ITS QUIET BACK HERE...WHERE THE TROOPS USED TO BE

It’s too bad there are no tumbleweeds in Germany.

There are days when tumbleweeds blowing across the empty streets of H.D. Smith Barracks would look just about right, now that everyone has gone.

Before the 1st Armored Division went off to war, this was bustling small-town America. And like every town in America, it has a barbershop. Used to be, troops would have to park at the top of the hill near the Community Bank and walk down to Salvatore Mudano’s shop on Texas Avenue. The barbershop and the beauty salon next door stayed pretty busy before the war.

Now, Mudano is Baumholder’s Maytag repairman.