US Army Engineer Command, Europe (ENGCOM) was a unit of US Army Europe from 1966-1974. The command was the idea of General Andrew P. O'Meara, USAREUR commander 1965-1967 who had been disappointed with Engineer support while 4th Armored Division commander. In November 1966, O'Meara created ENGCOM with Colonel Robert P. Young in command. Col. Young set up his command in Frankfurt. The command reported directly to the Commanding General.
As Young tried to build the new command, he faced many challenges such as finding qualified engineer officers - the war in Vietnam was taking resources Army-wide. Finding qualified German engineers was also difficult due to the low unemployment in the Federal Republic of Germany. Finally, France's decision to leave NATO meant that American units stationed there had to be moved to Germany and this was a high priority mission. The biggest projects were moving SHAPE to Belgium and USEUCOM to Stuttgart.
In September 1967, Young was promoted to Brigadier General and in October was sent to Huntsville, Alabama. Colonel Kenneth W. Kennedy (promoted Brigadier General in 1968) was his replacement. Kennedy's first challenge was to upgrade aging facilities used by the US Army across Germany that dated before World War II, especially poor heating. In 1968, ENGCOM began a program to improve runways and aircraft shelter for the Air Force called TAB VEE.
Due to a fire in 1968, ENGCOM had to build a new headquarters for themselves which was completed in 1969. By June 1971 Kennedy was ready to retire from the Army and he was replaced by Brigadier General Carroll N. LeTellier. During LeTellier's time both the Senate and the Pentagon were complaining about ENGCOM's usefulness. He would serve until August 1973, when he was replaced by Brigadier General James C. Donovan. In 1974, the USAREUR commanding general approved of Project CHASE, a reorganization of the USARUER headquarters.
The Corps of Engineers created a new command - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Europe Division under Gen. Donovan.
Subordinate Units (1973) HQ US Army Engineer Command, EuropeI.G. Farben Bldg, Annex B FrankfurtHQ Element, US Army Engineer Command, EuropeGibbs Kaserne, Frankfurt24th Engineer Construction GroupKleber Kaserne, KaiserslauternEngineer Topographic CenterTompkins Barracks, Schwetzingen 79th Engineer Construction BattalionGerszewski Barracks, Knielingen94th Engineer Construction BattalionErnst Ludwig Kaserne, Darmstadt249th Engineer Construction BattalionGerszewski Barracks, Knielingen293rd Engineer Construction BattalionSmith Barracks, Baumholder370th Engineer Company (Construction Support)Kleber Kaserne, Kaiserslautern US Army Engineer District, Nord BayernMerrell Barracks, NürnbergUS Army Engineer District, Sued BayernReese Barracks, AugsburgUS Army Engineer District, Baden WurttembergWallace Barracks, StuttgartUS Army Engineer District, HessenMcNair Kaserne, FrankfurtUS Army Engineer District, PalatinatePulaski Barracks, KaiserslauternUS Army Engineer District, 7th Army Training CenterUS Training Center, Grafenwoehr 3336th Labor Service Liaison Detachment(Lübecker Strasse), Frankfurt 6970th Civilian Labor Group Engineer Construction BattalionRheinland Kaserne, Karlsruhe8252nd Labor Service Engineer Construction CompanyFunari Barracks, Mannheim8361st Labor Service Engineer Construction CompanyDe La Marne Kaserne, Bingen8550th Civilian Labor Group Engineer Construction CompanyGrenadier Kaserne, Stuttgart8551st Civilian Labor Group Engineer Construction CompanyUS Training Center, Grafenwoehr8552nd Civilian Labor Group Engineer Construction CompanyRheinland Kaserne, Karlsruhe8850th Labor Service Engineer Construction CompanyVerdun Kaserne, Kaiserslautern8404th Labor Service Engineer UtilitiesFrankfurt
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