A Guiding Light by George Pambrun

It was my first Fallex in Soltau, Lunenberg Hyde, North West Germany.  I was very impressed with this part of Germany, it had large fields of potatoes and vast areas of purple heather, very unique. There were wild boar and deer. The German Forest Meisters kept their forests clean and free of any underbrush, great for picnics and walks.  The trees were pine and very tall and they provided excellent over head and surrounding cover.

We were part of the Advance party and we were set up on the edge of a large field next to a forest.  This was where I first met Elizabeth, ( I can’t remember her last name, or if I ever knew it,) she was a member of the Salvation Army, who drove a food wagon for the NAAFI.  She, followed the troops on Excercise and provided them with refreshments and small personal items, at a low cost, even flash lites and batteries.  You could run a tab on items and that's how I bought a flashlite, I mentioned that I had forgot to buy a flashlite, which was an necessity on those excercises.  I didn’t have any money till payday, she said here, pay me on payday.

She was set up on the edge of the field in a van converted into a food truck, it had a side serving window and at night it gave off light that could be seen plainly and for a distance.  Elizabeth was a very pleasant middle age woman with lots of energy and a very pleasant out going personality.  Always a smile and willing to take time and talk with whomever on whatever.  She was much like a Mom to many.

Most of our movement was at nite under cover of darkness and we would proceed on a two or three hour drive by convoy, arrive at our new location to find “the guiding light” Elizabeth already set up and ready to do business.  It was uncanny because this became a norm, she could read a map better than most, and she had all our locations. I never knew where she slept, I would suspect in the van.  It didn’t seem proper to ask a lady where she slept and did her ablutions.

We would move into a hide in the middle of the night, pitch black  and figure you were in the middle of no where, and these were bag driving excecsises,  so we were normally very tired.  It was not unusual to wake up in the morning with an audience.  Sundays, were the German families days to enjoy the outdoors and they loved their spetzean (walks).  On excersise, you never knew what day it was, so to be safe, when you got up, it was best to be partially clothed, where and when you scratched and relieved yourself?  It was not unusual to have eyes upon you.  The one constant was if you missed a meal, you could always get a coffee and snack at Elizabeths diner. When Elizabeth was not on Excercise, she worked in the Salvation Army center in down town Soest, Judy and I used to see her quite regularly on weekends, as we lived around the corner.

I rotated back to Canada in 1968 and did not see Elizabeth again, but I did hear that there was a retirement party for her.  I think she should be remembered for her dedication and friendship to members of 4CIBG.