25 Years Ago Today...The Berlin Wall Came Down

[1978 NYB]

25 years ago today the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War ended...

I was in Grafenwohr, West Germany with the 1st Battalion, 36th Field Artillery Regiment pounding the impact area with these bad boys! Grafenfwehor is on the border of the Iron Curtain where Allied Forces go to train and fire our tanks, artillery, aircraft, etc. It's a huge training post 85.5 square miles. I've spent years and years there from the 1970's to the 1990's. It was somewhere near 0200 hours (2 am) and we received an emergency order "Cease Fire Freeze" which normally means we "Shot Out" which meant somebody shot one of these monsters and a 205 "Birth Control Device" (projectile) landed outside the impact area safe zone. That order is not good and normally has implications that possibly we killed somebody(s) or severely wounded somebody(s). So... when this happens every howitzer has to stay in place and not move in elevation or deflection (another words....don't move the gun tube) until safety figures out who "Shot Out". We got another order to immediately lower all gun tubes to Zero Elevation and move all howitzers to the rail head immediately. The rail head is the railroad flat cars that we load our howitzers and other tracked vehicle to transport them back and forth to our home base (Sheridan Kaserne, Augsburg) so we don't tear up the German roads and Autobahns with our tracks. We were thinking HQ was dipping a little heavier than usual in the hallucinate acid. We got additional verification that the order was true and that the Berlin Wall was coming down. A day I'll never forget!!!

http://www.usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm?http&&&www.usarmygermany.com/USAREUR_City_grafenwoehr.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grafenwöhr

 

[78Brougham]

THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE BOB and Happy Veterans Day!

 

[Zymurgy]

Thanks for your service Bob. I remember that day very well, it was nice to hear your perspective of the event.

 

[patrick66]

I was stationed in Gelienkirchen, West Germany when all that occurred. It was fun to watch all that on German and Dutch TV, as we did not receive AFN television signals there then. The feelings then of the West Germans were overwhelmingly positive and they welcomed the Easterners with open arms! A very thrilling time to be stationed there!

 

[Ironwolf]

Thank you Bob ..ccasion14: and to all those who served and serve our country :sFl_america2:

It was a great day indeed !!!!

 

[fc7_plumcrazy]

after all the weeks/months were the eastern people protested against their communism leaders it was great to see the wall opened and families which were divided by the wall for 28 years could be reunited.

Carsten

 

[patrick66]

What was fun is that a few months later, in June 1990, we went to an all-American car show in what was still East Germany, in Magdeberg. There were perhaps 800 American cars there from all over western and eastern Europe, as well as Scandinavia. My wife and I were the ONLY American people there! It was like stepping back into 1958...very dreary, Soviet-bloc architecture, with Wartburgs and Trabants everywhere. Getting followed by the Stasi was interesting. They followed us everywhere for the first day, and part of the second. We knew they were there, and even waved to them on occasion! They were not exactly trying to hide.

Seeing Soviet troops on day passes on the Magdeberg streets was wild! I remember seeing three waiting for a streetcar at one intersection, and I pulled up in my black '85 Dodge D150 Royal SE SWB pickup. One guy says "Are you American?" and I replied "Yes, are you Russian?" He said "Yes. What a beautiful truck you have! Does everyone in America have such things?" I replied "They are available if you want them. Everyone has different tastes." He said "One day, I will make it to America and have a nice pickup truck. I really want to go there!" he said wistfully. I said "you are welcome to visit anytime. I hope you make it there!" The traffic light turned, and he said "Good-bye" to which I replied "Do svidaniya" and drove away. You have to remember, these guys had no idea when they were going to get paid by the collapsed Soviet government. Many were selling uniform items, rifles, pistols, and other equipment openly, in various places. Uncertainty was the word of the day! Magdeberg was once one of the largest Soviet garrisons outside of the USSR. I truly felt fortunate and proud to be an American, and especially at that moment in time.

 

[Edison]

I'm glad I was alive to see this (even if I was four years old, I still remember it on TV).

 

[1978 NYB]

Germany......

My home away from home!

 

[1978 NYB]

I was stationed in Gelienkirchen, West Germany when all that occurred. It was fun to watch all that on German and Dutch TV, as we did not receive AFN television signals there then. The feelings then of the West Germans were overwhelmingly positive and they welcomed the Easterners with open arms! A very thrilling time to be stationed there!

Salute to you to Patrick!

And to the rest of the Vets on FCBO. I know there are a lot more on this site.

 

[fc7_plumcrazy]

What was fun is that a few months later, in June 1990, we went to an all-American car show in what was still East Germany, in Magdeberg. There were perhaps 800 American cars there from all over western and eastern Europe, as well as Scandinavia. My wife and I were the ONLY American people there! It was like stepping back into 1958...very dreary, Soviet-bloc architecture, with Wartburgs and Trabants everywhere. Getting followed by the Stasi was interesting. They followed us everywhere for the first day, and part of the second. We knew they were there, and even waved to them on occasion! They were not exactly trying to hide.

Seeing Soviet troops on day passes on the Magdeberg streets was wild! I remember seeing three waiting for a streetcar at one intersection, and I pulled up in my black '85 Dodge D150 Royal SE SWB pickup. One guy says "Are you American?" and I replied "Yes, are you Russian?" He said "Yes. What a beautiful truck you have! Does everyone in America have such things?" I replied "They are available if you want them. Everyone has different tastes." He said "One day, I will make it to America and have a nice pickup truck. I really want to go there!" he said wistfully. I said "you are welcome to visit anytime. I hope you make it there!" The traffic light turned, and he said "Good-bye" to which I replied "Do svidaniya" and drove away. You have to remember, these guys had no idea when they were going to get paid by the collapsed Soviet government. Many were selling uniform items, rifles, pistols, and other equipment openly, in various places. Uncertainty was the word of the day! Magdeberg was once one of the largest Soviet garrisons outside of the USSR. I truly felt fortunate and proud to be an American, and especially at that moment in time.

it was a great meetin in Magdeburg back in 1990.

And in general a time to remember with all the changes going on.

Thanks to all who served us, the western world

Carsten