Amateur radio is a great tool to bring people together. My friend MJ1CYD (Dieter), and his wife Janine recently visited us in Erie. They had been to the United States twice before, both time visiting Disney in Florida. So other than television and the movies, this was about the only contact they have had with the United States. I’ve known Dieter for about nine years. I met him the first time I went to the Jersey club station. Dieter was trying to learn Morse code to get his Class C license. Dieter has an interesting past. He was born in Germany in 1935. During the Second World War his mother moved along with Dieter’s brother and sister to a relative’s farm in East Germany to get away from the bombing. Dieter’s father was killed on the eastern front in what is now the Czech Republic. He was a member of the Hitler Youth as were all of the male children his age. He said they all had uniforms and were extremely proud, so proud they just “strutted”. One day in 1945 his mother went into town to buy bread. She came running back saying the Russians were just outside the town. They grabbed everything they could, which wasn’t much, just the clothes they had on and a small amount of food. They went with a group of German soldiers and a few other families away from the Russians. Over a period of about six weeks they managed to stay just out of the reach of the Russian soldiers. Eventually they came close to the American lines and were surrounded. Some of the German soldiers wanted to continue to fight, but others convinced them that since they had women and children with them, they should surrender.
Dieter said the American’s treated them well. His mother was asked to cook for the American soldiers. Dieter told me one day he found a lighter that didn’t work, but the flint still sparked. He said he liked to sneak around bushes and then pretend he was shooting the American soldiers while making the flint spark. He knows it was a real wonder he wasn’t shot. The family was transported across Germany about 30 miles at a time with his mother cooking for a new group of American soldiers for a couple of weeks at each stop. Eventually his mother managed to get back to her home near Cologne. He said food was extremely scarce, but that they received shipments from the United States, which they really appreciated. He said he still remembers how good the pea soup was.
Dieter went to school as a baker/confectioner in Switzerland. He said an opening came up in a place he had never heard of – Jersey. He applied and then later found out that the Germans had occupied Jersey during the war. He wondered what he was getting into. He arrived in Jersey by plane without being able to speak any English and without any money. But a cab took him across the island to a hotel and the cab driver brought a woman out who spoke German and paid for the cab. That job eventually led to another job on Jersey and he met his future wife, a Jersey native, who’s family had a store where Dieter bought baking supplies.
We enjoyed Dieter and Janine’s company for ten days. They really liked the US and found Pennsylvania much different than Florida. Since they stayed with us we could also explain things to them that they would not have understood otherwise. They thought prices of everything were great. We took them to the Grove City mall, Niagara Falls, the mountains, Presque Isle, wineries, and lots of other places. Even though their suitcases were almost empty when they arrived, they were overweight going back, but fortunately only paid a $25.00 fee. Dieter said that he thought the roads here were very nice and the drivers very courteous. They both loved the large houses and yards, as property on Jersey is very expensive. For instance a new three-bedroom house, with the smallest bedroom being about 4 foot by 6 foot sells for about 1.4 million US dollars.
I would never have met Dieter and his wife without amateur radio. This hobby gave us a common ground so that we could get to know each other. I think about various other people I have met in similar fashion, who live in other parts of the world. I talk to these people and at times get to visit them and learn how they live as Dieter learned how we live. What a great hobby.
Dieter said the American’s treated them well. His mother was asked to cook for the American soldiers. Dieter told me one day he found a lighter that didn’t work, but the flint still sparked. He said he liked to sneak around bushes and then pretend he was shooting the American soldiers while making the flint spark. He knows it was a real wonder he wasn’t shot. The family was transported across Germany about 30 miles at a time with his mother cooking for a new group of American soldiers for a couple of weeks at each stop. Eventually his mother managed to get back to her home near Cologne. He said food was extremely scarce, but that they received shipments from the United States, which they really appreciated. He said he still remembers how good the pea soup was.
Dieter went to school as a baker/confectioner in Switzerland. He said an opening came up in a place he had never heard of – Jersey. He applied and then later found out that the Germans had occupied Jersey during the war. He wondered what he was getting into. He arrived in Jersey by plane without being able to speak any English and without any money. But a cab took him across the island to a hotel and the cab driver brought a woman out who spoke German and paid for the cab. That job eventually led to another job on Jersey and he met his future wife, a Jersey native, who’s family had a store where Dieter bought baking supplies.
We enjoyed Dieter and Janine’s company for ten days. They really liked the US and found Pennsylvania much different than Florida. Since they stayed with us we could also explain things to them that they would not have understood otherwise. They thought prices of everything were great. We took them to the Grove City mall, Niagara Falls, the mountains, Presque Isle, wineries, and lots of other places. Even though their suitcases were almost empty when they arrived, they were overweight going back, but fortunately only paid a $25.00 fee. Dieter said that he thought the roads here were very nice and the drivers very courteous. They both loved the large houses and yards, as property on Jersey is very expensive. For instance a new three-bedroom house, with the smallest bedroom being about 4 foot by 6 foot sells for about 1.4 million US dollars.
I would never have met Dieter and his wife without amateur radio. This hobby gave us a common ground so that we could get to know each other. I think about various other people I have met in similar fashion, who live in other parts of the world. I talk to these people and at times get to visit them and learn how they live as Dieter learned how we live. What a great hobby.
