Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

You meet the nicest people in a Ferret

By DR. KNOX HERNDON
Contributing Writer

For those of you who may not know, I have been a military historian and collector for over 40 years. It all started for me when my father returned from the Korean War and I was unloading the backpack he carried throughout the war. As I went through his personal items, I noticed his prayer book he used to assist him in conducting services for solders.

There was also a little bottle with a red lid, containing green peppers and vinegar inside, better known to us Southerners as pepper sauce. You can always know you are back down South when you have to order unsweetened tea in a restaurant, and you will see pepper sauce on the table with the salt, pepper, and napkins. Then next to those items, you will always see either a bottle of red-topped “Texas Pete” or “Tabasco Sauce” on the table. If you don’t see these items, YOU’RE IN THE WRONG RESTAURANT! No bias here, only fact!

As a young boy going through Dad’s pack, it impressed me even at that young age how men and women of our country would leave their families, and the safety of their very own homes, and go off and do such things for someone else in another completely alien country. It seemed to me a sacred thing to put your own desires and needs on a side burner to be picked up at some other time in history. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

One of my last articles was on “Iraq A Quagmire?” I discussed how the world was divided into “givers and takers” and the older I get, that statement becomes more and more true. The people who are the most selfish, are the ones that will construct their lives around the sacrifice of others and ride their sacrificial coattails, but never their own.

Dee and I were serving behind the Iron Curtain from 1977-1980 during the tense Cold War years. We served there with the Allies involving the Americans, British, French and Russian forces who had defeated the Germans to end World War II in the European Theater of Operation. Berlin was a cold place weather-wise. I remember when my wife Dee circled four days on the calendar when we had “sunshine one year.” I’ll never forget the Berliners all ran outside in their bathing suits to catch the four days of rays. We were proud to be a part of the Berlin Brigade that stood firm along with the Allies in West Berlin during the Berlin Air Lift.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been a military collector for years. We take very large authentic “Salute to the Troops, and God and Country” displays throughout the Southeast. If interested in seeing what Dee and I share, go to www.ddaytravelingmuseum.com. We can bring these historical artifacts to your school, church or patriotic civic event. One of the items we display is our British armored scout car called the “Ferret.” This is a post-war four-wheeled vehicle painted in the Berlin Urban Camo Pattern that actually patrolled the Berlin Wall in the Allied sectors.

Earlier this week we were out in our Ferret and went to Dairy Queen for ice cream. My partner, Paul Toth, and I were climbing out of the Ferret when this very nice lady came over to talk to us. At my young age of 61 it is a real treat when a nice lady even says "hello." She spoke with a beautiful accent where I detected some German in her voice, so I broke into my fluently broken conversational German phrases that I had learned.

We have a magnetic sign on the Ferret that tells the basic information like "Ferret 1958, Diamler 6 Cyl. Rolls Royce,” etc., when she said that she worked for Diamler in Europe. How totally cool. Then I asked her what she was doing in Fayetteville and she said her husband was a (are you ready for this) a rocket scientist doing research and teaching at Georgia Tech here in Atlanta. Wow, you meet the coolest people in a Ferret!

Then her husband said something to me that I have only heard one other time from a German. He said, "Thank you and the Allies for staying in Germany all those years so that I would not have to grow up Communist."  Remember the givers and the takers? “Greater love hath no man than this ... ”

This meant a lot to me. Just imagine, here in the parking lot of Dairy Queen in Fayetteville was an actual British vehicle that had patrolled the Berlin Wall; to include people standing there that had actually lived through those times. Thank you if you, or your family members, are part of the givers. The world needs more of you. Iraq is full of givers this very minute. Pray for their safety and their mission there.

(The church’s Web site is under construction and will be up and running shortly.)