Читать книгу ABOVE AND BELOW THE CLOUDS - Harry W Frahm - Страница 9

The author

Harry Frahm, formerly Horst Frahm, was born in Berlin, Germany, to a police officer and his wife. After the war, Berlin was divided into four sectors, British, French, American and Russian. His home belonged to the Russian part. He worked as a professional mechanic on projects the Soviet Union administration was interested in. He was offered a position to move to Russia. Not enthusiastic about it, he decided to go westward. Having relatives in Hamburg made the choice easy. This was at a time before the wall, and travel from east to west was not too difficult, which thousands of people made use of. The problem was to obtain a working permit to be able to stay in the city. At the Arbeitsamt (Office for Labor affairs,) being a mechanic, the permit was denied. He inquired which occupation will get this document and was advised:

“You have to be a motor mechanic and master the English language in order to get a job at the British Forces.” So he left and went to a different line of applicants. When asked for his occupation, he claimed to be a motor mechanic with excellent knowledge of the English language. Of which, the second part, was not a lie. He received the precious permit and was given the address where to report the following day. Luckily no one asked him for his driver’s license, which he did not have, neither did he know how to drive, which would have been very incomprehensible for a motor mechanic. He got the job regardless! To his luck, two men were assigned to work together as a team. He confessed to his coworker the predicament he was in and was assured not to worry. Two hours lunchtime each day, with a hot meal, courtesy of the British Crown, (which was a blessing in itself,) took care of all problems. His teammate showed him how to drive and Harry was left alone with an Army jeep, a perfect vehicle, able to take a lot of abuse from a beginner. Later a jerry-can of gasoline, (better than gold) as payment, produced his driver license. A few months later he became a driver for the same unit at the Royal Navy which was taken over later by the Royal Engineers. Another change took place when he was a driver for British Forces Network. After work he attended an evening school to become an engineer. Some years later, being again with Royal Engineers, he received an offer to get employment with Pan American World Airways, Inc.

The way it was called in those days. Two years thereafter he immigrated to the USA, sponsored by the airline, to become a flight attendant. Until 1988 he flew as purser and took his retirement after 33 years of spanning the globe. Ten years out of New York and the rest out of Miami, where he still resides today.

Edited by:

Stasia Todd