|
|
|
|
Larry Demers coming in from the outfield during a tough Bierball game, 1965.
|
|
|
|
Larry and Vladimer at former East German SED Hqs, June 1992. Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, SED
|
|
|
|
Neue Welt Photo 1964. R to L, Larry Demers, Charlie Craddock, Others unknown but person standing was a 202 Dog Tricker at Mari.
|
|
|
|
Dog Trick at the train station in Amsterdam on the way home from a "Morale Flight".
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dog Trick Leaders, Lt Bob Drew and MSgt Ben Benavides discussing strategy during a Bierball game. (Note Pitcher's nearby nourishment.)
|
|
|
|
Dog Trickers LtoR John Themanson, Andy Palluck, Jim Cunningham, Larry Demers, Nick Falsone in the Zone heading to Bremerhaven*.
|
|
|
|
Duty Train Brassard, "most cherished E-Bay purchase".*
|
|
|
* The 6th picture needs some explaining as it
identifies the men involved in an "Almost International Incident" and explains
why the 7th picture of a Train Commander Brassard is so important to Larry. Here
are Larry's words.
"The five young Dog Trick lads decided it would be a
good idea to go to the Airman's Club before catching the duty train to
Bremerhaven; rum and cokes there were only 20 cents. We really didn't have any
business in Bremerhaven, but were looking for something new and exciting. We
also decided it would be a good idea to buy a bottle of cognac for the trip.
After the train departed Zehlendorf, we bought some cokes and mixed up some
cognac and cokes...much fun and jocularity.
Later, as the train was
sitting in the station at Marienborn, one of the errant lads pulled down the
window and yelled out something in Polish. I don't think the Russian guards
spoke any Polish, but that was the only other language besides English he knew.
Panic set in fast! We all jumped into our sleepers and pretended we had been
sleeping for hours, although it didn't smell that way.
The biggest MP I
had ever seen mustered us all up and hauled us down to the Train Commander's
Office. The Train Commander pointed his finger at us and said, "If this train
leaves late, you have created an international incident!" It left on time
and we humbly scurried back to our compartments for the remainder of the trip.
On the trip back to Berlin, we had no compartment, but had to sit up
amongst the MPs, in their compartment, all the way back. The Army train folks
obviously had a good memory. Panic set in us as we thought we would be facing
some serious wrath upon our return to work. Not a word, not a peep,
however...guess they figured we had learned our lesson. And we did!
This
sort of incident is the stuff young bonehead kids do all the time, however, it
is not as easily survivable as our escapade was. Young airmen now would be up
the creek if they did something like this."
Anyway...that's the story of
the "Almost International Incident."
Larry
Ed note: How do
those Army MP's get so big?
