Went to Hamburg in 1968 while in the Navy and we took a bus ride to the wall/fence. Pretty awful to say the least. It had only gotten worse since I had gone into East Berlin in 1962.
I was first stationed in Bavaria in 1980 and took the Duty Train to Berlin in 1981. It was straight out of a spy movie. Train moved at night from Frankfort and went through Soviet Checkpoints. I was smitten and when I got back to my duty station requested Berlin be at the top of my Dream Sheet of duty stations.
Couldn’t believe when I actually came down on orders years later.
Wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.