I guess I don't really belong here since I never worked with AFRC, but I wanted to stop by and say thank you to all of you for being so central to the lives of all of us who grew up and served over there.
All in all I've lived in Germany 11 years, from 61-64 and 69-72 as a dependent, then with my own family from 1997-2002. Through all those times AFRC, Garmisch, Cheimsee, Berchtesgaden, etc, were part of our lives and I'm sure I've, my parents, and now my children, have seen, skiied, and hoisted a beer or two with many of you over the years. I feel very lucky I got to introduce my children to the whole experience of being Americans in Germany and being part of the AFRC community. I suppose over the years I've stayed in one or another of the hotels well over 30 times, with many an Oktoberfest, Christmas, etc, spent there.
So many of you have the same combination of fondness and sadness looking back to those great times and how they've changed and gone away, and I guess nothing can be quite the same as 40, 30, 20 years ago. It was really a special feeling to be part of that 'ex-pat' community, and one thing about it that was true for me, and probably many of you, is that I always knew how lucky I was to be living that life. A lot of times you look back and think you 'missed it' along the way, but I think most of us realized even at the time what a fun 'dream life' we were living. It was a special thing, and I appreciate this website to help bring back those memories.
While were were there last I tried to convince both my sons to take a gap year before college and go work for AFRC, and both got as far as sending in applications but in the end the 'real world' intervened. I'll always envy you folks who got to make it part of your lives for a few years--but after 11 years there myself I guess I shouldn't feel short-changed, either!
Thanks again for all you did for us and as being part of that great American community--I know you had a blast along the way, and thanks to you folks we all did too.
Question--does anybody know what ever happened to the magnificent paintings in the Cheimsee dining room, and the dedication stones? I assume at least for those dedication inscriptions the Germans chiseled them out and threw them away, but I don't know. In our last visit in 2002 I tried to do a 'grave rubbing' of the one at Chiemsee but never got it done.
Hate to see those great places that were parts of literally millions of lives from 1945-2005 go away, I hope I get back soon to see what it's like now.