Tigerhawk's got this question on his site, and it made me think about it. You see, unlike a good deal of my generation, I don't have a very clear memory of this event--a little ironic for a guy so into politics and world affairs, huh?
I will rely on any old shipmates who read this to confirm, but I am almost certain we (the USS MCCANDLESS (FF 1084)) were down in the Caribbean doing Counter-narcotic operations--receiving news of this great miracle by naval message/news service every few hours. The iconic photos, the video--I saw none of it.
Where were you? What were you thinking? Do tell!
You are correct.
ReplyDeleteI believe that fact that we were getting any news at all was due to the hard work of our superb Communications Officer and his crew--BigFred was on the Job!
ReplyDeleteI was glued to my TV - I couldn't pull myself away. For me, just as exciting as the Apollo 11 mission/moon-walk 20 years earlier.
ReplyDeleteWon't detail it again from my earlier post on Freedomdynamics but I do recall wondering to myself how intelligent, cultured modern human beings ever allow themselves to be lured into socialism. Thank God that would never happen here, I thought.
ReplyDeleteI was stationed in Germany at the time and had Tripartite responsibilities. I couldn't get to Berlin immediately but had a very close friend who went and brought back 250 pounds of the wall (in pieces). Spectacular event BUT the affect on Germany was amazing. They had advertised for years their plans for reconstitution but had no idea how bad it really was. The Trabis that got on the autobahn were dangerous and could do 95kph max and would get in the left lane.
ReplyDeleteMy fondest memory were the East Germans that came and stared at the amounts of food in the stores.
I was in Giessen, Germany, about 50 km from the IGB (Inner German Border), manning a PATRIOT battery site. I remember going out the next morning and seeing my first Trabbie on the Autobahn with the oval "DDR" country monikor on the bumper. A group of us lieutenants headed east to the 1KM zone to see if we could go to the border, but we were turned around.
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