Fort George G. Meade: The First 100 Years
You may know Fort George G. Meade as a cyber and intelligence hub, but did you know that the installation used to be the home of Army Tank School after World War I? Or that it housed an internment camp at the start of World War II for primarily German-American and Italian-American citizens and foreign nationals? Learn more about the fascinating history of the third largest Army base in the U.S. in terms of number of workforce in this book.
You may know Fort George G. Meade as a cyber and intelligence hub, but did you know that the installation used to be the home of Army Tank School after World War I? Or that it housed an internment camp at the start of World War II for primarily German-American and Italian-American citizens and foreign nationals? Learn more about the fascinating history of the third largest Army base in the U.S. in terms of number of workforce in this book.
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176 THE FIRST <strong>100</strong> YEARS<br />
Rick Hagman – Rooftop Escape<br />
When we arrived at <strong>Meade</strong>, the only existing family housing was the senior enlisted brick housing on Roberts Ave. and<br />
they were all full. So my family was put in a two-story, 63-man, WWII wooden barracks that were now temporary family<br />
housing while the new family housing areas–Argonne Hills and Pershing Hill–were being constructed. <strong>The</strong>se WWII<br />
barracks structures were divided into apartments, two up and two downstairs.<br />
This was a hard transition for me to come from what was considered state-of-the-art housing in Germany to this, but<br />
we made the best of it because there were other advantages. Kids my age quickly discovered how easy it was to sneak out<br />
of a second story window, walk along the half-roof to the fire escape and run off into the night. An often fun diversion<br />
in the escape was spying on the neighbors through the windows as we snuck by. It was fascinating to watch people who<br />
had no idea they were being watched. <strong>The</strong>n we got word that Argonne Hills was complete and we were the first family<br />
to move into house #7234 on Brownell Road. We also bought our first TV! Up to then, we had been radio kids. <strong>Fort</strong><br />
<strong>Meade</strong> was also my first swim in a pool! <strong>Fort</strong> <strong>Meade</strong> had four pools and all the kids took advantage of them.<br />
(Above) Harry Shelton and members of the 154th Transportation Company, Vietnam era. (Photo courtesy of Jim Krupa)<br />
Jerry Glodek – Bingo with Aunt Mania<br />
As a youngster I remember bowling at the lanes in Bldg. 3000 in the 1950s, Cub Scouts with my cousins Gary and Scotty<br />
Rykiel at the log cabin, the Kelly Pool now known as Burba Lake, riding in a helicopter at the old airfield where the<br />
commissary is now, Little League baseball, ice skating with my girlfriend, now wife and friends at the rifle range ponds,<br />
playing in my rock band at the NCO Club and winning a trip for four to Miami Beach, playing BINGO as a 7-year-old<br />
at the NCO Club with my aunts Mania Macaluso and Marta Jarosinski. My favorite memory of all was meeting another<br />
12-year-old son of a tanker with whom I developed a lifelong friendship.
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