Jim Cary and his ukelele led the annual Saturday night singalong in the hospitality room at reunions of my father's 712th Tank Battalion. He also a company commander with two Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a story you'll want to hear. For more about this podcast, please visit myfatherstankbattalion.com
Aaron Elson went to a reunion of the 712th Tank Battalion, with which his father served, in 1987. Two years later, he went to another reunion with a tape recorder. He's been preserving veterans' stories ever since.
Sunday, August 30, 2020
Saturday, August 8, 2020
Ed Stuever Part 2: "Watch My Smoke"
In Part 2 of this 2005 interview, maintenance Sgt. Ed "Smoky" Stuever describes with remarkable clarity events from 60 years before. These include his experiences in the veterinary detachment of the horse cavalry, chaperoning Spanky McFarland, towing trucks onto Utah Beach after their engines sputtered out, getting drunk on mirabeille (white lightning) and making his captain pull guard duty, repairing tanks at night by the light from gun flashes, and helping a German woman and her three children escape from Russians near the end of the war. The episode is long and I've dispensed with the usual narrative, so I'll say it now: Thank you for listening to Myfatherstankbattalion. I'm Aaron Elson, your host.