Most people are just ordinary, that is they don’t contribute to advances in science, medicine, engineering, etc. I’m no exception. As an average person, I enjoy the knowledge and conveniences of life in the modern world, the foundation of which was laid by great minds and generations of trial and error.
News happens every day and let’s face it, most of that news is bad. From natural disasters to rumors of war, economic and political upheaval ,not much pleasant to report in the mainstream. For those of us not directly affected by a particular event, it’s easy to tell ourselves, well that’s someone else, somewhere else, albeit tragic.
That being said, as news happens, people fit into one of three categories:
Directly affected Not directly affected Not directly affected, however, having been fortunate enough to have been at the wrong place at the wrong time.
In one instance, my parents, brother and I fit the latter.
In November of 1983 my father was stationed at Ft. Campbell. KY as an MP 101st Airborne division. We lived just across the state line in Clarksville, TN. I was eight years old at the time, that’s about the age where my memory can go back and recollect most events, and I remember I didn’t really enjoy life there. I didn’t like my school or the apartments we lived in. One evening, my dad came home from work to tell us we were going to Germany.
Even at that early age I was overjoyed, wow the prospect of moving out of this dump and going somewhere else! My dad had some leave time and we took the opportunity to visit some of both my mom and dad’s family in Texas, Tennessee and Michigan, before departing to Europe.
We flew out of JFK in New York to Heathrow in London aboard a Pan Am 747, then caught a connector flight to Frankfurt. From there we took a train to Bremen, then to Bremerhaven, where dad was stationed and we lived until July of 1986.
In November of 1983, around the same time my family and I had arrived in Germany, the U.S. and NATO had launched a massive joint exercise labeled’ Operation Able Archer ‘,simulating and testing NATOs response to a Soviet led Warsaw pact invasion of western Europe. This could have very well led to a full escalation and even WWW III. Luckily that didn’t happen or chances are I wouldn’t be writing this blog.
Fast forward to summer of 86, life in Bremerhaven had been a really enjoyable experience, but like all good things, it came to an end when one day dad came home from work and told us we were going back to the states. In stark contrast to my elation of news of moving to Germany in 83, I was really sad. I loved living in Europe, had grown accustomed to being there and wanted to stay
Nevertheless, my mom, brother and I left Germany ahead of my dad, as he still had a few things to wrap up previous to his discharge ( honorable ) . We departed opposite how we arrived, Frankfurt to Heathrow, Heathrow to JFK.
I’ll skip all the mundane details of life after Germany, my parents divorce, living with my dad’s folks. etc. That being said, amongst the time living with my grandparents, on December, 21 1988, Pan Am flight 103, a 747 departed Frankfurt, headed to Detroit via Heathrow was the target of a bomb planted onboard, it detonated and ,tragically everyone on board were killed.
Having flown the same airline, flight path, among the same geopolitical environment and surviving to tell the tale, its still terrifying to think my family and I could just have easily been amongst those unfortunate few to have been at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I’ve considered researching if in fact , I had flown the same 747 as flight 103, but no I’m not, as that is morbid curiosity, and I feel actually disrespectful to all those directly affected, both those who lost their lives and those survived by them.
In closing, being an average guy isn’t so bad. Unlike celebrities and government officials, I can enjoy a level of anonymity lost with status of those positions. Just an average guy amongst epic events.
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