A Partial History of Todendorf Car Accidents 1972 & 1973

In my two years at Todendorf the one fatality involved a motorcycle accident in which Joey Gallus tragically died.

Thankfully there were no other serious injuries as a result of car accidents. As far as I can remember L.C. who cut his cheek on the rear view mirror in one of the pictures below was the only one who had to be treated.

The farm area around Todendorf consisted mostly of hog back country roads and most of these accidents involved the car and a field. You had to move into the oncoming lane on a curve or the road would be banked the wrong way and off you went. For that reason and because Germans in dark clothing would be walking along the road at night it was best to drive right down the middle of the road.
More than a few of these cars made it back to base clanking down the cobblestone road on their wheel rims after the base tow truck was stolen by a German worker and wrecked.

 

Many of the details of these accidents now escape me. I put captions on those I can remember.
Note: German windshields tended to pop out unbroken in accidents.

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This VW belonged to our X.O. Pirrella. It was one of those rare accidents that involved another car.

Bill Hudson hit a cement monument just outside of Selent. He was pretty sore but went back to find his bow and arrows.

Bruce was on his way to Hamburg but went into a ditch, hit some pipes, and caught fire about 2 kilometers up the road.
The car was later put on a cement slab at the front gate as a reminder to be cautious.

I watched John Nix roll off the road in my rearview mirror as he followed me back to base. He was driving the second car of a three car caravan and flew through the windshield and was on his feet before it stopped rolling. His brother Ed surveys the damage.

L.C.was tossed out the windshield of the green "Bug" on the right and cut his face on the rearview mirror.

I believe this was Bill Dekle's eighth or ninth car. Prior to this he thought he was jinxed only by white cars.









This might be the car Jake Kramer rolled in the Metropole parking lot coming back from Lütjenburg. He had sold it to Mark earlier in the day as his tour was up.

Watch out for streams when driving on the beach! The car was totaled and getting the base tow truck here was no easy matter. I saw the sand storm on inpact in my rearview mirror. The trick to driving on the beach to Schönberg was to go fast enough to keep from sinking into the sand, stay on the edge of the water, and not try to pass.







This one needed a little help from the stake truck

Changing the motor Todendorf style. Remove the 4 engine bolts and roll the body off.

Last Update = 1/10/2001 There may be additions to this page at a later date