to do the right thing and bring about a peace that does not contain in the very peace terms the germs of another war. That the U.S. took none of the surrendered U-boats is well known in Germany and considered a good omen that the U.S. has no desire to take anything from Germany. Extreme bitterness toward the English seems to be lost in their greater hatred of France. They say France has only one idea of peace- to ruin Germany utterly- and the only thing that can keep France from doing this is the British sense of fair play and this latent friendship from America....A restaurant manager asked the same question that greeted us on all sides: He was surprised when I mentioned it seemed likely the places to which Americans would flock after peace had been declared were the battlefields at Ypres, the Somme, and Château-Thierry, and not the spas of Germany...." First American Officer in Berlin While newspapers reported that Hugo Koehler was the first American naval officer to enter Germany following the Armistice, Koehler did not enter Germany until February 1919. He does have the distinction of being the first American officer to enter Berlin following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919, officially ending the war. The Allied Naval Armistice Commission was at Hamburg embarked on the British cruiser, . The city was under martial law and none of the British officers were interested in going ashore, unlike Koehler and Chief Yeoman Walter Dring, USN (1894–1984). Despite warnings of the danger, and armed with a notebook and pencils, Koehler and Dring sauntered down the gangplank and strode to the Hamburg-American Line pier. pushing through a crowd that was jostling for sugar and cigarettes, the pair were headed towards the main street, when two German military police on a sidecar motorcycle stopped and picked them up for questioning. Brought to German naval headquarters, they were interrogated by Admirals Scheer, Von Hipper and Von Reuter. Koehler explained that Coventry was the first inspection ship to arrive at Hamburg following the treaty and that the British officers preferred to remain on board. The Germans were greatly amused that the British were reluctant to come ashore and gave the American naval spy and his scribe permission to travel to Berlin by night train, provided they remained confined to their compartment. At 7 a.m. the following