I know some people in Salzburg, in their 70s and 80s, who speak American English, basically. Why? They were lucky enough to wind up in the American zone after the war — not the Soviet zone. As kids, they were befriended by GIs. They learned English, gobbled up American candy bars, read Life magazine, listened to Armed Forces Radio.

That was certainly true of Gerhard Andlinger — Gerry (pronounced “Gary”) — whom I discuss in my Salzburg journal today. (This is my concluding installment, Part III.) He was born in 1931 and damn near starved during the war. Also, he pried coal out of railway tracks, in order to have something to burn for heat.

In 1948, something nice happened. The New York Herald Tribune ran an essay contest for the young people of Europe. They were to write on the subject “The World I Want.” A boy and a girl from each country were judged the winners. Gerry was the winning boy from Austria.

What’d they get? A three-month visit to the United States.

Gerry loved it, of course. Someone in his host family, I believe, had gone to Princeton. So Gerry was Princeton-minded. In due course, he went to that university, and then to Harvard Business School, and then to the top. He became a big international businessman, and an American citizen. He was a classic American — and a joy to be around.

There was a memorial service for him at the Salzburg Festival this year. (Gerry was a major patron of the festival.) He died last December. I last saw him in November, at a gala dinner. He made some remarks, in the course of which he expressed his profound gratitude for America and its openness to immigrants.

In 2008, Andlinger gave $100 million to his alma mater, Princeton. A trustee suggested that he up his donation to $102 million, which would allow him to hold the record for giving. Gerry answered, “I don’t do Mickey Mouse.”

That was so Gerry.

Does America still hold an allure for young strivers such as Gerhard Andlinger? Well, last week I sat next to an Austrian girl on a plane. She’s going into the tenth grade. And she was going to America. She’s going to be an exchange student in California. She speaks American English already — thanks to American television programs and movies, and her own studiousness and industry. She was excited beyond belief, to touch down on American soil. I was excited for her.

America’s still got it, I think. And I hope it always will. I hope that people will always be taken with America. Obviously, we have our immigration problems to sort out. Obviously, we can’t accommodate all who want to come here, at least permanently. And legality is the sine qua non. But I hope that America will always appeal, always beckon.

“I’ll start worrying about America when people from all over the world stop wanting to get there and join them.” That’s what Paul Johnson, the British historian, says. And George W. Bush likes to say, “The lines to get into America are long.”

That is a tribute, and a sign of health. When the lines shorten up or disappear — worry.