Who doesn't remember those famous words, spoken by an U.S. President?
It was in Berlin, just into summer of 1963. The newspapers had long reported that U.S. President John F.
Kennedy would be visiting Berlin. Everyone hoped that this President could tear down that hated wall!
I remember that suddenly, all military maneuver activities had stopped, which was very unusual for that
time. But on TV one could see the reason for this, the Berlin Brigade was conducting extensive parade
marching practice.
Then one day we were informed that President Kennedy was coming Zehlendorf, my district. I do not
remember the exact time, but the day, it was June 26
th. On that day I ran to Clayallee, the big,
two-lane street running between the Truman Plaza (PX area) and the U.S. Headquarters. On the side streets
were parked countles empty army trucks. When I got there, the crowds were overwhelming; I had never seen
this many people together in one area. I was already 15 years old, skinny and tall, but I had very little
space to view that special ceremony. The adults were standing behind each other in rows five to eight deep,
with no consideration shown for us kids or teenagers. I then remember the sirens and "Martin Horn" signal
sounds. The convoy with "JFK" was coming down the road, followed by an endless column of vehicles.
Somewhere next to the Americans' Outpost movie theater, the convoy suddenly stopped for a moment, and the
President made a short speech to the Berliners and the American family members. Unfortunately, I didn't
have a chance to get close enough to see anything. I only remember some English language coming from the
loud speakers. The Clayallee was lined with U.S. troops in parade uniform. Some of them wore "Black Lions"
stickers on their helmets; I had seen and met some of these units in the Grunewald before.
After a few days the usual military training schedules resumed, and things returned to normal. But in this
extraordinary year of 1963, there is a black hole in my memory when President Kennedy was cowardly
murdered by sniper in Dallas, USA. Hundreds of thousands of Berliners assembled in the streets, lighted
candles in hands. Many people cried, all of Berlin was shocked!
RIP IN PEACE, JOHN, - THANKS FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE FOR US, - WE NEVER FORGET YOU !
Becoming a pro