Werewolf Chapel, 1960s, by Bob Oberst
From MemoryArchive
Who: Bob Oberst What: Werewolf Chapel When: 1960s Where: Germany
It seemed like we were always being inspected, either NATO TAC Evals, MSET, USAFE, or ORI. What ever the inspection our base always managed to set a benchmark for the other in Europe to follow. Bitburg was in its second week of a three week ORI. I was a young A1C and I was dispatched to Tab Vee 6065 to install a anti-skid sensor on an F-4E there. Being that this was a grounding item (Red-X) and there wasn't much work at 0300, I was accompanied by two Aircraft Electrical Technicians -- SSgt's Tony Pearl and Lowell (Abe) Abramson. I can still remember the page and paragraph for the installation -- this was a routine task since each time a tire was replaced, the sensor was removed.
After the task was completed, we were killing a little time and in no hurry to return to the shop. This was my second exposure to the infamous Werewolf Chapel by Charlie 65. Being that both Tony and Abe had been at Bitburg a little longer than I had, and I was the new kid on the block, I brought up the question about the chapel. A few months earlier, I had checked out the chapel and had seen nothing unusually in it -- only a picture of the Virgin Mary and a small altar.
Now remember it's 0300, the morning air is crisp, and there is a slight breeze blowing. While Tony is distracting me with the story about about the werewolf, Abe sneaks off. I keep telling him that there is no such thing as a werewolf and he keeps baiting and taunting me. Finally Tony sez "Well, let's go down there and I'll show you...."
When we get to within a couple steps of the little chapel's gate, I turn around and ask Tony for a flashlight. He says "Yeah, I picked one up." As I turn back towards the chapel (thinking that I didn't see Tony pickup any damn flashlight) he sort of begins pushing me towards the chapel. More distraction.
As I get close to the chapel's gate, out runs Abe (he had positioned himself inside the chapel) and he let loose a loud ROAR with his arms waving in the air as he runs by me. He has the flashlight shining in his face to enhance his effects and boy, it did! I let loose with a loud scream and start running as fast as I can, except that I'm going nowhere fast. I beat such a hole in the ground by C-6065 that probably today grass still hasn't grown in that spot! Abe and Tony ran for their lives thinking that when I regained my senses they would be in deep trouble. I had to live with that for quite a while, and whenever there's a story to be told, I always remember the Werewolf Chapel at "Charlie 65."
PS: To this day, I think that the only reason Bitburg was chosen over Spang for the USAFE base closures was that Bitburg didn't have a golf course. When you get too old to participate in real sports, the only thing remaining is golf (or bowling).
Co-opted from Personal Recollections and War Stories
