Copyright (c) 2013 Phyllis Zimbler Miller
All rights reserved.
The Pentagon installs a new computerized link to the FBI to help find military deserters – September 14, 1970
"Cocktail parties are not too well understood by our German friends. Where we try to chat with as many guests as possible, the tendency of Germans is to cliques (sic). The inbred feeling for rank, characteristic of educated German people, probably underlies this social clustering. The American host must be alert to designate and deploy interpreters and guides to help circulation." Customs & Courtesies booklet
The Cold War "Game"
A middle-aged man sitting by himself at the restaurant table next to us said in English, "Excuse me. I see you are Americans."
We nodded.
"Is this your first time in Copenhagen?"
"Yes," I said.
"How long are you visiting?"
"A week," Mitch said.
"Going to visit a beer factory?"
"We plan on taking the Carlsberg tour," I replied.
The man nodded as if this was to be expected.
Then he said, "I've just returned from visiting Russia. The people there are so hard-working. These Danes are frivolous, only thinking about their own pleasure."
It took only one heartbeat for me to realize that this was a classic espionage pick-up line – a Russian spy trying to cultivate friendship with American military personnel – that both Mitch and I had been warned about with our security clearances.
I looked at Mitch, and our knees touched below the plastic table. We said nothing.
The man continued, "In Russia I saw factories where the production levels have been rising consistently each year."
At the same moment, without saying a word to each other, Mitch and I stood up, grabbed our trays and dumped them at the dirty dishes collection area.
Clasping hands, we ran downstairs from the second-story restaurant and raced towards Tivoli Gardens two blocks away.
Only when we had entered and run to the lighted fountains in front of The Bazaar did we slow and catch our breath.
"A classic pick-up," Mitch said.
"Right off the pick-up script," I said. "But how did he know to try?"
"My short haircut was a giveaway I'm in the army," Mitch said.
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On a Tuesday morning in September, 1970, I drove my husband of one year to Chicago's O'Hare Airport to fly to Baltimore on the first leg of a trip overseas to be stationed with the U.S. Army occupying Germany – his exact duty station not yet revealed by his reporting orders.
Occupying West Germany to be more exact. A quick history lesson: At the end of World War II, Russia, the U.S., Britain and France divided up Germany into West and East Germany, with the Russians occupying East Germany. Berlin, although in East Germany, was also divided between the four countries. American troops were stationed in both West Germany and Berlin to prevent the Soviets from overrunning West Germany and then all of Western Europe. And in addition to the U.S.'s Communist enemies, the West Germans were not that happy with the occupying forces.
