On the Wall

"I didn't know that I was part of history until my granddaughter came home from school, I said 'What are you studying?' She said 'The Berlin Wall,' and I said 'Hell, I was there."

Loren "Teense" Willford, former representative for Wyoming House District 47, served in the United States Army eighth infantry, fourth division, beginning in 1961. Willford was a motor sergeant and part of his job was to patrol the Berlin Wall. "Wherever there were problems, we would try to solve the problem.

Willford was involved in an international incident during his time of service, involving a young man named Peter Fechter in East Germany. Fechter was killed while trying to escape into West Germany. West German soldiers were unable to intervene and prevent his death. "He started running and we tried to get him to go back, and then the machine guns ... we had to get out of the way because they were shooting at us, and he was killed there. They were mad at the West Berliners because we didn't save the guy–well, there was no way we could save him," Willford recounted. The incident made news headlines internationally in the days that followed.

Willford had the opportunity to go into East Berlin a couple of times, where he responded to exchange situations and other confidential missions. East Germany, at that time, looked to Willford like a movie set. "It looked like the whole city had been rebuilt but it was just false fronts," Willford said of the pictures put up to disguise the area. He also had the opportunity to visit the bunker where Adolf Hitler met his demise. "Nothing had been cleaned up since World War II, so I stuffed a bunch of stuff down in my combat boots. They caught it and took it away from me," Willford said.

Though he was drafted into the service, Willford says he would have joined anyway. "I think it's important to serve your country and serve your people, try to make it a better place to live for your grandchildren and your children.

"It really made me appreciate the United States of America a lot more," Willford continued. "I drove a vehicle behind the Iron Curtain for 120 miles. I saw armed guards out making women work in the field with hoes with nothing more than a slip or something on. I realized how important freedom is and it's worth the ultimate sacrifice–freedom for the country."

Aside from his time in Germany, Willford was selected to test weapons in the desert. "That wasn't fun. It got 120 (degrees) in the daytime in the sand and we tried new weapons ... they took a bunch of us who I guess were tougher than the other guys that knew how to shoot," Willford said. "I wouldn't care to do that again.

"I'm proud to be an American and proud to be a veteran," Willford said.