30 years after the US Army withdrew from Bad Tölz, “Goodbye” became “Goodbye”

Created: 12/30/2021, 6:30 AM

By: Andreas Steppan

Veterans indulge in memories: The "Snobros", a group of US soldiers once stationed in Bad Tölz, meet every year in winter to meet old friends in Bad Tölz and go skiing on Brauneck.

© Mark Thompson

The annual visits of the "Snobros" and the many orders for a wood carver from Sachsenkam show that there are still very lively relationships between former US soldiers from the Flint barracks and the Isarwinkel.

Bad Tölz / Gaißach / Wackersberg - It was a “goodbye”, not a “goodbye”, said Darrell W. Katz on July 15, 1991. On that day, the stars and stripes were taken down at the Flint barracks.

The US Army said goodbye to its Bad Tölz location with a military ceremony after 46 years.

“In our hearts we will stay Tölzer”, promised the last site commander at the time.

30 years after the withdrawal of the “Special Forces” it can be said that the announcement has come true.

The human relationships between the soldiers once stationed here and the Isarwinkel live on in a variety of ways.

Important contact points are in Wackersberg and Sachsenkam - and of course Brauneck.

"Snobros" come to Brauneck every winter to ski

“I don't know of any other place in the world that has such a strong connection,” says Bob Balcerzak.

The 56-year-old was previously stationed in Bad Tölz, now lives in Heidelberg - and is a member of the "Snobros", a group of former soldiers who return to the Isarwinkel year after year.

Every winter around 20 men from various American states, some from different regions in Germany or other countries, come to a meeting in the Isarwinkel.

The next stay is actually planned for February 2022 - subject to the development of the corona situation.

The traditional quarter of the "Snobros" was originally the "Kranzerstuben" in Gaißach.

Since it closed, Pension Willibald in Wackersberg has been your point of contact.

"We always arrive on a Sunday, and then there is a welcome table with a large snack and a barrel of beer," Bob Balcerzak tells the Tölzer courier on the phone.

The overnight guests in Wackersberg became friends

In the following days the program consists of many get-togethers and encounters - with old friends from Tölz's times, but now some with their children as well. Skiing on the Brauneck is very important: “Snobros” is a short form of “Snow Brothers” - meaning “Snow Brothers”. Sure, there are other US bases around the world to which the veterans returned on vacation, says Balcerzak. “But otherwise it's just the places we visit. In Bad Tölz it's the people. "

For Florian Kerwien, too, the former soldiers from the States have become more than just overnight guests, namely friends.

"At that time we are always the best guarded guesthouse in Bavaria - with so many elite soldiers in the house," says the owner of the Pension Willibald with a laugh.

"You keep telling us that Tölz is like a second home for you, that you have been welcomed here so well and that you have only had positive experiences."

Kerwien also knows that the “Snobros” 'flying visits not only maintain old acquaintances, but also make new ones.

One of the visitors from overseas met an Isarwinkler at an over 30s party in the Kurhaus.

They have both been married for two years and live together in Texas.

Wood carver Sebastian Demmel from Sachsenkam has been working for the US Army for 50 years

A point of contact for the “snobros” is also a wood carving workshop in Sachsenkam.

Sebastian Demmel does his artful craft here.

The cheerful round of American ex-soldiers recently commissioned him to have eight regular table signs with the silhouette of the Flint barracks.

The “Special Forces” and Sebastian Demmel: It's a special story anyway.

It all started a good 50 years ago, remembers the Saxon native.

After learning to be a woodcarver in Bad Tölz, he started his own business in 1970 in his hometown.

“Within a short time I got the first orders from the Americans,” he reports.

Demmel made small soldier figures and battalion coats of arms for the Americans.

Obviously to the satisfaction of the client.

Works of art for American friends: wood carver Sebastian Demmel (78) from Sachsenkam has received orders from the US Army for 50 years.

His sculptures include the Trojan horse, the heraldic animal of the “Special Forces”, and soldiers from various units. © Arndt Pröhl

You remain his customers.

The motif of the Trojan horse, the heraldic animal of the "Green Berets" unit stationed in Bad Tölz, became particularly popular.

Demmel carved it, sometimes the size of a table, sometimes three feet high.

Many soldiers bought the limewood sculptures privately, others received them as gifts when they left military service.

This also applies to the many different soldier figures that are depicted realistically and true to detail.

Parachutists, snipers with camouflage nets thrown on or agents of the military counterintelligence service, symbolically represented with a hat, wrapped in a long coat, a knife in hand and with a conspiratorial look.

"I've already made 70 of them this year," says Demmel.

Wood carver made 15,000 sculptures for the "Special Forces"

In contrast to what he had initially assumed, relations by no means broke off when the US Army withdrew its “Special Forces” unit from the Tölzer Flint barracks in 1991 and relocated it to Böblingen near Stuttgart.

Demmel's carvings are also in demand in the new headquarters of the “Special Forces” there.

He recently received the order for a completely new motif: a “paratrooper”, dynamically depicted the moment he jumped out of an airplane.

"You sent me a photo and wrote: This is exactly how it should look."

Using the invoices from previous years, Demmel has extrapolated that he has completed a total of 15,000 orders for the US Army.

"I work almost exclusively for her now."

But the contact has long gone beyond business.

Demmel fondly remembers how he served three US generals for breakfast with veal sausage at home or how a frozen turkey was sent to him for Thanksgiving - the traditional dish for Thanksgiving in the USA.

Sebastian Demmel is the only German honorary member of the "Green Berets"

"We met our oldest friends in 1971, and we meet in Florida every few years," says Demmel. He and his wife Christiane have already made 16 or 17 trips to the USA. "We are also invited again to the 70th anniversary of the 'Special Forces' founding party next year, this time to Colorado." Just recently, a few details for the trip in summer 2022 were lashed down. "We are picked up by a van at the front door and have a constant companion at our side," said Demmel, delighted with the warm gestures.

Every year the Sachsenkamer is also present at the Christmas party of the "Special Forces" in Böblingen.

The appreciation is so great that in 2020 the unit made him an honorary member of the “Green Berets”.

This means that the 78-year-old is the only German who belongs to an illustrious group, including ex-President George W. Bush and the actors John Wayne and Sylvester Stallone.

In 2011, Major General Michael Repass awarded him a civilian medal for excellent service in support of the US Army.

Demmel cannot confirm the prejudice that Americans are often a bit superficial.

"We experience the exact opposite," he says, "namely that they are extremely affectionate."

The solidarity of the “Special Forces” was also expressed when the unit held an exercise in Tölzer Land this summer.

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