The Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-05-22, Page 15A
Serving over 20,000 homes
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Crossroads, Wednesday, May 22, 1985
At the Embassy
`Follow .that cab, Leo'
r'
This is the seventh in a series of arti-
cles by Marion L Duke, editor of The
Listowel Banner, following a Canadian
Community Newspapers Association
study tour of•Canadian Forces in Eu-
rope, NATO's military headquarters at
Mons, Belgium, and the Canadian em-
bassy in Bonn, Germany.
Before leaving the cafeteria. at Cana-
dian Forces Base 'Baden-Soellingen,
our driver on this tour, Cpl. Leo Landry
tries his luck at a slot -machine near the
door.
We've -heard about this gambling
equipment from. the corporal. It's been
a heael ache for the Forces since it was
installed by some enterprising Ger-
man, he says.
It has been my experience that Cana-
dians in general, if they think of their
nation's military at all, thinkof them as
men and women who have joined the
Forces because they couldn't find any-
thing else to do.
We tend to talk about their "cushy"
retirement pensions and ridicule their
role as peacetime soldiers.
The men I have met on this day don't
deserve this kind of trash. The civilian
concepts just don't fit. They probably
never did. But certainly the modern
soldier must have `the intelligence to
master high technology, the same as
the man and woman on civy street.
Moreover, I have rarely seen the kind
of enthusiasm on the job that I have
seen today. The soldiers explaining
Gray gives us the new we've heard
earlier from"Cpl. Landry. The Patricias
have defeated the Van, Doos to win the
CF Europe hockey championship. It's
considered quite an upset. ry
"We have all kinds of sports here,"
Lt. -Col. Gray says, "We have no diffi-
culty getting the older men involved.
They're gung-ho. Our trouble is getting
the younger men involved and they are
the ones we really want to get invol-
ved."
He tells , us there are also groups'
which organize such activities as bus
tours for families. The base has its own
buses, "and the price is very reason-
able".
Soccer is the big sport in Europe and
Lt. -Col. Gray says some of the Petri -
quarries, I ask what happens to the hole
after the gravel has run out.
"They turn them into swimming
areas," Cpl. Landry replies.
I wonder how deep these holes are
and ask him if he's serious.
Cpl. Landry looks surprised. "Yes.
The water table is really high here. I
don't know how deep they would be. I
know I haven't touched bottom. Maybe
20 feet or so. There's one close to the
base."
According to Cpl. Landry, the gravel
holes are stocked with fish to keep them
clean, are landscaped and regularly
checked by the government.
"They make great swimming holes."
Then the corporal grins. "Some of
them are semi-nude."
,$ack in Lahr -we checked into zum
Schwanen, another centrally located
gasthause, and immediately seat our-
selves around a table and order "ein
beir".
Some of the guyswho, are beginning
to catch on to the lingo order "ein gros
bier". But after getting a couple of the
big tankards the day of arrival, I know
enough to keep saying "small, small"
I later find out the German word for
small is "klein", but by then, I know
"small" works just as well.
We are joined by Cpl. Landry and our
escort officer, Capt. Philip Anido, who
produces a tin with a cake his wife has
baked for us.
The day before we had toured the
Schwarzwald and the captain said he
would have liked to have joined us, but
he had another engagement — his own
birthday party.
"We would have invited you guys;"
he says, "but we just didn't have room.
Anyway Dianne baked this cake for
you."
It''s delicious and greatly appre-
ciated. It isn't a sweet cake and goes
with.ttre beer. It's the first food I've had
since breakfast which was about 10
hours ago.
Before the captain leaves he tells us
we better .depart for Bonn the next
morning at 7:30 a.m. rather than 7:45
as scheduled. We don't want to be late
for our appointment at the Canadian
embassy and neither he, nor Cpl. Lan-
dry know exactly how to get to the em-
bassy building.
Cpl. Landry tells the captain he will
try . to locate a good map of the city
when he gets back to the base.
At 6 p.m. Cpl. Landry and a few of us
head out to the bus to catch"the news.
We don't want to miss the announce-
ment about troop strength Lt. -Col. Gray
has told us about.
There's nothing on the broadcast re-
garding the announcement.
By now it's dinner time for us, at
least, and we are ushered into a lovely
dining room by our, hostess. This is the
formal dining room with embroidered
chairs and we have it to ourselves.
Other diners, if they are eating this ear-
ly, are at the tables in the bar area.
During the course of the meal, Cpl.
Landry promises the radio man among
us, Richard Collieutt of Nova Scotia, .a
radio to)listen to the later newscast.
We learn some a hours later the an-
nouncement; by the new defence 'minis-
ter, The Hon: Erik Nielsen, and the sec-
retary of state for External Affairs..the
Rt. Hon. Joe Clark, has been broadcast
at 7 p.m.
It's news not only Lt. -Col. Gray has
been waiting for, but everyone connec-
ted with Ca • dian Forces Europe.
The seer ." y general off NATO has
a.,
been informed -•`the Canadian govern-
ment will take_ iminediate steps to meet
Canada's NAT<O!commitments. •
The strengthof Canadian Forces in
Europe is to be increased by an ,addi-
tional 1,200 military personnel.
The additional troops will go to
strengthen 4 CMBG based in Lahr. the
personnel will begin to move to Europe
this summer .and the last of the addi-
tional troops will be in place by the.
summer of 1986.
The cost will be $50 million in the first
year, and about $100 million per year
when the full complement has been,
transferred to Europe.
TO BONN
Breakfast at zum Schwanen at about
6:45 a.m. is a pleasant surprise. As was
the case at 'Hotel zum Lowen, the
breakfast is included in the daily room
rate.
But here at zum Schwanen, the meal
is buffet style and we help ourselves.
Besides the orange juice, cold meats
and bread that were available at zum
Lowen, we have a choice of fruit and
cereal.
Most of us say we like this gasthause
better than the last one. And I, for one,
have found it friendlier.
We actually hit the road for Bonn five
minutes early, leaving at 7:25 a.m.
There are snow flurries in the air and
about a five hour drive ahead of us,
heading . north on the autobahn. Cpl.
Landry tells the captain he couldn't find
a map.
For the first few hours I amuse my-
self keeping track of the number of
hawks I see, most of them large dark
buteos with white underwings. I get up
to nine and quit counting.
I think I'm in for a rough day as far as
my cold is concerned. I've got three
days left of a l0 -day supply of antibi-
otics. and so far I haven't noticed any
improvement.
Moreover, I have given my non-pre-
scription cold capsules to Lorne Eedy of
St. Marys and have used up the few I
took out before giving him the bottle.
Mr. Eedy has his voice back and I think
I'll ask him for my capsules back.
Along the autobahn there's a mixture
of fir trees and white birch. We pass
over a big bridge with an impressive
span of red -painted steel. The road fol-
lows the Rh cin River and the transmis-
sion lines look similar to Ontario,
Hydro's 500 kV lines.
Capt. Anido tells us the fields of vege-
tables we, see are asparagus under
plastic. They keep building up the soil,
he says, to keep the asparagus white.
(Continued on Page 4)
lEv Van Duuren of Huntsville, ,Ont., Timothy Crump of
Kindersley, Sask., and Richard Jetties of Bowmanville,
Ont. chat over a pint in the Maple Leaf Room of the
Canadian Embassy in Bonn, Germany.
These members of the Canadian embassy in Bonn,
Germany, briefed a Canadian Community Newspapers
Association delegation on Canadian -German trade and
a relations. From left are: Robert Sandor, minister -
counsellor of the economic -commercial ,Section; Verona
M. Edelstein, minister second in command to the
ambassador; Jennifer Broadbridge, press officer; Regis
Beauchesne, second secretary in the commercial section;
John McKee, first secretary in the public affairs section;
and Howard Morgan, counsellor in the political section.
Cpl. Landry isn't sure how long the
machines have been on thebases, but
anyway the Forces have had enough.
"They're going out at the end of
June," Cpl. Landry says, "and I don't
think it will be a bad thing. Sure, I like
to play them too, but some guys don't
know when to quit. They spend too
much time and money on them and that
causes family problems."
Some of us give the corporal some of
our German change that's been Weight-
ing us down and he plays the machine
while we wait for the rest of the group.
He goes ahead, but then loses. 1 can't
follow the pattern of the game at all.
Then Rick Derksen of Steinl5ach,
Man., tries his hand. Same thing. In the
end we haven't dropped much, but then
we've only been at the machine for five
or 10 minutes.
Just before We're about to leave an
officer walks by. "Play it while you
can, boys," he says. "It won't be much
longer."
Over at the base shop some of us' buy
a' few souvenirs to remind us of an inte-
resting, enjoyable and extremely pro-
ductive day. The three units of 4 Cana-
dian Mechanized Brigade Group (4
CMBG) we have visited have really put
themselves out for this small group of
Canadian community newspaper
people.
Not having much of a mechanical or
technical bent, 1 have been exposed to'
far more in the way of military equip-
ment than I can comprehend in such a
short period of time,
However, it isn't the hardware that's
impressed me. The aspect of this day I
will remember is the attitude of the sol-
diers we have met.
their equipment, and talking about
their life in the Forces exhibit a sense of
pride, sincerity,and dedication.
Whatever the people back home
might think, Canadian Forces person-
nel irEurope have no doubts about the
importance. of their role as a`deterrent
to the Warsaw Pact threat.
ALWAYS A, _HAZE
Outside the shop, Lt. -Col Ian Gray,
the commanding officer of the Second
Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian
Light Infantry, is chatting to some of us
about life in Germany and on the base.
Glancing at the overcast sky, he says
it never really clears up. "Even on a
sunny day, it isn't \sunny the way it is
back home. There's always a haze. The
people here_ are really concerned about
pollution. It's at the point now where
it's killing the Black Forest."
It has been announced the German
government will bring in pollution stan-
dards for automobiles within a year or
so, but to date the Germans haven't
been supported by their .European
neighbors.
Later in the week we are to learn the
Germans are having . problems with
their European neighbors regarding
another kind of chemical control.
To maintain their reputation for Neer
of the highest quality, the Germans
have passed legislation demanding not
only that their beer be a completely na-
tural product, but declaring any beer
containing chemicals will not be al-
lowed into the country.
So far they're winning on their beer
but losing in their efforts to clean up in-
dustrial Europe.
The talk turns to sports and Lt. -Col.
cias have been .asked to play with a
German team.
"That's quite unusual and we were
quite keen, but now I don't know -if we'll
be able to do it. Two of the guys asked to
,go home and another one had a bad car
accident.', ._
In the summertime, the commanding
officer says, the Baden area "is just
-1Yea . -Tlie German people' "'Mire -
flowers, "and everywhere you look the
gardens are gorgeous."
Canadians find the climate some-
thing of a surprise. While there's lots of
snow for skiing in the winter, "In'
Baden-Baden," says Lt. -Col. Gray, "it
is possibleto see palm trees."
We could spend hours more on this
base which is also home for the three
tactical fighter squadrons (421, 439 and
441) of 1 Canadian Air Group .(1 CAG)
which has its headquarters at CFB
Lahr.
However, it is now late afternoon. It
has been a long day and we have a new
hotel to check in to back in Lahr.
On the bus the talk centres on Lt. -Col.
Gray. There isn't anyone who hasn't
been impressed with the man's forth-
right manner and by the fact he has
spent the entire afternoon showing us
his unit.
INCREASED TROOPS
On the way back down to Lahr, we see
people working in the fields, raking and
hoeing. They are mostly women.
To the right I notice a kind of dred-
ging operation I had also seen on the
way up and I ask what it is. Cpl. -Landry
tells me they're excavating gravel.
Looking at what appears a mini -lake
and thinking about the problems in On-
tario regarding abandoned pits and
4F
Following briefly by embassy staff members, Canadian
community newspaper representatives were invited to
use the facilities of the Maple Leaf Room in the
basement of the Canadian embassy in Bonn. From left
are: Capt. Philip Anido, Canadian Forces escort officer
for the newspaper group; Richard Collicutt of Kentvllle,
N.S., Lorne Eedy of . St. Marys, Ont., and Peter
Schierbeck of Fairview, Alta.
LAMP