Army Story

Old AF Sarge’s blog often prods me down memory lane, and today it is memories of Army Mess halls, and one particular cook.

http://oldafsarge.blogspot.com/2014/11/air-force-chow.html

We had in our Engineer company circa 1965 a few WWII vets. One was SP5 Hyatt. He was married to a German national, lived off post, and was content with his place in the Army. He had no interest in becoming the Mess Sergeant nor being promoted. He was close to retirement and just wanted to be left alone.

We had, as every unit has, a new shinny bar 2nd Lieutenant. As was the case with all new Lts, he was the shitty little jobs officer which included being the Mess Officer. He made it his mission to motivate SP5 Hyatt.

In our unit, it was possible to go a year without putting on a Class A uniform. One day we had a formation where everyone not on duty, had to stand, in Class A’s, including SP5 Hyatt.

There he stood, with his 82nd Airborne shoulder patch (he had jumped at Normandy), POW ribbon, Purple Heart ribbon with three bronze leaf clusters, Bronze Star with V ribbon, Combat Infantry Badge, Combat Airborne Wings, and about four years worth of combat stripes on his sleeve. If memory serves, his “brick” was five lines high and included the Korean Conflict ribbon.

After that day, the Lt never again bothered him.