4th Post 'THE PAST IS MYSELF"

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen - ground - swell under it
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
- Excerpt from Robert Frost's Poem
Mending Wall

I knew a wall, for a time I lived with and beside and in sight of a wall. I remember when my known wall came tumbling down.

Mr. Robert Gosselink's Physics Class had planted the thirst for knowledge of a theory called "electricity" and springing from that theory, the ability to transmit the human voice over wire. WOW, I wanted more.

Going to work on the 63rd Street Bus I passed a building with a logo attached, Illinois Bell Telephone Company, so after graduation in June 1955, I suddenly appeared before the personnel department of this corporation. I was immediately turned down because I was only seventeen years of age with nine months remaining before I would be of lawful hiring age.

What was a young fellow to do? This was my dream! Where else could I go?

During my mellow moods I dreamt of being a writer. To set down on paper the words that would open the minds of folk everywhere. I had, in fact, on entering "Englewood Christian School" for my eighth grade of elementary training, carried a scrapbook size ledger with many poems I had written prior to my moving to Chicago. Having been the brunt of jokes and laughs about my writing, my Homeroom teacher Miss Burguis gave me the first compliment and I gave her the book.

Would the Chicago Tribune consider me as a potential reporter, a staff writer? Should I maybe, just maybe, apply to work on the presses with the mechanics who did the printing and then move up to reporter? Once again a disappointment, too young, "are you going to college"?

Hey, R R Donnelly & Son's "Lakeside Press", surely they could use me, at least temporarily until I was old enough to slip over to the Telephone Company where I really wanted to be. Same Story, too young, "have you considered enlisting in some branch of the military and satisfying that particular obligation"?

Marine Corp, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, still the same story, too young, "maybe your parents would be willing to sign for you to enlist"? Nope, that wasn't going to happen either.

Finally, back in Tennessee, the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company decided to take a chance and hire me at age 17 with a required parental consent form, a "minor's release". Isn't graduating too young a real pain? We are suppose to be in an adult world with adult responsibilities, but not accepted as adults.

Through my years of training and cross training I finally arrived with a Craftsman Title, "Cable Splicer". Then, at age 23, classified as 1A by the "Selective Service System", I received a notification in the mail from the Department of Defense with a big "Greetings", I was drafted in the United States Army. Having a background in Telephony, I was, after basic combat training, sent to the army's Signal Corps Schools and transferred overseas.

This is where I met my wall. I arrived in Ludwigsburg, Germany, Krabbenloch Kaserne with the 34th Signal Battalion attached to the VII Corps on August 18, 1961. My Wall had been completely built on August 13, 1961, five days before my arrival, it was waiting for me in Berlin. "The Berlin Wall".

Three checkpoints were required when traversing from the West German Federal Republic, through the East German Peoples Republic, then into West Berlin. The Helmstedt Autobahn Checkpoint named Checkpoint Alpha, the Dreilinden Check Point or Checkpoint Bravo and entering into West Berlin, the Friedrichstrasse Checkpoint or Checkpoint Charlie.

The day I arrived in Germany an Army Transportation Corps convey was held up by the Communist Forces and not allowed to enter into West Berlin through Checkpoint Bravo. My first day in Germany began with an emergency alert, my assigned unit on the springboard for seventy two hours, ready to go, if necessary, to war.

I was placed on orders for "TDY" (Temporary Duty) to Berlin and attached to the Berlin Brigade at Checkpoint Charlie. My mobile communications unit was setup for communications transmission very near the wall and I observed many of the East Berlin Residents try to make an escape to freedom in the West. Some were successful, others fell to their death or were shot by the VOPOS (People's Police) or the Russian Military. Vehicles with snowplow blades welded to the frame were used to ram through the wall and the staccato of machine guns could be heard at night.

I ate, slept, breathed, defecated, sweated and lived with that wall. And then, more news from Headquarters; In October, 1962, Mr. J. F. Kennedy was in a crisis with Russian Missiles in Cuba and all of us in my unit who had been drafted were allowed to spend another year eating "C" Rations and enjoying the German countryside through the windshield of a "deuce and a half", (2-1/2 Ton Truck). Critical MOS (Military Occupational Specialty), your specialized field of operation, can sometimes be demanding.

November 9, 1989 my wall came tumbling down and Germany was once again reunited as a country instead of the division by cold war tactics. Berliners now could travel to each side of the Brandenburg Gate without harassment by military forces under the red flag. During the years from August 13, 1961 until November 9, 1989, the East German Border System cost the lives of 1,065 persons. "Freedom isn't Free", but it is worth the price we pay.

A point in time: I arrived in Germany 16 years after World War II, The Berlin Wall fell, as the date of this writing, 16 years ago this month, November 2005.

As the American Poet, Robert Frost wrote in his poem Mending Wall, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall.........
Robert McClurkan (aka) Dixie