LOL!
I have a LIFE magazine dated January 26, 1953 with a picture of my dad, who was a 2nd Lt., at the Berlin railroad yard talking with a SFC who was complaining that U.S. Customs may not stop Red-Starred train taking suspected goods from Germany to Czechoslovakia. At that time were was lots of smuggling of steel, machine tools, chemicals and whatever else the Soviets might have needed......
Dad was assigned to escort David Douglas Duncan, a photographer for LIFE, who was doing a photo expose' of the underground world of smuggling from West Berlin to the communist East......
Along with the magazine, I also have two black and white photos of he and Duncan in dad's office chatting and drinking coffee.
As an aside, a close friend and fellow Vietnam era vet was stationed in Berlin back around 1971 - 72. He and a friend made a trip into E. Berlin and smuggled out a family of 4 across Check Point Charlie in the trunk of a specially modified vehicle to accommodate them.....
Now that's a name from the past.
I spent a of time marveling over his pictures and stories, even if I didn't agree with some of his, um, shall we say, pacifist views.
He just recently died, I think.
Your Dad was involved in some rich history...history that you should cherish.
I've often wished I had the ability to put all my "memories" into some sort of form, for those that go after me, but I don't have the journalistic talent.
I've left lots and lots of stuff for my daughter (who does have the talent) to put some sort of book together when I'm gone.
Save all that stuff...someone will rejoice in the treasure trove.
And yes, I remember going through old dusty, musty records in Mannheim, and the accounts of various US Soldiers that had to look the other way while so much Nazi technology and riches was spirited out by the Soviets.
It's one thing that I've always faulted Eisenhower on.
He could have put a screeching halt to most of it, but for whatever reason, he did not.
Some say he was ordered from on high to concentrate on the rocket and atomic stuff...so, you know, lost to history.
Amazingly, very little of it was classified and there wasn't a whole lot of redaction, but then, it was common knowledge as to what ol' Joe Stalin was up to.
If it wasn't tied down or a GI wasn't sitting right on top of it, the Soviets boxed it up and back to Mother Russia it went.
Interesting stuff.