In 1987, to celebrate the 750th anniversary of its founding, the two sides of Berlin – the capitalist West and the socialist East – spent the year competing to see who could showcase the best cultural, historical and political events.

On a hot summer day in June, I was among the US Army and Air Force officers at Tempelhof Air Field watching President Ronald Reagan deliver a long-awaited speech on television in front of the iconic Brandenburg Gate and the infamous Berlin Wall, built in 1961 to prevent East Germans from moving west .

When Reagan said, “As long as the gate is closed, as long as this scar on a wall is allowed to stand, it is not only the German question that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind,” there was scattered applause in the hall. Then, as the president exclaimed in his polished Hollywood voice, “If you seek peace … come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” The group erupted into cheers and prolonged applause.

After the speech, Reagan traveled to Tempelhof, where he joined a group of American officers and diplomats for lunch and made further private remarks. To my surprise, Reagan revealed that he had been holding secret but productive strategic arms reduction meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for months and had already asked him to make a grand gesture of peace like opening the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev replied that the wall was a German problem, and if East Germany decided to open the wall, the Soviets would not intervene. The diplomats, who suspected fraud, expressed their concern to the president, who assured us that he would “trust but verify.”

As an infantry company commander in the Army’s Berlin Brigade, I told the other company commanders that I planned to submit a request to extend my tour immediately in order to be in Berlin when the wall fell. “You heard the Gipper,” I reminded them, “he just told Gorby to tear down the wall. So now it is only a matter of time.” Everyone laughed when a co-commander told me, “If you want to be here for that, you’d better plan to extend for a hundred years!”