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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Jim Dale, post: 4905543, member: 100459&quot;]My father was in the Navy during WW2 in the South Pacific assigned to submarine duty.&nbsp; He was tired of living in a &quot;tin can&quot;, so after WW2, he enlisted in the Army. He first serviced at Fort Knox, Kentucky, but after 5 years there, he was stationed at the hospital at Landstuhl, German.&nbsp; I was 6.&nbsp; Although it was several years after WW2, the amount of destruction was still there.&nbsp; We all loved Germany and its citizens.&nbsp; It was hard to believe they had been our enemies. Anyway, I collected two things, comic books and coins. In 1957, I was 10 and we were transferred to Fort Ord, California.&nbsp; Somehow, both collections that had been securely stored, did not make it.&nbsp; Thankfully, we were transferred to France, where I finished high school in Verdun in 1965.&nbsp; My new French coin collection were also stolen.&nbsp; DeGaulle closed all US bases down and after graduation night, we left for Mannheim, German.&nbsp; Wow! what a change.&nbsp; I worked on base to earn money so that I could hitchhike throughout Europe.&nbsp; That is a long story, however, I got my passport and travelled the country in 1966.&nbsp; I got to Berlin and was impressed buy the beauty.&nbsp; West Germany was a beautiful country and the citizens were wonderful.&nbsp; I stayed in Youth Hostels for about 50 cents a night.&nbsp; I was able to get papers to go to East Germany.&nbsp; The citizens were somber and would seldom talk to me.&nbsp; The city was dirty and the destruction was still in existent.&nbsp; My main purpose in East German was to collect as many coins as possible.&nbsp; I had some U.S. dollars and the people were more than willing to exchange them for their coins.&nbsp; When I left East Germany, I had to take everything out of my bags and pockets.&nbsp; My coins were taken from me.&nbsp; I was interrogated by the &quot;krauts&quot; and then I was allowed to leave.&nbsp; I checked my money, the coins were gone as well as a ten dollar bill.&nbsp; I did see the wall, but after that experience, I decided not to collect German coins.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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