During that era we kids did not know were to start or to stop. In the Grunewald suddenly new U.S. units
showed up which I had never seen before. The GIs were always asking me why I collect that brass. This
really has confused me. Our Berlin units must have known the reason pretty well, but now there were always
the same questions.
I also remember seeing several strange patches and crests. Some looked like a leaf, others like a black
lion, still others were a blue arrow on white background. Some had a "Big Red One" patch on their shoulder.
Very unusal for me and others. Later I was told these were augmenting units to reinforce our Berlin Brigade.
Soldiers with such blue arrows, I also was told later, were known as the "Blue Spaders". Especailly with
that unit I had some nice experiences.
One day, right next to the Avus (our Autobahn), I met about a platoon of GIs. All of them looked very
pissed because they had to dig deep foxholes in a long firing line. This was right next to a row of many
old big beech trees. That means to "fight" with strong roots, so no wonder that nobody looked happy. Then
I noticed unusual crests on their uniforms, not the familiar "Gators", but a blue arrow over a white
background.
As always, I looked for the machine gun emplacement first. Here two soldiers shoveled a huge hole in
shape of an big "U". Many roots gave them a very hard time. I've heard lots of well known swearwords like
"Uncle Sam can kiss my..." etc. One guy looked up and suddenly handed his small green wooden folding shovel
to me, saying something like: "you can finish now". Then he was smiling from ear to ear, and asked me if
I could get some Bockwurst for him and three or four of his buddies nearby. All my concentration was
focused on the new M60 machine gun, attached on a tripod, and the 500 or 600 belted rounds of blank ammo
lying next to it. I thought to myself; what a dilemma, when I go to buy that food, probably somebody else
will be picking up all the brass, but if I say 'no', I maybe get nothing at all. The eyes of that soldier
looked so friendly that I could and want not refuse his request. The GI had light blonde, curly hair...
very unusual looking. He reminded me of the popular German movie actor Hardy Krueger, could have been his
twin.
So I grabbed his dollar notes and rushed like a flash to the Bockwurst Imbiss stand. In those years the
Imbiss owner loved to take dollars because they always gave an extra profit. I had to run about 1 mile, and
I was getting stressed out. About 45 minutes later I was on the half way back, with my hands full of that
food as ordered. But what was this? Suddenly all hell broke loose and much loud firing could be heard.
Constant fire bursts from machine guns and M14 automatic rifles, can you believe it? Shit! It happened
just as I had anticipated it; the battle with blank ammo had started. I ran as fast I could, but before
I got back to that area, all firing had stopped. I was out of breath when I finally arrived at the combat
line and right away I saw an huge pile of metal links next to the right hand side of the still smoking
machine gun. All of the brass was gone! Damn! Damn! Damn!
The group of attackers, about 20 men, had gathered for a briefing on the trail nearby.
The blonde gunner, jumped up, smiled, and took the food package out of my hands. He must have seen my
serious face and bad mood. But then he lifted two ammo boxes out of his foxhole. "Here you are"! What a
pleasant surprise! Both ammo cans were filled with empty blanks. The crew had collected all of them for
me by holding the open ammo boxes while firing next to the gun. That means, most of the expended rounds
never have hit the ground, no chance at all for my competitors. Another joy, none of them showed up, what
luck! Then some M14 riflemen called me over; they also had made small piles of empty rounds and saved all
of them for me. I really could not believe that kindness! About 30 pounds brass was a real good catch!
I recalled that I'd met this unit several times in that particular block 41 of the Grunewald. Probably
they had chosen it for their weekly practice schedule. But one day, they didn't return again. Suddenly
other new units with other military insignias showed up there. I really was sad for the loss of these "Blue
Spader" troops, and have missed them ever since. At that time I knew nothing about the three month rotation
of units who had reinforced our two Berlin Battle Groups during this time of crisis.
'Ich bin ein Berliner'