Blackhorse E-News — October 2025
Trooper Down
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Patrick G. Andrews Sr., of Catskill, New York passed away September 10, 2025 and is with his family and friends who went before him. He was predeceased by his mother and father William and Victoria Andrews, brothers Billy and Phil, and sisters Lee and Vicky. He is survived by his sister Susie (Ed) Rielly; brother Jimmy (Laurie) Andrews; children Patrick (Michele), Donald (Stacia), Dawn (Ed), Brian (Liza) and Janet (Jon); and ten grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and many close friends from his many travels in life.
Pat was in the Army's 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the Blackhorse. He was in Vietnam and really missed his tank. So many stories have come to each of us about his time over there, and the many memories he made. His stories will live on with him and when he doesn't have to pay for parking on the tank. He was a proud veteran.
He had a career at Grand Union & Shop Rite for 30 years in New Jersey, and eventually he retired in New York. In the last couple of years his short-term memory was not there, but when asked about many years ago, he could remember. And when he talked about those days, he made you feel like you were there over and over. Now the delicate old man is driving his tank through a field of water buffaloes.
Graveside services with military honors took place in the Town of Catskill Cemetery on September 24, 2025.
Memorial contributions can be made to Community Hospice of Columbia Greene, 47 Liberty Street, Catskill, NY 12414. |
Blackhorse History Corner |
In the 1950s, sports were a big part of life in the peacetime Army — in the States and Overseas. Units sometimes fought over retaining soldiers who could make their teams winners. Private First Class Joe Day, a draftee out of Columbia, Mississippi, was a prime example. He served his two-year term as a player on the 11th Cavalry Regiment's baseball team in southern Germany. If you look carefully, you can read the team name: Black Horses. |
Request for Assistance from our Good Friends at Point Alpha |
Dear members of the Blackhorse Association, While conducting research on the history of the former Border Observation Post Alpha near Rasdorf (West Germany), we recently came across a series of photographs that, according to the information we received, were taken in 1974. Based on these pictures, we have developed some assumptions about the layout and development of the camp in the early 1970s, which we would very much like to verify with your help. Ideally, we are hoping for additional photos or even film footage from your private collections. The photos we found were taken by Bruce J. Hessler from Michigan. We don't have any further personal information about him. The email address provided with the prints is deactivated.
Here are our current observations: |
Photos 1 & 2: They show the oldest permanent building in the OP. The first picture is of the quarters, for the second picture the photographer turned around and took a shot of the adjacent mess hall. We believe these pictures were taken shortly before the two new barracks were completed, and more soldiers were put on duty at OP Alpha. |
Photo 3: The view down the main road through the OP shows the earthwork for the drainage canals, the newly paved road, and the brand-new barracks. It appears that the camp was gradually expanded over the decades until, by the late 1980s, it extended all the way to the tank road (Panzerstrasse) leading to the OP. We have got a picture from the mid-1960s (when OP Alpha was manned by the 14th ACR) that clearly puts the main gate even further away from the position shown in the pictures provided with this E-News, resulting in a much smaller OP perimeter than in the 1970s, and especially 1980s. We strongly believe the OP changed face most noticeably in 1973–1974, when the two barracks were added and the main road was paved.
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Photo 4: There seems to have been a latrine at the northeastern edge of the camp, near the transformer building and wooden observation tower. At that time, the perimeter fence appears to have been only knee-high barbed wire, whereas photographs from later periods suggest a significantly higher fence. |
Photos 5 & 6: When entering the OP through the main gate, the guard house is on the right side. However, in the picture it appears there was some sort of additional building on the other side, as picture 6 suggests. We can't make out what this would be. A small shed? A sign post with a little roof on it to shield the sign from rain and snow? |
Photos 5 & 7: In front of the guard house, a metal piece painted in red is stuck in the ground. It appears to be twisted and bent. We have no idea what it was for. |
Furthermore, we developed a theory that the construction of the barracks at OP Alpha coincided with the installation of "Border Fence I" (Grenzzaun-I), the 3.20 m high metal fence at the Inner-German Border. GDR border troops began to build it in 1971 in this area. Maybe the decision to build the additional barracks in the OP has to be considered under this development at the Inner-German Border? To back this argument, we would need to confirm the timeframe for the construction of the barracks. It is quite challenging to find reliable data, therefore, we would like to ventilate this idea with the Veterans of the Blackhorse Regiment who served at OP Alpha in the early 1970s.
We would be very grateful for any information or confirmation you might be able to provide. Please feel free to contact us directly:
Johannes Schneider – johannes....@pointalpha.com
Jan Ludwig Antoni – jan-ludw...@pointalpha.com We are excited to learn more about the history of OP Alpha from your perspective and records, and we deeply appreciate your support.
With kind regards,
Johannes Schneider & Jan Ludwig Antoni
Point Alpha Foundation
Schlossplatz 4
36419 Geisa
Germany
Tel. +49 36967-5964-274
Fax +49 36967-5964-26
johannes....@pointalpha.com
www.pointalpha.com
www.facebook.com/PointAlpha
www.youtube.com/PointAlphaGedenkst%C3%A4tte
www.instagram.com/pointalpha_foundation/
www.twitter.com/_PointAlpha |
Tom and Terri Morrison will host a Blackhorse get-together on Saturday, March 28, 2026, 1–5 pm.
5121 W. Creedance Blvd.
Glendale, AZ 85310
We will order pizza for lunch, and BYOB.
Please RSVP as it will help us with the planning.
Thanks, and please join us!
Ron
Ron Krueger
ron...@hotmail.com
530-304-4249 |
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Do you have items of interest that are related to the Blackhorse? Please send them to Clint Ancker, Director of Communications, at band...@aol.com. |
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