Berlin Brats Alumni Association Newsletter April 2009 Volume 6, Issue 2 Berlin Topples Wall all Over Again to Celebrate Anniversary Berlin officials are counting on the domino effect as the city celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall this November. Over 1,000 2Oth ANNIVERSARY eight foot tall Styrofoam tiles will be stacked along a 1.2-mile section of the former border between Potsdamer Platz and the iconic Brandenburg Gate and of the FALL of the toppled during celebrations on November 9, 2009. While the Berlin Wall stood for 28 years before it came down on November 9, 1989, the dominoes will be BERLIN WALL set up on November 7th and collapse in about a half hour during the November 9th “Freedom Fest” celebrating the fall of the Wall. www.mauerfall09.de (***Attendees of “Homecoming 2001” may remember we, the Berlin Brats, did a similar project to compete against other Michael Mieth paints a domino tile in Berlin DoDDs school for the “School Spirit Award.” Under the (© picture-alliance/dpa) creative eye of Cate Speer ‘85, we built the Berlin Wall out of uniformed cardboard boxes. One side of the wall had The dominoes are to be decorated by students and young artists in “Berlin” stamped on each brick (each box) with the other side Berlin and around the world with motives relating to the fall of the of the wall appearing blank. As Homecoming attendees entered Berlin Wall. Students can apply to participate by submitting an the Exhibit Hall.....they were handed a sharpie and asked to application including a sketch on the project’s Website. Companies “tag” the Wall. Then at the end of our reunion weekend, our can also sponsor dominoes. On May 29, apprentices at a painting Wall, just like the real Wall, was dismantled with attendees each contractor and students at the Leibniz Secondary School will kick getting to take home “their own tagged piece of the Wall.” off the campaign by painting the first tiles, which were sponsored Needless to say.....our “pro-active Wall” won the competition!!!! by property developer Michael Weise. About twenty of the domi- noes will be decorated by artists in other parts of the world where closed borders and division have been part of everyday life. In May, the Goethe-Institut will ship dominoes to South Korea, Cy- press, Yemen and other countries to be decorated by artists, intellectuals and young people. The General Secretary of the Goethe-Institut, Hans Georg Kopp, said “The ‘Traveling Wall’ points symbolically to the global realities of isolation and division.” The international dominoes and a selection of the tiles decorated in Germany will be placed on display in Goethe-Instituts in Germany, and all of the dominoes are to be documented in a book. What’s Inside This Issue on Page 17 Berlin Brats Alumni Association Newsletter 2 Michael Ferriter ‘75 Home from Iraq, Awarded the Bronze Star Photos have been provided by Jerwin Ruazol, CPT, MI Aide de Camp to the Deputy Commanding General for Operations, XVIII Airborne Corps. Below is the Narrative Accompanying the Award for the Bronze Star. NARRATIVE TO ACCOMPANY THE AWARD OF BRONZE STAR MEDAL TO MAJOR GENERAL MICHAEL FERRITER MAJOR GENERAL MICHAEL FERRITER, UNITED STATES ARMY, DISTINGUISHED HIMSELF BY EXCEPTIONALLY SUPERIOR MERITORIOUS SERVICE AS THE DEPUTY COMMANDING GENERAL FOR OPERATIONS, MULTI-NATIONAL CORPS-IRAQ, FROM 28 JANUARY 2008 TO 4 APRIL 2009 IN SUPPORT OF OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. DURING THIS PERIOD, MAJOR GENERAL FERRITER DISPLAYED OUTSTANDING PROFESSIONALISM AND TALENTED LEADERSHIP IN ADDRESSING HIS DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES WHILE SUPPORTING THE MISSION OF THE XVIII AIRBORNE CORPS IN IRAQ. HE SERVED DILIGENTLY AS THE COMMANDING GENERAL’S LEAD FOR PLANS, OPERATIONS AND INTELLIGENCE FUSION, EFFECTS SYNCHRONIZATION, INFORMATION OPERATIONS, STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, RECONCILIATION, AND COUNTER IED EFFORTS. MAJOR GENERAL FERRITER MANAGED THE CORPS’ SONS OF IRAQ PROGRAM; A GROUP OF IRAQI CITIZENS MADE UP OF FORMER INSURGENTS THAT TURNED AGAINST AL-QAIDA IN ORDER TO BRING SECURITY AND STABILITY TO THEIR FAMILIES AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAQ. ALTHOUGH THE SON’S OF IRAQ PROGRAM WAS ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED TO BE A SHORT TERM MEASURE, UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MAJOR GENERAL FERRITER, THE PROGRAM MADE SUCH SIGNIFICANT IMPACT TO SECURITY THAT IT WAS EXTENDED AND GREW TO APPROXIMATELY 99,000 PARTICIPANTS. HIS EFFORTS WERE CRITICAL IN HELPING OBTAIN NATIONAL RECON- CILIATION. AS THE LEAD FOR INFORMATION OPERATIONS MAJOR GENERAL FERRITER PROVIDED ESSENTIAL GUIDANCE AND LEADER- SHIP THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE BATTLE IN INFORMATION SPACE AND OVERSAW KEY ISSUES AND REVIEWED OVER 5800 PRODUCTS IN SUPPORT OF COUNTER INFORMATION OPERATIONS AGAINST A VIRAL ENEMY. HIS EFFORTS HELPED THE CORPS EDUCATE THE POPU- LACE AND THWART AL-QUIDA IN IRAQ’S ABILITY TO RECRUIT NEW MEMBERS AND MAINTAIN ITS BATTALION, THE 504TH BATTLEFIELD SURVEILLANCE BATTALION THE 304TH CIVIL AFFAIRS BRIGADE, TASK FORCE TROY, 7 JOINT CREW COMPOSITE SQUADRON - ONE. HIS LEADERSHIP IN EVERY FACET OF FULL SPECTRUM OPERATIONS WAS DECISIVE IN THE OVERWHELMING SUCCESS OF MULTI-NATIONAL CORPS-IRAQ DURING OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM 08-09. THE DISTINCTIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF MAJOR GENERL FERRITER REFLECT GREAT CREDIT UPON HIMSELF, THE MULTI-NATIONAL CORPS - IRAQ, AND THE UNITED STATES ARMY. Left to Right: Mrs. Jill Biden, Major General Michael Ferriter, Mrs. Margie Ferriter, and Vice President Joe Biden. This photo was taken on April 8th, 2009 in XVIII Airborne Corps Headquarters (Fort Bragg, NC) during a small ceremony in which the Bronze Star was presented to MG Ferriter. The photo above was taken this past Spring in Northern Iraq, after a Sons of Iraq Meeting. In the front row on the left (wearing the beige suit) is Major General (retired) Muzhir Al-Mawla. He worked very closely with MG Ferriter and is a major contributer to the success of the Sons of Iraq program. MG Ferriter is in the middle and on the far right is Brigadier General James Nixon, the Deputy Commanding General for Operations in the 25th Infantry Division (ID). The 25th ID is currently responsible for Northern Iraq and is also known as Multi-National Division, North. Pope Air Force Base, NC on April 5th, 2009. It was the first time in 15 months that the XVIII Airborne Corps flag was flown on US soil with its commander, signifying a completed mission in Iraq (for XVIII Airborne Corps). The military formation is composed of the XVIII Airborne Corps Command Group and primary staff officers. In the very front is Lieutenant General Lloyd J Austin and behind him from left to right is Major General Michael Ferriter, Major General (at the time Brigadier General) Daniel Allyn, Brigadier General Joseph Caravalho, and Colonel Shawn Mateer. Berlin Brats Alumni Association Newsletter 3 Story submitted by: Michael Ferriter ‘75 Home from Iraq, Awarded the Bronze Star November 22, 1963 issue of the Tabulator John J. Harris ‘71 provided by Toni (Yarbrough) Combs ‘71 Annual Football Awards Dinner What do the Ramones and Berlin American High School have in common? Douglas Glenn Colvin 1970 better known as Dee Dee Ramone, who was the founding bassist and songwriter of the pioneering punk band the Ramones and was a Berlin Brat!!!!!! Principal Calvin R. Trice receives USAREUR Class C Trophy Here are some excerpts from an article by Jon Pareles in June of 2002. from Lear Von Koch ‘64 and Lee Angel, Class of ‘64 Dee Dee Ramone was the punkiest member of the Ramones, the four-man Oldest German Penny Sells for 34,000 Euros band begun in 1974 from Queens that defined punk rock. He had a gift for A tiny silver coin thought to be “the oldest writing the kind of terse, tuneful songs German penny,” the denarius coin was minted that made the Ramones a worldwide between 747 and 751 under King Pippin III of influence on rock. He wrote punk-rock the Franks (714-768) to replace coinage of the standards including ‘’Teenage Loboto- ancient Roman Empire and was rediscovered my’’ and ‘’Rockaway Beach,’’ songs that in 1981 in dirt in the western city of Trier. distilled frustration, humor and pleasure About 5 to 10 of them could buy a horse at the into a few words and a few chords. His time they were issued. The coin sold at auction later songs, like ‘’Poison Heart’’ and Coins young and old in the city of Dortmund on February 9 for ‘’Too Tough to Die,’’ grew darker but no (© picture-alliance/dpa) 34,000 euros ($44,000). less concise. After he left the Ramones in 1989, tired of touring, he continued to While Roman coins are common, numismatists regard Pippin’s penny as the first write songs for the Ramones, even as he specimen of independent coin issues in Germany. recorded solo albums. Germany phased out its last pennies, or Pfennige, in 2002 when the euro became legal tender. They were replaced by the tiny, shiny, copper-toned euro cents. In 2002 the first year they were eligible, the Ramones were inducted into the The auction company WAG said the buyer was a private collector in western Germany. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. continued on page 4 Berlin Brats Alumni Association Newsletter 4 After initially thinking the Douglas Colvin was born in Fort Lee, Va. His “Florian” mentioned below was our father was in the United States Army, and the family spent time in Korea, Japan and then Ger- very own Florian Weiss from the many, where Douglas grew up. Allied Museum-and Honorary ‘71 Brat we learned ...from our Florian: He wrote his autobiography, ‘’Lobotomy,’’ in which he wrote about his Berlin years, 15 The Ramones story was quite funny. years in Berlin according to Wikipedia.