LOST -  Chapter One 

       Her name, Christal Albrecht, has a rhythm when you say it, like the rhythm when she walks. Her last name, Albrecht, means noble. How true!
       She is a 27-year-old German girl, blonde, about five foot six when stretching. And with a sculpted figure where every inch had a beautiful purpose.
       Wade Collins, a 30-year-old Army Infantry Captain, met her in May of 1953 while both were working in the small American Tourist and Information building in Berchtesgaden, Germany.  It was love at second sight. That is to say, the second time Wade took Christal out it came over both of them like an uncontrollable tide. That was on Tuesday, May 8, 1953, exactly eight years to the day after the end of World War II in Europe. On that momentous evening they dined in the Skyline Room of the General Walker Hotel on the Obersalzburg, high above the little village of Berchtesgaden.
       Christal had been a child of World War II. It began and ended while she was still a teenager ... thirteen when Adolph Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, and nineteen when it was over in 1945. In between it killed or maimed tens of millions and left behind even more millions of the dazed and destitute.
       In Germany the anger was mixed. There were those who hated Hitter for what he had done to them. And there were those who hated America and its allies for what they had done to them. Christal and her twin sister, Marlene, were in the anti-Hitler group. Even though in 1944 when they were only 18 American bombers killed their parents and nearly them too.
       It happened when the planes were attacking the crucial rail hub in their hometown, Kornwestheim, just 10 kilometers north of Stuttgart.
       The collateral damage was massive. Over 100 people lost their lives and more than 100 buildings were reduced to rubble, including the house where the girls were born, and still lived in with their family. But Christal told Wade she didn’t blame the Americans.
       “As time went on, I was able to live with that horrible memory by reminding myself over and over that the airplanes had come to free us from the Nazis.”
       The bombing occurred when Christal, Marlene, and their parents, were at home. “As soon as my father heard the planes, he yelled for everyone to get down on the floor. Then he and my mother tried to protect us by laying on top of us. As the bombs fell one collapsed the roof, killing our parents. They gave their lives to save their children".
       Christal had feared the Nazis since the day in 1940 when the Gestapo, Hitler’s Secret Police, came to her school room. She was 14.
       “They spoke to our teacher. Then they walked slowly down the aisles stopping at each of our desks and staring at us. They asked our names. I was terrified. When the Gestapo left, we cried hysterically. Our teacher cried too while she tried to console us.”
       In spite of all the misery of her youth Christal was determined not to let it destroy her. She grew into a strong yet kind and gentle young lady. Making new friends was her avocation, helping anyone in need an obligation. If there are extraordinary people in this troubled world she was one of them.
       Wade already had one failed marriage behind him. It had lasted just a year. He was sure he would never try it again. At first he blamed his wife for the divorce. Then he decided they had both been too young. He was 22. She just 20. They were still in college. Finally he realized that neither one loved the other. It was different with Wade and Christal. They were in love. 
       After that second date they celebrated every Tues