Memories of Fred Schloss
I'll describe Camp King for you as best I remember it. I
don't know which end was north or south, so I'll have to use left and right as directions.
As you entered the gate, on your right were three apartment buildings. They were numbered
1047, 1048, and 1049. Building 1047 was the one furthest from the gate.
On your left was the guard shack and a small building that I understand later became a
sort of teen club. A road going past this small building took you up to buildings 1050 and
1051, which were also apartment buildings. If you went straight on the street that took
you into the camp, building 1049 would be on your right. The play ground, another small
building, and all the apple trees, etc., would be on your left.
Past the playground was a fence, and on the other side of the fence was the school bus
stop, which was built while I was there. It was a small structure, consisting of a raised
platform and a roof. There were no walls.
Looking straight ahead was a white building that had a four-lane bowling alley on top and
the post office and other offices on the bottom. To your left would be a small complex
that housed the gym, the library, the PX, the newsstand, a small snack bar, and a small
delicatessen. The last building in this complex was the theater.
Outside all of this was a parking lot near the
gym and another near the bowling alley. If you stood in the bowling alley parking lot and
looked across the street, you would see a couple of rows of barracks. (this is the same
street you used to enter the post.)
Across that street from the bowling alley was the mess hall, and next to that was a white
one-story building. This one-story building housed the community center, and functioned as
a teen club while I was there. We had dances with live music occasionally, as well as DJ
stuff.
Between the buildings I just described was a field, which contained the softball diamond
and the parade field. This parade field functioned as a little league football field also.
Looking further up the street, the parade field ended at a large white building, which is
where all the secret stuff the 513th did was housed.
The street continued on up and eventually curved to the right, and took you to the field
grade officer's quarters on what is referred to by everyone as simply "the
hill." The officer's club was also up there. Prior to arriving
on the hill there were a number of old German style buildings on that street. These
buildings housed the people that had escaped from east Germany. They
were kept there for interrogation. One of the buildings also contained the dispensary.
Outside the post, we were bordered by Oberursel on two sides and woods on another. The
fourth side was behind building 1051 and it was a cow pasture. Building 1051 was desirable
because you had (when I was there) an unobstructed view of the Taunus Mountains. The woods
side was located on the
hill side of the post.
Yes, we spent a lot of time at the Schwimmbad, which was strictly outdoors. We would go
there, lie in the sun, and drink beer.
We also drank at the Taunusblick, and at a place in Oberuseless called Zum Weissen Ross.
(can't make an "ess zet" with this computer.) At Zum Weissen Ross we would have
arm-wrestling and chug-a-lug contests with the Germans to see who bought the next round.
We also would drink from a Stieffle, or boot.
Streetcar #24 was the trolley that got us to Frankfurt and back. During the time I was
there, very few of us had cars, so if you went into Frankfurt, you usually took the
Strassenbahn or your parents took you. No one really wanted to insure a car with a
teenaged driver. It was expensive. I think in my senior year only three or four kids on
Camp King had licenses.
I was a fluent German speaker and a certified interpreter. I was also licensed to hunt in
Germany, which is a fairly decent accomplishment. Not many Americans could do it, and
certainly not many kids.
You sort of had to make your own fun during my period at Camp King. We went camping a lot,
and actually had kind of a loose Explorer Post. We backpacked through
Sweden twice, and also walked through Italy and Switzerland. Athletics were important, so
Camp King had little league baseball, football, and basket ball. We
also had pony league basketball. Pony league and pop Warner football were available in
Frankfurt, and were participated in by those who couldn't make the high school team.
Frankfurt High had no baseball team. Wiesbaden had the only one and put a new trophy in
their trophy case every year.
It was only after my senior year that real jobs became available to dependents. Prior to
that, dependents worked as baby sitters or walked the neighborhoods soliciting car washing
or whatever. Jobs with paychecks went predominately to the Germans, with few exceptions. I
even popped corn and sold it at the theater, until people realized how much money I was
making. Then the community center demanded a cut, and I wound up making a hell of a lot
less money!