From: James Dutcher
Subject: Were you married while stationed at Sembach AB?
Date: October 3, 2020
To: Sembach Missileers
Not sure if the following news is appropriate for our site, but wanted to pass it along: Throughout the Matador and Mace days at Sembach, the Sembach Bürgermeister, Herr Anspach, presided over several hundred marriages involving US Air Force personnel. This included Airmen marring Germans (like me) and Airmen marring their US sweethearts (e.g., Fred Horky and his wife), along with a few US contractors assigned to Sembach. The main base known locally as Heuberg (base housing and the barracks area) used to belong to Herr Anspach until the French confiscated it to build the American base. While Herr Anspach never forgave the French, he had a great fondness for the Americans who came to populate the base. To this day his surviving family have permission to pass through the base to get to their remains fields. He was featured in several local newspaper articles where he discussed the many, many marriages he performed with US ties and posted pictures of Airmen who married Germans. He has long since passed, but his two daughters and only son remain and I have remained in contact with them. Rudy Anspach, the mayor’s son, was active in promoting American German relations and was a leader in Sembach politics. Unfortunately he has terminal cancer and his health is fading fast. This will be the end of the Anspach name in Sembach. Those who knew the Bürgermeister and/or were married by him may want to send a note or card to Rudy, his son. His address is Birkenstrasse 27, Sembach Pfalz 67861, Germany.
I sent an email to him anspach.sembach@freenet.de and it didn’t bounce back, so I believe it is still his active email address. He is home from a long hospital stay and his family is with him.
Regards,
Jim Dutcher (Dutch)