At the time, I had visions of lederhosen, German beer and plump, blonde German girls with braids in their hair.......Heck! After all, I'd seen the "Student Prince" and just knew I was headed for a life of ease at this historic university town with a castle. Unbeknownst to me at the time was the fact that Heidelberg was headquarters for 11 or 12 satellite sub-posts, the northern-most of which was Bremerhaven. After and all-night ride up on the Duty Train I arrived in the Port City just before dawn.

After 40 years my memory is a little foggy but, as best I can recollect, the Bremerhaven Unit was made up of approximately 20 men. This included the C.O. and 5 Sgts. ---- the rest of us being "grunts". We were housed with the 59th MP Co. and lived in Bldg. 6 at the Main Gate on Würster Str. Our duties were much like those of our civilian counterparts in the U.S. Customs. We manned the 3 gates that permitted vehicular traffic into and out of the free-harbor and processed the various surface vessels used by U.S. shipping..... i.e. troop and cargo. (Even got a crack at the S.S United States occasionally). We also processed privately-owned vehicles that were being either imported/exported to or from Germany by members of the military. Additionally, we worked with the German Customs officials in the control of smuggling in and around the Bremerhaven area.