The Stolen Army Blankets Story

1962

A True Story

And a good lesson

Written2013* 1020 Words*

#159 By Howard Yasgar

It was 1962, I was living in Westville Connecticut, and I was near the end of my Army Reserve enlistment.

That meant that I had already completed my military active-duty requirements and now I was obligated to serve in the Army for two weeks every year, until my enlistment was up.

My military specialty was truck driver, so that meant every year I would be attached to some Army unit where my skills as a heavy truck driver could be used.

In the summer of 1962, I received my orders from the Army to report to Fort Drum in New York.

Once I arrived, I was directed to the barracks that the army Reserve unit I was being attached to was using.

In the barracks I found there were about 15 guys that were probably just like me, they had come in from all over the United States.

I also noticed that there were another thirty guys that came from New York City.

I was told that the thirty tough talking New York guys had all arrived at Fort Drum in a fifteen-truck convoy New York City the previous day.

I tried listening to what the New York guys were talking about, but they spoke with such heavy New York accents, it was hard to understand them.

On our first morning, the Captain of the New York reserve unit called us all together for an orientation talk.

He was going to tell us what our two-week mission at Fort Drum was going to be.

The captain told us that there was a very large Army medical unit arriving that afternoon, and their mission was going to be to set up a complete field hospital at some secret location and it was all going to be done at night under the cover of darkness.

Our job was to assist them in moving tons of medical supplies from Fort Drum to the secret field hospital location.

He said that once the field hospital was set up, and had passed an inspection, we were to assist them in hauling all the hospital supplies back to Fort Drum.

Again, the Captain said, all of this was all supposed to be done at night in “Blackout” conditions, as if a real war was going on.

I soon learned that I was to be driving a 2-1/2-ton truck that was coming from the Fort Drum Motor pool.

So, the entire next day was spent washing down and doing preventive maintenance on all the Fort Drum trucks.

The captain said that once we had assisted the medical unit in setting up the hospital, we were to return to Fort Drum and wait until the following Monday, when we were to join their night convoy carrying all the hospital supplies back to Fort Drum.

Later that day, just like the Army Captain had said they would, a large Army medical unit arrived at Fort Drum.

They arrived in a very long convoy, loaded with tons of hospital supplies.

The trucks were then loaded with supplies coming from the Fort Drum storage warehouses.

Everything went just like clockwork, as we joined the medical convoy, and the entire field hospital was set up at night.

Once that was accomplished, all the drivers returned to Fort Drum with our empty trucks to wait until we needed to pick up the medical unit.

I was resting on my bunk in the barracks when two of the wise-ass- gangster acting guys from the New York city unit came over to me.

“Listen up” they said, so I listened.

They said, Monday night when we pick up the hospital unit, the truck in front of you is going to turn off at a side road, and when that happens, we want you to close the gap in the convoy like nothing happened.

I understood exactly what they had said, and they had said it in a very threatening manner.

It appeared that these guys were going to steal a whole truckload of something, and I was going to be an accomplice, and there was little I could do about it.

I didn’t sleep well at all that night.

Monday evening when they loaded up our trucks at the field hospital, I saw the truck in front of me was full of brand-new U.S. Army blankets, so it appeared that’s what they were stealing.

That night, about halfway back to Fort Drum, the truck in front of me made a left turn, and I closed the gap in the convoy like nothing had happened.

That evening, I couldn’t sleep at all, as loose as the military system was, I knew there had to be some kind of investigation. The Army couldn’t just let a truckload of new Army blankets disappear.

I knew that sooner or later someone was going to question me, after all each truck in the convoy had a

sequential number.

I worried about it so much that by the next day, I had convinced myself that I was surely going to Leavenworth prison.

The next morning, I was sitting on my bunk looking out the barracks window, when I saw the captain of the medical unit, he was talking to the Captain of the New York Army Reserve unit.

They were having a very animated conversation with the medical unit Captain waving his arms.

I just knew they were talking about the stolen blankets.

I was prepared to tell them everything I knew.

I started sweating profusely and my heart was pounding fast as both the captains started walking towards the barracks.

As they entered, someone in the barracks yelled “Attention” then the captain of the medical unit spoke.

He said, “Hey fellows, I accidentally left my field jacket on the front seat of one of your trucks, has anyone seen it? He never mentioned one word about the blankets being stolen.

By the end of my two weeks at Fort Drum, I left for my home in New Haven Connecticut, and I never heard another word.