Ha Ha Herman
In late 1971, the Executive Officer (XO) of the 720th MP Battalion was a gentlemen named Herman C. Statum. Major Statum was a former Special Forces Officer who had changed his branch to the Military Police. He was a good officer, but seemed a little too ridged and without a sense of humor. That's my impression as a rather young lieutenant.
My job was the OIC of the Drug Suppression Team and had almost daily contact with MAJ Statum. Other officers in the Battalion Headquarters area thought much the same. One night on an alert, I heard on the radio that "Triple H" was on his way over to a particular point. I was confused and asked a Captain of one of the companies what that exactly meant. He said it was a code word for the XO. Major Herman Statum. It was not meant to be derogatory, but a phrase used as a code.
After my tour was over, I returned to Seattle, to await my next assignment at Fort Riley, Kansas. I walked into a major Seattle downtown bank and was going to withdrawal some money. As I went to the area where there were deposits slips, I saw, to my amazement, the words "Ha Ha Herman" hand written on the top deposit slip. I looked around, but saw not a person that could be connected to that saying. What the hell was going on, I thought. This is more than a simple coincidence. This is impossible.
As I thought about this incident, I remember that 1LT Bernard Anderson of A Company went home on leave prior to my DEROS, and his home town was Seattle. Could he have seen me in the bank and wrote this down without being detected? There was no other explanation. Only a handful of people even knew that Ha Ha Hernam even existed
Bernard, if you are out there, please tell me this is what happened. Every time I think about this, I get a headache.
Ha Ha Herman, a phrase written on a bank deposit…..impossible!!!
1LT John D. Bradley II, Drug Suppression Unit, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, September 1971 to January 1972.