I emailed you a few years ago and posted an email (and photo) with you at the time.  More recently (last year) I also posted another email in your "Help Requested" page looking for friends/unit members that I served with at 2nd Base Post Office (tenant unit co- located in same billets with APC) during 1967-68 timeframe.  Subsequently, I received a few emails from old friends and also one of the officers who served the unit during that time.  It was great hearing from them and catching up on old times and experiences.  I am grateful to you and your website for making this possible.  As you may know, I also re-entered the Army in 1974 as a commissioned officer, after my initial three year enlistment (1966-1969) and graduating from college and ROTC.  

The purpose of this email is to introduce or refer you to another website that you may or may not be aware of but contains many signal units relating to APC and may help or reinforce your website.  It is called " Welcome to US Army Europe (USAREUR), from Occupation Army to "Keepers of the Peace, 1945-1989." (www.usarmygermany.com).  I came across this website as I was looking for military police units I served with in Germany during the late 1970's.  I served as a Provost Marshal in Fulda, Germany during 1978-1981, but had not seen any US Military Community Provost Marshal Offices (PMOs) posted at the time.  I  coordinated with the Webmaster, Walter Elkins (usareur@usarmygermany.com) and have since provided him my input or listing of PMOs serving USAREUR and Germany during the period of 1976-1989.  Also, I drafted a personal article of my service as a community provost marshal in Germany during 1978-1981.

As I was surfing through your APC website recently, I did not see any mention or referral to the website above or any Signal or Photographic Units serving in USAREUR or Germany during Cold War years.  I thought you would be interested to know there must be at least 30 Signal units that served in USAREUR (Germany, Austria and Italy) during World War II, and post war during 1945-1989.  Perhaps many of those are closely related photographic units having a direct relationship with the Army Pictorial Center during that period.  I am sure there are many APC veterans who may be able to recall their military service and experiences with Signal units in Germany and would open up another dialogue once these units are mentioned in your website.  

Recommend you visit the US Army Europe website noted above and review Signal units listed (www.usarmygermany.com) and look for units that may have been closely related to APC in missions/functions during that period.  You may also want to invite veteran APC unit members to review website for their stories and experiences in the US Army Europe during the Cold War days.  Please post my email so your readers and APC veterans may visit the website above in pursuit of these memories. 

/s/ Phil Lester, phil.lester@us.army.mil

When I left APC I was sent to a PIO office in Hanau Germany. Later, I joined a group of semi-pro actors who developed a play about code of conduct and how to deal with the enemy if you became a POW. We worked out of Frankfurt. I have seen several of those guys on TV and in several movies.

Being sent to Germany was great for me because I had left there 5 or 6 years before. My dad was a senior master sergeant in the Air Force. We had been stationed at Ramstein.

(Posted March 16, 2006, updated September 5, 2018.)