Dad's Memories


These are some things from the life of my dad, Vernon L. Albin, that I would
like to preserve. The army anecdotes especially will be of interest
historically as there is almost no record of the 16th Mechanized Cavalry Group
in World War 2. Anyway, here is a capsule look at his life.

Dad was born in a small town called Leakey, Texas in February 25, 1919. He grew
up in a poor ranching family and had to hunt for many of their meals. He went to school in a one room schoolhouse and was taught at least in part by a cousin.


To earn money for the family he joined the army in 1941. His training was in the
12th Regiment at Fort Bliss Texas. This was when horse training was an important
aspect of his life. They had to learn to shoot accurately from moving horses during maneuvers in the desert.


He told one story about an obnoxious captain there who was showing them how to
properly draw and shoot a revolver from a galloping horse. The captain had a
mishap in which the horse stumbled and the captain accidentally shot his horse through the head.

Weekends some of the guys would go into the desert riding Indian motorcycles for fun. One time someone accidentally startled a fox and knocked him out with a motorcycle. They nursed the fox back to health and he stayed on the base as a pet.

On one training exercise where they went to north Georgia he met my mom, Faye Albin. They married after
a short courtship. While he was still stateside my sister Jean was born.


The days of the horse cavalry were ending. The Fort Bliss regiments were mechanized (jeeps, trucks, and half tracks) and the horses were slaughtered and eaten by the soldiers. Some, like dad, were pulled out of the regiments and sent elsewhere for training before being sent overseas. Dad was transferred to the 3rd Army, 1st Cavalry Division, 16th Mechanized Cavalry Group. He was trained as a radio man in Massachusetts and then arrived in England via the QE1 on November 27, 1944.

They trained there for several months and arrived in France in February 27, 1945. They went into line alongside the 3rd Cavalry Group. Dad's outfit primarily did scout and patrol work for the XX Corp. They were actively engaged in the Saar-Moselle triangle near Trier and protected the XX Corp's left flank during the drive into Germany. The 16th Mechanized Cavalry Group had the distinction of being the first unit to enter Germany. They crossed the Rhine near Mainz on March 29, 1945. Dad usually rode in a jeep or halftrack with a captain and sent radio reports back as they scouted around the perimeter.

Dad would not talk very candidly about his war experiences. He did relate one story about Patton that was humorous. One morning their colonel lined the group up at attention. He said that something very serious had occurred and that General Patton wanted a resolution quickly. He than announced that during the evening, someone had broken into the supply tent. He asked the troops "Who stole the general's cognac?" The soldiers all broke rank and fell to the ground laughing. Dad said that sargeants were cursing and kicking at the soldiers while the colonel was screaming at them. They never did recover those cases of cognac, but I'm sure they were put to good use!

Patton had all of the troops tour through concentration camps. Dad went through Buchenwald and was shocked at the piles of bones and bodies. In one room there were large stacks of soap that he said was made from rendered human fat. I have read elsewhere that this was Allied propaganda. The conflict lies in the fact that Buchenwald was in a dry area and they had chronic water shortages and rationing. Why then would they have a room almost completely filled with soap? The main office had lamps with shades made of human tattooed skin.

Dad was wounded twice. The first time was when he was running across a field to reach the safety of a tank. A machine gun was shooting at them as they ran.
Dad reached the tank and jumped in. He heard a squishing sound so he took his
boots off and found them filled with blood. He was shot across both kneecaps.
Dad healed from these wounds and was sent back to his unit. Several months later
while on patrol in a halftrack, they hit a landmine. Dad was blown out of the
halftrack and landed in the road. His friend who was driving survived but had
massive damage to his face. Dad spent months in a hospital and was then sent
home. While in the hospital someone stole his duffel bag. Years later for his
birthday I replaced most of his lost medals and patches. I never could find
a machine gun marksmanship medal for him.


Dad was able to hang onto his dogtag, an 1800's Belgium pistol and a dress
police bayonet he found.


Here is a closeup of the dagger showing the silver swastika and bone handle.


Dad made technical sargeant and was offered a chance to go to OCS but he did
not want to have the Army as a career. He was not always tactful with superior
officers. Mom laughed about how his letters home would be labeled "Sargeant
Vernon Albin", "Corporal Vernon Albin", and "Private Vernon Albin", depending
upon which officer he had insulted that week!

Dad and mom moved to Tennessee shortly after his discharge and dad got a job as an instrument mechanic at Tennessee Valley Authority. He took a lot of additional training and worked his way up to power planning engineer at T.V.A.. Some of my fondest memories of those years were tours where he led me through the plants. I remember seeing one of the earlier computers that had a large drum for memory storage. Dad told one story about when he sent in a program to the computer department in Chattanooga. They sent back one card from the stack with a little red ribbon tied through it. Someone had written on the card "Congratulations! you just blew up the entire computer system!".


He retired after working for 35 years at T.V.A. and moved to Florida.


Karen and I moved to St. Augustine to help them. We bought and shared 2 acres of
land outside of town and lived in adjoining mobile homes there. While I taught and dad puttered around the house and land those years, we found time to go fishing, update both of our amateur radio licenses to amateur extra class, and other activities.

On my parent's 50th wedding anniversary we treated them to a limo for the day, a ceremony to renew their vows, a dinner, and a night at a local bed and breakfast. It was a surprise and dad balked until we told them what we had set up. They did have a great time once they went. Here they are with the minister.


We spent a number of wonderful years on our land. The last year of his life Dad started having health problems that led to him having an angiogram. In the course of this procedure a clot was dislodged and he had a stroke. Though he tried to recover, a subsequent clot caused his death a few months later of a heart attack in 1995. Dad always had a wicked and somewhat ribald sense of humor. When I was young he taught me the following poem:

The red pepper grows by the side of the brook.
The 'Mexes', they put it in all that they cook.
Just dine with the 'Mexes' and then you will shout
There's Hell on the inside as well as the out!

 
Another favorite poem of his was this one:
 
 
Doggy sittin on the railroad track
a'scratchin the fleas upon his back.
Along come a train, choo, choo, choo.
Doggone.
 
Before his burial I pinned a cavalry insignia I had bought him earlier as a replacement for his stolen one on his lapel. I
promised him he could have it as soon as he got back home from his illness. He never made it back for the pin so I
honored him by sending it with him.

Mom's health faded over the next few years after dad died and she passed away during surgery for a heart condition in 1998. Their graves are next to each other in the local cemetery in town. We visit occasionally and replace the flowers to make sure the sites look nice.
 
There isn't much else to say. I have many memories of my parents but I will not put them down here because some are
too personal and most of these memories would not be of interest to anyone who did not know them. Perhaps some day
I will sit down and write out all of these memories and put it on a locked webpage for relatives. I would be
interested to hear from anyone who visits this page who knew my parents or served in the 16th mechanized cavalry
group or a cavalry group at Fort Bliss.

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