LEE BARRACKS

ROBERT E LEE BARRACKS MAINZ GERMANY

(SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA)

The Lee Barracks were a barracks in Mainz, Germany. It was named after Captain Robert E. Lee, who as 1st Lieutenant had performed a particularly courageous mission on November 17, 1944 (General Order October 11, 1956) even though it was often assumed that it was named after the most successful general of the Confederate Army Robert Edward Lee (which would have been politically completely incorrect). Today, large parts of the Mainz-Gonsenheim district are located on the property.

In 1949, US armed forces took over the Kathen barracks, which was subsequently given the name “Lee Barracks”. American soldiers, their families and their housing estates, NCO Club, ballpark, Bowling Alley and the Panzerwerk on the border to Mombach shaped the Gonsenheim townscape for the next decades. The Mainz Sand Dunes were again used for military exercises. With the fall of communism in the cause of the Peaceful Revolution in the GDR in 1989, the need for large units of mechanized forces in Germany no longer existed. The 8th US Infantry Division was needed during Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm and large parts, including the Ready First Combat Team, were deployed in the Middle East.

The 8th US Infantry Division was inactivated at a solemn ceremony in Bad Kreuznach on 17 January 1992, and the American contingent withdrew from Mainz. The area became a conversion area.