[Lonesome in Massachussets]

When I was a GI in Germany during the Vietnam War, a lot of Germans disliked us, or saw us an inconvenient necessity to keep the Russians out, but some of the older people practically wanted to adopt me. Being polite and learning a few words of their language went a long way.

[T-Bird45]

Exactly my experience in the late 70s. The German civilian caretaker of our rifle range was a WW2 paratrooper who jumped into Crete. He was a great storyteller who was proud to work for the US Army.

[Chainmail]

It's funny: I had the opposite experience - the younger Germans were friendly and fun to be with, but the older WWII-generation were distinctly hostile. My wife and I were in Zeppelinheim and the bar we went to had a Mauser 98K on the wall and the older clientele were glaring at us the whole time.

Though one of funnier events happened on the train while I was traveling from Ramstein to Marseille. An older German couple shared a breakfast cubicle with me and the German guy asked me if I was English, I told him no, I'm an American. He scowled at me and said, "I don't like Americans - took me a prisoner in 1942 - made me harvest corn in Tennessee!"

I told him, "sure beats the Russian Front". He smiled at that point and agreed and he paid for breakfast.

[ops33]

I spent 8 years stationed in Germany and I can echo your sentiments. I found that if you tried to speak German the Germans were very patient with you. My problem was that I knew the German word but couldn’t pronounce it correctly.