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Dec 18, 2020

Aaron Elson sat in a lounge at West Point in 1994 with five veterans of the 101st Airborne Division as they reminisced about the siege of Bastogne. This episode concludes that conversation. For a transcript of the full conversation, please read the show notes for the previous episode (Episode 68).

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Dec 15, 2020

In 1994 I was a guest at the annual "Nuts" dinner of the General Anthony McAuliffe New York-New Jersey Chapter of the 101st Airborne Division Association. Before the dinner, I sat at a table in the lounge with five of the veterans, Bill Druback, Frank Miller, Len Goodgal, John Miller and Mickey Cohen. One of them said,...


Dec 9, 2020

This episode concludes the John Sweren story. It's a departure from my father's tank battalion but is well worth a listen, as it covers many of the universal themes of World War II: The post traumatic stress, the brushes with fate, the concept of heroism, the uplifting moments of humor in the darkest of circumstances,...


Dec 8, 2020

John Sweren of Mesa, Arizona, was a tail gunner on a B-26 in World War II, and a former prisoner of war. In 2005, he attended a ceremony in the Normandy village of Fierville-Bray for the dedication of a memorial to Hitch Hiker, his plane, which was shot down over the village with the loss of three of its crew...


Dec 7, 2020

John Sweren of Mesa, Arizona, was a tail gunner on a B-26 Marauder in World War II. On July 28, 1944, while on his 58th mission, his bomber took a direct hit of flak and the tail section broke off with John in it. He survived to become a POW.

John suggested the name Hitch Hiker for his B-26 and the crew approved. The...