Guest guest Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 A tale about a buddy of mine, Dietmar Moser. We served together here in Turkey for many years in uniform, then worked some projects here after we both retired. I pushed him to move to the USA when he turned 65 .. and suggested Charleston, where he now lives. I visit him each year .. and will this year. A nice guy who has an alligator pond behind his home. ;-) Butch - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Saturday, July 01, 2006 Immigrant's Experiences Span American Landscape: Dietmar Moser BY ROB YOUNG The Post and Courier Forgive his sentimentality. The adages come often, tucked into his conversation like sappy cliches found in the self-help sections of bookstores. " Keep on smiling, " he says. In most hands, it might sound tired, ridiculous. It seems peculiar even now. " It's a beautiful life, " Dietmar Moser says. " It's a beautiful, precious world we live in. " It lends him an odd sort of quaintness, a rare, unexpected dignity. " I believe in peace. " So few speak this way. So few have this much to say. Moser cackles. He's prone to giggling fits and mischievous streaks. Though now retired, Moser, a German immigrant, moved here from Turkey in 2001 to import olive oils, choosing Charleston for its ports. When he laughs, rich and loud, somehow it sounds like gratitude. " I thank God every day, always for breakfast, lunch and dinner. " He cherishes visitors. As they leave his Mount Pleasant home, he stands at the end of his driveway and places a hand over his heart, slightly bowing. He has an admission, though: He is scared to be alone. So Moser talks, speaking more quickly now, about his father, an SS officer in Nazi Germany, and then of his own improbable career as a soldier in the U.S. Army. Sharing quiets his solitude; it arrests his fear. And Moser must give, he says, because so much, so much, has been given to him. Father's land His voice rises, his native inflection strong. " He knew exactly, " Moser says, recalling his father. " He will die. " In the days following the end of World War II, Russian troops tracked his father to their family's home in Berlin. They burst inside, gunning him down in front of Moser, then about 8, his sister and their mother. " He said one thing, " Moser remembers. " My son, Dietmar, I will live in your heart. Don't look. " Moser's mother loved him so. She rejected Nazi beliefs, but devoted herself to her husband, a doctor and horseman who won Olympic medals in dressage at the 1936 Games, Hitler's attempt to showcase Aryan supremacy. Her own father hated his son-in-law, Hitler and the regime. During the war's duration, he moved the family to the countryside to escape the violence and bombings. " I never forget, " Moser says. " I went out and I said, 'Look, Mommy, there is no sky. There is only airplanes.' " His grandparents lost nearly everything. After the war, Moser's grandfather spent eight months in a Russian internment camp. The Soviet Union expelled many Germans. Some deserved punishment because of their activities during the war. Others suffered simply because of their German nationality. Soviet soldiers, too, removed Moser and his family from their home the day his father was killed. His mother kicked and screamed as they grabbed her by the hair and arms, throwing her onto a truck. Her crime was her marriage. They separated Moser and his sister from their mother, eventually putting them on a train to Russia with hundreds of other children. Their mom, distraught, volunteered to work as a supervisor on the trains, secretly hoping to find her son and daughter. The three reunited by chance. Moser spied his mother first. " I turned sister around so she wouldn't say, 'Mommy,' " he says. They escaped, jumping from the train during a stopover in Warsaw, Poland, then hitchhiked and walked home to Berlin. To survive, they begged and stole food. The trip took three months. Moser weighs those times, the war and his father. He says his mother taught him to love unconditionally, so he tries to reconcile the man he knew with the soldier he did not. He discovered later that his father served mostly in Poland in bureaucratic roles. " He never put his family name in a horrible situation, " he explains. " He stayed away from this. He was not interested in being evil. " To think otherwise would be too painful. The child still needs his father to make sense. To the moon Moser's house is chock-full of handmade rugs, Egyptian relics, souvenirs from his travels, medals, photographs and knickknacks. They edge onto countertops and tablesides. " I've got so much junk, " Moser kids. Once he had so little. He came to America in 1955, poor, uncertain of the nation and its language. He secured a green card by earning a scholarship through Columbia University in New York City. The school allowed Moser to study English while maintaining a job. He worked at the Waldorf-Astoria for two years, becoming a chef, learning about the trade and America. His new home consumed him. " The challenge was so big that I wanted to go deeper and deeper into it, " he says. He spent vacations traveling. In Miami, Moser spotted one of his favorite actors surrounded by women at a posh hotel. He had to say hello. Moser introduced himself to Jackie Gleason, told him how much he enjoyed his shows. They chatted. Gleason asked what Moser did. " He said, " Moser remembers, 'You know, I'm a very spoiled cat. I like to spoil myself and the people I take out. Why don't you work for me?' " Bang, zoom, to the moon. Moser left New York to create buffets for Gleason and his guests on train trips. " This looks more beautiful than a woman, " Gleason would tell Moser of the food displays. Still, Moser wanted to see America. He left after six months. He toured New Orleans, and worked at the famed Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo. Moser moved to Reno, Nev., and Lake Tahoe, Calif., before he and a partner opened a restaurant, the Golden Horseshoe, in San Jose, Calif. " Have I told you about Frankie Boy? " he asks. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin came to his restaurant once. Sinatra ordered a tenderloin medium rare, then sent it back to the kitchen without trying it, claiming the chef undercooked it. " I shouldn't be telling this, " Moser says, laughing. Angry, Moser tossed it to the floor, then garnished it and put it back on a plate. It was perfect. Sinatra stopped by the kitchen after the meal and tipped Moser $50. A year later in 1960, he got two more visitors at the restaurant during a birthday celebration for his partner. They showed their badges, agents of the FBI, and handed him a notice from the U.S. Army. He had been drafted. The government had been looking for him because Moser neglected to register for the draft during his travels. He threw up his hands. " Stay, " Moser told the agents. " Enjoy the party. " His lot He only wanted a little off the sides. The barber shaved the middle of his head instead. Welcome to the Army, Pvt. Moser. " I learned quickly to say, 'Yes sir. When? What time?' " Moser explains. And he understood how to make the best of his lot. Moser advanced through airborne school, survival training and Ranger courses, becoming a Green Beret. The service required two years' time from its conscripts. Moser stayed in for nearly 30 years. He found it a good fit, adapting easily to his position and place. He served in the United States, Turkey and Germany during his career, mostly as a senior enlisted aide. In the 1970s, he worked in Paris, then in Belgium for Gen. Alexander Haig at NATO headquarters. Before then, it was Vietnam, where he earned a Purple Heart for shrapnel wounds. Moser became an American citizen in 1965, and his sister, who lives in Woodbridge, Va., moved to the United States six years later. He went on to earn a master chef degree and received several culinary awards while in the military and afterward. In Turkey, the home country of his then-wife, he opened a coffee shop and bar. Moser even started a company to sell tractor-trailers with pliable curtain systems that allowed partitioning. Yet, the soldier survives. He cannot tear himself from those years, particularly Vietnam. The moment persists. " To lose one human being, it is sad, " he says. His friend, the one who was blinded, invited Moser to his home after he returned from the war. He took him to his garden. " He said look at these beautiful roses, " Moser says. " I tell you, I cried. " Splendor He's coy about his age, though it's not hard to estimate. Recently, Moser hosted a joint birthday party for a friend and himself. Several people dropped by to enjoy his hospitality. Moser knew many of them from Seacoast, a nondenominational church where he serves as a greeter. Some, he knew earlier. " If he can help you, he'd give his right arm to help you, " says Fritz Beisser, a longtime pal. Moser is thankful for most everything, his friends; his first car, a white 1958 Ford Thunderbird hardtop convertible; Radio City Music Hall, where he watched films as a young man; even the sun, moon and stars. Moser named his three daughters for the heavens. Guenes means " sun " in Turkish, Dolunay, " moon, " and Yildiz, " star. " He tries to find the splendor in all cultures, heeding his mother, who at 93 still lives in Germany, and her lesson _ unconditional love. " Every country has its beauty, " Moser says. He remembers when he first came to America. He believed it a privilege. He wishes everyone felt the same. He seeks to remind others, carrying a message earnest and urgent. " I need to share, to show what a human being can accomplish, " Moser says. He passes on the tale of an immigrant, the tale of a patriot, along with a contribution - his humanity, his endeavor to lessen the distance. " Isn't it beautiful? " he asks without pausing. " Isn't it great? " Dietmar Moser OCCUPATION: Retired chef, senior enlisted aide, U.S. Army. FAMILY: Three daughters, Guenes, Dolunay, Yildiz; a sister, Ingrid; mother, Alice. I LOVE TO: Travel, go fishing, ride my bike, play tennis. FAVORITE BOOK: " Your Best Life Now: Seven Steps to Living at Your Full Potential " by Joel Osteen. FAVORITE LOCAL RESTAURANTS: My own kitchen, Sermet's Corner, SeeWee, Cypress, Water's Edge. IF I HAD TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN: I am really a God-blessed person. I would dream again to have such children. PEOPLE WHO HAVE INFLUENCED MY LIFE: My grandparents; my mother; Pamela Strich, the social and residence administrator for the diocese of Charleston; Lt. Gen. James B. Vaught, a 1946 graduate of The Citadel and veteran of three wars; Greg Surratt, senior pastor at Seacoast Church; Fritz Beisser, longtime friend. THE PLACE I GO WHEN I NEED TO THINK: Anywhere I can hear the sound of flowing water. SOMETHING MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME: I'm adventurous and I enjoy new things. I'd probably try almost anything that's not extremely dangerous and would risk leaving my children fatherless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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