Dreamland

Nazis on the Potomac

I’m filming commercials to promote tourism in Washington DC. The first one is about taking the bus; I film the bus driving down the street, between the cherry trees. The bus is too wide; it is scraping against the trees on both sides of the road, it’s a real hassle. I finally manage to get the commercial filmed. The next commercial is for a prominent hotel. I film a family walking up the steps, suitcases in hand, the smiling bellhop escorting them to their room, etc. This one is easy, a wrap in one take.

As part of my deal for making the commercials, I get free room and board. I finish filming for the day, and I’m having a meal in the hotel restaurant. Suddenly, a siren sounds. “We’re being attacked!” the headwaiter calls out.

I run out onto the patio and look, two small fighter planes are headed our way. I pick up my movie camera and zoom in on the planes, to film them and to get a closer look through the telephoto lens. The planes are very old single engine jets, the kinds Germany was just starting to develop at the end of WWII. I look closely at the leading plane; there’s a black swastika in a white circle painted on the tail. Nazis!

We duck for cover. The planes fly on by and up the river without attacking us; they must have other plans. The hotel manger says they are sending up a reconnaissance plane to spy on the Nazis. He asks if I can go on the flight to film it. I agree, and we take off in an old twin engine transport from an airstrip behind the hotel.

The jets must have landed somewhere; they are no longer in the sky. I spot some activity on the ground, and tell the pilot to fly over for a closer look. Nazi troops appear to be setting up a camp along the edge of the Potomac river. I zoom in, filming as we fly by. The Nazis don’t try to shoot at the plane, which surprises me. I turn the film over to the hotel manager when we get back. He thanks me for my help.

“I’ll use this information to call in an air strike," he says. "We'll want to bomb those Nazis before they can cause us any trouble.”