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TOP 0' THE MORNING By ROBERT GORDON
DEAR MR. GORDON: The 508th parachute battalion was entrusted with guarding the enclave at Frankfurt, Germany, occupation headquarters, when we were there.
The battalion was. stationed In the little suburb of Heddernheim, northeast of the city.
Almost 2,000 years before that a garrison with a similar mission had occupied the
same place.
That fact first came to our attention when an old German painter and professor complained to the military government that the army was destroying ancient Roman relies in doing excavation work in that area for some new barracks. Now, ancient Roman history was something
we had always thought we could leave to the boys in Italy but here
it popped up In our midst and we decided to spend some leisure time Investigating.
With the aid of that old professor, we found that the Frankfurt area had been the farthest point of Roman advance In the time of Emperor Hadrian, around 150 A. D. When the Romans crossed
the Rhine near Mains, they built an earthen castle or fort at what la now Heddernheim. In the course of about 300 years (we hope our occupation doesn't last that long)
the fort developed Into a sizable town named Nidda, with a population of about 3,000.
The castle itself was enlarged from time to time and finally encircled with a 30-foot stone wall. Shops and homes and graveyards grew up
outside the. wall.
Historians have found that Nidda was garrisoned by the 23d legion for most of the time. Brick tiles used for building purposes are plentiful still In
that area and bear the legend "P. P. F." The letters stand for "Primus, Pla, Fidelia," which can be translated "The First,
The Tired and The True." The right to use those words
after Its name was awarded, as the story goes,
after the legion beat down a |
rebellion of natives and members of the 14th legion, who had deserted to the enemy, near Mains.
Historians also found, the professor told us, that the 23d legion had also, 150 years earlier, been entrusted with guarding that long dusty road from Jerusalem to Calvary when Christ carried the
cross.
Heddernheim was not the only Roman settlement in the Frankfurt area, it developed. It was one fort of the many that formed the famed limes, the wall built by the Romans against the marauding Germanic tribes. Another castle, at the foot of the Taunus Mountains north of Frankfurt, was completely reconstructed by Kaiser
Wilhelm I and was one of the cultural objects taken Into protective custody when our army moved in. Nestled In the forest at the foot of the mountains. It is a sight worth seeing.
Connecting all these forts, there were about 20 of. them in that area,
were the straight toads for which the Romans are
famous, Parts of the highway from Frankfurt to Wiesbaden, so well known to all the G.I.s in those two cities were built on the foundation of the Roman road to Mains and the Rhine bridge.
Thousands of tiles, vases and ornaments have been dug up In Heddernheim and vicinity. The valuable ones were
stored In the Frankfurt Museum where many of them were destroyed when
the British leveled parts of the town. But the work of compiling Roman
civilization there goes on, war or no war. When we left Frankfurt to come home,
the professor had again gained access to the excavations and was busily listing the finds and marking his maps, And. as souvenirs of our occupation,
we took with us a littke Roman oil lamp and a tile with
the stamp of the 33d legion clearly visible on It.
An ex-Frankfurter.
[St. Joseph Gazette, St. Joseph, MO, 08 Jun 1946, Sat, Page 4] |
