Living in Germany, Part I

One of my nieces, Anna, just asked me when I was in Germany and I thought I would share that here. Just after Kennedy was assassinated on November 22,1966 my family was already in the process(my dad, Jaime Bernal was in the Army) to move there. So in December(brrrrr) we moved from Aurora, CO and flew to New York City where I remember picking up the phone in our hotel and hearing people arguing about getting off the line. Also about not having any change to get into a toilet stall so I crawled underneath. Eventually we got to Ft. Dix, NJ where I practiced hitting a golf ball with an iron in an empty field and catching toads and leaving them in brown bags in the middle of the street. What a mischievous boy I was at 9 years old.

From there we took the HMS Darby (I'm pretty sure this vessel was named after US Army general William O. Darby which makes me wonder why a British ship was named after an American. Couldn't deduce that through a Google search.) across the bounding Atlantic. On this passage I particularly remember getting quite sick. Also, an athletic and amiable black steward elucidated us on his lengthy(Ohio to New York?) swims on the St. Lawrence river.

We landed at the port of Bremerhaven, West Germany. That's right WEST Germany back then. History fanatics know that East and West Germany united late in 1990 when Anna was two. Then we took the train to Bremen. (Why doesn't Google earth have a way of asking for train routes to view on their map?) Then I think we switched trains and continued to Frankfurt a.M. (a.M. means "am Main" - on the Main river versus Frankfurt an der Oder - on the Oder river, about 615km driving to the NE in East Germany, near Berlin.)

First we lived in the Edwards Housing Area for a short while. (Where I have memories of high winds during that time and we each had to have a suitcase packed, in case we had to be rushed to England, since the world was considered in turmoil due to the recent assassination.) Then we moved to Gibbs housing area where I finished my 4th grade schooling(at Frankfurt Elementary school #2).

My father became the building coordinator(due to his rank) where we lived. Specifically, at 426-A3 Gibbs, the building and apartment are evident in the name. I remember James and Peggy Johnson - kids from Alabama who lived across from us. And Maria Sanchez and her brothers - from Texas who lived below us. There was Johnny Lynch from the opposite side of the building - stairwell "C". I remember trading comics, shooting and collecting marbles, Ben & me teaching our brother Ronnie to ride a bike. (Once, he went down this slow, sloping, grassy baseball field; across the street, then bumping over the other curb, onto the grass then banged into an apartment building as we tried valiantly to catch him.) A few times we visited Amsterdam, the Rhine river, Heidelburg, the Black Forest, many castles, Bertchesgaden, Garmisch, Lake Chiemsee. I remember seeing the hills of hops, the quaint villages, the OO(outhouse) signs along the highways and stopping at gasthauses(they were all over) for "wiener schnitzel mit kartofelsalat"(Google it) or whatever else to eat.

To be continued...