McNair Barracks

The McNair Barracks was a US Army installation in Lichterfelde, a locality in southwest Berlin, Germany. The barracks were named after Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair, an American Army officer who served in World War I and World War II and was killed in an infamous friendly fire incident on 25 July 1944 in the Battle of Normandy. The barracks housed the Infantry and Artillery units of the U.S. Army Berlin Brigade.

Built in the 1930s, the structure originally housed Telefunken headquarter and factory, until 1941 a joint venture of Siemens & Halske (S & H) and Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft. During the years of National Socialism, the buildings were mainly used for development and production of military equipment, and the radar-guided flak system was perfected there. In 1945 the Telefunken plant was converted into barracks for occupation soldiers, for which the German government paid the owners of the site a yearly rent for its use as an army barracks.

The US Army maintained four large military installations in Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Berlin: McNair, Andrews, Roosevelt and Turner. Members of the Berlin Brigade were stationed there from 1945 until 1994, including more than 100,000 male and female GIs. In addition to three infantry battalions, these installations accommodated several other smaller units, such as an Artillery Battery, motor pools, stockade, snack bar, theater, a church and a few other places. Many veterans from the Berlin Brigade view the McNair Barracks as the “nicest barracks” with spacious living quarters and public spaces.

In addition to housing for soldiers, the McNair Barracks had a church, barber shop, movie theater, service club, and a restaurant for soldiers' use. The barracks' mess hall walls had murals depicting military scenes and regimental insignia. American soldiers remembered eating at tables which the civilian waitresses had decorated with flowers. A former veteran of the Berlin Brigade commented that it as one of the "nicest" mess halls; "there were white walls and painted on them were the most beautiful murals I ever saw."

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