A knife that has travelled around the world.

The Army is tough on wives. I almost became a geographic bachelor during my second Hawaii assignment as my wife nearly didn't return to Hawaii with me. She did return with me though and had a much better experience during my second Hawaii assignment, the type of Hawaii assignment families dream of.

She's fine now and was so shortly after the news of my second reassignment to Hawaii. She just couldn't fathom doing it again --- three years as a single mom with a new born, a two year old, and a five year old and unable to afford travel to see any family and with no family support available. That was basically her experience during our first Hawaii assignment.

We'll have been married 30 years later this year and for most of that I was in the Army. We were separated for my 42 months worth of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan too, but she didn't then have toddlers to deal with by herself nor was she locked on an island and unable to travel. The Army is tough on wives, but she's an extremely strong woman.
 
leghog said:
The Army is tough on wives. I almost became a geographic bachelor during my second Hawaii assignment as my wife nearly didn't return to Hawaii with me. She did return with me though and had a much better experience during my second Hawaii assignment, the type of Hawaii assignment families dream of.

She's fine now and was so shortly after the meltdown. She just couldn't fathom doing it again. Three years as a single mom with a new born, a two year old, and a five year old and unable to afford travel to see any family and with no family support available. That was basically her experience during our first assignment

We've been married nearly 30 years and for most of that I was in the Army. We were separated for my 42 months worth of deployments it Iraq and Afghanistan too but she didn't have toddlers to deal with solely nor was she locked on an island. The Army is tough on wives, but she's an extremely strong woman.
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Glad to hear it! I spent 9 years in the navy and got out shortly after getting married. Not that I don't trust my wife, or myself, but I didn't want to put that strain on her or our relationship. Again, I am not saying anything negative, but I knew that it would be better for both of us, and easier if I were to find a civilian job. We hit 15 years of marriage last July and have 2 boys, 10 and 6. I cannot imagine her taking care of the house and them by herself. She too is a strong woman, but one can only take so much. So happy to hear that your wife did well and your marriage survived those tough years. I know people who gave up on their marriage over much, much less.

Seems like people are more interested in the party than the commitment.

Best of luck tomorrow. I expect there will be a flood of emotions when you meet up w/him.
 
First of all Bill..Great post,thank you for your service,especially on the recovery team.
It has to be pretty rewarding knowing you helped provide closure for all those families.

I also have a Vic Champ I carried around the world in my travels in the Marine Corps,we even crossed the equator in the Indian Ocean back in 80 aboard the USS Saipan.
It doesn't have quite the story yours has,but it is special none the less.

My hat's off to you.
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Enjoy your visit with Kurt.
 
What an incredible story! Thank you for your service and thanks to your wife for her sacrifice. Thank you in particular for your service in recovery and identification of our missing soldiers and the service you provided or the families of those lost men and women. Along with Mykel M above, my hat is off to you and do enjoy your visit with Kurt. I'm anxious to read about how it went.
 
I got nothing, but as a veteran, all i can say is
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thank you for your very special service
 
We had a wonderful time. The restaurant didn't live up to its reputation but that wasn't the reason for meeting, just the venue.

Kurt and his wife, Gisela, who were the hosts (and he let us know early he was the host) were very gracious. That's one thing I remember about Kurt. His graciousness. Extremely intelligent too with a good read of people. The six of us spent about three hours there. Kurt and I doing most of the talking. Apparently he has quite an archive of the operation and has promised to send copes in a couple of months.

I asked if he remembered the knife he gave me. He said he did. He asked, "wasn't it blue?" Then he recalled the conversation and the day and the circumstances when he gave it to me. Much more than I remembered. I then pulled the knife out of my pocket and his face absolutely lit up. I explained it had recently been returned to the Victorinox Service Center for the once over but with an explanation not to replace the logo scale. That please him much as did me having carried it all over the world in the 22 years since he gave it to me. He wouldn't take it back. Said he wasn't an "Indian Giver" which made my wife chuckle. I didn't offer it to the rancher either as it finally struck me (1) just why I carried that knife all over the world the last 22 years and (2) that would I regret giving it to a man with whom I only have a passing acquaintance and (3) Kurt intended me to keep it. This knife will go to one of the kids when the timing is right.

We learned much more about each other. Lots of adventure talk. He really is an amazing man, from his experiences in Germany as a child during WW2, his transplant to an uncle's farm in Virginia after the war and his high school days in Virginia, to his time at CBS and his running of an art gallery in the Bonn area (from which he retired just a few short months ago) after retiring from CBS. The man was even in Afghanistan when the Russians rolled in in 1979.

Kurt will be 78 this year so I expressed how thankful I was to link up with him before the time came he could no longer travel (he comes to the states often as he has a daughter and granddaughter in MA. My wife and I have an open invite to visit them in Germany. We may well take them up on that as my wife is half German and we need to go as much of her family there is aging. I did say we'd like to spend a few days with them, to which he scoffed and told me we should stay the whole time with them.

Kurt and Gisela.
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Kurt and me.
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Outstanding tale of a knife odyssey with great people included. It was right to keep the knife. :thumbup:
 
Great post and an amazing story. Thank you for sharing with us.
 
I was half expecting you to slip it into his pocket or wife's purse in a reverse pickpocket style. That's great that you put in the effort to reconnect with him. With the relative ease that modern conveniences make for finding people this kind of story doesn't happen often enough.
 
Thank you for your service and taking the time to share this amazing story. Very moving...
 
Great story, thanks for sharing and a big THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE! My wife's grandpa was in the Navy and I love listening to his stories when he decides to share them. I'm glad you were able to meet up with your life long friend. That's definitely a book I have to read.

Edit: Ok I just bought the book on my phone and started reading it. :)
 
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Thank you for Your time in service, and all that you and your unit did to bring the missing home. Must have been an emotional roller coaster at times for you folks, I can't even begin to imagine.
Thanks also for sharing the tale of this knife's journey with you, and your re-union with an old colleague, I too am glad that you kept the knife which has so much provenance...
 
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