Information on 2/50

[ftapparo]

I realize that this is a forum for the 1/50, but I saw some comments on 2/50 and thought I would try to fill in the gaps.

I was an officer in the 2/50 Armored Rifle Battalion from June 1961 to November 1962 stationed at Ferris Barracks, Erlangen, Germany. The 2/50 ARB was part of Combat Command Bravo (CCB) and later 2nd Brigade, when the division format was changed in 1962 to the Reorganized Army Division (ROAD). The 2/50 ARB had been "Gyroscoped" to Germany in 1957 as part of the 4th Armored Divison headquartered at Cooke Barracks, Goeppingen. (In that Gyro, the 4th AD replaced the 8th Inf Div, which moved to the north in the facilities of the 2nd Armored Division that "Gyroed" to Ft. Hood, which had been the former location of the 4th AD.)

Commanders of 2/50 ARB during my tenure were LTC Lawrence Kearnin and LTC James Waldie. I was a platoon leader and executive officer in A Company, commanded by CPT Richard Schott (died in RVN) and CPT Patrick Lufburrow.

While I was in 2/50 some significant changes took place in addition to the reorganization of the division (which had minimal effect on the armored divisions, as they were never in the Pentomic (five battle group) format.) We switched our M-59 APCs for (gasoline powered) M-113s; our small arms changed from M-1s and .30 cal light machine guns to the 7.62 mm M-14 rifles and M-60 machine guns. The battalion also acquired an M-88 tank recovery vehicle which was diesel powered, the only diesel piece of equipment in the battalion. Also, our sister battalion on Ferris, 1/35 Armor, turned in their M-48 medium tanks and M-103 120 mm heavy tanks for M-60s.

One final comment: the tour with 2/50 ARB and 4th Armored Division marked the end of an era for most of us. It was the last time that we had a stabilized tour with our families before the Vietnam war intervened and we experienced a decade of upheaval. Furthermore, that upheaval has continued since Desert Storm and the soldiers of today have never had the opportunity for the stability that we experienced during the Cold War.

[Jim Sheppard]

Thank you for posting this information. It is a valuable "link" in the 50th Infantry Regimental history. There is literally nothing in the "official" lineage which describes where all the elements of the 50th Infantry served (and when) between the 2nd WW and our time-frame of the mid sixties. We have pieced together what we know thanks to information received from others like yourself who served with various 50th Infantry units.