Deutschland Diary - Going Home, Last Entry

Sat Sept 29, 1984

We are air born.  As typical things got all screwed up before we got on the airplane.  I will not try to account for a day by day dissertation.  I will just write down those things that seem to be of some interest.

One thing I forgot to mention is that while in Rothenburg a bunch of Germans were singing in this bar we were in.  Towards the end of the song one of the men drank beer out of his shoe.  I wasn't there when he did it but when I heard about it later that evening I did not think the US should be out done.  So when they started the song again I went up to the guy , took off my shoe, poured beer into it and drank away.  He did not want to be out done so he took off his shoe and took my shoe and placed it on the table in front of us.  He poured beer into both shoes then took my shoe, gave me his shoe and started drinking out of mine, so to be polite I drank out of his shoe.

The last bivouac area we had was in a town cal Feldheim.  We were going to leave at 3:00 so about 11 a bunch of us decided to walk around town.  We were looking for something to eat.  We asked directions from a guy who spoke about as much English as we did German.  We all ended up in his house and was served food by his wife.

She brought out all sorts of meats, cheeses, roles, drinks.  We thought they were poor and just wanted to be hospitable. I told everyone to put some money under the table cloth when they were not looking.  Soon afterwords through broken English and a lot of signing we discovered that the guy owned a plumbing company, was the mayor, had four children.  One was a doctor in Canada, one taught English in England, another was and Engineer, and the other a soldier, and he and his wife had just gotten back from a trip to Russia.  We decided that the money we had stashed under the table cloth really didn't need to be there but really had no way to retrieve it.  We did want to show some personal thanks for hospitality so Dutch gave him a flash light, I gave him a knife with U.S. stamped on it, another guy gave him our unit patch.  We took their address and will send a Christmas card.  It was a very pleasant experience.  But we did wonder why he took to us so quickly and so nicely.  Come to find out he had been a prisoner of war during WWII in France and his guards were Americans.  They had treated him well.  We were the first American soldiers he had come across since his release.  He just wanted to repay the kindness shown to him.  I think he felt a little melancholy because once we were enemies and now we sat together in friendship.  He seemed touched when I gave him my knife.  It was his wife's birthday so we all sang her Happy Birthday.

 The next day we went to Tent City.  It was the Rear Assembly Area.  However like always we got lost.  We were supposed to go to a place called Heidershime, but wouldn't you know it there were two.  We went to the wrong one.  It was OK by us however.  We got to see a lot of Germany and got to eat at a regular German restaurant.

You may possibly have seen old newsreels of American GI's going through German towns standing up in the back of trucks.  Now I know why.  It was to see the towns they were passing through and the people who waved at you as you passed.  We would toss the kids candy.  One girl blew us a kiss.  I yelled out at her that I was Michael Jackson.

We finally found the right Heidershime and got settled in but of course into the wrong tent and had to move.  They had a big beer tent.  The town was off limits so naturally we went.  We visited a church, a cafe where we ate.  At the cafe over coffee we met 3 Lutheran sisters and a Lutheran minister.  He came from Nurnburg.  He said he would call Jerry's relatives.  One of the sisters was a Berliner who saw JFK when he gave his famous speech in Berlin.

Like I said earlier we are flying home.  First to Bangor, Main then to South Carolina, then to KCI.  I'll try to call from SC unless they let me off the plane in Bangor.

REFORGER is the over all name for the yearly exercise that is supposed to show the resolve of the NATO allies to defend western Europe.  Each country names it own maneuvers, the English call it Lion Heart, ours was Certain Fury.  They take war very seriously and over all I am proud to be a part. I have found that I am just as skill full in the art of artillery as some of the regulars and most of my guard counterparts are more skillful than I.  If I and my guard buddies were doing this full time we would be better than most of the regular army guys I came sccross.  I don't think that will happen, I enjoy civilian life.

Regardless we are ready.  Certain Fury means just that.  We have the knowledge, ability, and determination to the fight the Russians and if we do we will kick their ass.

Snapper/Dad - Some where over the Atlantic, heading west.  
Post Script:  I wonder if the first McAnally going west could have envisioned the mode of transportation I am using now.  I doubt it.

The Day I Think I Didn't Meet Tom Bodett - Alaska

After a day of revisiting sites around Anchorage a lady friend of mine and I headed down the coastal highway along Turnagain Arm toward the Kenai Peninsula.  Our first stop was Homer.  We stayed at a place called Land’s End which was just that, resting at the end of a spit about as far south as you could go on the Kenai.  Homer was not much of a place but typical of an Alaskan coastal fishing tourist town.  Land’s End was nice but not fancy although it did have a magnificent deck attached to a quaint little bar overlooking the ocean and scattered islands.  Our room was not ready so we had to wait, and then wait, and then wait some more.  Due to the bar, I was not upset by the wait and watched the fishing boats return to port.  We waited so long, however, that I very graciously requested some sort of reparation and after receiving one, I said my friend needed one, too.  We dined on Oysters Rockefeller that night.  It was the first time I had tasted them and I even liked them.

Now what does all that have to do with Tom Bodett?  As I was standing by the reception desk one of the several times I went to enquire about the room saw several people talking about their trip.  One  guy seemed to be in charge of the group and while he was talking to the receptionist she offered to have his bags taken to his room.  He declined and said he would take care of them. The fellow did not look familiar to me but his voice sounded like I had heard it before.  Later I heard that Tom Bodett of Motel 6 fame, lived in Homer and owned Land's End.  I know now he lived in Homer but I am not sure he owns or owned Land's End and I am not sure it was even he or him, depending on if you come from Homer or Seward.

A friend of mine told me that Mr. Bodett's writings and musings reminded him of mine.  Sort of flattering but not sure of the accuracy.  I would like to have met Mr. Bodett and if you are reading this blog, Tom, I want you to know you are invited to visit my house anytime you want or if one of you readers out there know Tom please pass on the message.  Needless to say I will keep the light on for him.

Deutschland Diary -9

Thursday Sept 26, 1984

We have moved twice more since my last entry.  Schutelburg then to Elsburg.  If some day in the future we all get out a map and try to find these places we wont be able to because I am sure I am not spelling them correctly.

Apparently the war will be over tomorrow around 4 pm.

Following are some character sketches of some of the people I have met here:

Lt Phares.  Young, immature looking but a career soldier.  He is competent and will make a good officer.  He is the type of guy who make you glad the civilians have control of the military.  Regular Army.

Capt. Davis - Worked as my counter part during my off shift. Comes from a military family.  Good officer. Regular Army.

Capt. Spencer- Chemical Officer with little to do.  He gets all the misc. details.  Reservist or Vol Indef.

MSG Rodriquez - Big Mexican from Texas.  Loud mouth.  But not a bad sort.

MSG Barber - The best NCO of the lot.  Laied back but can kick ass if he has to.

LTC Ford -  I knew him from Golden Saber exercise in Texas and a few guard drills.  He is the DIV ARTY XO.  Good man, competent.  Not many of the guard guys like him though. I am one of the few.  I don't think he cares much for guardsman.

LTC Sanders - S3, OK guy.  Don't know much about him.  Jerry worked with him a lot.

Col. Miller - CO. I had no relationship with him at allThere are others of course but when I begin to write there is nothing a whole lot to say.

 Just a bunch of guys thrown together, ships passing in the night, a shared experience but then barely a glimpse and then gone forever.  Such is army life I guess.

The army has some definite problems but it is easy to be critical unless you have tried to coordinate tactics and logistics for 15000 people.  That is just our side.  The other side (the Orange Force) has about the same number.

This exercise if I had to put it one word to describe how I feel about it is Cold.  I have not been worm since I have been here.  I can't wait to get home.

Deutschland Diary - some pictures

Deutschland Diary 8

Wather torcher insturment

24 September in the evening

Being back in camp is not all that fun.  All you have to do is sit around and smoke or sleep.  Seems like some of the guys, especially the career regular types always have something to do but I can never really figure out what it is.

One thing I forgot to mention about this weekend.  We met a spy, or perhaps an official spy.  It seems like there is some sort of program or agreement between the east and west that the other side can follow troop movements around.  Meaning we can send people over to watch them and they (Russians) send people over to watch us.  They are supposed to be in uniform and can even use our PX.

Thomas was our intelligence officer and took his job seriously.  He was always looking for spooks, cautioning us on what we said and when we said it.  He noticed in the guesthouse Saturday that there was this one guy who kept circling around trying to talk to a lot of our group.  He mentioned this to Ollie and Rolf.  Ollie and Rolf went over and talked to the guy, didn't particularly like what they heard I guess and took him out side never to be heard of or mentioned again, at least by us.   Probably the guy was just interested in what we Americans thought of being stationed in Germany etc.  Sort of like I might want to do if I found myself surrounded by a bunch of Russian soldiers.  I'd ask a lot of questions also, still would, but I would keep a closer look out for the KGB I guess.

Ollie is a tall slender guy who has an extra long fingernail on his little finger, wears an earring while off duty, has a faint blond beard, and light red hair.  He speaks excellent English.  His two grandfathers were reported missing on the Eastern Front during WWII fighting the Russians.  He says "they were lost on the field of honor."

Rolf is about 5'10" and heavy set.  He drinks beer for breakfast.  He is a little older than Ollie, about 27, seems to have an eye for the black women soldiers, and looks the very part of a Gestapo Agent.  He looks at his assignment as a vacation.  His English is not real good but better than my German.  We communicate with sign and symbols.  His Grandfathers fought against the Americans, one of the view Germans who didn't fight the Russians if you would believe what the locals tell you.  One lived to a ripe old age and was in the regular German Army Rolf says and his other Grandfather was a pilot and shot down over France and died.

Sort of strange now I guess.  We are all friends.  With just the spans of a few years we could have been trying to kill each other right now.  I am not the first one to see the ironic situation.  Rolf did communicate to me one time though, that he thought his country was getting a little too leftest leaning and with the people like the Red Brigade running around that perhaps "we need (then he would hold up his thumb and index finger and shape like a C)  just a little bit of Hitler."  He is probably not alone in his thinking, there or in the US.

Deutschland Diary 7, part 3

That night I met Jerry's in-laws and we all had dinner within the walled city.  I had sourbraten, red cabbage, and round mashed potatoes that were made in to a ball naturally.

The next morning Ollie, Rolf, Thomas and I went to a castle.  It was owned by a relative of the Queen of England.  We also toured a car museum.  For lunch I had Pepper Schnitzel  We then went bact ot our camp site and got ready to move out again.

Deutschland Diary 7, continued

I wish you all could have gone on the walk with me.  I wont go into a lot of detail about the town, but there is a book around somewhere that describes it pretty well and of course there is always the encyclopedia.  I did see a church that was built around 1300.  Many shops, guesthouses, meat markets, and cafes.

I spent most of the morning alone.  About noon I ran into Wakeman and Thomas and we had lunch together.  We had pizza and jaggershcnetzel (pork bread and smothered with a brown gravy and mushrooms.  The pizza had an egg sunny side up right in the middle and each slice had a different solo ingredient.

Later Wakeman and I ate in a cafe and had some sort of coffee with whip cream and an alcohol of some sort.  We also ate something that looked like funnel cakes but rolled into a ball - it did not taste as good however - also and apple sort of pastry followed by a cherry cheese cake.  I know it sounds like a lot. 

 

...Two things I want to comment on now.  You have undoubtedly put the Christmas ornaments on the tree year after year, the ones I bought in Germany.  I bought those at a Christmas Store.  It is a huge place that sells nothing but Christmas stuff.  It is a very impressive place.  Since Christmas has always bee special to your mother and I and of course by all of you - I thought it only appropriate that I bring back ornaments to a go along with the ones we have gathered over the years.

The other thing:  When you are in a foreign country you have a tendency to ask people "do you speak English?"  Most must have some knowledge because they almost invariably ask you to speak slower.

I was standing in front of a 1300 year old Church when this guy came up to me and asked me loudly if I spoke English.  I looked at him and said "Ya, speak slower please." He started speaking slower and louder and asked me "WHERE IS THE CHRISTMAS STORE?."  After he completed the word store, I looked at him in a puzzled manner, rubbed my chin, and then in a quick Midwestern accent told him.  We both laughed about the incident.

...continued