American Embassy Bonn, West Germany - 1978-1980
By Mike McCaffrey
From Paris, we moved on to our Embassy in Bonn. Bonn was a university town. As had been said, many times: "At five at night, they just roll up everthing and Bonn slumbered until the next morning." For us living in that very comfortable compound in Plittersdorf, however, it was idyllic, particularly if you had a family (I heard from some singles that the "rolled up at five PM" was the pits).
For those familiar with Northern Europe’s fabled winds, flying into or out of Cologne is the kind of stuff legends are made of. We flew out of Frankfurt and were coming in for a landing at Cologne. The plane was a mere FEET off the ground, the pilots obviously fighting with enormous winds, the wings going one way and then the next. People on board were holding onto the seats in front of them, no doubt thinking as I did: “This is it!” Thankfully, it didn’t end up "being it" that day! But: WHEW!
The compound had all the pleasures of Americana: excellent DOD school, small PX and Commissary, gas station ... with some mechanics capable of fairly involved repairs, great movie theater with all the new American films, athletic fields … a bigger one for the Bonn American High School football team games (our own Rick Goetze/BAX as coach) ... soccer games also, and superb running/walking paths all over the place - particularly along the very picturesque Rhine. One could walk/run, if so disposed, from the Compound to the Embassy, right along the Rhine.
In fact, one of my most meangful memories involved just that: it was a cold winter evening and time for my daily run after working the Day Shift in the Embassy. I put on a long sleeve running shirt, running shorts, shoes, and headed out the door. That night’s run was to head out of the Compound, hang a right, and run down the main street, passing the expansive Bundesgarten on my right, and head out towards the bridge a fair distance away. When I reached the bridge, I headed back. The scene in my head of the return run was one of my most cherished memories of my time there in Bonn. I had reached the Bundesgarten on my left … there was a light coating of snow on the ground … there was a full moon overhead illuminating the grounds … I could see buildings on the Compound on my left with lights aglow and families inside, warm and cozy, perhaps having dinner … I was also in the groove, my running was smooth and totally effortless. I was totally at peace with God, the universe, and yes: hourly Channel Checks!
At Bonn, we also had a very large OC population: Embassy, Bonn BAX, and the Regional Tech Office. When there were parties, the parties were LARGE! I recall one such gathering in particular: Dennis Nelson, one of our techs, had a double apartment due to family size. It was New Year’s Eve, and the party was great, everyone having one heck of a good time. John Kramer, whom I met while on TDY to Geneva out of Paris, was my neighbor in the building right next door. John was a great guy, lots of fun. I well recall that Bill Bies’ wife, Marie, made up a superb presentation of Swedish meatballs. By that time the beer had been flowing freely. I was standing there looking at the meatballs all enmeshed in gravy and piping hot. John was one to put on a little act to startle people, just something he did. Right in front of some of us, John reached in with bare hands and scopped up a few meatballs and popped them into his mouth, gravy dripping down his beard, and he just soaking in the shocked response from those who didn’t know him like I did. John was immense fun, would totally give you the shirt off his back if needed, and I miss him enormously to this day. John retired (out of Kathmandu) to the Philippines, and sadly passed away there.
On a brighter note: I had brought a snazzy Chevy Camero to Bonn, straight out of the showroom.
Well, the party had to wrap up sometime. I recall it snowing like crazy. I’m still not entirely sure how we accomplished this, but a gang piled into the Camaro, and John and his then wife thought they’d sit on the hood for the short ride right around the block. All of us in the car thought that was one heck of a way to wrap up the party, slipping and sliding on the snow covered road and watching John and his wife laughing like the dickens on that hood!
I never met anyone who had the good fortune to have been stationed in Bonn to say anything bad about that assignment. I was lucky enough to have met a ton of great people in our OC family there. Bonn is easily right up there at the top of my memories.
From Bonn, New Delhi was next on the list. We had a small switchboard in the Commcenter in the Embassy. My Career Advisor at that time was Gordon Holt. As the time grew nigh for us to leave Bonn, Gordon told me to call him at a certain day and time and he would inform me of our next post. I called, and Gordon asked: "Mike, are you sitting or standing?" Oh-oh! That couldn’t be good! Then he slowly spelled it out … N-E-W D-E-L-H-I … arghhh! (my father was stationed in India with the B-29s prior to their move to Tinian, he told me to "never go to India!") It certainly wasn’t my hoped for TOKYO! Gordon told me to do him a solid. He said I was needed there and, if I would just take it, "We’ll take care of you after." Yeah, sure! But one goes where one is directed to go. We did, story will follow...as well as whether Gordon followed up on the "take care of you" thing.