Ending the Adventure in Germany

Juliana and I are quickly approaching the end of our two-week vacation. When I go back to work at the “Ablast,” I will be a short timer. I will have less than 60 days left in Germany. Leaving Venice, we travel to Rome and the Vatican. It is here that things start getting complicated. Leaving the Vatican, we go to Paris and then home to Heidelberg. If you have read any of my stories about the adventures I shared with Juliana, you would rightfully wonder about our relationship. It may seem to be an idyllic relationship, why not marry and stay in Germany. Well that is the end of the story.

The Vatican is the wealthiest institution on earth. The value of treasures containing precious metals, gemstones, and artwork is immeasurable. I voiced my wonderment to Juliana. How could this institution, supposedly the church Jesus ordained, have this tremendous wealth while so many children, even in Italy, go to bed starving. Juliana is Catholic and this was probably the wrong thing to say because it got her started. Juliana parents practiced different religions. Her mother was Catholic French and her Father was Lutheran German. At the age of four, Juliana began attending a Catholic boarding school. At a very young age, Juliana endured sexual molestation. The molestation enacted by certain Nuns consisted of inappropriate feeling and touching. It occurred so often that Juliana grew up believing this to be normal behavior. When she turned 16, she decided that she wanted to be a ballerina. This decision met with disapproval from both her mother and the Catholic school. Her father told her to go for it and Juliana traveled to Austria to study at a dance academy established by the American modern dance performer Isadora Duncan. After graduation, she accepted a position as staff at the school.

While there, at the age of 18, she met a dashing young American Army captain. The captain’s name was Richard Chadwick. Richard was an up and coming army officer and he was Jewish. Her mother and her church disapproved of the marriage. The Catholic Church formally excommunicated her from the church. In 1968, Richard volunteered for airborne infantry duty in Vietnam. While there, he was part of a terrible mistake. The 101^st Airborne’s commander wanted to do an airborne drop. An attempt to parachute a battalion of the 101^st airborne was a complete disaster. The purpose was to land troops behind the North Vietnam regulars surrounding the Marine base at Khe Sahn. In order to clear out the landing zone, a company of combat engineers entered the area first. High winds and poor navigation during the jump caused soldiers to miss the landing zone. The thought of an airborne operation in jungle conditions seems insane, and it was. The NVR knew they were there because of the combat engineers’ activity and bombing implemented to clear the landing zone. At last count, over 75 young soldiers died while hanging in the trees with no way to defend themselves. The company of engineers and infantry from the 173 airborne rushed to their rescues. A young engineer sergeant saved Richard. During that time, Richard was a major and should never have been on the jump, but he needed an infantry combat badge, so he volunteered to lead the mission. After the near death event, Richard had become a different man. Although ambitious with his sights set on a star, he felt he was missing something in life.   

Richard’s next assignment was his normal foreign assignment—Germany. His assignment was at Seventh Signal brigade at Coleman barracks in Manheim, Germany. With his pull in the army hierarchy, he was assigned to seventh signal brigade. Richard and Juliana had known early in their marriage that she could not have children. The thing missing from Richard’s life was children of his own. He told Juliana that he needed an annulment. This totally devastated Juliana and it is at this point that I met Juliana at a cocktail party. I was tending bar and a drunk major accompanied her. She took me home and left the major, who was later demoted to staff sergeant.

Juliana’s mother is delighted with the possibility of a church sanctioned annulment. Juliana contacted the priest who christened her. He requested that she come to his office. He told her that he could grant the annulment and have the excommunication lifted if she would do him one favor. He wanted her to “Play as Eve before the fall to his Adam.”  Juliana told him to go to hell (in so many words). She also said that the proudest thing she will ever receive in her life is the excommunication order. After this trauma, she called and asked me to go Lake Constantine with her. She set down some rules for our relationship: 1. I could never say, “I love you.”  2. We would be together for the rest of my tour and then we would go our separate ways. 3. Any time I wanted out, all I had to do was say goodbye. 4. She needed a friend first. 5. I would hold her when she needed someone to hold her, which would be often. 6. I would teach her what I knew and she would teach me what she knew. And so, the two years passed.

In her farewell letter, which I was not to read until I was on the plane, she explained some other things. The most moving to me was that she said it was very unkind of her to tell me that I could never say, “I love you,” but it was necessary. She told me that she was deeply in love with someone else but she needed the time with me in order to come to terms with her new life. She told me that I was the last man who would make love to her. She had struggled with her homosexual side for years and truly believed it to be her true path to happiness.  She apologized if that revelation hurt me but explained that she must tell me the truth. I have never heard from her since I boarded the plane for the United States of America. Many of the things I have written have brought me many happy memories. I need to recount this so that I would remember those two years forever. I have a good life now with a wonderful wife and six dogs and countless cats. I have lived.    

©Michael L. Wright