Here it is October and in Munich, Germany the annual Oktoberfest is starting. The largest beer blast in the world is starting. In the 1950s, the end of that decade, I was stationed in Germany not far from Munich. Frank Husk, Raymond Bell, myself and another individual from our unit decided we would love to go to Munich and have a three-day beer binge. And being young enough to do it, and young enough to enjoy it we made plans.

Frank had purchased a car. We fondly called it his Gestapo car. It was one of those long, low, black, four door Mercedes that the movies always showed the Gestapo using to tool around and do their dirty deeds. Knowing Frank it was not costly but it was roomy and fun to drive. So we decided that four of us could split the cost of gas and spend a three-day pass in Munich with little cash outlay. Getting paid once a month it took time to save toward such frivolities as a three-day Munich pass.

We decided we would take our Army sleeping bags; they were really quite warm and not unduly uncomfortable. We were of course in civvies not uniforms so we took a change of outerwear and several changes of underwear. We figured we could find a place to sleep when we got there – a park if nothing else would suffice. We got our passes and they came right about the middle of the Oktoberfest run in town. None of us had ever been to this event but felt it was worthy of our interest. We had heard a lot about it for the last two years and now was the time or we would miss it entirely. Everyone who had gone had enjoyed themselves so we felt we would too.

We drove to Munich, found the correct location and was amazed at the size and number of beer dispensing tents as well as the Industrial show that we didn’t know went along with it. We found a parking lot right across from the entrance to the festivities and managed to make the attendant understand we would like to park all day and all night right there. He decided we were nuts but for a mark, about a quarter then, we could stay for 24 hours at a time. Every morning we were there he woke us up when he came on duty and held out his hand for the days toll. Worth every cent.

We slept in our sleeping bags either outside the Mercedes or in the back seat or front seat. We took turns sleeping inside and outside and things worked out just fine. The weather was not bad and we had enough antifreeze in us to not overly care. For cleaning up in the morning we found the rest rooms at the industrial exhibit worked out well and no one seemed to care. We would go in, brush our teeth, shave, wash our face and hands, change underwear and get ready for a busy day of beer guzzling and just looking around. Life was good 50 years ago in Munich.

We breakfasted on whatever was available at the beer tents and drank beer to wash it down. They had some type of fish that was long and skinny and smoked right there over a charcoal pit in the beer tent. It was gutted only and then smoked and tasted pretty good. Especially after the second or third liter of beer. There was chicken, hamburger, fish all for sale to the hungry festival goers. I was personally amazed at the number of full liter beer mugs the waitresses could carry around. I was appalled to find that the only thing they did with the mugs after you emptied them was rinse them out in a huge barrel of clear water then fill them up again and serve them to another customer. My beer drinking subsided greatly after I found that out. 

The Germans were extremely good hosts. The populace did not allow the American MPs to come into the beer tents. That was a definite plus in our minds. Anything other than out and out fighting, doing something extremely stupid or something that would imperil you or someone else was tolerated. If someone got a tad rowdy they were quietly and quickly taken out of the tent to a rest area to sober up. The police of Munich were there in large numbers but did not really bother many people at all. We enjoyed ourselves, had fun, did not do anything to call attention to ourselves and drank beer to our hearts’ content. The cost of a liter of beer was a mark, a quarter. What a way to spend a three-day pass.

I ran across a picture of Frank, Raymond, myself and the other imbiber the other day and frankly we all looked the worse for wear but still had a smile on our faces. Oh the joy and abandon of youth. We probably drank too much, enjoyed our selves, caused no damage to international relations or ourselves and had a cheap and enjoyable three days. Of course it took a week to get back into the day-to-day efforts of the Army but even our NCOs were nice to us and figured if we enjoyed ourselves let us recuperate at our own pace. It was fun, it was inexpensive and something I never would have had the opportunity to do had it not been for Uncle Sam and the U.S. Army.