Aachen? Gesundheit!

"How long did it take you to get here? By Autobahn, highway?" Colonel Hogan asked.

"It was a very bumpy road." Charlene Hensley misunderstood the question.

Kathy Pruitt continued...

''It took us about 4 hours to get here. When we first got started, we passed through this city. There was a cathedral. It was not your typical one though. It had a really tall spire, but also a round domed roof in the middle.''

''City, cathedral, tall spire, domed roof in the center? Aachen!'' Hogan exclaimed.

"Gesundheit!" replied Charlene Hensley.

''Aachen is 80 miles due north of here. By truck, 4 hours would be just about right.''

2 figures popped out of the tunnel leading into Barracks 3. Hogan just got a massive headache.

Newkirk started performing his magic act. Which was held over in Blackpool for 2 extra weeks. Lebeau was performing a medley of French songs on the concertina. Followed by a bravura performance of ' Yankee Doodle' on the concertina. As the Colonel glared at him.

Charlene Hensley smiled at Louis LeBeau. It wasn't often that she saw somebody shorter than she was. The naive brunette was smitten by the little French corporal.

"You're cute!" she exclaimed.

The corporal was smitten as well. As he hadn't been this close to a woman in nearly 4 years. He immediately held her hand.

"Mon Colonel, are you authorized to perform marriages? Pierre, will you give the bride away?"

"All right, everybody back in the tunnel!" ordered Colonel Hogan.

Then a knock on the door-no time for Hogan, LeBeau and Newkirk to go down.

Colonel Hogan dragged Charlene Hensley behind the laundry line and curtain that served as a partition and temporary changing room of sorts.

LeBeau and Newkirk followed.

"Who is it?" Kathy Pruitt asked.

"It is me, Sergeant Schultz!"

Kathy Pruitt opened the door. The fat German sergeant's eyes were bugging out.

"Guten Morgen schöne Fräulein, Ich bin Oberfeldwebel Hans Schultz!"

"Come in Sergeant..."

Notes

Aachen Cathedral has a distinctive shape. It does have a tall spire, but the central part of the cathedral (where the altar should be) has a round roof. And the central part of the octagonal in shape. Not common for a German cathedral, as it's more what you see in a Byzantine style building. It's based on the San Vitale Church in Ravenna Italy.

If a German reader can confirm my details, that would be helpful, but I think I got it correct.

The fictional Hofburg is not a city at all. It's actually the Imperial Palace of the Habsburg emperors located in Vienna.

80 miles due north is the rough distance between Aachen and Düsseldorf. In the original episode, 80 miles due east of Hammelburg would mean Thuringia or Saxony. The US Army would not have advanced that far east into Germany if the chronological date is 1944. Aachen would be the logical choice. At least in my modified story.

Architecture lessons from Professor Kettenhund.