It was May 1961, barely 16 years after World War II left Europe in ashes. Seven hundred American high school juniors embarked on the American Field Service summer student exchange program, guided by the motto: "Walk together, talk together, All ye people of the earth, Then and only then Shall ye have Peace."

We boarded an old Dutch ship and steamed across the Atlantic to Rotterdam, Netherlands, then scattered to multiple countries. I stepped off a train in Essen, Germany, where my German brother waited.

Looking back, that 17 th summer afforded highly valuable first-hand education and experience regarding post-war political and economic realities in Europe. Having become great friends with so many people, young and old, in Germany and Holland, it was clear that the AFS student exchange

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