[Joeaksa]

Years ago received a call early one morning from a good friend. Seems that he had done a ambulance flight several months before and they saved the kids life. Couple of months later the kid showed up to the medivac center and thanked Gary and the doctors for his help. He flew the medivac helo in Berlin Germany and still does to this day, a transplanted Texas boy.

The family invited him to dinner if he ever had time, and this happened a few weeks afterwards. They ended up becoming friends and after a bit the family asked if Gary would enjoy meeting their grandfather who fought in WW2. As most of us were WW2 buffs, he of course said yes. This was before the Berlin Wall fell and this entailed a journey through Checkpoint Charlie to East Berlin.

Several weeks later they met at the Grandfathers house in East Berlin. Everyone had a nice dinner and finally they got around to talking about the war. This happened a second time and at the second dinner the older gent asked Gary if he liked shooting and old weapons. Being from Texas of course Gary said yes.

The Grandfather dissappeared for about 15 minutes then returned with a small package, which he set on the dinner table in front of everyone. He slowly unwrapped the package and finally got to a small wooden box.

He opened the box and out came a P08 Luger in mint condition with matching numbers. It was a longer barrel tanker version with the clip on shoulder stock. They all looked at and admired the weapon and then put it back in the box and continued talking about everything. It seems that this was the weapon that the Grandfather was issued in the war and he kept it after the war, hidden in his attic all these years. In East Germany it was forbidden for most private citizens to own a weapon like this (hunting rifles or shotguns yes) so it had not been used in 50 years.

As Gary and the rest of the family left the house that night the Grandfather handed him the package containing the Luger, saying that he really appreciated what he had done, and that he could not be found with the weapon (East Berlin remember) and Gary would enjoy it more. An American in East Berlin during the Cold War, with an American car, with Texas license plates and a very illegal weapon onboard.... He put it in the trunk and headed towards Checkpoint Charlie. God was smiling on him that night and he was not searched.

This is why Gary called me early that morning. Anyone with a military ID could register weapons in Berlin with no questions asked, while a civilian with a weapons permit could have a weapon but the German authorities wanted to know where you received it, or it would be siezed. Gary sold me the Luger for $1 that day and I registered the gun on my military paperwork. Six months later I sold him the gun back for $1 and a beer (had to make some profit!) at which time he legally transferred it to his name on the German system.

Had dinner with Gary last night in Berlin (with Heinz Orlowski, a WW2 FW-190 pilot, look that name up for some history!) and we went over old times and the subject of the Luger came up. He still has it and is still friends with the family whose son he helped save. He also has a Broomhandle Mauser and its fun to go out shooting and compare the two.

Sorry for the rambling post but the Broomhandle shoots very nice but the Luger feels better in your hand. Personally I do not like the Luger for one reason, the spent shells come out of the top of the gun and hit the shooter on the head. Not a problem when wearing a helmet but otherwise well worth wearing a hat. The Broomhandle does not do this and is just as accurate and fun to shoot.