It was one summer in the 1980s. At the time, I was a U.S. Army stenographer stationed in Heidelberg, Germany, at HQ, US ARMY EUROPE. My two sons and I lived in military family housing in Patrick Henry Village, which Americans referred to as PHV.

I found PHV to be a safe, clean environment in which to raise my sons. I loved PHV's convenient location. It was only about a 20-minute drive to the Keys Building on Campbell Barracks, where I worked. Plus, as a military family so far away from home, we enj...