So sah es an Fasching im Beck Anfang/Mitte der 70er Jahre aus, die Bilder hat uns Gary aus den USA zugeschickt, der damals als Fluglotse in Feucht stationiert war.

Hier die ganze Geschichte von Gary:

I was a U.S. Army Air Traffic Controller working as a Radar Approach Controller at Feucht Army Airfield from October 1972 until January 1974. I lived in Merrell Barracks in Nuremberg. The Airfield in Feucht is no longer an Airfield. I will send you pictures of it, also. I bought a 1968 VW Wagon and a bicycle that would fold in half so I could put it in my car.

I can’t remember clearly; but, I think that I met a young man, about my age at the time, named Roland. We were probably 26 years old at that time. His mother was an American and was in the United States at the time and I think that he may have been living with his Grandmother somewhere near Freystadt. Roland spoke both German and English very well. Since I was just beginning to learn to speak German, Roland helped me as much as he could.

Roland invited me to come to Café Beck and meet his friends and his fiancée Mary Ann. In one of the pictures someone took my camera and took a picture of me setting in the middle of four of their girlfriends. You can imagine what my parents thought when they saw the pictures.

I have a fond memory of when Roland kept offering me something to drink like a beer or a type of alcoholic drink, I kept saying no thank you over and over again since I was driving. Finally I told Roland that if I had to drink something with alcohol in it to be his friend that he was no friend. From then on he would only ask me if I would like to have a coke instead, when I had driven to Freystadt. We were even better friends after that.

Once, while we were talking, Erwin kept trying to light a cigarette and his girlfriend, Gisela, would not let him do it. Gisela did not understand English and Erwin told me, in English, that she was a bad girl for not letting him smoke. I responded by answering Erwin, in my best German, that no, no, no, Gisela was a good girl! Well, after Gisela heard that, she got mad at Erwin and I think that she might have hit him on the shoulder. I then asked Gisela if she would like to learn English and she said Yes (Ya)!

Another time I tried to ask one of my friend’s girlfriend to dance. Trying to ask in German, what was very proper in English, turned out to be very improper in German. I began my request to dance with “May I have this dance?” Roland asked me “What are you trying to say?” He told me what I had asked in German and I was very embarrassed. He said to just ask “Will you dance with me?” in German.

I hope that you have enjoyed my memories as much as I have and do all of the time. I hope that my friends are doing well after all of these years. I still think of them often and miss them very much. You can see now why Café Beck has a special place in my life and my heart.

Vielen vielen Dank an Gary, der seine Erinnerungen aus vergangenen Zeiten mit uns geteilt hat, wir freuen uns immer sehr über solche Foto-Schätze und Geschichten! 🙂

Ihr Kennt Gary und möchtet Kontakt mit ihm aufnehmen – Schreibt uns einfach an!