The Final Reunion
My wife and I are attending the Final 80th Reunion of the 12th Armored Division — the Hellcats from World War 2. Her dad attended the 1st reunion and we are attending the last one in honor of Haig.
Blood Soaked Land
I toured a lesser known World War 2 German prisoner of war camp in Landsberg, Germany, March 6th, 2026. If you watched the HBO mini-series “Band of Brothers,” then you have seen this camp portrayed before. This is my story. The tour was given by my friend Christopher Vila, who is president of the Dachau […]
The Book
Writing a book is a lot like building a house. You build the basement — in Michigan anyway — then the frame, then the roof. You’re not done there. Next, you install electrical wiring, plumbing, toilets, showers, drywall, and cabinets piece by piece. You build separate rooms and a garage. You’re not finished yet. You […]
François Thomann and Me
Herrlisheim Pres Colmar, France — It was an unexpected meeting of a lifetime that I’m certain François Thomann and I will always remember. I met 87-year-old François at his home in the tiny commune of Herrlisheim Pres Colmar, France, at 10 am April 6th on a warm, sunny spring day. I drove down the narrow […]
The Incredible Story of Lise Pommois
Niederbronn, France — I never met Lise Pommois until April 5th, 2024, but I felt like I knew her for a lifetime. On a sunny, 65-degree spring morning, the 87-year-old French woman from Niederbronn, France, walked down a steep hill toward me in this picturesque town of 4,500 people. She walked toward me with a […]
Three Days to a Purple Heart
April 14, 1945 — U.S. Army Corporal Haig Derderian sat on a hillside with soldiers from his 714th Company B Tank Battalion in Unternesselbach, Germany. It was about 5 pm on a warm spring day in this tiny German village about 50 miles west of Nuremberg. Men in the tank battalion had orders to stay […]
Letters from World War 2: The Father-in-Law I Never Met
Haig Derderian sat in his M-4 Medium Tank in Herrlisheim, France, just across the border from Germany. It was a foggy winter morning January 9th, 1945, and Haig was fighting for his life in Company B of the 714th Tank Battalion. They were fighting the Nazis and this was World War 2. Crammed inside 34 […]
The Flood of the Century
I stood atop a 30-foot-tall levee on the banks of the Mississippi River near Quincy, Illinois, on July 25th, 1993. I peered over the edge, piled about 4-feet high by sandbags that stretched as far as the eye could see in either direction. The other side of the levee two feet in front of 25-year-old […]