Hail, BERLIN! by Trisha Lindsey, '82

Moving from one Military Post or Base to another is usually a hard transition for any military dependant. Packing all of your household goods is a large undertaking for military families; often you have to get rid of accumulated items from one move to the next, because the military only ships up to a certain amount of weight per move. Any amount over that threshold you have to pay for.

Leaving friends is the hardest part of rotating to another post or base. Moving, but staying in the lower 48 is easier, things are familiar, schools are more uniform, and communicating with people from your last move is possible. But when the new orders say you are moving overseas, things take on another dimension.

We had a whirlwind move from Kirtland A.F.B, Albuquerque, New Mexico to Tempelhof A.F.B., West Berlin, West Germany in the summer of 1979. My older sister Carolyn was miserable. We were leaving Highland High School, one of the premier high schools in Albuquerque with graduating classes that averaged over a thousand students, to come to Berlin American High, where her graduating class would now have 79 students. Needless to say, between the long flights, getting settled into temporary housing, and then showing up for school that first morning, she was NOT a happy camper!

But God always seems to do something that, at the time doesn’t seem that significant, but years later you realize how necessary that one thing was. Then one small thing occurs… that starts a thaw in the block of misery, your heart, caused by another rotation.

And that small thing was our encounter with John Cleary. His friends knew him as “J.C.” and if you ever met him, you would never forget him. We were sitting in the Principal’s office as they were going over our paperwork, after coming into the front of the school, which was WAY smaller than the façade of our last school! Highland looked like a college campus. BAHS looked like an elementary school.

Suddenly, this guy pops his head into the door of the office, and shouts, “Hey! Are you all new?” We just stared at him for a moment, taking in his droopy smile, his 60’s Beatles Bowl hair cut, and the fact that he was WAY too happy for it to be 8 am! Finally Carolyn answered, “Yes.” And he disappeared, slamming the door behind him! We looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to our silent musings of despair!

A moment later, the door opened again, and sure enough, it was the same guy, this time he squawked, “What grades are you in?”

I couldn’t help but smile back at him, and answer, “10th.” My Sister told him, “I’m a senior.” (We all know, seniors let you know that! ‘12th grade’ is NEVER their answer!)

Well, he whooped out loud, shouted, “ALRIIIGHT!” pumped his fist in the air and disappeared again! After a moment, we both turned to each other and smiled, shaking our heads in wonder. Just WHO was that?

Well, we came to know over the next few years who that guy was. J.C. was the BAHS Welcoming Committee, Social Conscience, Pep Band leader, Track Team Manager, and behind the scenes impetus for many spontaneous fun times with his boom box on his shoulder. It was a rare day when you saw John Cleary sad. If he was in your corner, he had your back. You could depend on him.

At one track meet we had in Wiesbaden, W. Germany it was a miserable day! It was wet, cold, raining, and mud was everywhere! J.C. was our track team manager. He was everywhere that day, encouraging runners, helping the officials, helping Coach Perry Jones. Coach Jones was a Pan Am Pilot and former Olympian who came to Berlin for track season, just to help our team out.

Coach Jones always brought us breakfast bags from the Pan Am flights before our meets! J.C. spent a lot of his day making sure that any needs Coach Jones had were immediately taken care of. I remember one conversation they had that has always stuck in my mind.

J.C. came up to Coach Jones with the equipment box, and began to spatter him with questions, “Do you need anybody taped? I have the box right here, Coach! Anybody need their cleats cleaned off? I’m here to help, you KNOW you can count on me Coach! Anything you need, you know I’m your man!” This back and forth conversation went on for several moments, as we all began to smile and laugh quietly, before Coach Jones finally found an errand for J.C. to run!

Coach Jones turned to us as J.C. ran off on his new mission, and smiled, shaking his head, laughing, “That J.C. is something else, isn’t he?” As we all laughed with him and nodded! J.C. made that trip and many others more fun than you can imagine!

Our sports opponents came to HATE coming to any Berlin Bears games where he was present with his drum, and his “Hail, BERLIN!” Chant! Many times, he took over the cheering section, whipping the crowd into a frenzy! The only time I saw him settled down, was when he got a girlfriend!

Years later, at our Reunion in Greenbelt, Maryland, J.C. came up to stay with my family. Our families had stayed in touch over the years, and he blew into the house, making us all smile and laugh! J.C. was driving a Trans Am, and we were all game to pile into it! When he did the “Hail, BERLIN!” cheer at the reunion, the classes that came before us wondered, “What is THAT?!?” But we all knew it was just John ‘J.C.’ Cleary bringing us all back home.

Any time you are in a new place, just remember that sometimes the smallest gesture of welcome on your part might be the very thing a stranger needs to start the thaw around their hurting heart. J.C. taught me that.

I will always be thankful to God, that the first student I met at Berlin American High School was someone who was glad to see me even though he didn’t know me yet, someone like John ‘J.C.’ Cleary. May he never be forgotten.

“Hail BERLIN!

Hail BERLIN!

HAIL BERLIN!

HAIL Zweibrucken.

HELL NO!”

John 'J.C.' Cleary

d. March 4, 2007

#books #literature