Last Sunday was the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. We’ve be seeing the moving images and network footage.
It also transports me back in time–to the Cold War winter of 1972. Eleven years after this monument to man’s inhumanity was built and 15 years before Ronald Reagan implored Mikhail Gorbachev to tear it down. I remember interviewing U.S. soldiers at Checkpoint Charlie, which bisected East and West Berlin.
The four G.I.s were squeezed into a grim little guard house–think back-yard tool shed–in the middle of Friedrichstrasse. It was surrounded by drab storefronts, abandoned apartments, empty lots and a modest museum dedicated to those who had died fleeing from the East. They would continuously peer through binoculars at the East German guard tower on the other side of the wall–and typically see East German counterparts peering back at them through their binoculars, their breathing more than discernible in the frosty, night air.
The Americans seemed glad to have some stateside company, however unexpected and maybe inexplicable, to talk about home as well as the world’s most notorious, Cold War trip wire.
I still vividly recall one G.I. saying: “How ’bout that Super Bowl? Were you surprised to see Miami beat Dallas?”
“Actually, I’m surprised you said that,” I replied. “Dallas won.”
“I know,” responded the soldier through a nominal smile. “Just checkin’.”
Checkpoint Charlie checkin.’ Dallas won, 24-3. I’ve not forgotten–or its Berlin Wall context.