The slow march of light, p.1
The Slow March of Light, page 1
Photo on page 311 courtesy of Bob Inama.
© 2021 Heather B. Moore
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Shadow Mountain®, at permissions@shadowmountain.com. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of Shadow Mountain.
This is a work of fiction. Characters and events in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are represented fictitiously.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
CIP data on file
ISBN: 978-1-62972-928-2 | eISBN: 978-1-64933-030-7
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Printed in the United States of America
Lake Book Manufacturing, Inc., Melrose Park, IL
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Book design © Shadow Mountain
Art direction: Richard Erickson
Design: Sheryl Dickert Smith
Cover image by BrianScantlebury/Shutterstock
Endsheet image by Naeblys/Shutterstock
Dedicated to Bob Inama,
a remarkable man who has brought
inspiration to so many
Table of Contents
Author’s Note
Historical Timeline
Character Chart
Map of Allied-Occupied Germany, 1945-1989
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Afterword
Discussion Questions
Chapter Notes
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Author’s Note
In early 2020, Chris Schoebinger with Shadow Mountain Publishing contacted me with a story idea about a man named Bob Inama, who had recently shared details with his children about his experiences as a US soldier serving in West Germany in the early 1960s. When Chris sent over a short summary of what Bob had experienced, I knew that this story needed to be shared.
When I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, it seemed that the animosity between the United States and the USSR had always been part of the news, and the many spy movies produced during those eras were keen to create scenarios that would grip audiences’ imaginations. But Bob’s story is not an ordinary spy story. It is one of a remarkable man, a humble man, who served his country, looked beyond himself, and changed lives around him.
COVID-19 was a growing force in the United States when my first meeting loomed on the horizon with Bob and his wife, Diane. So I met this extraordinary couple over a video call. Through the video call, I listened as this eighty-five-year-old man told me of his experiences, from first being drafted into the army in 1959, which waylaid all of his plans to attend law school at George Washington University, until the day he received an assignment to go undercover in East Berlin and send nuclear target information back to the US Army.
When I asked questions from my prewritten list, Bob stopped me at one point and said, “There are just some things I had to forget.” As such, I have taken a respectful approach to Bob’s story and experiences. He endured a lot through his many trials, and he became an inspiration in my personal life as the world around me was ravaged with a devastating pandemic that forever changed everyone’s lives. Throughout Bob’s life, no matter what he endured, no matter the pain, the fear, or the unknown, he faced it with hope in his heart. He treated everyone around him as if they were a family member—from his army platoon, to the German people, to the East German guards, to the Soviet soldiers and officers who reviled and abused him.
Bob walked a straight line through his life, according to his beliefs in a higher power. His humility and gratitude for his blessings, even on the darkest of days, echo religious leader Joseph B. Wirthlin, who said, “Come what may, and love it.” This phrase truly embodies the way that Bob chose to live his life. Whether it was at Fort Sill in Oklahoma or at the army post in Hanau, Germany, Bob was generous and loyal, despite the fact that he was serving in the epicenter of the Cold War, where one wrong move from either side of the heavily guarded West/East German inner border could have resulted in the next devastating world war.
Following WWII, the European continent was suffering from immeasurable economic destruction, in addition to the travesty of millions of lives lost. What followed should have been the rebuilding of nations and peoples, but instead, the contest over power continued. The United States and the Soviet Union came out on top as the superpowers of the world, and they were not friends in the proverbial sandbox.
Germany was sharply divided, the west from the east, and the Allied forces of Britain, France, and the United States had subdivided West Germany. Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union took over the east, slowly integrating the ideals of Marxism and Leninism into a society that had already been living in fear and control for decades beneath the Nazi regime.
The city of Berlin became a political hotspot even before WWII was over, and none of the Allies would agree to give up their portion. Therefore, inside East Germany sat the quadruple-occupied city of Berlin, with Britain, France, and the United States inhabiting sectors in West Berlin, and the USSR occupying all of East Berlin. In this way, the western portion of the city was like its own “island of democratic administration and market economy in a Communist landscape” (Funder 2002, 160). The western powers focused on establishing “a federated system of states, the division of political, administrative and judicial power, and guarantees of private property. In 1948 they handed over these institutions to the newly created Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) together with massive injections of funds from the Americans’ Marshall Plan” (Funder 2002, 160).
In contrast, the Soviets governed East Germany until they established the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1949—which was considered a satellite state of the USSR. This meant that East Germany was under USSR military control, politically and economically. Because of the communist ideals the USSR operated on, East Germany “production was nationalized, factories and property turned over to the state, health care, rent and food were subsidized. One-party rule was established with an all-powerful secret service to back it up. And the Soviets, having refused the offer of American capital, plundered East German production for themselves” (Funder 2002, 161).
In 1961, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev authorized the construction of the Berlin Wall. This wall was erected with barbed wire overnight in the early hours of Sunday, August 13. The Berlin Wall officially divided Berlin citizens from their friends, families, and colleagues, as well as from the rest of the world. Over the next months, the wall was fortified by 32,000 East Germans who installed materials that had been collected far in advance. According to Frederick Baker, the first phase was a simple construction of barbed wire, cobblestone, and wooden posts. Sections of concrete were soon added as reinforcements. Homes and buildings that were on the border were bulldozed in order to prevent escapees sneaking through buildings and arriving in West Berlin on the other side (see Baker 1993).
The second phase of the wall consisted of concrete walls, pipe laid on top, and 260 guard towers. Other features such as embedded flares, trip wires, and attack dogs were also implemented. A final prevention measure included five-inch spikes “designed to impale the feet or bodies of any who attempted to jump from the top of the wall” (The Berlin Wall 2015, 46).
The year of 1976 brought on the final phase of the wall, in which the concrete barriers were strengthened. And finally, in May 1982, the order to shoot any escapees was officially added to the GDR constitution.
Most Germans weren’t happy with the dividing wall in Berlin, and there are many stories of East Germans escaping, but there are also lesser-known stories of the West Germans who put their own lives and well-being on the line to aid those escapees. West German citizens such as Michael Hinze collected passports to smuggle to East Berliners. “We had no trouble getting hold of the papers,” wrote one participant. “People were more than willing to help others get out of [East Berlin]” (Funder 2002, 209). Tunneling was another way that facilitated escapes, but “only around 300 people escaped over the course of nearly 30 years through tunnels that took months to dig and were, more often than not, discovered before being e
Unfortunately, at least 171 people were killed while trying to escape over or under the Berlin Wall. “From 1961 until the wall came down in 1989, more than 5,000 East Germans (including some 600 border guards) managed to cross the border by jumping out of windows adjacent to the wall, climbing over the barbed wire, flying in hot air balloons, crawling through the sewers and driving through unfortified parts of the wall at high speeds” (History.com editors 2019).
In all, the Cold War persisted for forty-five years, crumbling in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down on November 9 and finally disintegrating in 1990 when West Germany and East Germany reunified into a single country.
Historical Timeline
May 20, 1935:
Albert (Bob) R. Inama is born in Nampa, Idaho.
December 7, 1941:
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
December 8, 1941:
The United States declares war on Japan, officially entering World War II.
December 11–13, 1941:
Nazi Germany and its Axis partners declare war on the United States.
February 4–11, 1945:
The Cold War begins with the Yalta Conference meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. The Soviet Union is granted control of Eastern Europe.
May 7–9, 1945:
Germany surrenders.
July 17–August 2, 1945:
Potsdam Conference—Germany is officially partitioned into four zones of occupation, and the city of Berlin is also divided into four zones.
August 6, 1945:
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing 80,000 instantly.
August 8, 1945:
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and invades Manchuria.
August 9, 1945:
The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing 40,000 instantly.
September 2, 1945:
Japan formally surrenders, ending World War II.
March 5, 1946:
Winston Churchill delivers his “Sinews of Peace” speech against the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain.
April 3, 1948:
The Marshall Plan is signed by President Harry S. Truman, setting a precedent for helping countries combat poverty, disease, and malnutrition.
June 24, 1948:
The Berlin Blockade begins, lasting eleven months.
August 29, 1949:
The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb.
January 20, 1950:
Truman approves H-bomb development.
June 24, 1950:
The Korean War begins. Stalin provides weapons to North Korea.
March 17–June 4, 1953:
A series of eleven atomic weapons are tested at the Nevada Test Site.
July 27, 1953:
The Korean War ends.
May 14, 1955:
The Warsaw Pact is formed as a mutual defense treaty between the Soviet Union and satellite nations to counter the NATO alliance.
November 1, 1955:
The Vietnam conflict begins.
1955–1957:
Bob Inama serves a volunteer church mission to the East Central states.
October 29, 1956:
The Suez crisis begins with Israeli attack against Egyptian forces in the Sinai.
September 1957:
Bob Inama returns to Utah State University to pursue a prelaw degree.
November 1958:
Soviet leader Khrushchev demands the withdrawal of troops from Berlin.
January 1959:
Cuba is taken over by Fidel Castro.
December 1959:
Bob Inama receives a draft letter from US President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
February 13, 1960:
France tests its first nuclear bomb.
February 1960:
Bob Inama heads to basic training at Fort Ord in California.
May 1, 1960:
A United States U-2 spy plane is shot down over Soviet territory.
May 1960:
Bob Inama is assigned to the Artillery Fire Direction Center at Fort Sill, near Lawton, Oklahoma.
August 1960:
Bob Inama is assigned to Headquarters Company 75th Field Artillery in Hanau, Germany.
August 13, 1961:
The Berlin inner border is closed, and construction of the Berlin Wall begins.
October 16–28, 1962:
Cuban Missile Crisis
October 16, 1964:
China tests its first nuclear bomb.
April 1970:
Richard Nixon extends the Vietnam War to Cambodia.
October 1973:
Egypt and Syria attack Israel; Egypt requests Soviet aid.
April 30, 1975:
The Vietnam War ends.
December 1979:
Soviet forces invade Afghanistan.
March 1985:
Mikhail Gorbachev becomes a leader in the Soviet Union.
October 1987:
President Reagan and Gorbachev resolve to remove all intermediate nuclear missiles from Europe.
November 9, 1989:
The Berlin Wall is demolished.
October 3, 1990:
West Germany and East Germany reunite to become one nation.
Character Chart
Adolf (real name unknown)
Dr. Hugh Bennion
Albert C. Inama (Bob’s father)
Blanche Inama (Bob’s mother)
Bob Inama
David Inama (Bob’s cousin)
Diane Inama (Bob’s wife)
Giuseppe Inama (Bob’s grandfather)
Margaret Inama (Bob’s sister)
Marie Inama (Bob’s grandmother)
Tom Komori (name has been changed)
Major Nelson (name has been changed)
Professor Schmitt
Johannes Stumm
Susan (name has been changed)
Major Taggett
Adel
Mrs. Beck
Mrs. Belding
Nurse Bevin
Officer Braun
Charlotte
Curt
Erika
Franz Fischer
Sonja Fischer
Dr. Greer
Greta
Mrs. Herrmann
Jonas
David Jones
Josh
Karl
Hans Keller
Mona Keller
Mrs. Klein
Mrs. Lange
Mr. Leon
Rick Murdock
Mr. and Mrs. Neumann
Oma
Opa
Mr. Roth
Luisa Voigt
Officer Voigt
Mr. and Mrs. Wagner
Mrs. Weber
Soviet Officer 1
Soviet Officer 2
Dr. Stoddard
Map of Germany with boundaries of the Soviet zone, British zone,
French zone, and American zone, as established after World War II.
July 28, 1953. US Congress, Archive of Americana.
Chapter one
“We are all enlisted till the conflict is o’er;
Happy are we! Happy are we!
Soldiers in the army, there’s a bright crown in store;
We shall win and wear it by and by.
Haste to the battle, quick to the field;
Truth is our helmet, buckler, and shield.
Stand by our colors; proudly they wave!
We’re joyfully, joyfully marching to our home.”
