Singer Paul Anka meets his fans at the Frankfurt post exchange in March, 1962. (Gene Bane/Stars and Stripes)
Singer Paul Anka meets his fans at the Frankfurt post exchange in March, 1962. (Gene Bane/Stars and Stripes)
Singer Paul Anka at the Frankfurt post exchange in March, 1962. (Gene Bane/Stars and Stripes)
Singer Paul Anka holds up one of his albums at the Frankfurt post exchange in March, 1962. (Gene Bane/Stars and Stripes)
Singer Paul Anka at the Frankfurt post exchange in March, 1962. (Gene Bane/Stars and Stripes)
Singer Paul Anka gets a kiss from a fan at the Frankfurt post exchange in March, 1962. (Gene Bane/Stars and Stripes)
Paul Anka is 20 years old and already a millionaire.
And the reason why was pretty apparent when fans mobbed the record department of the Frankfurt Post Exchange.
The Military Police assigned there for the occasion had their hands full holding off youngsters (and some not so young) who are great admirers of Paul's singing and composing talents. Anka sported a smile through it all while autographing records, photographs and slips of paper at Frankfurt, then drove off to the Hainerberg Shopping Center in Wiesbaden to do the same for fans there.
On his first trip to Germany, the young record idol obviously was scoring another hit. In Frankfurt, kids missed their lunch hour to see the boy wonder — who himself skipped school altogether after making his first million while still Sweet 16.
But students weren't the only fans. Explained a soldier, Sp5 John Fogarty, 26, of Hq, 3rd QM Bn: "I'm getting an autograph for my German fiancée. She's not allowed in the PX but she loves Anka."
Commented Anka after his stint: "Everybody was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful."
