The 528th Ordnance Detachment Technical Intelligence Control

The 528th Ordnance Detachment Technical Intelligence Control

The first mention of this unit was in 1950 when it was activated and sent to Korea as one of several OTID units. These units were returned to continental USA in 195?. The 283rd went to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. The 507th went to the Detroit Tank Arsenal and the 528th went to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

From Tom Hines:

I went into the service at Aberdeen Proving Ground 15 June 1955--about 3 months in officers basic and four of us were interviewed and selected for technical intelligence school. When the school finished I was sent to the Unit Training Center at APG to await the officers and NCOs that would be the basis of the 528th. The TO&E called for 4 officers 7 EMS. The CO was to be a Capt. with 3 Lts, 3 master Sgts. 1 SFC,2 Corporals, and one PFC. I was assigned CO of Headquarters Co Unit Training center until Major Thomkins collected the rest of the staff who were also assigned to Headquarters Co. as they came in. The CO of the 528th was Capt Harder but he had not returned from Europe so I had the job in the meantime. The subsequent officers came from later classes of the tech intelligence school. When about five people were available the 528th was assigned a small building just off Chesapeake Road and we drew 2 jeeps with trailers, a 3/4 ton truck with trailer, our weapons, typewriters etc. and we were set up in business in our own little building. Boy were we something. There were 5 tech intelligence detachments around the world at that time 2 in Europe, 1 in Japan, 1 in Korea, and one in Formosa. These five man units were supposed to report to the control detachment but as a practical matter the stuff they were picking up. stealing, reporting, went direct to what we considered our Battalion level, Ordnance Technical Intelligence Service which was a civilian unit quartered in a back room of the Ordnance museum. OTIS was managed up by a G-12 as I remember but with a Captain in command and a Lt. Capt Harder finally showed up in about March '56 took command of the 528th and very shortly thereafter was assigned to head up OTIS so I got the command back and held that job until Lt Winfield G Daniels came on the scene----wow what a character. Dan was a WWII battlefield commission and retread when Korea heated up.

The story Dan told was that he and Lt Baker had barrowed 12 gauge shotguns from the MPs and were hunting Pheasants when their jeep drove onto a Chinese tank with its gun in the trailing position. The tanker cranked his turret around while Dan and Baker were turning their jeep around and got off an armor piercing round that skipped under the jeep knocking the jeep several feet off the road. Daniels was in a ditch and Baker was hanging from a tree limb and strangulating on his field jacket. Daniels unzipped Bakers jacket and he dropped to the ground. This whole incident is supposed to have take place 3 miles behind the Chinese lines. A GI patrol found them that night. Daniels had a neck injury and was returned to duty. Baker was pretty badly hurt and was sent to Tokyo.

When Daniels took command of the 528th he was most interested in smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, and watching the clock so he could go the gym and play handball. After a few weeks he had all us shavetails playing handball. However, 2nd army had issued a order that the officers were to stay in shape for the PT test so we could take a half hour of our day for PT training and if our CO (Daniels) wanted to stretch the lunch period to 2 hours that was OK with us.

It was at this time that Baker returned to APG from Japan and I think he was still recovering from the incident. We 2nd Lts. met him at the gym and he introduced us to Japanese Judo. I don't recall what his assignment was at that time but I think he got transferred as a I can't remember how he happened to leave our scene.

In 1963 I was working in Pittsburgh when I got a phone call from Daniels; I met him for lunch and we ordered a drink. To my surprise Daniels had lost the use of his right hand due to a bone growth on his neck as a result of the jeep incident. He had been to Walter Reed and wound up with a medical discharge. I never saw or heard of him again.

The 528th did a bit of infantry training in that period. All the detachments that were assembled out of the Unit Training Center were required to pass the 2nd Army combat field test with all our gear. I still take a measure of pride in 97.5 score that we achieved on that test. I was told that it was far and away the highest score on APG in '56 and so far in '57.

Tom Hines:

The Unit Training Center commanded by Major Thomkins was simply a barracks facility for all the troops who were attending specialty training at the Ordnance School. That's really all headquarter company was. We had formation every morning at about 7:00 and the soldiers would go to their respective specialty classes. Their were EOD detachment personnel, radar detachment people, electronic fire control detachment people with their special vans but I don't believe their were any medical detachments at the UTC . This not tobe confused with the several companies the GIs fresh out of basic that were assigned to the Ord School for auto mechanics, tank mechanics, artillery maintenance etc. The GIs in the UTC had been had picked from that bunch. That's just how the Ordnance Tech Intel officers were picked too but I'll be damned if I know how I was picked--and even had the right of refusal. I had a masters degree in mechanical engineering and had attended a Junior ROTC high school but when the 528th was staffed I was about the poorest educated guy in the unit. One of the officers was a Chemical engineer and one was a lawyer. The corporal (Langlios) was a licensed court reporter and the PFC was the Co clerk, a 275 pound linebacker from Panama (Rupert Danzine) that typed at 130/minute.

Needless to say OTIS had us (Danzine) doing a lot of typing for them and the pickle factory. Our main study at that time was a comparative analysis of solid fuel verses liquid fuel ICBMs. The political pressure was terrible with the puzzle palace insisting that liquid fuel was not what they wanted to see in these reports. Daniels and I had to make a special trip to the pentagon to see some colonel about it. When we found his office Daniels realized that he knew the guy from the Italian campaign. I can't recall all that happened in that office but just the thought of it has me grinning to this day.

I remember that in 1961 to 1963, I was stationed at APG with the 60th Ordnance Group. The Group had under command the 286th and 528th Ordnance Detachment (TI). As I remember, each detachment had a Captain, a WO, three NCO and a Sp4 clerk and two jeeps. I remember "Aggressor, the Maneuver Enemy" as well. In 1963 when we were in Swift Strike III in South Carolina we were in the Red Force and had to wear the wooden comb on our helmet liners for the month we were there. We also had to say "Salutu" in Esperanto when we saluted. Seeing your site brought back memories. Richard Lindquist, LTC, OD (Retired).

In November 1965 action was initiated to have the 18th Chemical Detachment, 571st Engineer Detachment, 521st Medical Detachment, 528th Ordnance Detachment, 590th Quartermaster Detachment, 18th Signal Detachment, and 30th Transportation Detachment assigned to the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion to support the corresponding sections of the Technical Intelligence Branch. Because these were the only technical intelligence units in Military Assistance Command, centralized control was exercised in order to provide the best possible support for the entire command.

As mentioned the 528th Ordnance Detachment (Technical Intelligence) was one of several cellular teams that made up the Combined Material Exploitation Center (CMEC). CMEC was based on D Company of the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion. The 528th OTID arrived in Vietnam on21 September 1965. In 1967 to sometime in 1968, the unit was commanded by Captain James Leatherwood. It made up the CMEC, Weapons and Munitions Section. In 25 September 1969, the 528th and other OTID units were in-activated in Vietnam. 1972, the 528th and the other elements of CMEC were returned to the USA and the small detachments were decommissioned and Co. D/519 went to Fort Bragg. In 1975, D Company moved to Aberdeen Proving Ground.