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30 Jun 2012 13:21 #91014
by chairman
HEIDELBERG, Germany – For more than 26 years, Hans Gritzbach has been taking care of a little garden outside the building of the U.S. Army's European headquarters.
The military installation has been part of Gritzbach's lifeblood for more than 60 years.
But when the leaves begin to fall in the autumn of 2013, the U.S. Army is scheduled to shut down its Campbell Barracks in Gritzbach's home city.
For the 86-year-old German, an era will come to an end with the U.S. troop pullout.
"I owe a lot to the Americans. They paved the way for what I am today," the widower said in a soft, choked voice.
Always tell someone how you feel because opportunities are lost in the blink of an eye but regret can last a lifetime.
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30 Jun 2012 13:26 #91015
by chairman
From refugee to part of a community
With all of his belongings in no more than a cardboard box, Gritzbach arrived in Heidelberg in 1947, shortly after the end of World War II. He was a “displaced person†or refugee. His family was expelled from what used to be Czechoslovakia because they belonged to a minority group of ethnic Germans.
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30 Jun 2012 13:28 #91016
by chairman
When he arrived in post-war Germany, the young man had no work training and no profession, but he was given a job with the U.S. forces in Heidelberg.
Over the course of his 39-year career as a civilian employee with the U.S. Army in Europe, he worked as a quartermaster, in the finance department and the engineering division.
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30 Jun 2012 13:30 #91017
by chairman
After he retired, Gritzbach stayed on with the military community and took up volunteer work with his wife, Hilde, who passed away five years ago.
Weather and health permitting, the German visits his "American friends" three to four times a week to water the plants, do some weeding and simply engage in some small talk.
But now, his rose bushes, as well as the flowers and shrubs from the little garden he’s tended all these years, are being given new homes in local backyards before the military installation shuts down completely.
Always tell someone how you feel because opportunities are lost in the blink of an eye but regret can last a lifetime.
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30 Jun 2012 13:34 #91018
by chairman
Troop reduction
Since the end of the 1980s, the U.S. Army in Europe has divested more than 570 military installations, including military barracks, housing areas and isolated radar positions.
By 2015, more major garrisons are expected to be returned in Germany – Heidelberg, Mannheim, Bamberg and Schweinfurt – which the Army says will save $300 million per year.
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mapoui
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30 Jun 2012 14:12 - 30 Jun 2012 17:04 #91024
by mapoui
we will surely see lots of that clap trap as the americans leave from wherever they are in the world.
but trash is what it is. in this case the germans dont want the americans there at all. if they could deh wud have kicked them out long ago
dat old german arse is like any Uncle Tom or aunt Jemimah in the black world.
after a lifetime of taking white wood those know nutten else but to take white wood and are nostalgic when they cant get it anymore.
old german fart losing his 'love' so he waxes nostalgic.
there is that type around the americans wherever they are. and everytime they leave the skunt american media will seek them out and write jackass stories like this one..for the idiot americans in america who lap up crap like dat
Last edit: 30 Jun 2012 17:04 by mapoui.
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30 Jun 2012 14:22 #91027
by Kwami
America never leaves after a war where they won Germany , japan , Korea. They only leave when they lose .. Vietnam, Iraq Afganistan
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Bye, bye, GI: Deep impact for many Germans as US troops downsize
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