill” because of the fog oil. In fact, no one ever used the official name except in official correspondence with higher headquarters. The Commanding General of US Army Material Command Europe (USMATCOMEUR) even called the place POL Hill.

It was a miserable place to work. It was hot in the summer and cold and wet in the winter. During rains and thaws it flooded so that the men’s boots were occasionally sucked off their feet. Their clothing was always dirty. Looking at the image of the Winterhauch Storage Area (POL Hill) the large open area in the right lower quadrant is where the Fog Oil was stored. It was huge.

Prior to my arrival the company was divided into several sections to augment the capabilities of the grossly understaffed Depot. The Company Commander was the Depot Personnel and Security, Plans and Operations Officer (S-1/S-3), the Company Operations Officer worked under the Company Commander and did the duties of the Depot Security, Plans, and Operations Officer and the company operations staff became the Depot Operations Office. The company was run by the First Sergeant, Supply Sergeant, and a Warrant Officer. Not great for unit cohesion.

The operating platoons were divided – Riggers packed the Theater Reserves of personal and cargo parachutes stored at NAD and quarterly at Leghorn Army Depot in Italy. The rigger facility was clean, dry, and comfortable. Non-riggers were assigned to POL Hill.

This separation of Airborne vs non-airborne soldiers is part of the Ft. Bragg ethos of "Troopers" vs “Legs”. I had always hated the separation of troopers vs legs. I reorganized the company back to its TO&E structure consisting of three platoons. I also rotated the platoons between the parachute rigging facility and POL hill. This made the Platoon Leader (a second lieutenant) and platoon Warrant Officer responsible for the operations of their platoon including POL Hill.

When the platoons assumed control of POL Hill the platoon leaders began to take a personal interest in the welfare of the men. One day I went to the hill to check on the operation. One of the platoon leaders was hip-deep in the mud of a ditch with a shovel in his hand digging below the road. Suddenly there was a huge noise and the lieutenant fell backwards in to the ditch as a huge wave of water washed over him.

He had solved the problem of POL Hill – there were a series of clogged culverts under the various roads leading to the hill. He had, in one month, solved a problem that had been addressed by several engineers for months.

POL Hill became a much better place to work – not perfect but as good as any unimproved open-storage facility in USAMATCOMEUR.

A few months later the Depot Commander made me an offer that I could not refuse. In exchange for me taking personal (or as he said it “Efficiency Report”) responsibility for POL Hill and storage of the theater reserves of parachutes, he would give me a warehouse for airdrop operations.

It is the warehouse identified as Warehouse 3-1 in the map of the depot. It had more than 40,000 square feet of floor space. All the theater reserve parachutes would be moved to the warehouse. We would have a parachute maintenance area and a parachute pack area suitable for packing of parachutes that were up to 100-foot in diameter. We also had a personal parachute packing area.

About six months later, a passenger train was passing below the facility. A passenger threw a cigarette butt out of a window and it caught the dry grass on fire. The fire raged up the hill towards the Fog Oil. The lieutenant in charge of POL hill notified me that we had a fire to fight and that he needed shovels and rakes. I called out the rest of the company and notified the Depot Commander of the problem. He released what we needed from Depot Stock and put me in charge of the fire fight.

At the end we had about 200 troops (including a USAREUR Roadside Inspection section who tried to inspect my 1st Sergeant but he convinced them that they were needed for a higher cause (I think that he said that I would hand them their ass if they didn’t come – he was right)). We also had about four German fire trucks and 30 German firefighters on the blaze. We were able to stop the fire at the area’s fence.

Later there was an investigation by the USAREUR Fire Marshall and German authorities. While we were commended for our actions the conclusion was that had the fire reached the Fog Oil it would have burned three German villages at the foot of the mountain.

The Fog Oil was moved in about three months. No more POL Hill.