- Kommandos In Unfamiliar
Terrain
-
Having a 35 mm camera with me throughout the European combat,
- I had achieved a reputation
of being knowledgeable about cameras.
- A friend from another
company had acquired a quality Leica 35 mm
- camera that was missing its
interior film take-up spool, making it unusable.
- On the first day of the new
peace status, Dale approached me saying
- that he had use of a jeep
and would I ride with him to the larger town
- we had gone through a few
kilometers back. We would look for a camera
- shop that might have the
part his camera needed. I agreed.
-
When we drove slowly through the main street of this town,
- we would occasionally see,
in the side streets, glimpses of uniformed
- German soldiers. When they
saw us, they would duck out of sight.
- We proceeded with our search
but no camera shop was found. Dale
- suggested we check into a
large, official looking building for information
- or directions.
- We
went inside, no one was visible. Walking down the main
corridor,
- we came to an ornately
carved door behind which we could hear the
- rumble of German voices. We
looked at each other. I was skeptical but
- my friend had his
nonfunctional camera on his mind and he knocked
- on the door. The
voices instantly ceased. After a long moment of silence,
- an authoritative voice,
speaking in German, gave an order. We then heard the
- footsteps of someone
approaching. From the inside, the door was opened.
-
We were looking down a long council table. Seated on each side, in
- opposite rows, were five
very serious-faced, bearded senior citizens .
- At the far end of the table,
facing us sat "the man in authority". He was
- dressed in elaborately
brocaded regalia that clearly indicated he was in
- charge: the burgomaster. All
eyes in that room were upon us. The
- person who had opened the
door was a tall, well-dressed woman.
-
After a long moment of silence, she responded to an order of
the
- man "in charge".
Speaking slowly in accented English, she asked
- .....:"Now that the
nazis are not in COMMAND, ARE YOU THE
- DELEGATION FROM YOUR COUNTRY
WHO HAVE COME
- TO HELP US FORM OUR NEW
CIVIC GOVERNMENT?"
-
I was trying to come up with a responsible, diplomatic thing to say
- at this awesome moment. What
did they expect? Words of our Constitution,
- basics of democracy? But my
friend ended this train of thought as
- he waved the camera and
blurted out....."No, but do you know where we
- can get a take-up spool for
my camera?" The woman, her face losing its
- tense look, turned away from
us and spoke to the officials at the table in
- German that I could not
understand, but I imagine she said "These two
- are nothing more than
souvenir hunters, they cannot help us with our
- governmental problems. We
must wait for the real authorities."
- And she closed the door.