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SNAPSHOTS OF HEIDE AND PAUL
The tree that refused to grow into but one direction, a character trade that may also easily be
attributed to Heide and Paul. (Photographed at an old French Huguenot cemetery in New Paltz, upstate New York.)
Having traveled and resided in more than 35 nations on three continents, sometimes having intercontinentally relocated three times within a calendar year, many of our personal photographs and keepsake mementos have been lost forever. The few often unassuming and simple black-and-white pictures that are left, we gratefully share with our readers. We sincerely hope that these photographs will mean at least a fraction of the sentiment to them of what they represent to us.
Uncle Hubert had successfully flown all aircraft types that were ever entered into German air force service during and after World War II, among them the first combat-operational jet, the Messerschmitt ME 262 and the American-produced Starfighter.
Uncle Hubert was credited for having trained numerous German World War II flying aces with night-time instrument flying skills. Of his more than 2,000 flight missions, more than 400 were combat missions. His pre-World War II research flying successes included dangerous arctic engine-test maneuvers. Time and again, his air force superiors had to hide and protect him against internal spies, who had found out about his anti-Nazi disposition.
Castle Hohenzollern is the principal hereditary castle also of Frederick the Great. Prior to his final internment at Sanssouci, the great king rested at the central chapel of the Hohenzollern castle. Friedrich Wilhelm Baron von Steuben served as Marshal of the Court within the grand walls of this magnificent edifice prior to his journey to the British American colonies, where he became the drill master for the American Revolutionary Army. The moment one of the Starfighters under Colonel Hubert Lange's maintenance-service care flew past this grand historic structure, which is located near Hechingen in Baden-Wuerttemberg, these three notable personages became linked in time, although this awesome moment may have taken seconds only.
My children, Audrey Annette and Paul II, are the great treasures of my life, who gave me many precious and priceless memories over the years.
Having had to say good bye to them on many occasions, broke my heart every time.
Grandfather Jakob was the most honorable and totally incorruptible individual I have ever known during his entire lifetime. After World War I, he married the widow of his in 1915 fallen closest comrade, extending a father's unmitigated love and care to his friend's then four-year-old son, Hubert Lange.
This photograph was taken by a neighbor in 1942. Mother looks drawn and exhausted as a result of prolonged aerial bombardments. Still, she managed to get me dressed in a new sailor's outfit, unbeknown to her at that time she projected my future a long way off. Mothers have a way of knowing, don't they?
And last but not least in this part of our documentation, I should like to introduce to our esteemed readership my brother and friend, Senior Government Counselor Bernd Hartmut Gulgowski-Doliwa, M.A.
Historic Koblenz, home of the Teutonic Knights, in Latin the city is called "Confluentes" (Confluence, expressing the location where two rivers merge; i.e. the Mosel and the Rhine rivers.) The city of Koblenz is watched over by the ancient fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, visible at the high ground on the eastern bank of "Old Father Rhine."
After graduation from the University of Texas, I commenced my military army career with a Mechanized Infantry Division stationed in Bavaria, Germany.
Duty as a Company Commander is always a thrilling experience, allowing for adventure and travel.
Paul and his driver, a Corporal from Puerto Rico, enjoy being photographed in front of a historic canon in the center of a village close to the lovely Rhine River.
The soldiers of the German Democratic Republic were exceedingly well-trained and disciplined. The photograph above shows them parading during a change of guard ceremony in front of the monument commemorating the victims of Nazi oppression and tyranny.
The vintage photograph above depicts the changing of the Soviet Army Honor Guard in front of the Soviet Armed Forces World War II Memorial. Behind the memorial is a Russian cemetery that has become the final resting place for 400,000 plus Russian heroes who fell in the liberation of the German Capital Berlin during the last days of World War II.
The border-warning sign planted by the federal German border guards, "Halt! Here Border" was both superfluous as well as an understatement. First of all, when one arrived at the inner German border, there was no doubt in one's mind that one absolutely could not go any further and it was no border in a normal sense, but a merciless death strip.
The first obstacle one encountered was a barbed wire electricity-loaded fence. This was followed by a narrow mined strip and an eight-meter tall cement wall. On the other side of this ugly looking wall was another, but much wider, mine field. Then came a foot-patrol path that was patrolled by a loyal, green-uniformed border guard with a snap-happy German Shepherd. This death strip was illuminated during the hours of darkness and in its totality, from the Baltic to Austria, consumed as much electricity as huge metropolitan areas such as the city of Hamburg.
Some place under this eye-sore exclusion zone, to put it mildly, underneath the surface, was Adolf Hitler's last hideout headquarters.
This corridor led from Checkpoint Charlie in West Berlin into East Berlin and was primarily used by the four allied powers when they visited one another, which, over time, happened only very rarely. Liaison work between the "Big Four" had as much as ceased entirely. However, uniformed officers from both sides occasionally visited each others' sectors for sightseeing and possibly also other purposes. Everyone always smiled for the East German border guards' long-lens cameras when passing through this time tunnel, which was monitored by guards stationed in the tall tower seen on this photograph.
A company commander is responsible for his personnel, their security, training, education, operations, logistical support as well as the planning and administration that go along with these tasks. Only God can remember what precisely it was what I was working on when this photograph was taken, but it was certainly a lot. While in garrison, an officer normally never got out of his office prior to 1900 hours and sometimes even later.
However brilliant and efficient a company commander might be, his operational successes depended to a very large measure on his principal non-commissioned officer. First Sergeant (1SG) Max George represented, during his active-duty time, the pinnacle of loyalty to his commander and commitment to duty performance par excellence. The overriding mission for all military leaders on all levels is to accomplish the mission and to take care of their personnel, today, both women and men. 1SG George was the only top sergeant, I have ever known, who had managed to combine the two elements of leadership mentioned above seamlessly into one. As the decorations on 1SG George's uniform clearly indicate, he was a soldier of great courage and high achievement. 1SG George retired with the award of the Legion of Merit, only very rarely presented to non-commissioned officers in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Behind every solidly good military man stands an equally excellent woman. For 1SG Max George this lady is Rosie, as her family members and friends affectionately call her.
This stunningly beautiful and charming lady married her soldier husband, when he was first stationed in Bavaria (Germany). They are now married for 54 years. During that time, she was always exceedingly loyal and supportive of Max's often demanding military career. She traveled the continents to be with him, making his tough military life as pleasant for him as she could. Two upright and successful sons have been born out of this blessed union, both having made a mark for themselves while, like their father, serving their country in America's armed forces and civilian life. Rosie was always there for all of them. Beyond that, she always set a great example for other military wives to immolate. Over the years, Rosie also made a comfortable home for various canine friends, who accompanied the Georges in their quest to keep America safe. This lovely lady is an accomplished hostess and maintains an outstandingly beautiful and cozy home for her family and guests in majestic Colorado Springs, Colorado.
One element of my company enjoys a roadside break while en route to a maneuver area
Although the coffee might be reviving and hot and the donut wholesome and sweet; still, for a military leader, it is lonesome on top, as this picture clearly suggests.
Princess Audrey Annette Gulgowski-Doliwa
Paul is being introduced by his brigade commander to the soon to be installed commander-in-chief of our European Army forces during an officers' club function.
Western Europe is very compact. Only a few hours drive, and one is in another foreign country. Having always had a fascination with the French Foreign Legion, I made sure to observe them on parade in Paris. Guess what, they, too, did not like to be photographed.
The Panama Canal, built by an American Engineer Colonel of German descent, can rightfully be considered as one of the engineering wonders of the world. Colonel Goethals succeeded where Mr. de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal, had failed. The canal is 80 km long and accords over 14,000 ships a year passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic and vice versa. As of this writing, the Panama Canal is being enlarged with European money to accommodate bigger-size ships. Like it or not, when the widened locks and canals are opened to newer and larger ships, they will just have become obsolete again. Things are in the habit of getting larger all the time.
Next to duty on Hawaii, duty in the Panama Canal Zone was considered serving one's nation in a tropical paradise. Soldiers of all ranks were eager to reenlist for their own duty positions as depicted below.
Paul as a guest of popular German President Walter Scheel at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in the Republic of Costa Rica, a small peace-loving nation northwest of Panama. Attendance of such functions was always a pleasure and certainly most enlightening.
All good things must come to an end. This is also true for highly sensitive, but also rewarding command assignments in the tropics. Having once enjoyed the orchard-adorned Southern Hemisphere, nothing that follows it can quite make up for the loss.
Receiving the flag of command is always a gratifying experience. Nothing comes close to it. Leading and training soldiers so they can lift themselves up to higher plateaus of achievement has no equal in the civilian world.
Captain Paul never grew tired to educate his soldiers about the sacrifices of the Russian Army during World War II, making sure they understood that without their tremendous bloodshed and suffering (nearly 8 million soldiers and 14 million Soviet civilians perished), World War II could quite likely have taken another turn.
Princess Audrey Annette and her father, Major Paul W. Gulgowski-Doliwa, lead the procession of Royal Dutch Army soldiers paying their deeply-felt respect for the uncountable victims of National Socialist oppression and cruelty at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp memorial site, the location where also lovely, fragile Anne Frank is reported to have perished.
However great command of men and million-dollar items of equipment may be, there are always equally well-qualified officers who come through the personnel pipeline and claim their right to this exalted experience. Having come to the attention of the commanding general, I was accorded the satisfaction of being assigned to his staff as Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil Military Cooperation.
The above photograph depicts me acting as aide-de-camp and interpreter/translator to my commanding general as he signs the guestbook of the city of Hagen with negotiations being conducted thereafter.
For excelling in her German Gymnasium (High School) studies, Audrey's father rewarded her with the gift of a young German shepherd. The red-underlined quotation above translates as follows: "With a sparkle in her eyes, Audrey Gulgowski was recognized with First Prize honors. Her German shepherd, Armor vom Landwehrsee (Armor of Militia Lake) emerged victorious in his night-time protective-service examination by attaining 73 points."
The commanding general had an open ear for everyone, including for this kindergarten teacher, who voiced some complaints to him that Captain Paul translated. Obviously the little girls and boys, also shown in this photograph, focused on other interests.
Major Paul translates for Four-Star General Kroesen and Lord Mayor Knuth, who, next to other responsibilities, also held the position of President of the German Mayors' Conference. Performing such duties is like having your thumb on the pulse of vital issues that concern important people.
As Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil Military Corporation, I was responsible for integrating my division into the infrastructural fold of the Federal German state of Lower Saxony,
the Free and Hanseatic City of Bremen, the county of Olsterholz-Scharmbeck and various other smaller cities and villages. I was told that the civil military relations and the harmony between our soldiers and our civilian hosts in my area of responsibility were the very best in Central Europe.
After having been decorated with the American Meritorious Service Medal by my commanding general, I (this time without moustache) also received a plaque of gratitude from a civilian dignitary.
The eternally beautiful Hudson Valley in upstate New York, home of the prestigious United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point.
Officers with outstanding records of troop command and staff leadership, who have excelled in tactics and strategy are on very rare occasion assigned to the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. My assignment at that venerable institution of higher military learning was that as professor of German, history and tactics.
Although the above stated portfolio of responsibility was most satisfying, I particularly enjoyed escorting cadets to Europe where they were accorded the opportunity to make acquaintances with junior allied officers. Frequently, these meetings also resulted in lifelong friendships and even marriages.
I took the photograph depicting West Point cadets, both male and female as they obviously enjoyed the company and camaraderie of their German counterparts. As a German linguist and educator, I was particularly pleased to note that my German students were actually able to converse in the German language with the German lieutenants that had been assigned to be their escorts.
While a member of USMA's faculty, I vigorously advanced the idea of expanding the German-American cadet visitation program to a at least one-semester-long cadet exchange program. Now, having visited this military academy with Heide on 9 September 2009, we encountered to our most pleasant surprise German Military Police (Feldjaeger) Lieutenant Anna Schmidt, certainly a very presentable member of the post-World War II German officer corps, who conveyed to us that she was the second Bundeswehr female officer in the program with West Point and the Helmut Schmidt Bundeswehruniversitaet in Hamburg, Germany. She explained further that this exchange program, that I had pioneered 25 years ago, finally came to fruition only in 2004, which goes to show that good things sometimes take a long time to reach maturity.
Never ever in my life had I been accorded the privilege and opportunity to address more than 10,000 battle-hardened veterans from World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War and all the other frequently unknown fire fights our soldiers, airmen, sailors, Marines and Coast Guard personnel have been involved in worldwide. Little did I know then that I would become a member of their always swelling ranks in less than three years down the road.
Young, beautiful and gracious Princess Audrey Annette and young, handsome and strong Mark. Today, Audrey is the mother of five and Mark a retired engineer colonel.
Many outstanding and exceedingly good-looking cadets came to call on Princess Audrey in West Point. However, Armor would only tolerate Mark and, consequently, was therefore responsible for Audrey accepting Mark as her husband-to-be.
Just prior to my departure from West Point and reassignment to the United States Army Europe, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Professor Karl Carstens, bestowed upon me the Cross of Merit First Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for advancing the high societal, cultural, social and military interests of the Transatlantic Community and the NATO Alliance.
Consul General Hartmut Schulze-Boysen presents the German Federal Order of Merit to West Point Professor Dr. Major Paul W. Gulgowski, Ph.D. The insignia of the German Order of Merit can be viewed on Paul's coat-of-arms.
First Lieutenant Harro Schulze-Boysen; he loved his homeland so much that he was willing to fight its unjust regime, which led to his brutal death and also that of his wife, Libertas. Mrs. Libertas Schulze-Boysen, to the last measure of devotion, lived up to the dedication of her given name.
The former German Democratic Republic (DDR) honored Harro Schulze-Boysen by issuing the postal stamp shown below.
During President Carstens' official state visit to the United States of America, on the occasion of the Tricentennial of German Immigration to this land, it was my honor to be responsible for his security while he toured the Eastern Seaboard. He took this occasion to congratulate me on my achievements and, as a personal memento, presented me his autographed portrait with dedication.
This coveted diploma, unassuming as it may appear, certifies possession of advanced military science knowledge, attained in the most hectic and demanding academic learning environment imaginable. This document opens many doors to leadership positions of high responsibility and national trust.
Escorting and briefing allied counterparts is always a high-intensity endeavor. Although, many of these high-ranking officers, some of general-officer rank, come from smaller nations such as The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. They frequently surprise a briefer with their superior strategic tactical and geopolitical knowledge.
Being a defense attaché by military and academic training, holding a Ph.D. degree from the University of Bremen in Northern Germany, I was more often than not summoned to brief and educate my counterparts from Eastern Europe on U.S. Army maneuver activities in Europe to quell their suspicions about the possibility of maneuvers being escalated to staging exercises for the commencement of World War III.
I found senior Soviet military officers to be particularly well prepared for their national security duties. Their savvy in global affairs frequently exceeded that of their Western European counterparts. The two Soviet Air Force colonels depicted above were of that type of caliber. From the very beginning of their inspection tour, they insisted of being protected by German military police (Feldjaeger). However, I also had a surprise for them. Against all their expectations, I managed to fulfill their request on a very short-term basis. Little did they know that I enjoyed cooperative connections all over Western Europe. By the way, after three or four days of our association, I found out that they spoke fluently German. By then the ice was broken and we shared many interesting items of general conversation.
In military life, one must always expect the unexpected. Sometimes the telephone rings in the middle of the night and one is obliged to meet a group of international military observers who are charged to fly to some God-forsaken place to safe the peace or assist in restoring quiet and the absence of unnecessary application of force. Some of these missions one can never talk about during one's lifetime. And this is better so, because no one would believe it anyway. Coincidentally, I don't remember who took this picture.
Honestly, it is a nice feeling being decorated or positively recognized. However, it is greater still, to decorate a fellow officer for his achievement.
Before I was issued my retirement papers and was decorated with my fifth American Meritorious Service Medal, I had time to make a pilgrimage with my new-found love, Heide, to Lourdes, France, to pray to our Holy Mother to be gracious onto us as we had to confront a new and unaccustomed life.
It was delightful to talk to two Italian Carabinieri police officers of non-commissioned rank, who were also participating in this military pilgrimage in Lourdes, where St. Mary had appeared and repeatedly spoken to St. Bernadette. These senior sergeants displayed a pleasant demeanor and seemed to have no care in the world, probably because they enjoyed a lifelong tenure.
There is one decided advantage to navigating the canals of Venice during the winter season: The canals don't reek to the heavens quite as much that time of year.
Our readers' attention is invited to the Navaho Code Talkers in the foreground of this photograph. Few of them still live today, since all World War II veterans begin to keep their dates with their Creator. But, the legacy of the Navaho Code Talkers and those of other tribes continues to endure. Through the movies and the media, everybody in America now knows of their gallant efforts in seriously hindering the enemy of acquiring knowledge of American military movements in the Pacific and European Theatre of operation.
Korean Conflict and Vietnam Area veterans with American Indian tribal affiliations certainly feel at home at the annual Milwaukee Indian Summer Festival and Pow Wow. Although it may be difficult to believe that in some areas of America veterans are not always looked upon with favor or respect, America has great difficulties in honoring those of its veterans who participated in wars that had less than a completely victorious outcome. In Milwaukee, thanks to our Lord, that seems not to be the case.
Heide and Paul after their church wedding at St. John's Military Academy's Victory Chapel, posing with relatives and friends. The relatives and friends not mentioned previously in this article are from left to right: Colonel Ralph Abston, a great soldier and educator; Lady Maria Margarete Hegenscheidt, Heide's mother; from right to left: The late President of the Steuben Society of America, flamboyant and charismatic Mr. Heinz Obry and Mrs. Virginia Obry, the cosmopolitan and indestructible first lady of this venerable German society in the United States of America.
The sweet and self-assured little girl depicted in the photograph above has grown up.
She is now an equally self-assured young lady, who excels in everything she does.
Her scholarship always places her on top of her class and her future shines bright on the horizon of her choice.
Young Baroness Kira Alexandra with her most cherished and cared-for Labrador friend, Benny. No dog enjoys a better life than Benny. He is even immortalized on the family's coat-of-arms.
The Baron Langen Coat-of-Arms
The Baron Langen Family and Kira Alexandra's gentleman friend, Sascha.
Baron Ewald Langen was elevated to the noble rank of Baron in recognition for his lifelong achievement as a multi-faceted humanitarian by His Imperial Highness,
Prince Regent Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh of Vietnam, who is also the hereditary Duke of Kien Hoa.
The young Baroness Kira Alexandra and friend Sascha are two of the most progressive and enlightened young people in their community. Their service to humanity in general is manifested by their dedicated and arduous commitment to volunteer on behalf of the German Red Cross, demonstrating their leadership by example, even on weekends and holidays, when the rest of many citizens prefer to stay at home or relax while enjoying leisure-time activities. We wish Kira and Sascha all the happiness in the world and the successes they seek.
This photograph shows me flanked by two honor cadets while attending a function of the Steuben Society of America in Washington, D.C.
The first couple of the Steuben Society of America, which was founded in 1919, sponsored the traveling and lodging costs for the two handsome cadets featured above.
Virginia and Heinz Obry represented always the epitome of generosity, hospitality and helpfulness from which Heide and I benefited immensely over the years. After Heinz's passing in 2005, Virginia continues to be a staunch supporter and organizer within the Steuben Society of America and her personal attributes continue to shine through undiminished.
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