and Stefan Schuler.” He slid papers and documents to the couple and said, “You are now Joseph and Jane Wolffe.”
The Schuler’s looked at their new identity papers. Sykes was about to explain a little about what work Joseph would do in the USA and where they would live; when he looked at the baby.
“Goddamn!” he exclaimed, then read the folder again, and noticed something amiss. He looked at the couple and smiled. “There is nothing in mentioned in here about the baby,” he said, feeling stupid over how he could have overlooked this.
Sykes sighed and thought for a moment. He knew with all the turmoil in Germany, paperwork was the last thing on any Germans mind, but the U.S. government had made exceptions for anyone under Operation Paperclip.
“That won’t be too much of a problem.” he said, “I’ll just make him a U.S birth certificate.”
Sykes left the office and returned a few minutes later with a blank document. He sat and with his pen in hand asked,
“Okay, “What do you call him?”
The couple had not considered the baby’s name with all the chaos going on around them. They looked at each other, then at Sykes.
Stefan shrugged and said, “We haven’t yet chosen a name”
After an awkward silence as the three smiled at one another, Stefan broke the silence and asked, “What is your first name, Lieutenant Sykes?”
Lieutenant Sykes, looking confused, said, “George… George Sykes.”
Stefan looked at his wife, who nodded.
“George it is then,” Stefan said and continued, “George Wolffe.”
Lieutenant George Sykes smiled as he wrote the name George Wolffe in the relevant boxes.
Stefan and Martina told him George’s date of birth and as they were due to settle in Pennsylvania once in America, he wrote Newtown as the place of birth. After filling in the form, he left the room and went to another office for it to be typed and authorised.
He returned to the room and told them about Stefan’s new job and their new home until a woman arrived with a typed and stamped U.S. birth certificate.
“That is all we need to do here.” Said Sykes and looking at his watch told them, “I will take you to your sleeping quarters. You need to get some rest, it will be a long day, and you have an early start,” said Sykes.
He stood up and shook Stefan’s hand, smiled at Martina and said, “Please remember professor, from this point on, you are Joseph and Jane Wolffe.” He tickled the sleeping baby’s chin, and added, “And let’s not forget, baby George Wolffe.” He smiled and told them, “Take good care of yourselves and good luck in the U.S.A.”
* * *
George Sykes felt bored. He’d had a tiring day escorting and interviewing people, although he felt good about the new Wolffe family.
‘A little highlight, to make a shitty job and a monotonous day worthwhile,’ he thought while driving his Willy Jeep around the rubble of Berlin’s pot-holed roads. Several streetlights powered by emergency generators illuminated the road. Sykes felt lonely and homesick but did not want to return to the barracks yet, so he stopped at a small café near the Berlin hospital. Seeing lights piercing through the boarded-up building, he thought. ‘I’ll grab a coffee real quick.’ He turned off the engine and went inside the small café.
People were sitting down chatting and drinking. The talking ceased when George entered and an uneasy silence fell upon the café as Sykes walked to a small empty table and took a seat. He appeared to be the focus of attention as the customers glared at him. He tried to catch the waitress’s attention, who he noticed was a little overweight with harsh features.
‘A veritable pig in knickers,’ thought George and chuckled.
Determined to get a cup of coffee, he raised his hand and shouted, “Coffee over here, please.”
The German customers looked on in disgust at this brash Yank. Sykes noticed that most of the customers wore either doctor’s white coats or nurse’s uniforms. Deciding that he’d had enough of rude Germans after his run-in earlier at the hospital with the pushy, but beautiful nurse, and realising a coffee would not be forthcoming, he sighed. He went ignored as the chatter in the café resumed.
‘If my coffee ever arrived, it would taste like bilge water, and one of the Krauts would probably have spat in it,’ thought George, ‘I might as well go back to his barracks to grab a cup of coffee there.’ He got off the chair and walked towards the door.
“Hello Lieutenant,” said a voice behind him.
He swung around to face the nurse from earlier.
“You aren’t leaving already?” she asked and smiled.
“Hello nurse erm …?” said George, embarrassed.
“Steffi,” she said and pointed to a table in the corner where a balding strange-looking doctor sat. “Please, come join us, lieutenant,” she said.
“Please… Call me George, and no, but thanks. I will call it a night and get a coffee at the barracks,” he said, thinking how amazing this woman looked and smelled as he told her. “Besides, the service here isn’t too great.” He looked over at the waitress leant on the counter.
Steffi barked an order at ‘the veritable pig in knickers’ who rushed behind the counter.
“Your coffee is on its way George.” smiled Steffi. She took hold of George’s hand, led him over to her table, and introduced him to Dr Rudolf Flanman.
* * *
A fleet of black saloon cars with a white star painted on each side pulled up at the dockside. It was mid-afternoon and it had taken almost nine hours to drive the ‘Operation Paperclip’ party 320 kilometres to the port of Lubek. They had spent the previous night sleeping on canvas stretchers, cramped together in a large bomb shelter under the demolished remains of the bombed-out Reichstag building. Scientists, engineering specialists, and their families were woken early morning, before being ushered into the fleet of the commandeered German vehicles.
With American military personnel as their drivers and escorts, they drove through the wreckage and shells of the former buildings of Berlin, before getting onto the open roadways heading west. Although the distance should have taken four to five hours, they had to navigate around bombed unusable roads and the many roadblocks and checkpoints set up by the Allies. The noisy old saloons smelled of exhaust fumes. Jane, Joseph, and baby George sat in the rear of the saloon car, with Jane having to waft fumes away from baby Georges face as the infant wailed constantly.
The driver was a cheerful U.S. G.I army sergeant, and in the front seat was a young G.I captain, whom the Wolffes thought looked far too serious. The sergeant tried to engage in friendly banter with the Wolffe’s several times but was chastised by the captain.
Arriving at the port, they stopped alongside a 14,200-ton U.S. liberty cargo ship: the S.S. John H. Brown. This would be the last time many of them would ever see Germany again. The voyage was to take almost a month. General Brownlow was the liaison officer in charge of coordinating the group of men, women,
