American soldiers, many of them veterans of the final fighting in   Europe in World War Two, were stationed as occupation troops in Germany.  Normally a beautiful country, Germany had been bombed to tatters and was not yet re-built.  The troops wanted to spend their leave in a nice place, but most other neighboring countries were just as bad off, except for Switzerland, which had not part the fighting.  So, the GIs flocked there to enjoy the lovely mountains and to see people living a normal life.