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Show M. Dale Law Tells Traveling Experience Vhlfe Stationed With Army in Europe Editor's note: The following interesting letter written by Mark Dale law, son of .Mr. and Mrs. Mark Eavv of this city, gives a picture of the varied and interesting experiences exper-iences which some of the servicemen ser-vicemen receive while with the armed forces: "I caught an Air-Force hop out of Berlin bound for Frankfurt1 this wag on a Monday, June 8. The plane was never really meant for people-riding and a two to four hour flight sitting in little bucket-shaped bucket-shaped seats sideways to the direction direc-tion that the plane was heading is not exactly comfortable but since I wasn't born with a gold spoon in my mouth I found it much better than buying a ticket from PAA or TWA or the like. Once I was in Frankfurt I rushed to the train station and immediately bought a ticket for JVome, only to find out that the next through train was at six o'clock the next morning. This I wasn't crazy about, but I looked about Frankfurt, ate a few meals, walked about the airport, rode Army and Air Force buses here and yon and after an all-night affair af-fair of just looking around and visiting with the night-shift personnel per-sonnel at Frankfurt's Rhine-Main Airport, I returned to the train station and boarded the 6:09 Rome bound. Lordy-Lu, whotta ride I just couldn't sleep so good for the train shakin. I was in a compartment built for six but I was usually sprawlled all over at least two if not three seats and these Europeans Europ-eans seems as though every time I'd just get settled, someone would cither get on the train and enter my compartment or someone some-one would leave it to get off the train. This was a constant procedure pro-cedure I guess nobody was really going much of any place except me, and the time just crawled by. Thirty hours later I was standing in the train station in Rome looking like a size 54 suit on a size 24 body delapidated, sagging, and trying so hard to smile in Italian. Nobody about really cared so I rattled off a "Hey you, Porter," first in German, then French and then frantically I try- ed English and this very German-Italian-like porter came my way and said, "Ya wanna Porter, Soldier?" Sold-ier?" I coulda flipped wuz better than my own, his English wuz anyhow I slipped him a 500 lire piece of paper and said the "Hotel Esperia" and added . a polite "Please" and we trucked off to the hotel for the irst meeting of said Mark and travel-worn Don in this hyar Europe. When I arrived at the Hotel Albergo Esperia the desk called room No. 127 and a sleepv voice answered, "Yah." "Hellllllinillo, Don", was my reply. "MAAARK," was the answer. And I dashed up the three flights of stairs telling the porter he could bring my bag up the elevator, but I couldn't wait for such trivial matters and I hurried hur-ried to meet Don. Ya shoulda seen him what a picture! There he be, standing in the doorway, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Seeing a real live friend from the states was most heart-warming and we spent just hours that first day catching up on news. That night we spent more hours catching up on the sleep we had missed me because the journey was long and tiring and seemed forever ending Don because the waiting was just as tiring and the wondering if I'd make it and if I was on my way yet, YET! Rome was a wonderful experience exper-ience the Forum, the Colisium, the Vatican, and Don had been given the names of some people to look up while in Rome and they turned out to be real sports. These friends, all Americans working in this far-away place from home, were most congeniel and made Rome much more interesting for they knew just what to show us, the time of the day or night to see it, the places to go (and those not to go) and it worked out very well. Tom Dawson, a chap of about our age and a charming host, has an apartment right in the midst of the ruins of Rome. It is a very lavishly furnished place and the ruins of Rome form some of the walls to the apartment building. We were most impressed, to put it mildly. After a couple of days in RoYne we checked our luggage at the hotel and left with just our shaving shav-ing kits for the Isle of Capri. My, what a wonderful place to live. It is very much like a small portion of Sunny Southern California with ocean on all the sides. Don and I did very little of anything except eat, sleep, sit in the sun, and roam the streets in the evening looking in all the souvenier shops and gazing gaz-ing at the sights to be seen. Of all the places in Europe I thus far have seen, Berchtesgaden and Capri are by far my favorites. Both these spots are very much alike. One is a summer and winter resort in the high and majestic Bavarian Alps the other primarily prim-arily a summer resort in the Mediterranean Med-iterranean and both spots are casual cas-ual and slow-pace I loved 'em so did Don. Our stay in Capri ended all too soon and after three days we caught the boat back to Naples, saying our fond 'Alohas" to the Isle we loved. Just a word about Naples. Neither Neith-er Don nor I were much impressed with Naples (as the Italians call it). It seemed dirty, crowded, and really sorta uninteresting. A couple of exceptions the ruins of Pom-pei, Pom-pei, Mt. Vesuvius (however it is spelled) and Sorento were worth seeing and so we did that, but the rest of the area they can keep as far as we both were concerned. Late on the eve of the fourteenth we arrived once more in Rome, the same Rome as before, the same station, stayed in the same hotel, slept in the same bed, and on the fifteenth we spent our time with the same previously-met friends. At midnight (sorta cinderellalike) cinderella-like) we caught a train Venecia-bound. Venecia-bound. Venice was a fun experience couldn't get over their street cars and buses boats and their taxi cabs boats and their trucks, and station wagons and Cadillacs ALL BOATS! We only stayed the one day in this city which was not really a thrilling experience but the unusual characteristics of a city completely dependent on water wa-ter and vessels for transportation sorta seemed intriguing. The evening of the 16th we left again by train (2nd class, as was the case all along) for Zurich, Switzerland and the Swiss Alps. Of all places in this world, Switzerland Swit-zerland certainly should be listed as a "must" for tourists. This country is as picturesque as any I've seen. The couple of days and nights we spent in Zurich were most enjoyable. The nights were cool for sleeping, the hillsides and pastures a brilliant green, the air fresh, the streets clean. All in all it seems like a healthful and happy place which must make for comfortable com-fortable living conditions. The people do not seem overly prosperous, pros-perous, but there seems to be a sense of security in the air and everyone seems content. The people peo-ple themselves are most cordial and both Don and I enjoyed our stay in the Swiss (Alps). Rather late in the evening of the eighteenth we boarded the train for our last train ride on our way to Berlin. This we did not know at the time, but it proved to be such. We planned to take the Army Transportation Train back from Frankfort to Berlin but on the train a situation occured that rapidly rap-idly changed our minds, coupled with the problems that confronted us in Frankfurt. When we were once settled in our compartment and the train was Frankfurt-bound, we began chatting with a fellow in the seat opposite us. Don, just before the train pulled out, had mentioned that his going to Berlin would probably pro-bably be rather dull since he was under the impression that there was "danger" lurking in the air there, but from the picture I had painted, Don realized that Beriin was not the "Hot Spot" that Americans Am-ericans believed, that everything was rather "cool" at the time in this little outpost of freedom 105 miles behind the Iron Curtain. Then the fellow across the compartment com-partment noticed my Merlin patch on my uniform and asked if we had heard about the riots in the East Sector of Beriin and of the Russian (tanks) firing etc. We were rather astonished, to say the least, and then he went into detail. de-tail. He spoke rather good English and it seemed that just by chance he was in Berlin that very morning morn-ing on business and had ventured into the East Sector just when all this happened. He was most convincing con-vincing because he had his comera with him and had taken a rather large risk by taking pictures of the Russians in action. I'm almost positive that Don was ready to turn around and buy a one-way ticket back to Rome, or Paris or anywhere rather than venture on into Berlin. I told him that it couldn't be anything too bad because be-cause this was the East Sector of Beriin and that they had little, if anything at all, to do with West Berlin. He calmed down (actually it was more of a momentary shock) rather soon and we made jokes about it until the subject was finally dropped. At 5:08 the next morning we arrived in Frankfurt and began the processing necessary to get Don into Berlin. We thought it was going to be a moments-notice type of thing, but the 'red tape" was so involved that were were afraid that Don would never reach Berlin, and that I was going to be a little late for my furlough deadline if I waited for approval on papers for Don so we both took a PAA flight and that ssttled all the complications. Once in Berlin I checked with the company, and after getting things sorta half-way settled we went to a hotel called Walter and got Don moved in. I stayed the night which made it seem a little more like home to Don and not quite so alone with the Germans, and the next day, Saturday, we both came to the company and I straightened out my own equipment equip-ment and got things ready for the duty weeks to come. A pleasant surprise awaited me upon my return. Sgt. Bokros (my First Sergeant) ' took me to his room and presented me with my jacket which, without his constant con-stant efforts and opinions would still have PFC stripes on it but not now, for on each sleeve there were two I am now Corporal Mark D. Law, United States Army a pretty good feeling, I must admit. |