Antiwar lyricism

(Photo by Don Dale, 1967)

I passed this school and its playground every time I drove to Luxembourg, only about 30 minutes from Bitburg. We were usually on our way to an outdoor café in the small town of Echternacherbrück, just across the border on the other side of the Sauer River. The menu -- in French, German, English and the incomprehensible local language, Lëtzebuergesch -- included the usual regional wursts (sausages), kraut and black bread - but most important, Russiche Eire (Russian eggs) and draft beer.

Russiche Eire are sort of like deviled eggs, but not really. The filling in the version served at the Echternacherbrück café included finely chopped carrots, celery and tiny green peas. The eggs were served on a lettuce leaf and with caviar on top. The beer was Luxembourg's own Henri Funck (pronounced Ahn-REE FOONK). Once or twice a month, on a summer's evening, we'd while away an hour or two stuffing ourselves with eggs and enjoying the beer with the funny name.

The antiwar movement that was raging back in the States in the late 1960s had its sympathizers in Europe, although I never personally experienced any anti-American attitudes -- whether I was in or out of uniform. But every time I drove by the school you see above, with its hand-painted political statement in big white letters, I was struck by how much more lyrical it sounded in French.