Experiencing history firsthand

 

Our entire generation probably remembers where they were when President Kennedy was shot.  How many remember the Cuban missile crisis which preceded that?  The Hungarian revolution of 1956?  The Korean War?  All were historic events, but we were too young to have any direct connection with such major occurrences.

Yesterday I was listening to the song ‘Where were you (when the world stopped turning)’ by Alan Jackson.  The song always affects me deeply, renewing my realization about how the world has changed and those specific incidents that bring history to life.  I am sure we all remember where we were when the World Trade Towers in New York were hit on 9/11.  Having spent a career in our military, certain events have provided additional markers making world events even more real and memorable.

VIETNAM

When I was deployed to Vietnam, I had a good understanding of how war is fought.  My father served in the Pacific in WWII, and I watched all the TV segments of the series "Victory at Sea" with him as a child.  At Nebraska U. I was enrolled in NROTC where Alfred Thayer Mahan's large volume, "Sea Power" was required reading (I loved it).  I did extensive reading on my own.  The point being that from my viewpoint, Vietnam was a poorly organized campaign.  Not just my opinion; the book "Dereliction of Duty" by H. R. Mcmaster, subtitled "Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the lies that lead to Vietnam", is just one documentary telling of how a war was micro-managed for political gain instead of victory.  War is what you do after all other options are exhausted.  Only enter if you commit completely and are ready to support your troops completely.  You are spending lives. 

My personal experience was that there was too much turnover of personnel in deployment to provide the experience and teamwork necessary for efficient organization.  In the Mekong Delta, our riverine craft were being hit with Russian-supplied B40 rockets which should have been stopped before they ever reached the Delta.  Air strikes and naval blockades should be used to cut off enemy supplies, but they were intermittent depending on the political situation.  The enemy should not be allowed refuge across borders.  Lives were wasted. War is not a game.  The goal is winning, not "fairness" or containment.  History-wise, I witnessed attacks on coastal locations which we then repeated months later.  It was a cat-and-mouse situation.  It was a conflict controlled by ego and politics, not strategy.

I watched the Vietnamese people suffer.  On the river, the native boats were kept away from us, but periodically we visited Vung Tau to resupply.  Crippled men with crude crutches or even part of a face missing.  Young women renting their bodies to earn a living.  Soldiers carrying submachine guns on urban patrol.  A few friends and I found a remote off-limits restaurant, Windy Beach Café, run by a single lady.  You had to hike along a deserted dusty road to find it.  We would show up and change into our bathing suits, then entrust her with our clothes and wallets.  After enjoying the surf on this rocky beach, she would serve us lunch and a beer.  We were never overcharged.

In the town of Vung Tau, I made acquaintance with a young girl, 10-11 years old, who was always there selling carved pineapples (the outer peel removed).  We would always greet each other as we met on the waterfront.  One day when I brought no money with me, just planning to go to the main beach, she gave me a pineapple saying that I could pay her next time we met.  Of course, I honored that concession.  Whatever happened to her?  Honorable people eking out an existence in a war-torn country with an uncertain future.

Seeing all this creates a deep appreciation for life and all that our country has to offer.  Not to be taken for granted

PANAMA

Summer of 1979 our family was assigned to Fort Gulick on the Atlantic Coast of Panama.  Carter was President and it had been decided to give the Panama Canal Zone to the country of Panama.  The Canal Zone had been there for generations.  People born and raised there were called “Zonians”; the government and culture they knew was about to disappear.  The Canal Zone was prosperous, efficient, and well-maintained.  Panama was a grubby, backwards country run by the dictator, Torrijos, who died in an unexplained plane crash in 1981 and was replaced by Manuel Noriega.  Noriega had received his military education at the US-lead School of the Americas on Fort Gulick where we lived.

It was agreed that there would be a one-year transition period.  During the transition period, US buildings were refreshed to be in good condition prior to a Panama takeover.  The preschool our children attended was deemed not adequate for turnover and was closed for renovation.  For law enforcement, joint patrols between Panamanian police and those in the Zone were initiated.  Noriega ruled by force and corruption.  In our three years in the zone, Noriega never visited the Atlantic coast.  It was rumored that he feared being killed if he were to visit the neglected town of Colon.

We experienced the entire transition.  Once the Canal Zone was gone, the US flag was not allowed to be flown unless the Panama flag was flown above it.  Thus, we had a base ceremony in which the US flag was lowered at sunset and then a small explosive charge was detonated to bring down the flagpole.  We have visited Panama twice in recent years.  The home we lived in is still there, part of a civilian neighborhood now.  The clinic I worked in is now part of a resort hotel complex.  The buildings which the US renovated are now abandoned with the roofs caving in and the interiors ruined.

Panamanians have a favorable opinion of the United States.  Many have US connections.  English is widely understood.  They remember that the US came back later and deposed dictator Noriega in 1989.  The US dollar is still their standard currency.  Panamanian people are friendly and welcoming, but the inequality is tremendous which feeds leftist sentiment. Panama is trending to leftist corruption and return to strongman government, similar to other countries in the region. 

GERMANY

We arrived in Germany in summer 1988.  After accepting new leased quarters in the small town of Elsenfeld, I also needed to buy a second car because I would be commuting to Aschaffenburg some distance away.  I visited the local German Ford dealership, happened to strike up a conversation with the owner, Hans Schafer, of the dealership, and we became friends.  He found me the perfect car, but we also developed a social relationship, visits to each other’s homes, met his wife Ursula, dining out, and some holiday gifts.  The Soviet Union was breaking down.  Hans and I had discussed the dissension occurring in the Soviet Union, but we were both surprised when the Iron Curtain collapsed so quickly.  I was incredibly busy at that time, but Dawn was able to take advantage of this historic passing.

She visited Prague both before and shortly after the borders opened.  Great shopping for porcelain and crystal.  The difference was obvious once the secret police were gone.  The streets of Prague had been silent (everyone with the sense of being watched), then the streets and central plaza became the site of celebration.

Dawn also took our children out of school and drove to Berlin where the three of them witnessed the Berlin Wall being toppled.  We still have souvenir Wall fragments stored in our basement.  The children were also able to witness passing through the East German border guard process (still functioning at that time) with the entry to the guard station, showing of passports and strict questioning.

When the Iron Curtain guard gates had completely been abandoned, we were able to take the entire family on a day trip to East Germany, only about two hours away.  The differences were striking.  They had inefficient heating systems, smoke billowing from chimneys; thus, all the buildings were drab and sooty.  The cars, i.e., Trabants or Ladas, were pathetic little boxes with smoking exhausts.  When such vehicles ventured onto the autobahn, there were instances where they were run over by much faster cars who didn’t see their tiny dim taillights.  This is what communism/socialism gets you.  Real equality in suffering for the common man (but not the leaders). 

 Near the end of our Germany tour, we booked a cruise for the entire family, Venice-Dubrovnik-(Yugoslavia)- Athens-Rhodes-Crete-Corfu-Venice.  We were about the only Americans onboard.  The US Marine barracks in Beirut Lebanon had been bombed only a few years ago (1983), and terrorism against Americans was still occurring (Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking, 1985).  A Lebanese couple approached us while dining and said, “I hope you are not afraid.  Beirut is actually a very nice city.”  We were most impressed with Dubrovnik, amazingly beautiful with the same tall fortress walls present for centuries. 

THE NETHERLANDS

Summer 1991 we moved to a new assignment in southern Netherlands.  My dental clinic was located at Schinnen, our home was a nice civilian rental home at Hulsburg.  This was a much more relaxing assignment than Germany.  But war broke out in Yugoslavia!  Our Dutch acquaintances asked us, “What will the United States do about this?”  My answer: “This is a purely European conflict.  Why doesn’t Europe take care of this?  The US is always criticized for getting involved and now we are criticized for NOT getting involved!  What do you want?”  Of course, the US did become involved.  America is both expected and criticized as the world’s policeman.  Dawn and I wondered; what will happen to beautiful Dubrovnik?  That conflict raged from 1991 to 1997.

We made a road trip to Prague, Terezin (Nazi concentration camp), and Dresden.  It was my first visit to Prague.  The atmosphere of celebration there was evident.  I watched a sword swallower performing in the plaza.  We stayed at what today would be an Airbnb, an apartment where to occupants stayed elsewhere during our visit.  In Dresden, we stopped at the tourist information office and were treated as if it was still a communist dictatorship.  Instead of being given information on various accommodation choices, they dictated to us where we were to stay and what the fee would be.  Our reaction, “No thanks, that is not how we live.  We are leaving.”  We got back in the car and drove home, arriving well after midnight.

Years later, 2016, Dawn and I revisited Dubrovnik and Croatia, renting a car, and driving from Zagreb to Montenegro.  In Dubrovnik we visited two museums of the war (one in the city itself and the other atop the overlooking mountain) and are happy to report that although the city received significant damage, it has been rebuilt to its original magnificent self.  A young server at a restaurant there explained to us how the war had taken away the enjoyment of his teenage years.  Many of the defenders of the city were simply young men who took up arms with little or no military experience.  When we stayed in a B&B at Plitvice, the family told how they fled to Italy for those seven years and came back to find their home completely destroyed by those who had been their neighbors.  Missing family members never to be found.  Such reasonable educated people with yet profound ethnic grievances.  

NEW YORK

Summer 2001 found us assigned to Fort Drum, New York.  Naturally, we took the opportunity to visit New York City.  Washington, DC, is the most economically and racially polarized city I have experienced.  But New York was different.  We experienced people patiently queued in the ferry line with no one trying to cut in.  We saw young people on busses get up to offer their seat for older persons.  When in the subway station, people would notice us looking at our route map and would come over and offer to help us.  Riding the subway, people from very diverse backgrounds would strike up conversations together.   Restaurants were not as expensive as expected.  We took a tour of the World Trade Towers; standing on the roof looking out over the entire city was breath-taking.

We were readying for retirement at that time.  September 9, Dawn flew back to New York from a trip hunting for our future retirement location.  Two days later, I was treating a patient when the word came that an aircraft hit one of the Towers.  Immediately we knew it was not an accident.  Our whole world instantly changed.  On her trip of just two days prior, Dawn was able to hop on to any waiting flight with no hesitation or interference. That convenience was gone.

Not long after, we re-visited New York City with our two children. Remnants of buildings, piles of rubble, memorials with bouquets of flowers, cranes and other construction equipment still sifting through the wreckage.   It was hard to take in the enormity of the consequences.

Back on base at Fort Drum, a few people suggested that I may not be allowed to retire.  As the base dental representative, I attended the initial meeting of base command staff to plan the 10^th Mountain Division’s deployment to Afghanistan.  It was held in an auditorium.  As a rapid deployment force used to rough living, the 10th would be the first major unit to be sent.  The meeting was nothing like Hollywood would envision it.  Instead, the meeting had a business-like atmosphere.  History, geography, culture, climate, previous Soviet experience were all discussed in a very fact-based manner.  There was no ego-based intonation.  Very calm and thorough.  Sequencing of necessary logistic preparations was begun.

Shortly after, we began processing troops for the planned deployment.  I remember one young soldier telling me, “We understand that we may die on this mission.  Our main hope is that, if this happens, our lives will not be wasted.”

We took other trips in South America and Europe (also Tunisia) not mentioned because they were simply vacations without historical significance.  But when world events are close at hand, they are remembered in a vivid and personal way.