Today I watched a congressional hearing on television reporting on the status of Unexplained Aerial Phenomenon harking back to the days of the U.F.O. s of the 1960s.

I found the videos and the descriptions of current day incidents to be strangely familiar to me as I witnessed a similar incident way back in 1958 when I was only 18 years of age and assigned to an Armored Reconnaissance Unit on the East German border. I never reported the incident because it seemed so unusual that I hesitated to write it down in my logbook in fear of being branded an unreliable source and lose trust with my superiors.

Looking back on it now, I can confirm the current data as being exactly what I witnessed almost 64 years prior.

My rank at the time was a private first class and my assignment was as a tank gunner and turret mechanic in the unit. We were stationed about 35 kilometers from the border near the Fulda Gap pass anticipated as the main entrance for the Soviet tanks coming into war-torn Europe from the East.

At that time, we were hopelessly outnumbered about 20 to 1 by the Russian tanks and most of our training was in “Retrograde Movements” which was a diplomatic way of say a full scale retreat. I had the misfortune of being the last one out the door for a weekend pass and being told to report to the guard shack for unscheduled guard duty. I was still in the learning process to being a good soldier and staying out of trouble.

As a supernumerary, I had no assigned time of guard duty but filled in wherever and whenever needed. I was roused from a deep sleep slight after midnight to replace a sick guard who was sent back to the aid station for recuperation.

My station was familiar to me as it was on top of a elevated parking lot where we kept our vehicles in standby position for immediate deployment. Our unit was designed to muster and load onto our vehicles with the last tank on the road to the border within 15 minutes.

My duty was to observe all surrounding approaches to the tank park and sound the alert at any incursions.

I munched on my peanuts and pulled my jacket tight around me as it was quite cold, and the wind was from the north with a bitter blast.

To the south, I saw the reflection of the streetlamps of the town called Bad Kissingen lighting the cloudless and moonless sky. The stars were clear, and I could see the big dipper and the north star with great clarity.

My government issue watch with the radiation dial informed me that it was almost 0200 hours when I noticed several moving lights in the sky in the direction of the border to the East. I estimated there were three groups of five lights each. They were flying at a height of about 15,000 feet and moving a bit too slowly to be a normal aircraft. I suspected they might be helicopters patrolling the border which was about that distance and direction.

As they came closer, I thought that I would hear their engines, but all was silent except for the owls in the trees and the sound of traffic going through the town below.

I thought about calling it into the command post but hesitated because I knew the Sergeant did not like to be disturbed unless it was a column of Russian tanks approaching my position.