HER NAME WAS FRAU MARIA RINDER

In 1991, I was in the Army assigned to the 527th Military Intelligence Battalion in Kaiserslautern, Germany. I lived in Wielerbach, a small village 7 kilometers (about 5 miles) northeast of Kaiserslautern. Weilerbach was a convenient 20-minute commute from my unit on Vogelweh Kaserne. 

Maria was my landlady. She and her husband, Gerhardt, owned the beautiful two-story home in Weilerbach. I rented the downstairs apartment on one side of thei...