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	“I remember my parents had the windows rolled down in our car, and the people threw chocolate in our car, and the first western chocolate I tasted was "Hanuta," and I will never forget those pictures for as long as I live. ” Peggy Morrison Vienna, VA
	“I wouldn�t have had the Cold War be extended one more day. We are so lucky it never went hot. ” Peter W. Liander Staten Island, NY
	“Great, I thought, another one of those dumb films showing the Wall coming down, or the East invading, or the West taking over, or something. ” Ulrich Hacker Camino, CA
	“It seemed a horrible inconvenience that I would have to make the best of. Instead, it was a wonderful coincidence for me (the grown-up German major) to be in Germany when the Wall came down! ” Leslie Friedrich Houston, TX
	“When we re-grouped to attack again we were given the news of the Wall coming down. There were a lot of hesitant looks between the soldiers and a lot of �can we go home now� questions. ” Brian Brown Palatine, IL
	“On the other end I heard the voice of my supervisor, totally out of breath, almost shouting. �Aren't you from Berlin, Germany?" I responded, yes, indeed I was, and he told me to turn on the old TV. ” Doris Eck Manville, NJ
	“After a short walk through Eschwege and ogling over kiwis, we returned to the border. We actually asked the humble and ridiculous question to an officer of the East German customs office if we may please return again. Our stomachs turned at those words, but we had to, needed to, must return for my dad�s sake. ” Janet Ullrich-Theriot Lafayette, LA
	“The next day, November 10, a Friday, was dress-down day in our office, meaning we could wear blue jeans and casual shirts…. I pointed out that I was wearing black, red, gold in honor of the event of the previous day ” Waltraut Lehmann Shoreline, WA
	“On the evening of the 9th of November, I was at work and we had a television turned to the American channel, AFN. An announcer came on and announced that East Berliner's were happily rushing through the gates into the West! ” Michael Laverty Manassas, VA
	“We had no idea were we were. West Berlin was whited out on our maps. A taxi took us free of charge to the heart of the city, Kurfürstendamm. All pubs were open; it was one huge party ” Jens Pfefferkorn Fair Oaks, CA
	“Once I walked past the Checkpoint Charlie military post, I took a cab back to my hotel in West Berlin. On the way, the cab driver�and Berlin cab drivers are great conversationalists�asked me if I had heard that the Wall was going to open at midnight” Juan Walte Alexandria, VA
	“After we drove to our host family for the night, we were greeted graciously and talked until late in the night, exchanging ideas, memories of the last few days and hopes for the future” Kai-Uwe Adebahr Lakewood, WA
	“The fall of the Wall was not about tearing down one border but a fundamental crack in the mental walls that divided the East from the West. And while I was very happy about this, I was sad because I was 9,000 kilometers away and could not share the happiness with my German friends.” Steven Schneider Hugo, MN
	“Following the first weekend after the fall of Berlin Wall, I drove to Dallas, Texas, to celebrate its demise with my family and our German-American friends. Like those East Germans, we were having the best time of our lives, too.” Oliver Markwirth San Francisco, CA
	“Many, many cars in Chicago were honking horns and the drivers giving V for victory signs all over. Believe me, Chicago, which has many residents of German descent, celebrated too.” Erich Krausser Palatine, IL
	“[W]e were shocked, we just couldn�t believe and digest what we were hearing and seeing. And then we started laughing, crying and dancing at the same time.” Gabriele Beaudin Arlington Heights, IL
	“I felt both sad and happy for the many years of not being able to be part of the other Germany and yet being young enough to take advantage of all the opportunities that were just about to offer themselves to me.” Monika Hohbein-Deegen Berlin, WI
	“Unlike the violent and deadly earthquake I had experienced in Berkeley just a few weeks before November 9, the political quake at the Berlin Wall was peaceful, hopeful and daring in a beautiful way.” Katja May Sammamish, WA
	“My brother and my friends (...) went to the Brandenburg Gate in the middle of the night because they realized something historic was going to happen. I could only watch the news coverage from Oklahoma, speechless about what I saw.” Fabiola Janiak-Spens Norman, OK
	“When I left my house the next morning I was stunned. Thousands of East German visitors had �arrived� and were hustling through the western part of the city.” Marco Mielcarek Seattle, WA
	“The emotions, joy and happiness we saw citizens and, in some cases, families express in being able to meet and greet one another without political and physical barriers was overwhelming.” Steven Steininger Gelnhausen, Germany
	“I don’t remember whether we hugged or shared the champagne; I only remember floating up and down the Kurfürstendamm that night in a wave of people overjoyed” Tanja Beshear Lafayette, CO
	“What I barely realized myself, is that my relief stemmed from the feeling that much guilt was lifted from my shoulders at that moment as well.” Rolf Schulze San Diego, CA
	“Then the Wall came down. I realized the cold and wet nights I had spent in Germany were all worth it.” Frank Liebmann American Fork, UT
	“All day the phone kept ringing. My many West German relatives checked in with concern and advice. "You are NOT going back there, are you?!" Helga Ehudin Washington, DC
	“Well, we had been driving quite a distance and could not possibly have seen the news that night. It hit us like a brick!” Maximiliane Brenner Goose Creek, SC
	“While our German relatives complain a lot about the cost of this whole thing, in reality the German Government (West German) bit the bullet and did the right thing.” Ralph Riemensperger Franklin Square, NY
	“I had been stationed in the American Berlin Brigade from 1966 to 1969 and had been back and forth quite a few times between East and West Berlin.” James Bullard Alhambra, CA
	“Cities, landscapes, and cultural milestones I had known only through pictures and my imagination have come to life with a vividness that I can only hope has communicated itself to my students.” Donald H. Crosby Springfield, VA
	“At the Brandenburg Gate, at 10 a.m. it was bitter cold, but there was the party.” Richard Fischer Foxboro, MA
	“And then something happened I had never envisioned in my wildest imaginations: an East Berliner taxi rolled across the border into West Berlin.” Udo Gorsch-Nies Ashland, OR
	“I noted a hole already chiseled entirely through the Wall and stuck my arm through, reaching around to feel the DDR-side Richard Schade Cincinnati, OH
	“It was almost impossible to believe that this momentous event had occurred without Soviet and/or Warsaw Pact military counter action and bloodshed.” Richard F. Pendleton Huntsville, AL
	“The hammering, singing, climbing, and celebrating thereafter were wonderful, but for me no match for that broadcast.” Richard King Madisonville, KY
	“My initial idea was that there was a soccer game somewhere I didn't know about�. it would explain why everybody was waving a German flag in one hand and champagne in the other.” Heymo Vehse Bowling Green, OH
	“At one o’clock in the morning I connected with them (it was hard to get through to Germany that night), and we talked and talked and cried together.” Brigitte Krummel Lawrence, MI
	“They let the people pass’ was all I needed to hear to find the next phone to call my then boyfriend to find out what the scoop was.” Julia McLaughlin Boynton Beach, FL
	“I promised myself that I would not go back until the Wall came down.” Frauke Simon Ann Arbor, MI
	“My American friends were so in awe with these few small pieces of grey concrete with some yellow and purple graffiti stains on it.” Christiane Frasca Port St. Lucie, FL
	“I can say that seeing a wall torn down was the greatest honor I could ever receive.” John Richardson Newnan, Georgia
	“We were amazed to see people lifted up upon the Wall where they would have been shot just two months earlier.” Claudia Bell Glens Falls, NY
	“I may say the bonds of friendship between us were created by the wall through Europe, as contradictory as that sounds.” Chalmers Hardenbergh Yarmouth, ME
	"I told all my friends and colleagues that this was the beginning of the end of the American military presence in Germany." Pete Williams Louisville, KY
	I spent the next three days at the wall experiencing history—even attacking the wall with an iron crowbar, breaking out pounds of rock as historical mementos. Sheldon Curtis New York, NY
	I was working in my office here in Lancaster on that great day. One of my people came in and said to me: “The people of Berlin are breaching the wall at this minute!” Herwig Schutzler Lancaster, PA
	“Listening to the hymns that evening to mark Germany’s reunification reminded me of my heritage!” Annemarie Bryan Potomac, MD
	And then, one of us came out with a word which none of us had dared using so far: “REUNIFICATION!” We stood there, frozen with our mouths open. Christian Seebode San Francisco, CA