William G. Schadler 

Sgt. William G. Schadler

On August 22, 1962, at his local selective service board in Olathe, Kansas, Bill enlisted as a Private in the United States Army for a three year hitch.  He went to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for his Basic Training.  He was then sent to Fort Devens in Massachusetts on October 27, 1962 to the USA Security Agency Training School where he was taught how to be a High Speed Morse Code Interceptor.  October of 1962 was a very significant time in America, especially for the military.  This was the month of the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 16-28, 1962, when a major confrontation over the presence of Soviet nuclear armed missiles in Cuba brought the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war.  President John F. Kennedy spoke to the nation about this on October 22nd and Americans (and the whole world) were scared to death.  Bill watched as nearly all the recruits around him were being sent to Miami.   It ended in a win-win for Kennedy and Khrushchev (the Soviet Premier) as Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba, and Kennedy agreed to respect the sovereignty of Cuba and to remove U.S missiles from Turkey (in 1963.)  October of 1962 is noted in history books as the start of The Cold War, which lasted until 1979. 

Because he showed so much skill in his Army Intelligence specialty, Bill was not sent south, but instead continued at Ft. Devens until May 11, 1963, when he was then given orders to be stationed at Bad Aibling, Bavaria, Germany for the next two years.  Bad Aibling Station was an 18th Army Security Agency Field Station that was created by the western allies in 1947 and became one of the largest "listening posts" outside of the USA.  In 1971 The National Security Agency and the Department of Defense took over command from the US Army.  The Station closed in September, 2004 and the base was transferred back to Germany.  But when Bill was there from 1963-1965, the Station was not only extremely active, but the atmosphere in Germany was very pro-American.  The Germans loved Kennedy.  Bill pointed out, however, that Bavarians considered themselves to be  Bavarian more than German.  Their attention and respect were given to the singing of the Bavarian Hymn more than to the German National Anthem.  

Bill worked hard when he worked: 12 hour shifts of wearing headphones, finding and listening in to Communist communications and immediately converting the code to letters and typing them at 60 words per minute.  But he also had considerable free time, which he used to travel the continent ( he bought a Volkswagen soon after his arrival in Germany); to ski in the Alps; to drink beer at the Volksfests; and to play cards in the barracks with the guys.  Bill worked his way up the ranks, so that by his last year at Bad Aibling, he was rated a Specialist 5, which is Sergeant.  

The story Bill liked to tell the most about his time in Germany was what happened on November 22, 1963, less than six months after his arrival at the Station.  This, of course, is the date John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.  The base was put on alert and Bill found himself along with everyone else out on troop transport trucks on the perimeter of the base on a very cold and wet, miserable, night, all night, while the base itself was rigged with explosives.  As it turned out, the alert was called by a corporal; and when this fact was learned and the men had returned to barracks, the company commander came in and hurled his steel helmet across the room shouting, "Where's that goddamned Buttrall?"  I don't know what happened to Corporal Buttrall, but I don't think it was good.  Bill said that the German nation was devastated by the assassination.  They allowed only funeral music to be played on all stations for an entire month.  

Bill's active duty ended on August 12, 1965 when he arrived by troopship at Fort Hamilton, New York City.  This was considered an "early release." He said two things about this.  First, it was the worst trip he ever took in his life, as he was seasick the entire voyage.  Second, it was the best trip because the ship kept heading west towards the United States instead of east toward Viet Nam.  Bill said he was in the last group of vets who were not automatically re-upped for service in Viet Nam.  He said that he and the other soldiers kept looking every day at where the sun was rising and setting!  Upon his debriefing at discharge, he had to sign a 40 year non-disclosure agreement and he was told he could not visit any Communist countries.  Bill was honorably discharged on July 31, 1968, after his Reserve obligation was up.