South Waltoner helped make history and take down The Wall

On Sept. 1, 1983, when a Korean jet liner was shot down over Russia with Georgia U.S. Sen. Larry McDonald aboard, it sparked what some consider to be the tensest moment of the Cold War.

Barbara May, who now calls South Walton home, remembers the incident well, as she was in charge of group travel for a top U.S. travel agency, which did a lot of business with Delta Airlines.

Fast forward two years later and May was asked to lead the first tourist group allowed back into Russia.

May successfully led a group of 20 on a 12-day journey that stopped in Moscow and Leningrad, and created memories of the Bolshoi Ballet, in contrast to the armed soldiers everywhere, the overnight train ride to Leningrad, and brushing her teeth with vodka.

May’s expertise and savvy at successfully leading such trips got her noticed in the travel industry enough to be offered an invitation four years later to an even more historic event — the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.

May had been to Berlin before, and her German grandfather had emigrated to U.S. from Germany many years before, but she had never visited the “political side” of the city.

Delta was trying to generate travel to the country and invited May and others in the business to visit Berlin to help break the wall down.

The day after the announcement, the group flew from Atlanta to Frankfurt and then to Berlin.

They were met at the airport by Delta officials and given hardhats and a pick hammer, and taken directly to the wall, where they were allowed to smash at the wall with their picks.

The group then went to their hotel on the Western side, which May describes as light, bright, and elegant. 

“West Berlin was and has always been a very lively and wonderful place,” said May.

The next morning, in a somber mood, the group boarded a bus and drove through Checkpoint Charlie, as one of the first groups to pass through.

“My first impression moving out of the Western side into the Eastern side was that it was like watching a movie in color turning to black and white,” she said. “No sign of color, energy, or life in general. There were no street lights, no Christmas lights, no shops were open and very few people were on the street. It looked deserted except for tanks in the street. There were still armed soldiers standing at Checkpoint Charlie, even though people were allowed through.” 

The group spent five days visiting all the places that had been closed to the West for so long — Potsdam, museums and Charlottenburg Palace

“It was exciting. There were parties and singing in the streets and in the bars in West Berlin,” she said.  

May thought of the historic event this November as the world celebrated the 20th anniversary of The Wall coming down, and she got out her old photos and her few remaining pieces of The Wall she helped knock down.

The Mays have lived in South Walton since 1999.