History
GalleryPreviously unseen photos show life at Grafenwoehr Training Area seven decades ago
Stars and Stripes
July 26, 2025
Two unidentified soldiers take a break in the post library at Grafenwoehr Training Area, April 9, 1949. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
A recently digitized set of images of Grafenwoehr Training Area, its facilities, services and buildings, provides a rare glimpse into the inner workings of and life on the sprawling training base in 1949. These vignettes of military life at the area, taken by Stars and Stripes photographer Gerald Waller, are believed to never have been published before.
An unidentified Staff sergeant inspects loaves of bread fresh out of the oven at the bakery at Grafenwoehr Training Facility. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
Bakers at the Grafenwoehr Training Area bakery weigh and roll dough creating perfectly uniform loaves. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
The inside of the gymnasium at Grafenwoehr Training Area, April 9, 1949. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
Two unidentified soldiers talk to a Special Services librarian inside the 6th Armored Cavalry Bookmobile at Grafenwoehr Training Area. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers play a card game inside one of the recreational buildings — possibly the Forest House — at Grafenwoehr Training Area, April 9, 1949. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
A number of soldiers stand at the counter of the commissary at Grafenwoehr Training Area April 9, 1949, waiting their turn for one of the staff members to ring up their cigarette and cigar purchases. A Staff sergeant — already finished buying his carton of Lucky Strikes — talks to a fellow soldier at the commissary as the soldier tries to get warm standing by the shop’s coal-fired stove. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
The Grafenwohr Water Tower, built in 1910, has become a landmark for the Training Area. It is one of the few original structures to have survived the April 8, 1945 bombing by American forces at the end of World War II when the post was occupied by Nazi forces. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers leave the Grafenwoehr Training Area gymnasium, April 9, 1949. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
The Post Theater at Grafenwoehr Training Area, April, 9, 1949. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
An old sign at Grafenwoehr Training Area - apparently used as target practice by some considering the number of bullet holes — reads "Border of the Military Training Area. Unaccompanied entry to the site is prohibited and will be prosecuted." The "signature" on the sign notes it is by order of the "High Command of the Wehrmacht," harking back to the time when the training area was occupied by armed forces of Nazi Germany. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
A stack of road signs at Grafenwoehr Training Area indicates which way to the various Combat, Mortar and Rifle, and Tank Ranges at the sprawling training area. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
A barrier arm on the grounds of Grafenwoehr Training Area reading "Stop" and "Artillery Firing in Progress/Do Not Enter" warns in both in English and German for people not to proceed past it. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
Two soldiers chat at Grafenwoehr Training Area, April, 9, 1949, rows and rows of wooden barrack frame structures behind them. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
A soldier checks his Jeep in the pond at Grafenwoehr Training Area. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers of 16th Infantry Regiment, F Company march through the mud-filled roads at Grafenwoehr Training Area, April, 9, 1949. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers of 16th Infantry Regiment, F Company march through the mud-filled roads at Grafenwoehr Training Area, April, 9, 1949. (Gerald Waller/Stars and Stripes)