515Th Transportation Company, Petroleum Oil and Lubricants, Turley Barracks, Mannheim and at Smith Barracks, Baumholder, Germany, Ac
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EVERETTE F. COPPOCK III CSM, US ARMY, RETIRED TRANSPORTATION CORPS REGIMENT, 1977-2007 515TH TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, PETROLEUM OIL AND LUBRICANTS, TURLEY BARRACKS, MANNHEIM AND AT SMITH BARRACKS, BAUMHOLDER, GERMANY, AC 515TH TRANSPORTATION COMPANY Lineage and Honors Information as of MAY 22, 2002 515th Transportation Company Lineage Constituted 15 April 1944 in the Army of the United States as the 3825th Quartermaster Truck Company Activated 7 June 1944 in Italy Converted and re-designated 1 August 1946 as the 3825th Transportation Corps Truck Company Re-designated 20 March 1947 as the 515th Transportation Corps Truck Company Re-designated 20 July 1947 as the 515th Transportation Truck Company Allotted 1 February 1953 to the Regular Army Reorganized and re-designated 1 April 1954 as the 515th Transportation Company Inactivated 20 March 1972 in Vietnam Activated 16 October 1982 in Germany 515th Transportation Company Honors CAMPAIGN PARTICIPATION CREDIT World War II – EAME: Rome-Arno North Apennines Po Valley Korean War: CCF Intervention First UN Counteroffensive CCF Spring Offensive UN Summer-Fall Offensive Second Korean Winter Korea, Summer-Fall 1952 Third Korean Winter Korea, Summer 1953 Vietnam: Defense; Counteroffensive Counteroffensive, Phase II Counteroffensive, Phase III Tet Counteroffensive Counteroffensive, Phase IV Counteroffensive, Phase V Counteroffensive, Phase VI Tet 69/Counteroffensive Summer-Fall 1969 Winter-Spring 1970 Sanctuary Counteroffensive Counteroffensive, Phase VII Southwest Asia: Defense of Saudi Arabia Liberation and Defense of Kuwait Cease-Fire DECORATIONS Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for KOREA 1950-1951 Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for KOREA 1952 Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for VIETNAM 1965-1966 Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for SOUTHWEST ASIA Army Superior Unit Award for 1995-1996 Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm for VIETNAM 1971 In 1952 the 515th Transportation Company was assigned to the 69th Transportation Truck Battalion in Korea at Kwandai-ri area of 10th Corps. On December 11, 1966 at 0800 hours to 515 Transportation Platoon (Heavy Truck) departed the home station at Fort George Meade Maryland as the initial step in its deployment to Okinawa. The unit sailed for Okinawa from Oakland Army Terminal, California on December 12, 1966 departing at 1500 hours aboard the United States Navy Ship Upshure arriving at Naha, Okinawa on December 27, 1966 at 1200 hours. Upon arrival on Okinawa the unit was greeted by the commanding officer of the 506th Transportation Battalion. Affective December 27, 1966 the 515th Transportation Company was attached to the 506th Transportation Battalion. In the first nine months the unit recorded 182, 089 Tons of cargo and 328,885 miles operating M123 a 10-Ton Tractor. In June 1966 the 515 Transportation Company reported to Vietnam. Initially assigned to the Cam Rahn Bay Support Command and given the responsibility for onward movement of supplies and equipment from the port of Cam Rahn Bay to various locations inland. The following Transportation Companies were assigned to the Battalion: 360th Transportation Company (POL), 515th Transportation Company, 523rd Transportation Company, 572nd Transportation Company, 585th Transportation Company, 666th Transportation Company, 805th Transportation Company, and 863rd Transportation Company. To increase ton-miles, the 39th Transportation Battalion began to use "dollie trailers." The 39th Battalion had a Trailer Transfer Point just below Khe Sanh and drivers would drop the 12-ton S&P's there. The 5-ton continued with its load into Khe Sanh. A 5-ton tractor pulled the trailer into Khe Sanh. On November 28, 1966 the truck units were reassigned to the 28th General Support Group at Thuy Hoa. In 1969 the company was reassigned to Gia Le Combat Base hauling general cargo as a medium 5-Ton cargo truck company. Gia Le Combat Base received a rocket attacks on the nights of February 1, 2, and 25, 1969 with negative damage or casualties. On February 10, the 3rd Platoon, 515th TRAN CO which was TDY to Cam Ranh Bay was transferred to the US Army Support command, Da Nang less personnel and equipment. At the time the company had three hardened gun trucks. In the Summer 1970 the company was relocated at Phu Bai. Then failed its Command Maintenance Inspection (CMI) and Inspector General (IG) Inspection. 1SG, Akasaki, from Hawaii was two turn the company around and passed both their next CMI and IG in January and February. After the first month, the men learned that the 1SG had a great sense of humor and was a down to earth kind of leader. All he wanted them to do was perform their duties. The 515th picked up Bob Hope at Phu Bai and drove him to Camp Eagle for his USO Christmas Show. The 515th received front row seats. The company then relocates to Vandergrift on January 31, 1971. The company would pickup cargo from Camp eagle and deliver it to Vandergrift. It only had one-gun truck and was loaned one M113. On February 1 the company began line haul operations between Quang Tri Combat Support Base, FSA 1 at CSB Vandergrift and then to FSB 2 at Khe Sanh where the Trailer Transfer Point (TTP) was located with the 506th Transportation Detachment supporting 1st Brigade, 5th Mechanized Infantry Division. The 37th Transportation Battalion issued four Silver Stars, 20 Bronze Stars with V Device, 37 Bronze Stars, 10 Army Commendation Medals with V device, 108 Army Commendation Medals and 37 Purple Hearts during a two and half month period. REF A: QSL.com Arguably the most violent combat action of the war that the 39th Transportation Battalion saw was during the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) incursion of Laos during Operation Lam Son 719 in 1971. To disrupt the flow of enemy personnel and supplies into South Vietnam, a ground attack was launched across the Laotian border on 8 February 1971. For this operation the 39th Transportation Battalion was attached to the 8th Transportation Group with its headquarters at Quang Tri. The 585th Transportation Company moved to Tan My Ramp and set up the Forward Supply Area Vandergrift with the 515th Transportation Company and the Battalion Headquarters. In May 1971 near the Laotian Border the 515th Transportation Company, was ambushed 25 times over a two and half month period, killing twelve men, injuring 35 men and damaging 40 vehicles. REF B: Globelsecurity.org A Vietnam 515th Transportation Company U-Tube recording is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPuDiED9t88 In April 1982 an advance party of twenty Soldiers arrive Sheridan Barracks at Augsburg to set- up bulleting, office, and maintenance facilities. In September 1982, the 515th Transportation Company, arrives at Sheridan Barracks, Augsburg and was assigned with the 4th Transportation Battalion, VII Corps - Jayhawks. The unit operated Jeeps, 60 5-Ton Trackers, 5,000-gallon POL tankers and had 175 Soldier assigned. They set-up a driver’s academy for the education and licensing phases of in-processing including hands-on training on unit assigned equipment. Ninety-seven Soldier were housed in the barracks while the married Soldiers were issued government quarters, seven maintenance bays were converted to admin offices, supply, arms NBC and break rooms. On December 20, 1995 the 515th Transportation Company deploys in support of Operation Joint Endeavor IFOR, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The company was deployed until December 20, 1996. Article: NATO was responsible to the United Nations (UN) for carrying out the Dayton Peace Accords. The Dayton Peace Accords were started on 22 November 1995 by the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, on behalf of Serbia and the Bosnian Serb Republic. The actual signing happened in Paris on 14 December 1995. The peace accords contained a General Framework Agreement and eleven supporting annexes with maps. The accords had three major goals: ending of hostilities, authorization of military and civilian program going into effect, and the establishment of a central Bosnian government while excluding individuals that serve sentences or under indictment by the International War Crimes Tribunals from taking part in the running of the government. IFOR's specific role was to implement the military Annexes of The General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. IFOR relieved the UN peacekeeping force UNPROFOR, which had originally arrived in 1992, and the transfer of authority was discussed in Security Council Resolution 1031. Almost 60,000 NATO soldiers in addition to forces from non-NATO nations were deployed to Bosnia. Operation Decisive Endeavor (SACEUR OPLAN 40105), beginning 6 December 1995, was a subcomponent of Joint Endeavor. The Dayton Agreement resulted from a long series of events. Notably, the failures of EU-led peace plans, the August 1995 Croat Operation Storm and expelling 200.000 Serb civilians, the Bosnian Serb war crimes, in particular the Srebrenica massacre, and the seizure of UNPROFOR peace-keepers as human shields against NATO's Operation Deliberate Force. Admiral Leighton W. Smith, Jr. (Commander in Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe [CINCSOUTH]) acted as the Joint Force Commander for the operation (also known as Commander IFOR (COMIFOR)). He commanded the operation from HQs in Zagreb and later from March 1996 from the Residency in Sarajevo. LTG, Michael Walker, Commander Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) acted as the Land Component Commander for the Operation, commanding from HQ ARRC (Forward) based initially in Kiseljak and from late January 1996 from HQ ARRC (Main) Ilidža. This was NATO's first ever out-of-area land deployment. The Land Component's part of the operation was known as Operation Firm Endeavour. At its height, IFOR involved troops from 32 countries and numbered some 54,000 soldiers in- country (BiH) and around 80,000 involved soldiers in total (with support and reserve troops stationed in Croatia, Hungary, Germany, and Italy and also on ships in the Adriatic Sea). In the initial phases of the operation, much of the initial composition of IFOR consisted of units which had been part of UNPROFOR but remained in place and simply replaced their United Nations insignia with IFOR insignia.