It was hard to leave Germany

August – September 1972

It was hard to leave Germany

I mean really.  It was hard to leave Germany, because the USA would not give Hedda a visa.  We had filled out all of the forms in plenty of time and sent them in through the base personnel office.  We had ordered our new car to be picked up in New Jersey.  We shipped off all of our belongings.  We moved out of our house and were living in the base hotel.  But we did not have a visa for Hedda.  There was a problem with the background investigation.  They never started one!

The consulate said they had all of the paperwork, but for some reason they didn’t start the investigation.  Even after we identified the problem they just went looking for the one they never started.  Now Hedda had lived all of her life (seventeen years) until we were married in the same town, on the same street, in the same house!  She had never traveled out of the country until I took her to Germany.  The OSI for the Air Force had run a background investigation on her when we got married.  It would seem to me that they could drive someone up there, talk to the local cops, interview her teachers from school, run a check through Interpol and give her a visa.

The consulate said there were no shortcuts or waivers allowed.  They said I could leave with the kids and as soon as they got their stuff together in a few months they would give her a visa and she could join us. I rejected that plan.

The base hotel was not real expensive, but we did have to pay for our rooms.  There were no cooking facilities, so we were eating out, mooching on friends, or eating sandwiches in the room.

The Air Force gives you ten days of temporary living allowance (TLA).  My commander extended the TLA to thirty days which was the maximum of his authority.  We ended up staying in the hotel sixty days.  It was some tough times with a three year old and a nine month old baby.

One day when we were coming back to the hotel I let Hedda and her friend out of the borrowed car with the kids.  They went upstairs and the friend took Lisa straight to the bathroom to wash her up.  Hedda hung her purse on the door and brought a sleeping Steve straight to bed.  When she walked back to get her purse and close the door, alas the purse with over three hundred dollars in it, was gone.  We reported it to the police and they found the purse with all of her ID’s etc still in it, but the money was long gone.

It was pretty depressing.

About that time I got a letter from my dad with a copy of a letter he sent to Senator Hubert Humphrey.  He laid out all of the problems that we were encountering and asked for his help.  I still have a copy of that letter someplace.

A few days later we got a call.  “Please come up to the consulate as soon as you can.”

I needed to borrow a car to get to Frankfurt to the consulate.  Because of friend’s work etc. we were having some problems finding one.  My commander called the motor pool and authorized me to get an Air Force vehicle to drive.  Thankfully, I rushed over to the motor pool.  The only thing they had for me was a ¾ ton crew cab 4WD pick-up truck.  But of course there were some more problems.  My Air Force driver’s license said I was qualified to drive a bunch of military vehicles and even tow jet aircraft; it did not specify a ¾ ton 4WD crew cab pick-up truck.  I made a quick return trip to my commander’s office.  He taught me a lesson that would come in handy later in my career.  He put the old paper drivers license in the typewriter, typed in ¾ ton 4WD crew cab pick-up truck, signed it, and sent me back to the motor pool.  A little while later we were on our way to Frankfurt.  I’m sure glad my commander added that vehicle to my license; because I needed all those driving skills as I had to maneuver the ¾ ton 4WD crew cab through the crowded streets of downtown Frankfurt with all of its traffic and small European roads.  When we walked in the door of the consulate and identified ourselves to the desk, we were immediately met by an official escort and we went to the head of the line at each of the stations where our paperwork was waiting.  A process that usually takes a few hours was completed in less than half an hour.  We were then escorted into the office of the vice consulate.  He apologized for all of the problems and hoped that we and Senator Humphrey were satisfied with the “special exemption” that they made for us.

In less than ten days we were on our way.  We took the base bus to Rhein-Mein AFB to catch our flight out to the good old USA.  Flying with two little ones is not easy.  We had a plan on how to carry everything that would be needed for the eight hour flight to McGuire AFB, New Jersey.  We had baby food for Steve, and snacks and toys for Lisa.  We were ready to go!

The announcement came that there would be a short delay.  A few hours later there was another announcement.  Then another.  They finally said that we might want to get a room at the transient quarters and tell the desk what flight we were on.  They would notify us with enough time to get ready.  It was already late at night when we got settled in our room.  Less than two hours later came the call that they were ready to go.

After months, days, and hours, we were airborne and on our way to the good old USA.  Hedda, Lisa, and Steve Jr. were on their first ever airplane ride and would be on American soil for the first time of their lives!

By the time we landed, we were exhausted.  The kids were really good travelers, but even adults get tired and crabby after eight hours in an airplane.  It was early morning when we landed.  Hedda had her passport with her hard fought for visa and of course she had some extra processing to do.  After we cleared customs and immigration we made our phone call to the car dealership.  “We desperately need our car.  Is it ready?”  They had been waiting for us for a couple of months and the car was out back.  They gave us directions for the taxi, and when we got there we still had to wait a few more hours to get on the road.

We only drove long enough to get out of the big city, found a hotel and crashed for our first night in America!

We called Minnesota and told Mom that we would arrive in three days.  The plan was to get there in two days, but if you told Mom the exact time you were expected she would start worrying about twelve hours before you were due.  This way we could head off most of the worrying!

To be continued….