Willie's Corner

OREGON NG SOLDIER LOST HIS HEART IN HEIDELBERG, GERMANY!

On July 3rd, Mary Ann, Natalie, Rudi, and I were at Kleber Barracks in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Our Swiss Angel Natalie came with us for the first time. She lives near Landstuhl Hospital. (For MaryAnn`s story about this visit, please see Angels at Work.)

While sitting at the picnic table outside Kleber Barracks, I noticed a soldier standing nearby in BDUs who seemed to be listening intently to our conversation. A few minutes later I had to drive off post with another soldier to the gas station to buy something. When I got back a lot of the soldiers were hungry, so I was busy for a while unpacking our picnic baskets. We had a lot of German food with us: Rudi`s special noodle salad, a delicious Bauernbrot (farmer bread), housemade sausages (means Wurst), canned liverwurst, Blutwurst (blood sausage), and more.

When I was done, I sat down again to eat something myself and noticed I was sitting next to that soldier in camo. When I looked on his left arm I saw his unit patch – WOO HOO, I thought!

A snake! And the first thing I thought of was the Snake River and Oregon and Matthew Braddock's Purple Heart ceremony! So I asked the soldier, “Is that a snake?" He answered, "Yes Ma'am, it is! I am from the National Guard. The 2nd Battalion, 116th Armor Cavalry, was originally constituted on 4 March 1920 in the Idaho National Guard as the 1st Cavalry. It organized between March-November 1920 in the valley of the Snake River……."

And I said, “I am Willie! I was in Oregon in April 2005 at Matthew Braddock's Purple Heart ceremony". And he said, “Me too!" Sgt. Calvin J.S. then said, “We met there but I wasn't sure if it was you, so I didn't say anything! Great to see you again – wow, small world! I'm in Matthew's unit. I'm going back soon to my guys in Iraq. They're waiting for me. It's not good that I'm here and my guys are in Iraq."

We talked about Matthew how he has now learned to walk without crutches and so on… (Here is the story about Matthew: http://soldiersangelsnetwork.blogspot.com/2005/05/soldiers-angels-at-matthew-baraddock-s.html )

Since I had the next day off of work, I asked Calvin, “Would you like to go to Heidelberg? I would like to show you something from my wonderful country!" And he answered quickly, “Yes that would be great!" Rudi said to him, “My wife can you pick up at 11 am at the South Gate". But Calvin answered, “Too late - at 7am! The days are so short here.” We finally agreed on 9am, which was still pretty early for me because I needed 1.5 hours to drive to Kleber during the morning rush hour.

We met at 9am at the gate, although I was a bit late due to all the traffic. Calvin was waiting at the gate. As I drove up with my red Nissan 240 SX he called out, “Is that you?" And our wonderful day began!

So we went to Heidelberg. It was so hot that day I cannot tell you. On the way there in the car I told him something about our wonderful Pfalz-Rhineland region. For more Information about the Rhineland see: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/r/rh/rhineland-palatinate1.htm .

Calvin kept saying, “It looks like Oregon here! I feel at home! No one will believe this! The green hills and fields! So far from my home in Oregon!" He told me, “I've never been to Germany or Europe. I have never visited a castle! I've never sat outside a sidewalk café with a cup of coffee….." Before Calvin and I enter the castle grounds, we had to walk around the gardens to the hill and go through the stone gates to the side of the castle, which had a lookout where we could see all the way down the Neckar River. Heidelberg is the headquarters from the US Army Europe, too. (http://www.heidelberg.army.mil/sites/about/city.asp)

Calvin kept saying, “What a beautiful and breathtaking place to visit!” It was great, and the old castle really is amazing!

Anyway, one of Calvin's dreams was to sit in a café. So after we visited the castle, we sat at the small Castle Café just outside the South Gate under a large old tree. Here he tried his first strong German coffee with a German apple pie (gedeckter Apfelkuchen). He loved it. After our stop we went into the old town just below the castle to soak up the surroundings. When we arrived at the Korn Marketplace, we visited Old Town Heidelburg with its small shops, old church and wonderful coffeehouses. We had to stop there at another café and order a second strong coffee. It really is a wonderful experience, to just to sit on the sidewalk, watch the people, talk and relax!

Suddenly, the weather changed dramatically! A thunderstorm was coming. So we moved inside the café. After the rain stopped and we went to the car to drive further to Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, and Bad Dürkheim. Bad Dürkheim is located in the mildest climatic zone north of the Alps. Situated only 30 minutes from Heidelberg, this historic health resort, which can trace its history back well over a thousand years, nestles in the area where the eastern hills run into the Palatine Forest, one of the largest nature parks in Germany.

We had lunch here in Bad Dürkheim at the wonderful old Restaurant Dürkheimer Faß (Faß means Barrel). I ordered us both a typical German meal: Rhineland Palatine fresh pork sausages (Bratwurst) with Bratenjus, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. When Calvin tried it he said, “What a delicious flavor!" Normally you need a doggy bag at this restaurant, but we both licked our plates clean! After lunch we drove back through the rain to Kaiserslautern.

Fortunately, I had a backpack for Calvin with a blanket (the transport airplanes are so cold), a sleep mask and earplugs. It also contained underwear, socks, Tshirt, personal items, candy, and get well cards. (If you would like to help us provide Transitional Backpacks for our next visit to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, please email Willie at josephinefs2654 at gmail.com.) In the past 4 weeks we brought 40 backpacks to Landstuhl and fulfilled a request for phone cards from a Major from the Army National Guard Liaison Office. Phone cards are really needed for the soldiers in Landstuhl!)

We both had a wonderful time--and one of our Heroes had a Happy 4th of July 2005!

Wilhelmine Aufmkolk (Willie)
"May No Soldier Go Unloved"
josephinefs2654 at gmail.com