MAJ (Colonel Ret.) Karl E. Nestler

Commanding Officer (Interim) ~ 720th Military Police Battalion
19 Sep. to 12 Oct.1963 and 12 Nov. 1963 to 6 Feb. 1964
4th Army, Fort Hood, Texas

     MAJ Nestler served with the battalion from 11 October 1961 through 13 April 1966 as a company commander, S-1 adjutant, operations officer and executive officer.

     He assumed interim command of the Battalion from LTC Earl B. Milburn on two occasions.

     The first was 19 September to 12 October 1963 when LTC Milburn was temporarily assigned to other duties at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

    The second was 12 November 1963 when LTC Milburn was assigned to U.S. Army, Provisional Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), South Korea.

     Before LTC Milburn returned, on 6 February 1963 MAJ Nestler passed command of the battalion to LTC Albert R. Escola.

Photographs

     COL Nestler, a native of Jersey City, was only 17 years old when he entered the Navy, and during World War II he served on the U.S.S. Vesuvius in the South Pacific, where he saw action. He entered the Army as an ROTC second lieutenant in September 1951.

     He graduated from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey with a B.S. degree. A 1951 graduate, he majored in advertising. His military education includes; the Military Police Basic and Advanced schools at Fort Gordon, Georgia, 82nd Airborne Jump School, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and the Army's Jungle Warfare School in Panama.

     Nestler has served with the 796th MP Battalion in Vienna; the Army Branch Disciplinary Barracks at New Cumberland, Pennsylvania; the 503rd MP Battalion at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; the 19th Criminal Investigation Division in Korea; the 720th MP Battalion at Fort Hood, Texas; the Army Security Agency, Kagnew Station, Asmara, Ethiopia; 89th MP Group commander, Vietnam, and as the command provost marshal and commander of the 19th MP Battalion.

     His decorations include the Legion of Merit with 1st Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Medal, the American Theater Medal, Asiatic-Pacific with 2 Battle Stars from the Navy, Philippine Liberation Medal (WW-II), and Vietnamese Service and Campaign Medals.