November 11 in Germany

In 1967 I was in the US Army and serving in the Military Police in Germany. We had our base in the city of Karlsruhe, Baden-Wurttemberg, which is the first city on the all-German Rhein. Once one went north into the Pfaltz (Westphalia-Palitinate) Germany was on both sides of the river. South of Karlsruhe the west bank of the Rhein was French. Alsace-Lorraine I believe. (The German Shepherd dog is sometimes called an Alsatian dog.)

Now it turned out that we had a detachment of two MPs who did a 24 hour on and 24 hour off duty schedule in the town of Germersheim on the Rhein. Germersheim was about 35 miles away from Karlsruhe and was both on the river and in the middle of vineyard country and on the "Deutche Weinstrasse" which was a tourism route. Nearby was the town of Speyer which was famous for its Romanesque Cathedral and for being the site of one of many pogroms against the Jews in the late middle ages.

At any rate I worked this detachment for about six months along with a great friend and partner, Joe Morton. Joe was a black fellow from New Haven Connecticut and was a great cop. We traveled down from Karlsruhe every second day and stood a 24 hour shift. We had a little station with a couple of holding cells set up in a German fire brigade building. So we hung out a lot with the firemen and played cards and such for the long and quiet winter evenings.

There were very few US soldiers in the area. A few at a missile site near Landau (Therein lies another tale for another day.) and perhaps 300 at a large equipment depot. There was rarely any trouble save the odd traffic accident.

We did a great deal of traveling around the area. We went to a tiny hamlet in the forest near Bad Durkheim which was called Frankenstein. No connection to Mary Shelley but the name was intriguing. We used to go to the Burg Trifels near Anweiller on the Weinstrasse. This castle high on a promontory over the Rhein Plain was supposedly where Richard Coeur d'Lyon was held for ransom by a Robber Baron who had taken him on his way back from a crusade. His evil brother John had usurped his throne in England in his absence and was fighting a running battle with Robin of Locksley. The minstrel Blondel discovered where Richard was being held by singing outside the castle walls it is said. Richard was eventually freed and returned to bring peace and prosperity to England (Legends embellished with facts or the other way around ? Who can say?.)

At lunch time we used to watch for Gästhausen with postal employees' and working men's vehicles parked outside. That was a sure-fire guarantee of good food at low cost. We would create quite a stir when we entered such establishments. I do not suppose folks in rural Germany got to see too many US soldiers close up and fewer Black people still. On top I spoke passable German so we were a bit of a hit.

Now we had an interesting adventure once. It was Nov 11^th. I had not remembered the day or thought about it at all. The days just ran together in those times. We were driving around in a small village and made a turn onto a side street which led to a little square. It was a cul de sac and lo and behold there were perhaps 700 or 800 people gathered around a cenotaph for a War Remembrance Ceremony! There was a clergyman, a band, some police and a few soldiers assembled along with the people of the village. They were to be laying wreaths and such at a war monument honouring the fallen of the two Great Wars.

There we were. Everyone stopped and looked. What to do. Could we back up and leave? Was there room to turn around without disrupting things further?

I had a quick but risky solution. Joe and I parked our vehicle and walked slowly to the end of the line-up of uniformed soldiers and police. We stood respectfully but slightly apart from the proceedings which resumed after a rather awkward pause. When the ceremony was over (I translated what I could for Joe) we exchanged silent nods with the dignitaries and military folks there and left quietly.

Apparently our visit was reported in the local weekly to broad approval I understand.

There are no winners in wars.