FROM GEORGE KORDA, A REMINDER: It used to be unsafe for U.S. soldiers to travel alone in America.

I was in an Atlanta airport concourse the other day when the place erupted in cheers.

There was nothing on the TVs of special note. A moment earlier everyone seemed to be doing what people do in an airport concourse, stand around hoping their plane leaves on time.

Then, I saw the reason for the applause. A group of U.S. military service members was walking through the concourse. As people noticed them, they cheered and applauded, causing more people to notice, with more cheering and applause.

How times have changed. In a good way. It used to be much different, and not that long ago.

One evening in Dec. 1974, shortly after leaving Ft. Benning, in Columbus, Georgia, for my new assignment at the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, U.S. Army, Europe headquarters, a bunch of us, enlisted men, were sitting around and talking in someone’s barracks room. Doug, a short-timer about to get out of the Army, said he couldn’t wait to get back to the U.S. because, he said, “There are a lot of Germans who hate American soldiers.”

Reflecting on this, I said, “Doug, you can walk down any American street and run into a lot of Americans who hate American soldiers.”

The room became quiet. Some nodded. We all knew it to be true, but there was nothing we could do about it.

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