I found this from the NWLA News
‘Circle C Cowboys’ reunite
Written by Jim Potts
Friday, 30 April 2010
http://www.nwlanews.com/index.php?optio ... &Itemid=56
The remnants of a famed U.S. military unit met at the Holliday Inn in Bossier City Thursday to celebrate their memories as members of the U.S. Constabulary.
Outpost Seven is composed of Constabulary soldiers — police force comprised of all branches of the armed forces — from Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
The Constabulary is an overlooked part of World War II history. After the surrender of Nazi military forces, Germany and Austria were left in disarray. Chaos reigned in the decimated cities.
“We stole everything when it came to food. My father would climb on top of a moving coal train and throw some down and I would pick it up to keep warm,” said Erika Brinson, “You stayed to yourself, you did the best you could to protect yourself.”
Seeing the need to stabilize the region, Maj. Gen. Ernest N. Harmon organized the formation of a constabulary to police the streets of a broken region. Members of the Constabulary were hand picked from all branches of the military. Other military units called the Constabulary the “circle c cowboys” (regiment insignia) as a put down.
However, the unit liked the name and it stuck. Akin to cowboys, the Constabulary had to walk into lawless towns, often on horseback, and restore order.
“They were like nursemaid to these people, they were policemen, they provided food to those who had nothing,” said Katheryn Worral, wife of Donald Worral, Seventh Outpost commander. “The Constabulary was the law. Everybody had to obey the Constabulary.”
When the Constabulary arrived in Germany and Austria many of the citizens could not stand the soldier’s presence.
“When we first saw them we were trained to think they were all bums, killers and everything else. We did not really see them as anyone that would help us. We saw them as the enemy,” said Brinson.
The Constabulary felt the same way. They went so far as to write songs about their displeasure of occupying the countries.
“Mama I want to go home. We don’t like the Frauleins and we don’t like the beer and we don’t like the idea of being over here,” said Paul Drescher, Constabulary member. “After six months we said ‘Mama I don’t want to go home. We like the Frauleins and we like the beer and we want to stay over here.”
After years of occupation both sides realized they had to live with their once enemy.
“The soldiers began to give cookies and candies to the children and we thought they cannot all be bad to do that for the children,” said Brinson.
The sides learn to tolerate one another or in the case of Bill and Erika Brinson, love one another.
“[Erika’s Parents] hated my guts,” said Bill Brinson.
Bill Brinson claims that after drinking a few beers with Erika’s father they got along fine.
As the region stabilized the Constabulary shifted their mission to protecting the borders of occupied Germany from Russian forces. The Constabulary acted as the frontline of the cold war. In many instances, if Russian forces caught an American soldier in Russian territory they would ransom him for a case of cigarettes and a case of whisky.
Constabulary members love to tell a story of a Constabulary man on horseback doing patrol. The man falls asleep atop the horse. The horse wanders into the Russian zone. The Russians catch him and demand the ransom. The U.S. commanding officer abides.
“What about the horse?” said Russian Officer.
“That was for the horse. You can keep the man,” said the Commander.
In 1953 the U.S. military dismantled the Constabulary. Since then the defunct unit has made it a tradition to have annual reunions. The average age of the members of the Seventh Outpost is 84 and as the years pass their membership dwindles.
“Little by little we get smaller and smaller because people die every day. Many of our members are incapacitated and cannot make it to our reunion, but they do have luncheons,” said Worral. “The small and smaller we get the closer we are because we know each other better.”
