Yes, my questions will help to get it started, but do go for the "mundane" too. The little things turn into great stories. Talk about sex, drinking, food, mail from home, the weather, etc. If he jumps into something (so to speak), let him take off on that. Tangents turn into wonderful moments.

 

Thanks for your thoughts, Todd.

Thank you so much for the encouragement and the suggestions, Marion! We really got a lot of things discussed here and it is so neat to hear what he experienced. I told him he has a much better memory than me, as he could remember details, but not dates, so we avoided questions about dates that I knew he didn't know. But we did get into a few tangents that were terrific. However, he did keep a lot of personal stories off camera and his privacy will be respected. Let's just say that boys will be boys!

I saw the added BEFORE shot. That was really cool. They are identical. It's great to be able to see what he looked like during the war.

So glad you found our suggestions helpful. Sounds like everything went splendidly and we are eagerly awaiting the release of the interview.

Right now I would KEEP everything as is. I always keep the original, and then make a final cut-down copy to share with the public. It's great having both. Let me know if you have any questions as you go along, and I will be most happy to help. When you are finished, we can even make a page for him on the main site (if that's okay with both of you), and include photos, text and of course the interview.

Marion, that would be great to have a page for him on the main site. I clarified to him that his video, story and pictures would be posted online and would be searchable by the world and he said that was fine, he had nothing to hide. He joshed me about being in the witness protection plan and that this would blow his cover at first. What a guy! But, after that, I got his permission. I would be honored if you could host it. I'm working with a few free tools to perform my editing, just like I did for my European Vacation WWII related videos. I may host the video on YouTube, obviously separated due to 10 minute per video upload restrictions, but as a playlist. They can afford the bandwidth. Let me know if that would work. Thanks again!

Vette97,

Great job! I absolutely loved the original photo you took of him but after you put his photo from the war next to it i hit the floor! Perfect! Definitely give him a big thank you from me for sharing his stories, I cannot wait to hear them.

Brian

Hi folks. I've been extremely swamped as a lot of things have come up over the past few weeks. I don't mean to disappoint but I haven't worked on editing the video at all. I promise to make more time for it but it is a task that is going to take a lot of concentration. I want to add some personal discussion and include some of the pictures he allowed me to scan, so I don't need to do that much, but I want to set time aside specifically for this.

Marion - I was able to purchase and watch the 2 DVD set of No Bridge Too Far, Part 1. I love it. The stories and the history are great and the music, well, I dance to that stuff so it really helps put me back in that era. I can only imaging how much work this is for you!

Thanks so much. I certainly appreciate your comments. You helped make a great day even better!

Working on part two and am very hopeful you will like it as well.

Have a great day and I'm sure when you get it done, it will be worth the wait.

Progress! Finally, I finished up editing the interview. We discussed so many things throughout nearly 2 hours of discussion and I wanted to keep it in chronological order and relevant to his time in the war, so this required a lot of time set aside to concentrate. I also needed to adjust the audio since my camera placed a very annoying hiss into the recording which I was able to notch out. Now, I just want to include an introduction, some of his pictures and then split the clip so it can be uploaded in sections. I should have about 1 hour 30 minutes when complete.

I received a letter from George a few weeks back saying how meeting me, talking about his time in the war, and conducting this interview has brought up so many good memories from the past and how this has made a huge positive impact on his life! I was so deeply touched by this. I can't wait to share his stories!

Tremendous news. I am very happy to hear all this. You did a great service, for you let a WWII tell his story, created a lasting friendship and are sharing it with the world so no one will forget. Can't wait.

It's with great pleasure to announce that I was able to perform the necessary editing of the interview, and I found a utility which allowed me to change the bitrate, so that the 6 part series wouldn't take 3 weeks to upload to YouTube (it only took the greater part of one day). The link to the playlist can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=BC2738D08E1055C7

Many thanks to everyone, especially Marion, for the guidance and feedback throughout this process. It has been an honor to produce this interview and I hope that everyone who watches it can learn a little bit more about what it was like to participate in the war. Even though this interview is very long, George is very fun to listen to! I'm honored to have him as a friend.

Thank you,

Pat Freeman

I just got off the phone with George. A member of the National WWII Museum performed his own interview after finding out about George on the Internet. He was surprised and happy! Apparently, his story is spreading.

George finally got the answer he was looking for, as to why he had to be selected to go with those gliders, rather than jump in Holland with the rest of his unit. Larry Miller, a historian with the Museum, let him know that they needed engineers to come in on that glider on that day to help repair a bridge if it was blown up. George is finally happy to get an answer after 60-some years. I'm so happy for him!

Wow, this is a wonderful turn of events for both of you. Thanks for posting all the latest regarding George.

I am thrilled he is thrilled with all that's happened, especially him finding out the answer to that question after ALL THESE YEARS!

Send him a big hug and kiss from me.

Thank you! He's really high on life right now. He's so amazed at all the attention. It's a great thing to enjoy it with him when I do get to see him.

He passed along to me that the unit he was with was the 167th Combat Engineers prior to volunteering for Airborne duty. I was able to find him in the roster:

http://167thengineercombatbattalion.com/Documents/HS%20Transferred.htm

It's neat to come across this stuff, bits and pieces, as time goes one.

Ah, more good news. I'm happy he is enjoying his well-deserved fame. And also happy both of you have learned more about the 167th ECB's.

It's been 7 years and I've neglected this thread.  My apologies.  I just wanted to report that George is still doing very well.  As time has gone on, he has been interviewed by many different folks, including the Nat'l WWII Museum, and local historians.  He wears his WWII Veteran hat and rarely has to pay for meals when he's out in public.  The cold weather in Eastern PA hasn't kept him down.  His truck battery died in the cold so he went out to charge it so he could plow the driveway.  He's still very active!  He even came to WWII Weekend at Reading, PA in June 2017 year and did some dancing!  I have a photo of he and I at the dance, attached.  I didn't expect him to be there, because we were unable to sync up on the phone prior to the event.  During the playing of the Army Song, he came out of the crowd and I ran to him after it was over for a hug.  It was great to see him again as it's been a few years, even though we talk on the phone.

I also recently started using Ancestry.com to look into my family tree.  While I was there, I found the grand-niece of George and shared with her the link to his interview.  She was amazed to hear the details and her family is going to get in touch with George soon to talk with him about family information for their family tree.  I also looked up his buddy Dick Werner, who died on Oct 5, 1944 in the Netherlands.  I was able to find some other family trees that had Dick in them, but none of the owners have gotten back with me yet.  George regrets he never reached out to Dick's parents when George made it home to the states.  I hope to find someone who might have old photos, letters or memories of Dick, that I can get talking to George.  I would love to have George's wish to talk to Dick's family completed.  He also wishes he could have seen Dick's grave marker.  I found that pretty easily through Ancestry:   https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56305115/richard-w-werner/photo

Finally, I picked up the book Bridging Hell's Highway: The 326th Engineer Battalion During Operation Market Garden, July 2011, by John Sliz, ISBN: 978-0-9783838-6-2.  I didn't know this existed until it turned up on a search I did recently.  Amazon delivered it today and it's very small, but has valuable information in it which I want to share with George.  I believe we can now identify the exact area and bridge his unit was responsible for.

Happy New Year!

Pat

Pat:  So good to hear from you. It was such a surprise to see your post this morning and was even more delighted to hear that George is still with us. Please send him my love. The photos are great and he looks like he hasn't lost his step. God bless him.

You know what? I haven't seen that book either. Even though you say it's a tiny book, still every time we find something, it just adds more to our stories and fills in another gap. Wonderful.

A few years back, our group held our WWII reunion in Reading. We had a splendid time and a nice turn out. We weren't there in June, but met in October.

Keep in touch and really, so glad to see you here once again.  :wub: