Restoring the field
Overview of engines, cockpit and wing impression
The field restored
Last time I stood there 01 Sept.
With Petra & Peggy,the gracious women of Hotel Central
The Internet Cafe
Heidelberg Monkey with mirror
200 steps above Heidelberg
Leaving Heidelberg
A last walk on the field of my father, 02 September 2005: Now that it’s over, the field has been restored, and I am once again an ordinary tourist, I am ready to take the next steps. Hans-Guenther took me to the field one last time yesterday on our way to Liepzig-Halle Airport. I wasn’t there when the the field tenant’s sons came with the big green farm equipment and piled the dirt over the crater and into the remaining trenches. I tossed a handful of dirt into the crater when I last stood there on Monday. There are just so many things I can do to express my willingness to consider this finished and to walk away from this place of such meaning to my family. I will always look back and see that field in action with the screens, the trenches, and the JPAC team doing their excellent and incomparable work. Oh, and I’ll hear the music, too. I now know more about rap music than I ever expected and I have grown to love Rascal Flats thanks to Craig Daniels!
As HG and I walked in the dirt and marveled at the lack of evidence of all that transpired there over the past weeks, I asked him to show me the place where it is believed that more parts may be buried. It looks as it always did - a few meters to the left of the bushes that grow along the fence. The question, “what lies beneath?” may forever be unanswered or maybe in the Spring, when HG is in the former East Germany for another dig, he will come by Butterstrasse Road and wave his deep penetrating metal detector over that unexplored place in the field.
In microcosm, I am like an inquisitive explorer who has tasted a bit of this curious and compelling kind of sucessful quest, and I am determined to find more. In order not to cause anxiety among my family and friends, the truth is, I will wonder a little about that unexplored place but I am charged now with doing something with what we have found and writing about all of this.By the time I am summoned to Hawaii to collect my father’s remains, I will know what the procedure is at Arlington for his memorial service. I’ve already spoken with a few people about a missing man formation fly-by at the time of the service. This falls into the semi-difficult, but not impossible category.
I believe in setting my intentions and when I do it in a thoughtful and meaninful way, the most amazing things happen. There is always a little of being careful for what you wish for woven into that process, but I’ll take the risk that whatever I get is exactly what I need.
A day trip to Heidelberg on the Underground and the train from Frankfurt Main, yielded some interesting photos, a few of which I have included here. I paid .50 to climb 200 steps to the top of the highest and most curving tower stairs in a Catholic church to gain a 360-degree view of the ancient city. At the entrance to the city through the gates at the Nekar River bridge is a sculpture of a bizarre looking monkey (with a baboon-like face) and a high imposing tail. He is holding a mirror which is supposed to represent the similarity of all people. “We are all monkeys in the same world,” the woman in the art shop told me. Makes sense to me.
Navigating Europe is just a matter of asking questions and realizing that no matter how it turns out, it’s ok. For instance, while feeling confused about which bus to take to Heidelburg Castle, I made friends with a nice Japanese couple. They approached me because they thought I might speak English but he is a linguist who has taught in several American universities including the University of Illinois. He noticed my Team Estill hat and wanted to hear the story. The world is small and surprising.
Another realization crossed my weary brain last night and that is that even though we won the war and Germany did not, their cultural integrity is still very much in tact and thriving. They did not become Americanized or like the Brits,though Russia had a deep and profound influence on the former East Germany, in ways that remain evident today. I know this because, in my experience, this isn’t a country where everyone automatically speaks English. I like that and it keeps me conscious of where I am and of my status as visitor. I will forever be grateful for the gracious way we were all treated by the people of Elsnig and Torgau.
Next stop: The American Cemetery in Margraten and a little search for the chateau site. If I have access to a high speed connection before I am in London on 11 September, I’ll post some pictures of the cemetery and the Wall of the Missing. Til then………………..