IT'S MIDNIGHT IN BERLIN

About the Book

It’s Midnight In Berlin: A True Story of An American Girl in War Torn Germany 1946-47 By Pat McMann Gilchrist Pat was a 22 year old college graduate, who signed with the War Department to go to Germany, as a civilian, to work for the U.S. Military Government in Berlin, It was only a few months after World War II had ended and one=fourth of the city of Berlin had been destroyed. She flew over in a C-54, along with 2 other planeloads of girls going over to help set up the military offices. These planes first stopped in Marseilles, France, where German prisoners were removed from their barracks so the girls could sleep there. In Berlin, she was assigned to take minutes at the Four Power meetings, so she worked closely with the British, French and Russians. While in Berlin, she met a handsome, young lieutenant and married him in a double ceremony with a French Red Cross worker and a military police officer. Her husband was a paratrooper so she had her wedding dress made out of a parachute. Many unusual and exciting incidents occurred, including the time she was arrested by the British for driving a Jeep. The British had been unaware that Americans could own Jeeps. Then there was the time she was a proxy bride in a wedding between an American officer and a young woman in Los Angeles. The wedding was performed over the telephone and it was the legal marriage. Due to the extremely cold winter and the food shortage for the German people, Pat was able to help several families with groceries and clothing. One little boy was so grateful that he gave her a ceramic collie dog that even today is one of her most prized possessions.

About the Author

Pat McMann Gilchrist grew up in Pittsburgh and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. She served as a civilian with the U.S. Military Government in Germany right after the end of World War II and, while there, married Lt. Bob McMann, The couple raised 3 children in Virginia. When Bob died after 26 years of marriage, Pat ran his Allis Chalmers lift truck business. In 1990, she married Denny Gilchrist, a retired Navy Captain. They are living in Richmond, Virginia, and together have a large family of several children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.