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Pinder Barracks Zirndorf


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Link to the Pinder Barracks Group of D.R. Hamilton	"Fürther Nachrichten" from 19 March 2010: 380 out of 450 houses planned are built. 1203 people now live at Pinder Park., among them many families with children who had before lived in rented apartments.

Impressions from Pinder Park (3 January 2007). The density of the housing is very high.
The Middle School.
The former gate tower is the only significant point.	The Officer's Club was located behind the roadside billboard.	View from the "Landratsamt" to the former Kaserne.
Aerial picture from 2005.			Pictures from about 2003
These two buildings are the only remnants of former Pinder Bks.	The significant gate tower is now the last point of orientation (here from inside). The "Landratsamt" on the left.	Pinder Park project with new houses and a complete infrastructure. The gate tower is on the right (outside the photo).	Left of the main road.
Right of the former main road (I think the Officer's Club has been on the right).	View from the main road to the south. EVERYTHING is gone.	Same place, view to the southeast.	View to the east. About there was the tank wash area.
What to do with the Pinder Eagle? In 1945 the swastika of the the sandstone eagle from 1939 was removed and the Stars and Stripes was painted on it in color. Later the German black, red and gold flag was added. When the biluding at Pinder was removed just recently the eagle was stored. Now ideas will be collected and costs will be checked what to do with it. (See Fuerther Nachrichten from 11 August 2004).		Pinder Barrachs is dead - long live Pinder Park. The old buildings inside have been completely removed, even the ground has been levelled. New houses are under contruction or planned , together with shopping malls and a kindergarden. All photos were taken on 28 December 2004.	From the parade field to the southwest. More areal pictures from Mai 2003
	17 August 2003: New areal pictures 5 November 2003: the new park on the former parade ground has been opened. See "Fuerther Nachrichten".		Compare: 30 June 1986

May 2004: Randy Reitler visited Pinder Bks. and documented that the big maintenance area after the tower on the right has been removed completely.			Below: New pictures from the Pinder Park (12 July 2003)







The District Administration "Landkreis Fuerth" moved from various locations into the new building at Pinder Bks. ("Fuerther Nachrichten" 8 February 2003) An investor plans to build 260 appartments and a shopping center on 40 acres at Pinder. ("Fuerther Nachrichten" 27 December 2002)	An investor has bought the area of Pinder barracks. He intends to build 250 houses and wants to sell about 16 acres to industrial companies. ("Fuerther Nachrichten", 5 April 2003) Right: Walk trough the abandoned Kaserne. A middle school has been built, the District Administration building is alomst finished. Goldfish and water lilys can be found in the tank wash pond, most of the old buildings will have to be broken down because of DDT-contamination. Pinder is on the way to a new part of the town. ("Fuerther Nachrichten" 17 August 2002)		Link to a Zirndorf-Site for American soldiers Link to the Pinder Barracks Group of D.R. Hamilton Link to a webcam
3 March 2002	3 March 2002	3 March 2002 3 March 2002
	From 1991 to 1993 at Pinder:	Brigadier General Harold E. Burch	Colonel Ralph. R. Tucillo

		More information about the Change of Command from Col. Shalikashvili to Col. Beavers on August 1980	Retirement ceremony for CSM D. R. Hamilton, February 1990. Commander of the troops is SGM Isley.

HISTORY: Pinder Barracks has been regarded as the most beautiful barracks in the Nuernberg area. Considered such, not only because of its entrance, with tower and half-timbered house fitting exceptionally well into the Franconian landscape, but Pinder Barracks has an accessible size and well groomed appearance. In the confusion of World War II and the following post-war chaos, a large part of Zirndorf's files and documents were lost; therefore it's difficult to give a complete historical background of Pinder Barracks. Following is what we do know: In 1935 the city of Zirndorf applied to the Reich Administration to have a caserne built here.	The application was approved, with the condition of Reichsmarschall Goering, that construction must be in the Franconian style. The plans were prepared by the Construction Office of the German Air Force, and work began on Pinder Barracks in the spring of 1938. It was completed in mid-1940. This Spotlight and Anti-Aircraft Barracks as it was then called, was one of the best military training barracks in the Third Reich. In 1945, soldiers of the U.S. 26th Infantry Regiment occupied the barracks. On 11 May 1949, this barracks was renamed in honor of John J. Pinder Jr., an American soldier who fell in a battle near Colleville-sur-Mer, France, on 6 June 1944. For his bravery, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.	John J. Pinder Declaration of PINDER BKS on 11 May 1949.	In the decades since 1945, many American units were stationed at Pinder Barracks. The 1st Armored Division's Divisional Artillery (DIVARTY) called Zirndorf home from 1971 until shortly after the Gulf War in 1991. Shortly thereafter, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Europe (AAFES-Europe), headquarters their operations at Pinder Barracks. In the fall of 1993, the 7th Corps Support Group moved its home to Pinder Barracks as well. Within the departure of AAFES-Europe and the 7th Corps Support Group, the chapter of America's presence in Zirndorf came to a close.