European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 19, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine Franz Jansen puts up the stars and stripes every morning and takes it Down every night. A passion for americas a Lynda w. Sparks by Don Tate staff writer he weather is nearly always bad up where the lonely general marches. Every morning Franz Jansen gets up As if he s going to War. He slips on his combat boots his Battle dress uniform and his camouflage Cap picks up the Flag and marches out into the Mist. From far off a visitor sees him emerging from the foggy cold with that big american Flag Over his shoulder trudging along head Down. The Road twists sharply in the fog. It s dangerous up there along that dead Man s curve on the big Hill Over Baum older West Germany. Suddenly a . Army truck grinds by and the general lifts his head and snaps off a Salute like a general should. Then he marches on Down the Road. It s time to stand reveille. There he is in a Small Clearing beside the Road standing his one Man reveille raising the Flag with solemnity. Later in the Day he will lower the Flag and stand Retreat. His one Man Retreat in his one Man army. Yes he says people around Here Call me the general not always with affection. It s not easy being in the passionate army of Franz Jansen. He says 15 of his flags have been torn Down. Swastikas have been painted Over the signs he had made in Praise of the Usa that adorn his House and the Hills and roadsides near it. The general gets laughed at. He says he has been beaten on the Street a few times by people who did t agree with his impassioned political persuasion. He makes some people nervous. He s been called  he smiles Points at his head and acknowledges that he is indeed nutty nutty Over America. If people can be nutty Over soccer and this and that Petty thing he asks Why can t he be nutty Over America or at least very passionate about it. He just wishes his America mania was More catching. He wishes More people would listen to him lecture them on the greatness of America and the need for German american Friendship. Even if does come on a bit Strong. What is so terrible with putting up signs saying god save Usa and Freedom or god save nato ? or carrying the american Flag around most people Don t mind he says. Some even cheer him. Others Are bewildered. But certain Small elements of his adopted country have strongly suggested that if he loves America so much he should go there and get lost. He shakes his head. They Don t  from the time Franz Jansen was a Schoolboy in German occupied Yugoslavia during world War ii reciting the morning Salute to the Fuhrer from the time the communists took Over and confiscated his father s farm from the time he served in the yugoslavian army from the time he became gravely ill while in the army Franz Jansen is Lynda w. Sparks pro american signs decorate Franz Jensen s House near Baum older West Germany. Sunday february 19, 1989 so ill they thought he was finished. All that time he never lost his passion the idea of going to America. He had two aunts who lived there who wrote letters to him after the War singing of the glory of America. The place of plenty. The dream of shining Freedom in a world of bloody tyrants. America was a second god to my people he says. And the Hope of going never ceased to glow in Jansen s heart. But As the years went on it became a dimming glow a dreamland beyond a Rainbow that was fading. Even after he immigrated to Germany in 1964, he remained too poor and ill to finance the great trip. So poor sometimes american soldiers fed us. So poor we his wife and three children ate from garbage. Our life was very  he works As a Mechanic and Driver does Odd work gets some social welfare. He crimped and borrowed enough to buy a House. Eventually the one where he lives now up on that spooky curve above Baum older. It was an easy buy. Not Many people want to live up Here in the 51 St state he laughs grimly. Five die and 14 Are wounded out there on that Road. Also this is 100 percent guaranteed worst weather in Germany. But Good for  Good for him he says because of the heavy i concentration of american soldiers around Baum older. Thousands of them. If he could t be Over there in America he could at least be where americans Are Over Here. He loves to mingle with the soldiers and talk to them. I cried the first time i saw american soldiers in Germany. There Are never enough americans for  More than once soldiers have come sliding and crashing around that curve he says and he has rushed out to help. While he s helping he might make a Little speech to them about How Lucky they Are to be americans. Then finally by october the general had saved enough Money for a round trip plane ticket with about $750 to spare. It was going to happen. His week of glory in the United states. Or however far his Money went. At Dulles Airport he says he practically leaped off the plane and kissed the ground. When he got to the White House he kissed the ground. He did a lot kissing that first Day in Washington. He smiled. He waved to people. He saluted. He breathed the air of America As if it was the first True breath of his life. In his euphoria however there was one Down to Earth  could stay in America Only two Days. Some dream Crusher had picked his pocket. No not in America. They Pluck my pocket in Germany at the  practically broke he was determined to go on. If i must die i must Fly. I had been waiting 55 years to kiss the  so the general flew. And he kissed and kissed. But after a lifetime of buildup could the reality have possibly lived up to the shining dream yes. God knows. Yes. I love every  he was quickly out of funds but there s something about a general. He was wearing his bus of course. And he found himself being helped by airline personnel police bus Drivers All sorts of people. They found him a place to stay and fed him a lot of hot dogs. He of course lectured them on How Lucky they were to be americans. Hardly had the plane s wheels lifted off . Soil than the general began dreaming again thinking of All the american monuments All the great places he had not seen. All those americans who must be told How Lucky they Are. I wish to kiss America again he says. And the general marches on to his own drum. The stars and stripes Page 13