After World War Two many U.S. men that were in the service were sent to Europe to prevent the Soviet Union from invading European countries. From 1950 to 1951, during the Cold War, a team of Army Engineers was sent to Munich, Germany for a top secret mission. The mission included many dangers and adventures. Captain Robert Bruce Symes, my Grandfather, was stationed in Munich to help Germany against Russia. My Grand Father was company commander of his unit. Every day was a danger for these men. The men of the company had to watch out for spies in whatever town they entered because they could be kidnapped or killed. The Barrier Plan was the name of the top secret mission the Army Corps of Engineers was assigned to. Many fatalities happened by handling dangerous equipment or by artillery accidents. My grandfather was 32 years old when he was sent to be stationed in Germany
Kristin Symes
Thirty two years old with a wife and three children, I was sent to Munich, Germany during the Cold War to protect Europe from our enemies and those of our allies - Russia. Our mission was the Barrier Plan. The Barrier Plan was that if the Russians invaded Europe, left Russia and came into Germany, this plan would stop them. The first place we were going to stop them was at the Rhine River. If we couldn't stop them there, we were going to move up to the Ampanese Mountains in Spain. Every unit had an area of responsibility. My unit's mission was to blow up dams and bridges so the Russians couldn't cross over into Germany. We had all the ammunition and explosives all packed on trailers and ready to go anytime we needed them. We never had to blowup any bridges because the Russians never did invade, Everything just settled out. This was a secret plan. I couldn't tell anyone where I was and what I had to do. We had a war room and the walls were covered with maps. The Generals would show you your plan and only yours. We always had to keep more than 50% of our unit at camp at all times. Sometimes they would call an alert at six o'clock in the morning and the cooks were just starting breakfast. They had to load the food, clean up, and get out of there in one hour. It was a big mess. "Some nights it would be very scary because alarms would go off at two o'clock in the morning and we would have only one hour to get to our station and move the civilians out and make sure everyone was safe." Whenever someone got "accidentally" killed they would never tell us the whole story.
Our jobs were tough and dangerous but the best part about it is that we all stuck together. At the end everybody was safe, and happy to be going home. We were all glad that we did not have to go into combat and instead we could all go back to our families.
Robert Symes
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