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 […]
The 80-year-old Wallet from World War 2
It’s a light brown-colored, leather bi-fold wallet measuring 4″ inches by 5″. It contains two black and white photographs and one hand-written note. The owner of the wallet was Haig Derderian, a corporal in the 714th Tank Battalion of the United States Army’s 12th Armored Division. He received it as a gift while overseas in […]
Investigating World War 2 history live from Europe
LISBON, PORTUGAL — I sat in a lounge overlooking the runway at Humberto Delgado International Airport in Lisbon going over in my head the last 12 days that I had spent in Europe. It was the morning of April 14th, and I had spent almost the past 2 weeks on a mission searching for personal […]
Unboxing the Life of a World War 2 Soldier
When I head to Europe next week, I’ll be furthering my journey into a World War 2 history project that started last December. The project quickly became my obsession the moment I opened that green, plastic storage bin in my basement. The bin contained World War 2 photos, letters from the war, U.S. Army medals, […]
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 […]