The Officer's Club

In telling this story I might be embarassing my sister Karen, but I hope not. She probably doesn't even remember the incident.

We lived in Paris, France from December of 1959 until the summer of 1962. My father was an Air Force major, stationed at a joint military command there. I was 11 when we moved there and 14 when we left.

Everyone who has seen a picture of Paris has either seen the Eiffel Tower or the Étoile. Étoile means "star" in French, and it is so named because there are 12 major streets that feed into it. There is a major street that rings the familiar monument, which is actually the French Tomb of the Unknowns.

Well on that street was the Officer's Club and we would go there from time to time either for a special event or for the Sunday buffet.

We were there for some event once. My memory was that we were all dressed up and a bunch of the kids were off in an area away from the parents. We were sitting in easy chairs when a girl that I was really interested in came over to the group. My sister poked me and said "Stand up and let her sit in your chair".

Well I was embarassed, to say the least, and have never forgotten that. And of course I have no idea who the girl was :)