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PARTISAN REVIEW
street. A driver in a Volkswagen van sounds his horn angrily as he
passes and for a minute or two there is a good deal of shouting and
fist-waving among the soldiers.
"Strange to see them here," Cecilia says, staring.
"Yes . Unfortunate too," Philip says.
They are stationed at a nearby army base, Philip explains,
probably employed in guarding one of the United States military in–
stallations. It might even be a nuclear weapons site, he isn't certain.
Cecilia has been reading about recent anti-war and anti-United
States demonstrations in Germany, in the
Herald Tribune.
The Green
Party is planning an ambitious fall offensive- the hostility to the
American military is increasing all the time . She feels sorry for these
soldiers, she says, so far from home, so young... . They must feel
totally confused and demoralized, like soldiers in Vietnam. And so
many of them are black.
"Yes. It's unfortunate," Philip says, urging her along. "But the
situation isn't at all analogous to Vietnam."
A heavy-set black soldier is staggering about in the street,
clowning for his buddies and two very blond girls, German teen–
agers perhaps, who are whistling and applauding him. Cecilia slows,
watching them. She feels an odd prick of guilt-or is it a confused
sort of compatriotism, complicity? The soldiers are here, stationed
in West Germany, thousands of miles from home, only because they
are in the service of their country; protecting, in a manner of speak–
ing, private citizens like Cecilia Heath and Philip Schoen. It is a
sobering reflection to think that, if necessary, the men would die in
that service . ...
When they are some distance away, headed back toward the
Neue Mainzerstr. and a more congenial part of town, Philip says :
"We're only about one hundred miles from the East German border,
don't forget. It's easy to forget, in a place like Mainz."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that our soldiers are political hostages of a sort, under
the protection of the United States military. Their presence isn't very
agreeable to anyone but it is necessary."
"'Hostages'. . . ?"
"The fact that there are thousands of American soldiers in West
Germany makes it less likely that the Soviets will attack: it's as sim–
ple as that."
Cecilia draws away slightly to look at her companion . She can–
not determine whether Philip is speaking ironically, or with a certain
