15th Infantry Regiment

topoftherock

topoftherock

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The motto of the US Army's 15th Infantry Regiment is "Can Do". I believe that it dates from the Regiment's participation in China's Boxer War. In 1972, I was the Weapons Platoon Leader of C Co., 2nd Bn., 15th Inf. The Regiment was then part of the 3rd Infantry Division. The 1st Bn., 15th Inf. was stationed at Harvey Barracks, Kitzingen, Bavaria, Germany. The 2d Bn., 15th Inf., was stationed at Wildflecken, which had the dubious distinction of having been the ski training camp of the Waffen SS during WWII. Wildflecken was at the time a training area for the US Army, which sat atop a hill a mere 14 kilometers from the East German border.

The 2nd Battalion, 15th Infantry, was commanded at the time by LTC Bill McCaffrey, who named it the "Top of the Rock" Battalion. Our Battalion XO was the legendary MAJ Serge Demyanenko, who had succeeded in gaining paratrooper designation badges from many allied countries, including Vietnam. Charlie Company's commander was CPT David G. O'Connor, from VMI. His XO was 1LT Ed Summey, from Tennessee.
 
1/15th Inf, 3d ID

Your post is excellent. I was in C Company 1/15th and later at Brigade and was the Courts and Boards Officer while you were there. Harvey Barracks, as you now know is closed. All the information you had there was good. Yes, the name comes from the Boxer Rebellion, when a soldier volunteered to climb the wall on the Imperial City during the siege of the legation at Peking. He volungteered by saying "Can Do" sir.

LTC Carmen Negaard with the Battalion Co when I arrived and he was shortly replaced by LTC Edward R. Bushyhead when Negaard rotated.
My best friends in the company were Lt Herring(now a retired reserve Col) and Lt. Ken Sutton and Lt. Charley Gorton. All were fine officers there.

I recognize those commanders names you listed as I saw them on many legal papers and had some discussions with them on the phone and met and talked to them in person a few times when on military law business at Wildflecken. Sumney was a friend of mine. I knew him fairly well. A good guy. Chiles the officer I worked with them most there was your battlation legal officer.

Dan Barrett, my clerk and I were responsible for all legal matters back then for 20 months during 1972-1973. I escorted a young Indian girl back to the states after her husband was killed in a jeep accident at Wildflecken. I came home with her Aug 4, 1973 and had encounters with a drunk and Viet Nam war protestor at the Philadelphia airport on way home. LOL.

My last two assignments were teaching Army ROTC at KU here in town and a two week assignment in Sept 1991 where I worked on some plans with the G-3 at Ft. Lewis.

Best, J. Winfrey Lawrence, Ks
 
I was a part of A/3-15th infantry 3rd ID "China Battalion" during the invasion of Iraq. They were part of 2nd BCT out of Ft. Stewart GA. Damn fine unit!

We had a CSM that was hard as nails, he was legendary because he had been a member of TF Ranger in Mogadishu back in 93. He was awarded a Silver Star for being a bad a$$ during the invasion, I'm still scared of that guy. CSM Gallagher I think his name was.
 
brinktk said:
I was a part of A/3-15th infantry 3rd ID "China Battalion" during the invasion of Iraq. They were part of 2nd BCT out of Ft. Stewart GA. Damn fine unit!

We had a CSM that was hard as nails, he was legendary because he had been a member of TF Ranger in Mogadishu back in 93. He was awarded a Silver Star for being a bad a$$ during the invasion, I'm still scared of that guy. CSM Gallagher I think his name was.
Click to expand...

According to the Miltary Times Hall of Valor, no one with that name received a Silver Star for Operation Gothic Serpent.
 
I should have clarified, he was awarded a SS during the invasion of Iraq, not Somalia. He had just been a member of TF Ranger which earned him legendary status within the Bn. He recieved the SS for rallying the defense of checkpoint Moe in southern Baghdad during our push to take the city. There's a relatively popular picture of him returning fire on the enemy behind an 88 while another soldier is bandaging a wound he recieved on his leg.
 
brinktk said:
I should have clarified, he was awarded a SS during the invasion of Iraq, not Somalia. He had just been a member of TF Ranger which earned him legendary status within the Bn. He recieved the SS for rallying the defense of checkpoint Moe in southern Baghdad during our push to take the city. There's a relatively popular picture of him returning fire on the enemy behind an 88 while another soldier is bandaging a wound he recieved on his leg.
Click to expand...

That doesn`t appear on the list either, but it may not be totally accurate. I certainly wouldn`t call anyone out using the list. Maybe he was left off of it inadvertently. At any rate, he appears to be an outstanding soldier.
 
I looked him up, on google. His first name is Robert and is currently still serving. He is now the CSM for one of the wounded warrior facilities. He is a fine soldier and I was glad to have had him as our CSM at the time.
 
John C Winfrey said:
Your post is excellent. I was in C Company 1/15th and later at Brigade and was the Courts and Boards Officer while you were there. Harvey Barracks, as you now know is closed. All the information you had there was good. Yes, the name comes from the Boxer Rebellion, when a soldier volunteered to climb the wall on the Imperial City during the siege of the legation at Peking. He volungteered by saying "Can Do" sir.

LTC Carmen Negaard with the Battalion Co when I arrived and he was shortly replaced by LTC Edward R. Bushyhead when Negaard rotated.
My best friends in the company were Lt Herring(now a retired reserve Col) and Lt. Ken Sutton and Lt. Charley Gorton. All were fine officers there.

I recognize those commanders names you listed as I saw them on many legal papers and had some discussions with them on the phone and met and talked to them in person a few times when on military law business at Wildflecken. Sumney was a friend of mine. I knew him fairly well. A good guy. Chiles the officer I worked with them most there was your battlation legal officer.

Dan Barrett, my clerk and I were responsible for all legal matters back then for 20 months during 1972-1973. I escorted a young Indian girl back to the states after her husband was killed in a jeep accident at Wildflecken. I came home with her Aug 4, 1973 and had encounters with a drunk and Viet Nam war protestor at the Philadelphia airport on way home. LOL.

My last two assignments were teaching Army ROTC at KU here in town and a two week assignment in Sept 1991 where I worked on some plans with the G-3 at Ft. Lewis.

Best, J. Winfrey Lawrence, Ks
Click to expand...

John, I was the battalion maintenance officer when LTC Negaard rotated and LTC Bushyhead assumed command. Nice to hear from someone from that period. Before becoming the maintenance officer about the second month I was in Kitzingen, I was briefly a platoon leader in B Co. When I left Germany, I went to Vietnam and served in the 1st Cavalry Division.

Columbia, MO
 
John: I recently connected with Ed Summey and Charlie Riordan through Facebook. Send me an email at santosd2@yahoo.com and maybe we can connect on FB also. I believe I did an Article 32 investigation with you at Harvey. Best regards
 
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