The Privilege and Honor, 20 Years After “The Fall of the Wall”

When I turned 17 I immediately went to the local recruiter and joined the Army.  My mother signed the papers without batting an eye and the next day I was being sworn in and shipped off to Fort Bliss, Texas for basic training.  My family has a long history of military service.  My great grandfather fought in WW1, my grandfather in WW2, my father in Vietnam, and in 1991 I served in Desert Storm. I was raised as a very patriotic person and joining the military was not seen as a choice but a duty and a privilege.

After several months learning to be a Combat Medic I was given a “wish list” of where I wanted to be stationed.  I chose Germany as my first choice and off I went to spend three years in beautiful Deutschland.  This was the middle of 1988 and the Cold War was still in effect.  Then, on November 9, 1989, I was able to be a part of history.  I was chosen as one of numerous medics that would go to Berlin to support the ceremony held when the Berlin Wall came down.  It was a proud and awe inspiring time for me.  I’ll never forget the first time I saw the wall.  Somehow I had imagined that it was this towering, intimidating piece of concrete that could hold back anything.  In reality it was just an old, dirty wall with graffiti covering almost every inch.  I was a little disappointed to be honest.

The emotions surrounding the wall’s fall was so powerful you could feel it in the air.  Persons of all nations came together that day and took down this huge symbol of oppression that had stood since the German Democratic Republic (GDR) built it in 1962 to prevent the citizens from “escaping” to the West.

As heavy machines tore down parts of the wall, individuals were using sledge hammers and others had metal pipes to tear into the concrete.  As sections fell apart, I could tell that the people who lived on the East side of the wall were a little apprehensive about “crossing over,” perhaps wondering if it were all a trick and they would be shot dead for attempting to defect.  That faded quickly though as friends and family that were separated when the wall was built saw each other again for the first time since 1962.

It will be 20 years on the 9th since the Berlin Wall was demolished and I consider myself very privileged to have been able to be a small part of it and witness the exact moment when a nation was made whole.

I found a New York Times site that has some rather interesting and thought provoking before and after pictures of where the wall once stood.  All that remains now are markings in the street that indicate where Germany was once divided.  I urge you all to check it out HERE.