Monday, March 4, 2013

Why don't you know him?

Where was I to spend the weekend?  I had spent Friday in Hanover, Germany, at the world's largest industrial show, calling on my friend Rainer Bauer of Bauer Gear Motors and other companies that I had appointments with. Six two-man teams were spending two weeks in Germany trying to persuade companies to locate plants in Louisiana.  My partner and I had different schedules for Friday and would re-join on Tuesday.  Monday was May 1 and would be celebrated as May Day, adding to the crowds.

There were no rooms available in Hanover and all planes to West Berlin were full so I took the train to Hamburg.  Upon arriving at the station and taking a seat at the counter in a cafe, I got into a conversation with an English speaking man.  He told me he had a friend in Detroit and asked if I knew him.  When I said I did not, he said, "You should know him, he works at (some company)."  He then described his friend's appearance and was very disappointed when I continued to deny knowing him.

I did get a place to sleep, at a famous hotel  across from the train station.  When I asked for a room with a bath, I was called a stupid American but I was given a room near the bathroom.

I feel almost like the German.  Why can't we find some one who remembers us?  After all, the ship's crew was only about 500 and we have a list of everyone who was on board when the ship was commissioned.
However,  it has been nearly 70 years and not many of our shipmates are  living.  Like most veterans, we gave little thought to our service; we had to build our lives.  Twenty years ago, even ten, we would have located many more shipmates.

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