From the S&S archives:
'Up close' with the president

BERLIN — To Staff Sgt. David W. Carruthers, having a U.S. president drop by to thank him for his work is something special.

Carruthers, an emergency operations center desk sergeant assigned to Berlin, is scheduled to fly to the United States today.

Late Tuesday afternoon, he stood in the shade of a scrawny tree at the back of the McNair Barracks parade grounds, about as far as he could be from President Clinton and still look at him straight on.

"This is my first chance to see the president up close and personal, as personal as it can get," the Oakland, Calif., native said. He added, however, that his wife, Patricia, probably was getting better pictures from the grandstand.

He volunteered to help keep things running smoothly at the Berlin Brigade and the U.S. Army in Berlin's inactivation ceremony Tuesday, held on the same sunsoaked parade field where the command held its final July Fourth parade last week.

For his part, Clinton, wrapping up a two-day visit to Germany, praised the brigade for its decades of service and recalled individual acts of courage, such as the soldiers who leapt over the Berlin Wall in 1964 to rescue an East German whom border guards had shot and wounded.

"Few moments in the life of a nation are as proud as when we can thank our sons and daughters in uniform," he said. Referring to the 100,000 U.S. servicemembers who served in Berlin over the past 49 years, Clinton added later, "They would have been the first casualties in the world's final war, but they never flinched."

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl thanked the troops for their service, and called their departure the end of a historic chapter in German-American relations. He called attention to a memorial tablet that would be placed on the Army post as a reminder of the brigade's presence in the city.

Kohl also told Clinton that their east-to-west symbolic stroll through the Brandenburg Gate earlier in the day was for him the high point of an exciting presidential visit.

Gen. David M. Maddox, commander of the U.S. Army Europe, noted 'the brigade's recent service in Iraq, Turkey, Macedonia and other crisis zones.

"And now, they're finally going home," he said.

As the ceremony ended, a UH-1 Iroquois helicopter flew over the parade grounds, dropping small parachutes as a reminder of its earlier mission.

The aircraft, named "The Spirit of Steinstucken," was the supply lifeline to the tiny village of Steinstucken, a part of West Berlin that was cut off from the rest of the city when the Berlin Wall rose in 1961.

Maj. Christopher G. Essig, commander of the local military community, was one of several unit commanders who greeted the president during the ceremony.

"I just shook his hand and said thanks," he said.

"Obviously he had his business downtown, but the Berlin Brigade symbolizes our presence in Germany," Essig said, when asked why Clinton had chosen to honor the brigade above all other U.S. units departing Germany. "So I think it's fitting that the president came. I'm glad that he did."

Robert Scheid and Alan Lindsay, freshmen at the nearby John F. Kennedy School, attended with an unusual form of sunscreen — part of the U.S. flag painted on their faces.

"Clinton waved at me. He saw me. I know he did," Lindsay said.

Scheid said he came to watch his father march in the parade, and because "I always wanted to see a president someday."