I'm researching errors of memory and for me the search now begins. Why 'red hot Rita', what was the association that led to this particular wrong memory? I have no clue yet.

You owe that little effort to me, Roger, for it took me yesterday nearly half an hour to find the song from which the line 'und es war die Rote Rita' ('and it was the Red Rita') comes. And you made me think of that line with your request. I only found sleep when the song title (P.T.) and the whole story (a happy and successful desertion from the US-Army in 1966) had been reconstructed in my head.

Wolfgang