That’s what it really was like in the US soldiers’ military platoon

What was it like as a US soldier in Steglitz-Zehlendorf? Lichterfeld Reiner Kolodziej worked on the “Duty Train” as a radio operator for the Rail Transportation Office. In his autobiography “The Early Years. “The early years” is how the Berliner describes his Everyday life in the fall of 1965. Here is an abridged excerpt – with the kind permission of the author.

Drove with blue lights and siren the military police almost directly to the tracks of the waiting train. A young American soldier jumped out. The conductor called him to the still-open door and pulled him in with outstretched hands. “Do I have to go out to the Städtele” sounded from the croaking station loudspeakers. Immediately afterwards, the diesel engines roared and the GDR locomotive slowly set the military train in motion.