During the winter of l947 - 48, I was stationed with the U.S. Army in Headquarters European Command in Frankfurt, Germany.

On a cold and wet evening I was returning to my army barracks in Frankfurt. Although it was early in the evening, it was already quite dark. I was on a streetcar heading for the barracks, when I saw a terrible accident. Two German cars had crashed on the wet streets. I got off of the streetcar so I could help in case anyone needed me. Then the police and an ambulance arrived so my help was not needed.

As I was watching and getting very wet from the rain, I thought I should hop on a streetcar and head back to the barracks and have my dinner at the mess hall. A German guy came by and asked me what happened. We began talking and soon we were chatting about the accident. The more we watched and chatted, the wetter we both became. He was as wet as I was and we both were cold. We both needed to get out of the rain and into a warm room.

He was a very friendly guy and invited me to his home for a glass of "Glee Wine". This wine is heated a little and herbs are added to it. When one gets chilled the people in Austria and Germany often have a glass of this wine to warm them up. So we got into his car and he drove to his home. He parked his car in a garage that was located in the rear of a fine large home. He said he lived upstairs over the two-car garage when he was in town.

We went up the stairway and entered a very beautiful room. It was just one huge room with very high ceilings. His kitchen and bath were downstairs in the rear of the garage and he had a small patio. This must have been the servant’s quarters for the chauffeur of the family that lived in the big house. He told me he owned the garage and apartment but not the big house. I was in awe as I looked at the beautiful antique furnishings in this apartment. He then gave me a robe to wear so I could get my wet clothing off and could hang them up to dry. He did a strip and put on a robe as well. We sat by the fire to warm up.

Soon he had the wine heating, the herbs in the wine and it was simmering on his stove. As we sipped the wine and warmed up, we got aquatinted. The weather outside did not let up and soon we were having a storm. So he introduced himself as Hans and said he was in business and he traveled to Frankfurt about twice a month to tend to his business there. He and his family lived in another section of Germany. He was married and had children.

Hans asked me if I had eaten my dinner yet; when I told him no, he insisted on fixing our dinners at his apartment. Hans was a good cook and soon he had the dinner on the stove and you could smell the aroma from his cooking. We sat at a corner nook in his kitchen and enjoyed a good "home cooked meal". As we chatted he asked me about myself. I did not want to tell him I was kicked out of my family home when I was 15 because I was gay; I had to make something up. So I told him a