5th Loudspeaker & Leaflet Company

History of the 5th Loudspeaker & Leaflet Company
Year 1

From the Company's original "yearbook" publication - 1952

Provided Courtesy of Mike Paschkes, member of the original unit.


The 5th Loudspeaker and Leaflet Company was born on March 19, 1951, when Fifth Army Headquarters activated the unit and assigned it to duty at Fort Riley, Kansas. However it wasn't until April 2 that the company set itself up for business. It was on that day that the first morning report was written, to send the new organization on its way.

Assets on that first day were slight. The "company" was actually no company at all. But Lt William J. Brennan, company commander, was undaunted by the small size of his unit. Working with Lt John E. Eckenrode, Jr., who had been sent from the 1st Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet Group to help organize the 5th, Lt Brennan started setting up a training program.

The 5th grew quickly. Capt Robert K. Wensley succeeded Lt Brennan as company commander on April 26, and by the end of the month his new command numbered 31 men. All through May and June the 5th trained, both by itself and with the neighboring 2nd L & L. While it trained it kept on growing. By the end of May, there were 47 men in the company.

In the first two weeks of June, rumors of an impending overseas shipment sprang up in the company. These increased suddenly when, on June 14, there was a wholesale switch of personnel between the 5th and the 2nd.

The 5th lost most of its reservists in trading 36 of its men for 36 members of the 2nd L & L, and became almost entirely a draftee and regular army outfit. It looked like the company was getting ready to take a long trip.

Getting ready for overseas

On June 16 Capt Wensley told the revamped company that it had been alerted for overseas shipment. He added that every man would have to satisfy all the pre-overseas requirements before anyone could go home on leave. The unit, he said, had to be ready to go by the first of August.

Most significantly, the first year saw the company change from a loosely coordinated group individuals into a working unit, aware of the importance of its mission thoroughly capable of carrying it out.
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