Life Stories

By Ebba Jo Tate Spettel

What do you want your great-grandchildren to know about you? What will they want to pass on to their families? What family secrets will you tell? This memoir was written by a ninety-one year old former army wife and teacher during the pandemic of 2020 when she had extra time to peruse her photo albums and her life. Ebba Jo Spettel became an army wife the day after the Korean War began. She and her husband lived in Germany in the 1950’s, experiencing fears of a Russian invasion during the Cold War. She helped raise four children and established her teaching career. Confronting widowhood at age 52, she adapted to middle age and learned to grow old gracefully with wisdom. Included are many family photos from the 1950’s to 2020 that reveal the customs and fashions of different eras.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Sep 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781663202376

Ebba Jo Tate Spettel

Ebba Jo Tate Spettel was born in 1929, growing up during the Depression in Concord, NC. She received a scholarship to Vassar College, married a West Point army officer, and loved traveling the world. Widowed at age 52, she found solace in her family and as a teacher, gaining wisdom from her life experiences.

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Copyright © 2020 Ebba Jo Tate Spettel.

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ISBN: 978-1-6632-0236-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-0237-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020913514

iUniverse rev. date: 09/08/2020

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LIFE STORIES…BY Ebba Jo Tate Spettel……

Table of Contents

1.   Moving to Germany …1950

2.   Stories About Germany

3.   The Experiment in International Living

4.   My Education

5.   Living at West Point: 1960-1963

6.   The Year We Went to Graduate School

7.   Why I Loved Teaching

8.   What Would Emily Say?

9.   Celebrations

10.   An Unusual Wedding and Marriage

11.   My Chinese Friend

12.   Safari to Kenya 1987

13.   Skiing

14.   Fun in Retirement

15.   Family Cruising

16.   Cruising and Other Trips

17.   World Trip Memories

18.   The Lake House

19.   Grandchildren…A family story of finding my new sister Pat

20.   Dear Loved Ones,

21.   My Husband Chuck: Col. Charles Louis Spettel

22.   Who Am I?

23.   My Children

24.   Challenges of Parenting

25.   My Parents

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Moving to Germany …1950

O n June 24, 1950, I married 2 nd Lieutenant Charles Spettel, West Point class of 1949. The next day, the Korean War started. We were stunned that his orders to Germany remained intact. All of our groomsmen in the wedding went to Korea. Within 3 months, two were dead and one was severely wounded, evacuated to a hospital in Japan.

Chuck’s father, Frank Joseph Spettel, was a member of the West Point class of 1921-22, and the family had lived on many army posts and in Hawaii. His parents and younger brother Tom lived in Berlin during the airlift in 1948 when the Russians blocked all entries into Berlin. A historic event, American planes landed every minute at Templehof airport, bringing food and supplies to the Germans and the occupying forces. Lt. Col. Frank Spettel traded his Buick car to a sergeant who left his Chevrolet in Frankfurt for him. Any way to get out of Berlin and home to the U.S. was fine.

Chuck’s father was in the old army cavalry where some officers owned their own horses. Their neighbors at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, the George Patton family, is an example. Riding to the hounds and playing polo were popular. When I first met Chuck and heard these stories, I thought they were so glamourous and unusual. Indeed they were for a young woman reared in a cotton mill town in North Carolina who knew little about horses. I understood why Chuck enjoyed riding the army mule mascot at football games as a cadet. But I knew very little about army life when I married him, except that I would have to accept a vagabond life, living on posts in government housing not of my choosing, moving every few years. I believed in my heart that he was worth it, and he was.

So, I was thrilled to be moving to Germany with my husband, starting a new life. We travelled 10 days on an old army transport from New York to Bremerhaven along with other classmates and their wives. Accommodations were spartan, with wives separated from their husbands. I took a top bunk bed, sharing a room with three other new brides. I remember one 2nd Lt. complaining to a sergeant, These accommodations are dreadful. My wife is a general’s daughter. The sergeant replied, Well, sir, she is a lieutenant’s wife now. I was beginning to love the army.

We took the overnight train to Augsburg, Germany, where Chuck joined the 3rd battalion of the 2nd armored cavalry. Following in his dad’s footsteps, but now it was tanks. We stayed there a year, then moved to Amberg near the Czechoslovakian border where the guys did border patrol, waiting for the Russians to invade. I am not kidding. We kept a suitcase packed for each family member plus canned food to take with us on a supposed evacuation route to Portugal. I never had much faith in that idea. By now we had an infant daughter Nancy born in Munich in 1951. I shall never forget the New Year’s Day reception at the colonel’s home, an army tradition. All these young officers were celebrating, I can’t believe it. The Russians did not invade during the holidays. Do you suppose they won’t come, after all? By then the army’s mission had changed. We were no longer the army of occupation, keeping Germany’s ex-Nazis in line. We were now Germany’s ally against an expected Russian attack. The Cold War was getting frigid. When the colonel announced this to the battalion, I turned to Chuck and said, So, now it is ‘Be gushy to Germans time.’ That sounds snide now, but I was having difficulty forgiving the Germans for their havoc and destruction, and especially their attempts to annihilate the Jewish people. At age 16, I had been so shocked by the newsreels of the concentration camps that I can never forget it.

What was Germany like from 1950-53? War-torn, rubble still in some streets, people grim, dressed in black and grey. Food for the locals was scarce, as was housing. Many lived in basements. The dollar was worth 4 marks, a bargain for Americans. Germans were