European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 19, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Inside stripes d British choose Azacs Over Nimrod Page 2 d the 76th army band a unit with two missions daily Magazine d today s Dollar buys z Marks rates Page 27 ripes authorized unofficial Fusili cation of th1 . Mid of acct vol. 45, no 245 Friday december 19, 1986 ,.iiw, d 8693 a freed Hasenfus heading Home Guatemala City a Eugene Hasenfus Light Cnoc in Guatemala. Hasenfus. 45, and his wife Salty planned to Fly thursday to Miami ind from there to their Home in Marinc Etc wis today has been a great Surprise he said wednes Day As he was released in Managua Nicaragua. A Day that i will surely remember in Niy heart forever i want to thank president Daniel Onega his staff and the nicaraguan the american mercenary captured oct. 6 after nicaraguan soldiers shot Down the Contra Supply plane on which he was a cargo handler. Two others on the plane were killed. Hasenfus was sentenced last month to 30 years in jail for terrorism and other crimes. At Ortega s request the nicaraguan National As Sembly voted wednesday to Pardon Hasenfus to show Tine leftist Sandinia government s desire for peace with the United slates. The untied Stales recently approved j100 million in Aid to the Contra rebels. At a ceremony at the presidential press office Ortega released the american into the custody of sen. Christopher Dodo a Conn. The Hasenfuss then Lew to Guatemala in a private Jet. Dodd a member of the Senate foreign relation committee met tuesday with Ortega to discuss Hasenfus Case. The senator issued a statement wednesday saying Hasenfus was released on humanitarian grounds i did not ask that he be pardoned and there was no quid pro quo for his he said. Or. Hasenfus situation was a Small part of my conversation with Ortega perhaps 15 minutes of a 4 hour Conversa Tion. Dodd thursday told Abc s Good morning Ameri Ca he accepted at face value the reasons the Sandinia sub Hasenfus on Page 28 nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega with Eugene Hasenfus and wife. Salty in Managua Nicaragua. Americans remember gis at Christmas Nuernberg Bureau Mark Redwitz Germany when Don Grimes started his americ remembers Campaign three years ago his modes goal was to encourage Ameri cans to Send Christmas cards to the sol Diers patrolling the East German and Czechoslovakia Borders. While his modesty has remained in tact his goal has expanded to global pro portions. Grimes 27, began organizing a Small scale operation from his Home in Bloom Field township outside Detroit three years ago. He is the Campaign s National chairman and sole employee but when he talks about the project he uses he brought 10,000 cards with him in 1983 when he passed them out to 2nd army Cav regt soldiers along the Bor Der. Everyone serving in 45 to 60-Day stints is a geographical Bachelor. This week Grimes is Back and three years of experience have produced a Blitz of mail bound not Only for the cavalry men but also for soldiers along the de militarized zone in South Korea sailors with the aircraft carriers John f. Kennedy in the Mediterranean sea and the Carl Vinson in inc Indian Ocean and airmen All Over the world. Marines on Okinawa Japan and in embassies in Africa As Well As coast guard member Strung out on islands across the Pacific Ocean also arc opening letters from schoolchildren civic organizations Busi Nesses and individuals in All 50 Stales puerto Rico and Guam. Grimes gave his Campaign a jump Start when he wrote a plea to columnist Abigail Van Buren to ask for her Blessing on his project. In her dec. 1 column she wrote count me three words and an estimated 60 million readers of about 1,000 newspapers got the message. When you. Write to dear Abby Grimes noted it s like writing to he has no idea How Many people responded but said a potential 40,000 servicemen and women could each receive a handful of letters. Grimes had the cards mailed directly to the units this time. As of wednesday the 2nd army Cav regt alone received More than 20,000, said pfc. Steve Eisenbeisz who sorted them by the hundreds in his room at Merrell Barracks in Nuernberg where the regiment is head quartered. Sgt. Jeff Jaeger a tank commander at the regiment s Camp Gates 12 mile from the Border in the Small town of Mark Redwitz clutched a handful of let ters against his camouflage uniform tuesday. The 24-year-old native of Tole do onto called the scene in the Cam recreation room bizarre but Jaeger was there in 1983 when Grimes first came through. He s still writing to sub Christmas on Page 28 belly landing9 reported expensive for copter Crew Hamburg up1 the hamburger meal enjoyed by two . Army helicopter crewmen last summer turned out to be very Likely the most expensive of their lives Over $ i ,400. The German news Agency spa thursday reported the hungry soldiers came to grief when they landed their helicopter in the parking lot of a German snack bar and ate at a neighbouring .-franchised hamburger restaurant. Be related Story and photo a spokeswoman at the . Army s european he in Heidelberg said she was having difficulty tracking Down the Story. The two men apparently got hungry last summer while on a night and landed their reconnaissance helicopter in the parking lot of the snack bar on the Nuernberg Wuerzburg autobahn in Geisel wind spa reported. When they went to the neighbouring hamburger restaurant to eat the owner of the snack bar made a formal complaint to snack bar owner said he was t upset the copier crewmen did t eat at his place but the noise caused by the helicopter had disturbed his custom ers. He said it was not an isolated incident and head observed six to eight similar helicopter landings since the hamburger restaurant opened about a year ago. Once he said four copiers landed in formation. When informed of last summer s incident the army fined the two crewmen j700 each for the improper use of a military aircraft and the unauthorized Landing spa said. We have been unable to confirm the report but we arc continuing to Check the army spokeswoman said. His difficult when no units Are
