I was in Berlin for Thanksgiving in 1969 and 1970. I worked alone at least one of those days. I was the only single guy in our project in 1970 and was living in the villa on Sven-Hedin-Strasse on separate rations. That let all the married guys spend time with their families. That may sound overly noble, but the trade-off gave me some benefits later on.
My best Thanksgiving in the Army was in Basic Training oddly enough. My parents drove up from Portland to Fort Lewis and joined me for dinner. The mess sergeant even set up special places for us. I was the only trainee in the company who had family join him.
My dad said it was “just like 1943.” It wasn’t just the temporary WWII barracks. It was also that the first few people they asked for directions said “Dunno, I just got here.” He did Basic there for the Army Air Corps. When my company marched to an auditorium I saw that the temporary World War I barracks that my grandfather had lived in for training in the Oregon National Guard were being demolished.
-- rwr