This probably happened in 1955.I was working at the EM Club ( Enlisted Men) in Bar-Le-Duc.That Club was doing so well financially that we decided to give the soldiers a free party night...
That meant ALL the liquor, wine, and beer was free.
Free meant,very inviting ,and several hundreds enlisted men showed up after 2 or 3 hours of drinking, big noise making, and fighting; those who could still walk decided to share our fun with the residents of Bar-Le-Duc.
Fighting, swearing, and trashing the streets did not go over very well with the locals at 2 am, they called out the gendarme.We outnumbered them, and they quickly got out of our way. I did end up with one of their bicycles for a short time. My buddies dumped me and the bike in a canal.
Next came the Military Police with clubs and guns. It took a while but they got our attention. Most either passed out, or were put out by the MP's. They packed us on buses, or trucks and hauled us back to the base.
I'm pretty sure it was sunday morning, shortly after we got back to camp, that the Base Commander had us fall out to the parade grounds.He had some terrible things to say about our conduct .We stood there till most passed out again, we were still drunk.
To my recollection the french press estimated that each soldier had consumed 5 beers, 1 bottle of wine, and one half bottle of whiskey.They had counted all that had been placed outside the EM Club, and estimated how many soldiers were there that night.
Our Commanding Officer got into serious trouble, and we were restricted to camp for a month...That did not stop the drinking.
The people of Bar-Le-Duc were upset for a few days, but then found much humor in what happened. We were welcome back. I think they appreciated our ability to consume that much booze.Besides the Paris papers had many stories about Bar-Le-Duc.
A TFOD Story 1955 by Marvin MILLER
