Word: checkpoints
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1961-1961
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Roll the tanks to Checkpoint Charlie...
...Berlin Bierstuben, the man most credited with boosting the morale of West Berliners is the hero of the 1948 airlift, Special Presidential Envoy Lucius D. Clay, 64, who has become the image of a calm and determined U.S. in Berlin. He has toured East Berlin, passed through the Friedrichstrasse checkpoint, examined the Wall with minute care. He helicoptered to Steinstücken, a little enclave just over the West Berlin border that nevertheless belongs to the U.S. sector. Everywhere West Berliners cheer him. All this is calculated to show that the U.S. will not be pushed around by the Russians...
...weeks ago, the intersection at Berlin's "Checkpoint Charlie" was taut with tension as the U.S.-on order from General Lucius Clay, President Kennedy's representative in West Berlin-sent armed convoys across the border to escort civilian-dressed military personnel into the Russian sector to demonstrate U.S. right of access. But last week, on direct orders from the State Department, the probes were called off. At the same time, Washington stopped U.S. patrols along the 110-mile Autobahn that links West Germany with the divided city. Reason: Secretary of State Dean Rusk was anxious to shift...
...Sitzkrieg at Checkpoint Charlie still performed a function: in a remarkable way it showed the world how Berlin really felt. One day last week, an elderly woman in a tattered grey coat faced a G.I. bundled on his armored personnel carrier, held out three fresh pink carnations, murmured in German, "I brought you some different colors today; God bless you!" Understanding the sentiment if not the words, the young soldier accepted the flowers with a grin, muttered "Danke schön" proudly stuffed them in the perforated barrel cooler of his 20-mm. cannon. Farther up the street a pack...
Tanks Face Tanks. Next day, while hundreds of West Berliners watched anxiously, tension mounted. Irwin Firestone. Russian-speaking liaison officer on the staff of the Provost Marshal, moved through Checkpoint Charlie in a blue Taunus, escorted by three Jeeps filled with troops wearing bulletproof vests, while tanks idled their engines at the white line that marked the border. "I hope they are not going to start shooting," said a youthful Vopo. After a five-minute trip, Firestone returned, flashed his headlights in a signal, was again escorted by Jeeps to West Berlin...