Berlin during the 1960s and 70s and Signals Intelligence (2)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

Ian Sanders

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 865 Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2018

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Welcome to the first full episode of Cold War Conversations where we start with a fascinating eyewitness account of Berlin during the Cold War. Michael lived in Berlin as a child of US Airforce personnel in the 1960s and 70s and then subsequently joined the US Airforce himself and worked in Signals Intelligence during the 1980s. In a wide-ranging chat, we talked about life for American families and their kids in Berlin during the 1960s and 70s as well as his time in signals intelligence in Berlin in the 1980s. We also talked about the Stasi spy in Michael’s unit, Kennedy’s visit to Berlin, Baader Meinhof attacks on US Forces, and much more. Our guest’s unit was described by the Commander in Chief US Airforce Europe as “his eyes and ears to the East.” See the show notes with lots of extra information at coldwarconversations.com The fight to preserve Cold War history continues and via a simple monthly donation, you will give me the ammunition to continue to preserve Cold War history. You’ll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, and get a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank you and you’ll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, we welcome one-off donations via the same link. Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Love history? Check out Into History at this link https://intohistory.com/coldwarpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
0:07.9	This is Cold War Conversations. If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to first-hand Cold War history accounts.
0:17.9	Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app or join our emailing list at
0:23.1	Cold Warconversations.com. We start with a fascinating eyewitness account of Berlin during the
0:31.8	Cold War. Michael Kay Ferris lived in Berlin as a child of US Air Force personnel Air Force personnel in the 1960s and 70s, and then subsequently
0:40.6	joined the U.S. Air Force and worked in Signals Intelligence during the 1980s. I'm delighted to welcome
0:47.9	Michael K. Ferris. My father had a cross-trained from the personnel field into being a Russian linguist.
0:56.6	In 1959, 1960, he went to Syracuse University.
1:01.7	And he got assigned to Berlin in 1960 after a tech school at Goodfellow Air Force Base.
1:08.8	And unfortunately, for some reason, probably political.
1:13.0	My mother and I were not able to join him for almost a year.
1:18.1	And my mother and I arrived in Berlin on finally 10 August, 1961.
1:25.5	A very interesting time to arrive, then.
1:29.5	Exactly.
1:30.2	So we had three days of Berlin without a wall, and that was it.
1:33.4	What was your father's role in Berlin?
1:35.5	What was he doing there?
1:37.2	He was a Russian linguist with the 6912 security squadron.
1:41.7	He worked various places.
1:43.6	For example, head building east, which is, you've
1:46.7	probably seen it several times because it's got that very unusual white radar at the end of it.
1:52.3	Is this a Templehof?
	...

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