Flat Stanley Visits Geilenkirchen NATO Air Base

FS with the 470th Bison


FS goes NATO


FS tries on a cap


FS with Lt. Col. Herbert, 470th Commander


FS with Gen. Schmidt, the NATO Componet Commander

The Story of Flat Stanley goes like this. Stanley was a kid who was flattened in his parents’ factory. Once his parents figured out that they could mail him places they sent him around the world on adventures. This is a book that kids read and then as a class project the kids make their own Stanley and mail him out. I received a FS and made sure that he had a good time on the base. All of the adults involved had a great time with it.

It was pretty easy to get in to see Lt. Col Herbert being that I work for the 470th, but I did have to go through a few hoops to meet with the General. His aid had never heard of FS, but the General was familiar with the story as he has children of his own who have participated in the project.

The day we meet the General officially, (we had posed for a photo at Oktoberfest) was pretty cool. I got to ride in his car, which was a pretty sweet BMW, and we drove right onto the flight line. The General even opened and closed my door. I was queen of the base for at least 10 minutes…ha ha.

I ended up sending a bunch of treats and NATO stickers to the kid who made FS. I also sent him copies of the pictures, postcards from the local area, AWACS paper airplanes, and a letter from Flat Stanley himself. The letter is below.



Dear T.J.,

I only spent a few days in Germany, but boy was I ever busy! I stayed with my friend in Waldfeucht-Bocket, which is a small village right on the Dutch border. When we drove to work we even drove through Holland and then back into Germany. Did you know that the official name for Holland is “The Netherlands?” It means “the lowlands” in Dutch, which is the language that they speak in Holland. Are you confused yet? I sure was. The whole area is very flat, which is why it’s called the “lowlands.”

There aren’t any big cities in this part of Germany. The closest big city was Aachen which was a 45 minute drive from where I stayed. If you want to find where I was on a map you will have to find Aachen, and move your finger north, right on the Netherlands/German border just a bit to find the spot were the German border moves west and that’s the place. If you have a very, very good map you might be able to locate the small cities of Heinsburg or Geilenkirchen. I also got to see the small Dutch city of Sittard. It was only a 15 minutes drive from the house.

There is a lot of farming in this area. They grow cabbage, white asparagus called “spargel,” leeks, and many people have small backyard gardens. The most important crop in this area is sugar beets. It takes over 7 pounds of sugar beets to make one pound of sugar! They also use the sugar beets to make a sweet syrup called “stroop” that you can use on your pancakes or to make other great sweet treats. It was sugar beet harvest time when I visited so I got to see huge piles of them out in the fields. They look like giant yams and they were as big as me! I also saw a lot of dairy cows out in the fields. In fact, there is a dairy farm right across the street from where I stayed.

My friend works at the Geilenkirchen NATO Air Base which is near the village of Geilenkirchen. You can pronounce it “guy-len-kirk-in.” or “guy-len-kerch-in.” The military base was really neat. The main job there is to fly AWACS planes for NATO. AWACS stands for “airborne warning and control systems.” You might have seen this plane before on T.V. It is a regular jet plane that has a big black and white Frisbee attached on the top. The “Frisbee” part is called a “rotodome” and it sends out electronic radar signals to find out if there are any other planes flying in the same area. This helps to protect the fighter planes when they go out on missions.

NATO stands for “North Atlantic Treaty Organization.” They are a group of different countries that work together to help protect each other from danger. Visiting the base was really exciting because I saw people from many different nations. The biggest group of people at the base was the United States Air Force. The next biggest group was the German military. I also met Canadian, Dutch, Greek, Belgian, Portuguese, Polish, Norwegian, French, Czech, Turkish, and Spanish people.

The grocery store on base was cool because they have different foods from all over the world. This way everyone stationed at the base can get their favorite treats from home. In this box I included stroopwafels from Holland and Knoppers from Germany. I hope that you and your class like them. I also ate a lot of sausages here. Germans love sausages and they have over 1000 different kinds. I got to try bratkartoffeln, which is “fried potatoes” with curry ketchup…YUMMY!

During my visit I met some really nice people and got to take some cool pictures. I hope that you like the ones of me with the squadron logos. I really like the one where I got to stand on the AWACS! Then I met Lieutenant Colonel Herbert. He is in charge of the 470th ABS (Air Base Squadron). There are called “the Bisons” and they work to support the US Air Force members. He is my friend’s boss. Wearing the 470th cap was his idea and I think that it was a good one.

Next I went to the Component Headquarters’ Building to meet with General Schmidt. He is in charge of everyone on the base. We got to ride in his car out to the flight line where they keep the planes and posed for some pictures in the cockpit of an AWACS. General Schmidt used to fly bombers, but he doesn’t get to fly the AWACS. That is because he is too busy running the base.

Wow, I know that this is a very long letter. I just had such a good time that I wanted to share it with you. I better get this mailed soon because my envelope is waiting to get mailed to another country. I can’t wait to get there and send you another post card. I’ll give you one hint about where I am going. Ready? The place that I am going is sometimes called “the Land Down Under.” Do you know where I’m going?


Have a great day!