European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 28, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 letters to the editor thursday april 28,1994 european edition col. Steven s. Hoffman Usan commander publisher Bernard a. Zovistoski. Editor news and editorial Bill Walker european editor Deborah Absher Bob Wicker news editor sports editor George Manes City editor to write of unit 29480 Apo a 09211 orpostfach111437 64278 Darmstadt Germany news Eleax 06155-601416 to Call us dial 06155-601 plug Extension or Dan 348-8 plus Extension As follows news ext. 237,255,282,226,326. Sports ext.225,269, 263,332,321,221. Features ext. 230,245,341. Letters to editor ext. 208,education Jim Jones ext. 226, business news ext. 326. News bureaus Heidelberg Germany Joseph Owen. Room 11f, Rome str. 104, 69128 Heidelberg car 419, Box 1318, Apo a 09102 Telephone Dan 370-7010 or civilian 06221-23421 Tel fax 06221-87239. Kaiserslautern Germany Kevin Dougherty John Bohr her. Stev scholar building 2899, Pulaski bar Racks Apo a 09227-3717lelephone Dan 489-6588 or civilian 0631.52104 lejefax0631-s9654. Nurnberg Germany Ron Jenson building 21, Wil Liam o. Darby Caborn Apo a 09222 Telephone Dan 460,7256 or civilian 0911-712563 Tel fax 0911-717130. Wurzburg Germany Dave Melancon building 220, room 109, Faulenburg Cavern Apo a 09036 Tel phone Dan 350-6770 or civilian 0931-286956 Tel fax 0931-8696770. Mediterranean sue Palumbo and Marian Hamilton Naples Italy pc 610, Box 56. Fpo a 09619 Tele phone Dan 625-4880 or civilian 0817624049/4547 Tele fax 0039-81 -7624049. Northern Italy j. King Cruger Valano Italy Tele phone on 632-8176 or civilian 0039-434-66-8176 Tele fax 003934-668222. United kingdom Nancy Torner Marc Mcfann and Dave Olulo. Building 464 Cess us Raf Mildenhall Apo a 094s9 Telephone Dan 238-2226 or civilian 0638-542226 Tel fax 0638-718013. New York City Timothy Cahill. Room 638, 201 Varick st., new York 10014 Telephone 212-620-3333 Tel fax 212-620-3268. Washington . Chuck Vlinch Cindy kill lion. Oast a. The Pentagon room 2e756 . Box 46095, Washington. . 20050-6095 Telephone 703-697 6695 Tel fax 703-693-6366. Business departments maj Richard k. Major. Usa. Deputy commander Dalees Tsu newspaper operation director Fred shone new York operations. Director James by Sochi circulation manager Jeffrey kingdom comptroller circulation toll free customer service for Home or office delivery inquiries or delivery problems Call 24 hours Germany Belgium Italy United kingdom Netherlands Spain Tel fax 0130-840048 07811-87751678-7-3456 0-800-898854 06-022-7629 900-99-4955 06155-601436 Germany Augsburg civilian 0821-443254. Berlin civilian 030-8331846. Dan 33?-3548 kaisers Stern civilian 0631-57070 or 57079 Dan 489-7100, Tel fax 0631-50696. Nurnberg civilian 0911-712558, Dan 460-7001. Stuttgart civilian 0711-729-4283 or 4277, Dan 421 4283 or 4277. Italy. Naples civilian 0039-81-724480, Dan 625-4b80 Tele fax 0039-91-7244489. Vicenza civilian 0444-515358. Dan 634-7545, Tel fax 0444-300-641. Spain. Madrid Dan 665-5807, civilian and Tel fax 00341 -656j465. Tufi key Istanbul civilian 0090-1-272 48 43, Tel fax 0090-1-2743209.United kingdom Cirencester civilian 0285 713-637. Dan 247-4445. Advertising. Display Germany 06155-601247 or 601309, Dan 348-8247.classified Germany 06155-601349, Dan 348-8349. Advertising Tel fax 06155-601412 please Recycle this new Pap a is an authorized unofficial publication for Membra o the military services Oversea. Contents of the stars and stripes do not necessarily reflect the official views of or endorsement by. The . Government the department of defense or the . European command. The appearance of advertising in this publication including inserts or supplements does not constitute endorse ment by the department of defense or the stars and stripes of the products or services advertised. Stop complaining i have been listening to dependent children complain about life in Europe since my arrival in november 1993. I seems there is nothing for them to do with their free time. This complaint was prevalent when i was Here the last time in 1980, but not when i was Here As Achild myself in 1966.1 knew it was time to say something about this problem. When i was Here As a child we did thave an television so we could t sit around and watch television. The youth enter was Only open Friday nights and during the weekend so we could t hangout there. Kids weren t allowed to drink at All so we did t hang out at local  you be got to be thinking. What did teens do Well i la Tell you department of defense dependent schools were exceptional so it follows that we had a lot of Homework. Inter Scholastic sports were open to everyone and if you did t make the team in one sport you tried a different sport. There were clubs that ran the Gamut from chess to sewing and everyone did  was also a popular pastime As if these options were not enough the Community ran a program where teens taught the younger kids How to do various activities. For example i was taught How to play various sports. We had a league and Learned the fundamentals of the game. We played other teams but never kept score. Everyone played regardless of their ability. There was. A league that played late on saturday afternoons where the More talented kids played real games but it must be noted that these games were in addition to the morning  skills gave me the background i needed and provided me the Opportunity to later go to College on an athletic scholarship. Sundays were for the family and no events were scheduled. Most families took Day trips to historic places or trav eled to other posts to see what the other Post exchanges had to offer. The bes part of sunday was listening to the radio on the return trip. Our miss Brooks have gun will travel o Henry s play House and gun smoke were the favourites. With a Little imagination today s tee scan join or begin programs i talked about and Stop their complaining. Let s make difference Day is coming soon maybe a few of them really can and make living in Europe a Benefit rather than a source of bad memories. A. Vialpando Frankfurt Germany a an s no news on trying to understand the stars an stripes coverage of american forces network Var. A in the weekly on the tube Colum that deals with an television schedules you advised us on March 27 that easter sunday would be the final appearance of Charles Kuralt on the sunday morning program. This does t help much Given that an television dropped this  Gram some time ago whatever your Opin Ion of Kuralt As a trusted person in net work television  the cover Story of that program always is first class news coverage. Shortly after your announcement that nightlife would be broadcast tues Day saturday at 6 30 . Central euro Pean time the program has completely disappeared from published an sched Ules even though the chairman of the j6mt chiefs of staff Gen. John m. Shall Kash Vili recently chose the program Fortis first extended interview. All Early morning news schedules appear deliberately misleading since an must know that its overnight sport events usually run far beyond published schedules. The solid news programs in variably disappear. Your help is needed in dealing wit the an no news policy and fake schedules. Frederick c. Thayer Ramstein a Germany editor s note we encourage our readers especially those who have never submitted a letter to write to us letters expressing readers View Points Are published Dally on this Page. All letters must be signed and include address and Telephone number. Prefer ence is Given to Shorter letters so that More can be published in a timely Man Ner. We Reserve the right to edit letters for clarity length and taste. Send to let ters to the editor the stars and stripes unit 29480, Apo a 09211. Commentary remember hell by Mark Patinkin what struck me As i sat Down with the five of them is How old they Al were in their late 80s. But what struck me More is How they remembered Ever detail for me even though what we were talking about happened when they wireless than Loyear old. This column is about a hard subject a massacre the attempt by the turks to exterminate the armenians in 1915. But let these five Bear witness because really their Story has to do with Why America is Here. A. /. A Persapet Bedrosian is 89, Here in the United states where she fled her Hus band was a loom repairman in a textile Mill until he saved enough to open his own grocery. I asked her to Tell me what she remembers. It remember when they took All Villag ers she said my Mother my sister everyone into an open Field the turkish soldiers surrounded them until Nightfall. Persapet survived because a non arme Nian neighbor a kurd hid her. Then came morning. We were just walking through All the bodies she told me. Most had been slaughtered with swords and knives. I was calling and calling Mother Mother " v v a. ,. Hitler was not the first to launch a holocaust some say he got part of the idea from Turkey whose leaders decided to cleanse its 2.5 million armenians in 1915. The motherland was mostly Muslim. Armenians were Christian. They were deemed an inferior religion that had Tobe eliminated. I asked Persapet what she thought of America. Wonderful  she said. So wonder Man named Nick Markarian was sitting next to her in the Church basement where we met. This is the heaven of the world Nick said. He is 88 and was a Barber. He refers Back to the genocide As the massacre. The turks technique was to drive  ple from their villages into Force marches killing them along the Way. The marches were called caravans. From spot near where he lived Nick began to see them go by hundreds each  were no men. Children women old ladies he said the men they  he was saved by being hidden with the turkish business partner of his father. He lost everyone in his family. So did All five people i was talking to. Although Al later married and had families of their own they say they have Felt lonely their whole lives. Today Nick says Why did no one ask Why this killing the whole world  mrs. Nevart arvanigian is 86, or maybe87 none of them knows for sure since they lost All family so Young. Only i sur Vive she says. In America her husband was a factory labourer and she a dry clean ing shirt Presser. She was rounded up in a caravan. First they killed the men then with swords and guns the others. In the confusion she ran and in time was placed with a Friendly turkish family. She cried and cried As she remembered. I also spoke with Eva Mikaelian 88, whose husband worked for Imperial knife and Sara Leylegian 8$, whose husband opened a Small diner. It s difficult to print All the things they told me Here such As what the turkish soldiers did to the Mother who needed to Stop to have a baby in the caravan. Let me just say that there were Many such stories and 79 years later they All think Back to it every Day and especially every night. I am telling their Story now because april 24 was the official Day of memory for the armenian genocide. I asked what they Learned from it. Nick said people must always remember and never be silent. They killed almost All my race and the world kept their  and he Learned one other thing. I can kiss this ground of America he told me. Because it is free country for every nationality. I can kiss this  c Providence journal i m giving Myc Hughte Atour of the Plant ?00 Teu us what go Tow 0e Happy to contain nearly600quaiitymowingammoiw