LL-L "Holidays" 2001.12.23 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 23.DEC.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Joachim Reppmann <yogireppmann at yahoo.com>
Subject: Merry Chritmas-on the Sea-and, a Poem!

Frohe Weihnachten: Gitta and I wanted to wish you a
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! -
Caleb Bartley, friend and Northfield student, wrote
us:  "I hope that this holiday season is peaceful and
lets us consider how the course of this year has wound
its way across the board of international and domestic
crises that forced everyone to look within themselves
in ways that, especially our generation, has not had
to do in recent memory.  We have much to be thankful
for." All the BEST and Moin-Moin for 2002!

'Lutjen', German Navy Destroyer, somewhere on the Sea:
An e-mail from a young ensign aboard the USS Winston
Churchill to his parents:

Dear Dad,

We are still at sea.  The remainder of our port visits
have all been cancelled.  We have spent every day
since the attacks going back and forth within
imaginary boxes drawn in the ocean, standing
high-security watches, and trying to make the best of
it.  We have seen the articles and the photographs,
and they are sickening.  Being isolated, I don't think
we appreciate the full scope of what is happening back
home, but we are definitely feeling the effects.

About two hours ago, we were hailed by a German Navy
destroyer, Lutjens, requesting permission to pass
close by our port side.  Strange, since we're in the
middle of an empty ocean, but the captain acquiesced
and we prepared to render them honors from our
bridgewing.  As they were making their approach, our
conning officer used binoculars and announced that
Lutjens was flying not the German, but the American
flag.  As she came alongside us, we saw the American
flag flying half-mast and her entire crew topside
standing at silent, rigid attention in their dress
uniforms.

They had made a sign that was displayed on her side
that read "WE STAND BY YOU".  There was not a dry eye
on the bridge as they stayed alongside us for a few
minutes and saluted.  It was the most powerful thing I
have seen in my life.  The German Navy did an
incredible thing for this crew, and it has truly been
the highest point in the days since the attacks.  It's
amazing to think that only a half-century ago things
were quite different.

Our Favorite Christmas Poem:

          CHRISTMAS

Markets and streets stand empty.
Quiet lights shimmer in every house.
I wander thoughtful through the lanes,
everything looks so festive.

Women put into the windows
colorful toys piously decorated.
Thousand children stand amazed
and full of wonderful happiness.

And I wander outside the gates,
until I reach the open fields,
sublime noble brilliance, holy see to behold,
how so wide and still is the world.

Stars high their circles swing
and arising from the snow's solitude
a spherical singing ascends.
OH, YOU TIME OF SUCH BOUNDLESS GRACE.

By: Joseph, Freiherr von Eichendorff.

=====
Joachim (Yogi) Reppmann
President, American/Schleswig-Holstein Heritage Society (ASHHS)
3 Lincoln Ln.
Northfield, MN 55057
507.645.9161 - Tel
507.663.7929 - Fax
www.moin-moin.com

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