My family arrived in Austria in January 1947 which was the middle of 10th grade for me. We were told to remember “Ya nay goveru Paruskie” (I do not speak Russian) and “Nicht verstede Deustch” (Don’t understand German) which we were to state if we were accosted by a Russian or Austrian for being American. We rode the Austrian bus to school at HQs US Forces Austria. Our forces and families were behind the Iron Curtain and the US wanted to show Austrians they were not there to conquer Austria; they were only there to prevent Russia from overtaking Austria. The 10th, 11th, 12th, students had a special bond. We had Friday night dances at someone’s house, Saturday night Dances at T-Club and Sundays movies. In the fall of 1947 and 48 we had 17 kids on a football team. Although we lost most of our games, we had a team. Basketball was better. In fact, I managed 13 points per game. At the school the eleventh and twelfth grades were in same room as were the ninth and tenth grades. One teacher taught biology and geometry to all grades.
Some of my fondest memories were:
- Seven Boy Scouts and two Scoutmasters missing the Orient Express departing Vienna at 8:00 AM then driving through the Russian Zone on route to Paris. They then stopped the train with a jeep across tracks 60 miles away from Vienna and got on. Now, that’s a unique memory. I earned my Eagle Scout even though at times I was the only scout and had to find counselors to pass my badges.
- A typical date was going to the opera instead of the movies and the memory is even better when it was a sophomore dating a junior.
- Seniors sneaking a beer or two at Leopold Castile above Vienna in the Vienna Woods.
- Seventeen freshmen, juniors and seniors with a couple of 18 year old GIs from the Special Services Office playing a 50 kid football team from Heidelberg and losing 50 to 0………Then I remember the parents canceling football for us transferring to basketball instead. It was said that the Heidelberg team had college freshman on it.
- Visiting Dachau and it’s no longer used furnaces on a basketball trip to Munich.
- Our biology class with only two students and a teacher. Our German III class had a New York teacher who gave the Regents exam to three of us, two girls and me.
- Family trips to Switzerland in the winter, to Paris, a cruise to Sicily, Malta, Egypt and Marseilles.
These are my memories of the Class of 1949, Vienna Dependents High School. I miss it all. Such fond memories!
Cheers!
Paul Winkel, Class of ’49, West Point Class of ‘56
Mr. Winkel is also in the book We Were Soldiers Once … And Young by Moore & Galloway. He was stationed in Heidelberg with his family from 1975 – 1980 and his son graduated from Heidelberg in 1980. Mr. Winkel served two tours in Vietnam, 1965-66 and 1968-69. He retired as an Army Colonel with 31½ years of service. June 2019. he was nominated for the Medal of Honor and will know the results of his nomination mid-2021.
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We left New York City for Vienna, Austria on my thirteenth birthday, November 10, 1946.
My father had been assigned to Vienna and had left in July of 1945, so we were anxious to join him. I can’t remember his specific assignment, but he was in charge” of the American sector of Vienna, which was divided into four sectors American, French, British, and Russian, as was Berlin. He had superior officers over him so I am not sure what my mother meant when she said he was “in charge”. (more…)
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August 1993
Dear Family and Friends
After forty-two years I revisited the scenes of my youth in Vienna.
Wien, Wien, nur du Allein,
Solist Stetes die Stadt Meiner Traune Sein.
(Vienna, Vienna, of you alone, so is the city of my dreams.)
It was amazing how much, and how little, things had changed.
The first impression was of cars, people, speed, crowds, modern buildings, rebuilt old buildings and that every thing was rebuilt and a little smaller than I remembered. But then the second impression was of the same laid back atmosphere I remembered.
(more…)
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Letter 1: September 8, 1946
Dearest Mother and All,
The best of intentions were mine, when I began this ocean voyage, to write a day-by-day account of my feelings and the happenings. But along with many other things, I had planned on this trip when I left home, have had to fall by the wayside. It would simply be unable for me to explain why. Anyone would have to be on this trip to understand. You made the remark before I left home that now that we were leaving not to look back. That is good advice but extremely difficult to follow.
The main essential of this trip is a rugged physique and much fortitude. That I must have in comparison to many on this trip. From all reports we have had it harder than the other groups that have gone because they simply tried to send too many at one time. Our sailing was canceled three times but finally we loaded Tuesday morning, Sept. 2nd. Three hundred girls, without youngsters, had been quartered on the boat on the Friday before, in order to make room at Fort Hamilton for the new group coming in. (more…)
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Getting There and Trips Around Europe: 1946 – 1947
Mists of time. Yes. That depicts it well. Fifty-five years ago I embarked upon an event that affected my life forever. And it is covered in a scrim screen in my memory. I was six years old and am now sixty-one. The memories are mine and may or may not be precisely accurate but they ARE mine.
So many aspects of 1946-1947 I could ramble on about. The trip over to Europe, life in Vienna in post war times, trips while there, school times, etc. So, this epistle will be about trips. Others later.
First Trip was actually getting there. (more…)
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We left New York City for Vienna, Austria on my thirteenth birthday, November 10, 1946.
My father had been assigned to Vienna and had left in July of 1945, so we were anxious to join him. I can’t remember his specific assignment, but he was in charge” of the American sector of Vienna, which was divided into four sectors American, French, British, and Russian, as was Berlin. He had superior officers over him so I am not sure what my mother meant when she said he was “in charge”. (more…)
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