Mini-Reunion Held At Weisser Schwan
On 27 February 2009 thirty-five recent members of the Darmstadt
community, young and old, gathered at the Weisser Schwan for an evening of relaxation and dinner with the last commander of
USAG Darmstadt. LTC David Astin was home in Wiesbaden for a two-week R&R from his assignment downrange and it was learned
that he and his wife, Jong Un, wished to meet with as many people as possible for an evening.
Jacqui Haggerty, now working in Mannheim, put out the word and asked for ideas for a restaurant to
host LTC Astin and his wife. I, also working in Mannheim, jumped in and offered a couple of locations to meet. It
was finally settled to meet at the Weisser Schwan in Arheilgen.
On Friday evening people began to arrive at 1830 and by the time all were gathered we numbered thirty-five.
I know that we missed contacting some of the other folks still in the area and Jacqui and I apologize for that. We do not
have an email for everyone still here but we did contact as many as we could. We will try to get better at this for possible
future gatherings.
The staff at the Schwan set up a great array for us and we turned out to be the only people in our part
of the restaurant. Everyone had a great time, swapping stories, seeing old friends, and meeting new ones. The evening did
not begin to break up until just before 2300. However, a few folks lingered on until after midnight. As expressed by
LTC Astin;
"...a handful of us (Wolfgang and Karin Peitzsch, Klaus and Birgit Runger, yours truly and Jong Un) stayed
past midnight talking with one another as well as with the waitresses. The one waitress was the wife of the owner, and she
was kind enough to bring us a round of schnapps courtesy of the house."
During the evening LTC Astin was talking to Larry Ford and myself and he mentioned that he would like to
have a BBQ at his house when he returns from his assignment in August. We will keep you posted on this as things develop.
All in all, it was a very good evening. The atmosphere at the restaurant was exceptional, the food was great
and the company was fantastic. We are all looking forward to doing this again.
In closing I would like to stick in the word "LOBSTAH." Now that is lobster for you non-New Englanders out
there. Inge, my wife, and I will be returning to Maine for good in the not too distant future. If we ever get to the reunion
level of these gatherings we will definitely try to host one in Maine. Til then just think, "MMmmmmmm lobstahhhhh!"
