Honor Page 19

The next day morning we went to Truman Hall were we had a great breakfast. We ate all our meals there. After returning to the billets, we changed to our fatigues and assembled for a meeting with the Warrant Officer called Mr. Ferrara. We would rehearse every day and play for retreat every night on the campgrounds, which I believe was right across the street. On occasion they would truck us to Tempelhof Airport to play for dignitaries and high ranking officials as well as some movie stars of that time.

During my stay in Berlin, we were sent to Antwerp, Belgium (around June) to play for the first American war dead to be sent back to the USA.

We played taps and were on RKO Pathe News, which was shown in all the movie theaters. That was a very sad occasion. I met an English WAC while visiting the club in the British Sector. We hit it off and went on many dates. I recall taking her to a beautiful Theater on Kurfuerstendamm and seeing a stage show. For some reason I never kept in touch with her after I left Berlin.

I remember going to the PX and buying Channel #5 French Perfume and mailing it back home. I didn't smoke , so I used the cigarettes on the black market to buy different things like: camera, tailor made suit and jewelry.
About that time I was promoted to T/5 ( Technician 5^th grade )

I heard of the American Hospital which was fairly nearby and decided to have my nose fixed. I had broken it playing football, in my younger days, and the bone grew in crooked, plus I had a deviated ceptum in my left nostril. The operation was done by a Women Russian surgeon named Captain Genia Sakin, because I need plastic surgery and she was the only one available who could do the operation. I was in the hospital for 1 month because I had to wear a brace on my nose which I would tighten every day until the bone healed.

When I went back to the band I could not play because my lips were still numb from the operation, so I was assigned to work in the office and do mail call. I did that for about a month and then the Warrant Officer called me in one day and told me that my time was up. He asked me if I would be interested in going to Officers School. I declined because for one I was home sick and two I would have to re-enlist for 3 more years. I wasn't about to do that.

After my discharge I went to Julius Hartt School of Music. I worked for the City of New Britain as Director of Urban Planning. I retired from there in 1991. I had a 17 piece Band and played many engagements in the New England area. I married in 1950 to Lucy Sataline & had 3 beautiful daughters, named Barbara, Susan & Laura. We lost 2 infant boys named Robert & Thomas. They both died at 10 months of a rare blood disease. My wife died in 1987 from Stage 4 Breast Cancer.
I remarried in 1997 to a wonderful lady.

As an 18-year-old Sebastian "Sebby" Papa found himself in Berlin, Germany in 1947. How did a "kid" from New Britain, Conn. end up there? By way of his trumpet, of course.
When Mr. Papa enlisted in the army right out of high school, the sergeant at the recruitment center asked him if he played an instrument. He said yes. The sergeant than stamped his enlistment papers "critically needed specialist."
Following basic training in St. Petersburg, Va., Mr. Papa went to New Jersey where he was shipped to Germany. Upon arriving there, he auditioned and was assigned to the 289^th Army Band in Berlin.

There he spent his days rehearsing with fellow band members, including then 17-year old Chet Baker, and playing in parades, ceremonies and in front of several dignitaries, politicians and movie stars, including Wallace Berry and Victor McLaughlin. The band also surprised Gen. Lucius Clay with their rendition of "Happy Birthday." After sneaking onto the grounds of the mansion where the general lived, the band was invited in for breakfast.

World War II had ended by this time and Mr. Papa recalls that he did not see too much damage from the war, although there was a church he remembered seeing damaged. He was living in Berlin, which was in the Russian sector. Germany was divided into four sectors following the war, run by the Americans, French, Russian and English. He said Americans were treated very well by local Germans.

Near where he was staying was Club 48, a nightclub for enlisted servicemen and women. Here they gathered in the large hall, filled with 48 marble-topped tables, each with the outline of one of the 48 states etched into it. It was here that Mr. Papa and his fellow band mates went to blow off some steam and enjoy the army dance band along with guest musicians and performers.

A typical day in the army band started with the performance of revelry, followed by practice and a performance of retreat in the evening. Mr. Papa recalled that the mess hall in Truman Hall had menus from which soldiers could select their meals. "We ate with the officers," Mr. Papa said. "We were treated like kings."
"Everyone jokes about how he had it so tough in the army," said Mr. Papa's wife of 10 years, Barbara.

Occasionally the band traveled to a nearby airport to perform for dignitaries coming in. Mr. Papa said that he was a bit homesick but the thrill of playing in the Army band helped.

Reinhard von Bronewski, a retired police captain, created a website, www.Berlin-Brigade.de in 2002 to commemorate the American troops known as the Berlin Brigade.
Mr. von Bronewski said that Mr. Papa came across the website and contacted him. He now has posted a piece written by Mr. Papa about his experience in the 289^th Army Band. Mr. von Bronewski said he lives in a lane called Waldhueterpfad at #86. "This is in an area of Berlin known as Zehlendorf, referred to as a "green" district because it is surrounded by woods. Across the street from Mr. von Bronewski's is #85, which he said "is a very special place because there once were housed the members of the legendary 289^th Army Band. This band came in 1945 to Berlin and departed the summer of 1994. One member of it once was the young Sebby Papa".

"When the U.S. Army troops entered Berlin in 1945, they looked for places to billet their troops. They do not care that still inhabitants were living there. By military order, the Berliners, most of them old and very young people, had to leave their small three room apartments within two days; they had to leave all their property behind. So parts of Zehlendorf suddenly were made to U.S. housing areas."
Mr. von Bronewski said that his parents and grandparents were among those who had to leave. His mother told him that people left wearing several layers of clothing in an effort to take as much as they could. By the time Mr. Papa arrived he was not aware of how the apartments had been obtained. Eventually the U.S. Army built its own housing, but not before they had taken over the vacated apartments. Mr. v. Bronewski described the buildings as being two stories with four apartments in each building. There was a small backyard and an open field in back. Nearby is a subway station (U-Bahn) called Onkel-Toms-Huette, a shopping mall and the Onkel-Tom movie theater, all of which had been taken over by American troops.

Mr. von Bronewski said anyone would laugh if they could see what was behind the wallpaper. In his own apartment he said he found one room painted blue, another green, still another red and the bathroom was painted black.

"Sebby and I have e-mail contact, he seems to be a wonderful person. I really like him," Mr. von Bronewski said. "Too bad that we cannot meet us in person." Mr. Papa said he was "amazed" when he discovered where Mr. v. Bronewski lived. "Mr. von Bronewski has a lot of sites about Berlin, he includes my story."
In addition to exchanging pleasantries through e-mail Mr. Papa has sent his new friend a Connecticut T-shirt along with a University of Connecticut Husky sweatshirt. The two talk about places he visited while in Berlin and Mr. von Bronewski has sent photos of the neighborhood where he now lives.

In the past few years Mr. Papa has been working to find fellow band mates. He found his best friend from the army, Dennis Richard along with Bob Badgely, who had been leader of the Army dance band and another good friend, David Alan who had gone on to play with the Boston Pops.

Finding the trumpet

One day, when he was about 15, Mr. Papa was walking past a music store that had its door open. Wafting out of the store was what Mr. Papa described as "beautiful trumpet music." He said the song was "I Had the Craziest Dream" by Harry James. "That's when I decided I had to play the trumpet," Mr. Papa said. His father paid $1 down and then $1 a week for his son's trumpet. Mr. Papa said he practices two hours a day and went on to take lessons from Jimmy Gozzo among others. When he joined his high school band, at New Britain High School, he played third trumpet, last chair. Three years later he was playing solo trumpet, even performing a solo number at his high school graduation. He played "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." Aside from the sound, Mr. Papa said he took up the trumpet because he thought it would be easy to play, after all it only had three valves. Well, it turns out less does not mean easy. "I just love the sound of the trumpet, especially when played on the softer side so it's not blaring," said Mr. Papa. Growing up he enjoyed big band music, especially that of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton and his favorite of all, Maynard Ferguson. Mr. Papa recalled going to the State Theater in Hartford where big bands often performed. Sometimes he skipped school on Fridays so he could go into the city to hear the music. After his two years in the service, Mr. Papa attended the Hartt School of Music on the G.I. Bill of Rights.

Work and play

He went on to have a career in planning and development. He worked as the director of urban planning in New Britain, retiring in 1991. He married and had three daughters. He and his wife lost two sons as infants; something Mr. Papa said broke his wife's heart. Ten years after his wife died from cancer, he met and married "this wonderful lady," Barbara, who has four children of her own.
While work and family kept him busy Mr. Papa never stopped playing his music. In 1960 he founded his own big band, THE SEBBY PAPA BIG BAND. The band played at many functions, for charity events at the Veterans Hospital and one time played for Rose Kennedy during her visit to Hartford. The band was also on hand for the Governor's Ball when Thomas Meskill was elected. Mr. Papa and Gov. Meskill went to school together. The band also had a regular gig for seven years at Club Palmetto.

Mr. Papa moved to Florida following his retirement, but visited his home state often. He met Barbara online on a pen-pal website while he was living in Florida and she was still here in Connecticut. "We started talking, had a lot in common," Ms. Papa said, adding that the two shared information about their travels and some of the places they visited in Connecticut, like Foot Guard Hall and the State Theater in Hartford. Mr. Papa asked her to come see him play. He was playing at the Howard Johnson in Plainville where she was living at the time. Ms. Papa brought her daughter with her, heard the band and met Mr. Papa for the first time. "He was very nice," she said. "Then he kept bugging me to have coffee with him." NL

Remark:
Thank you, Ms Alicia B. Smith, Town editor of NEWINGTON LIFE, for the great article about the Band leader & Berlin veteran Sebby Papa, also for your courtesy that I could publish it on my memory website.
Greetings to the staff !
Reinhard von Bronewski