Tank driver Charles Vorhees: Part 2
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It
Release Date: 04/08/2021
The Valiant Virgin, the Lady in Red, and the Richest Man in Town
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It
The most recent episode of War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It was about Bob Levine, who recently passed away at the age of 97. It was Bob who said to me, "If you want stories, you've got to interview prisoners of war," and that's what got me started doing just that. Today I'd like you to meet Hal Mapes, one of those POWs. If you like what you hear, I have a modest request. Since I launched my first web site, tankbooks.com, 25 years ago, I've posted hundreds of pages of stories, interviews, whole books and audio clips available for free. Lately the costs of hosting and producing and...
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episode 103 bob levine
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It
Bob Levine was among the first replacements in the 90th Infantry Division in Normandy. He was wounded and captured in the battle for Hill 122, and had a leg amputated by a German doctor. Decades later, with the help of historian Henri Levaufre of Perier, Bob was able to meet the family of the German physician. Bob's interview is included in my collection of , and his story is in my book , about Lieutenant Jim Flowers and Hill 122, which also is the subject of several earlier episodes of the podcast. Thank you for listening to War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It. I hope you will consider...
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The Kassel Mission: George Noorigian
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It
George Noorigian is one of the fliers featured in my new book, "Up Above the Clouds to Die," about the most spectacular air battle you've probably never heard of. Read an excerpt from the book at aaronelson.com or check out the "Look Inside the Book" feature at amazon. This episode is my full interview with Noorigian, which is excerpted in the book.
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Episode 101 Jack Prior
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It
War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It is a podcast about the 712th Tank Battalion in particular and World War II in general. I'm Aaron Elson. In 2005 I recorded this interview with Dr. Jack Prior, a battalion surgeon in the 10th Armored Division. If you've seen Band of Brothers, and who hasn't, you'll likely remember the young Belgian nurse who has a romance with an American soldier, and is killed in the shelling. The real-life nurse on whom the character is based was Renee Lemaire, the "Angel of Bastogne," who was killed on Christmas Eve when Dr. Prior's makeshift hospital was bombed, and...
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A Marine on Tinian: Part 2
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It
Thank you for sticking with War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It for the past three months while I was rewriting and expanding my first book, Tanks for the Memories, now available at aaronelson.com, ebay and amazon. War As My Father's Tank Battalion is about the 712th Tank Battalion in particular and World War II in particular. Bob Hamant was a Marine who spent a year on the island of Tinian.
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A Marine on Tinian Part 1
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It
First off, I want to thank all of the listeners who stuck with Myfatherstankbattalion through a three month hiatus while I worked on the greatly expanded third edition of Tanks for the Memories, which is now available at Amazon in paperback, hardcover and for Kindle and will soon be available on my web site. As War As My Father’s Tank Battalion approaches its 100th episode, there will be some changes in the format, where I will be interviewing historians and authors about their work.
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World War II Enemies Meet Again
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It
In this episode, Aaron interviews Ed Hays, a B17 tail gunner who in 1998 traveled to Germany to meet the German fighter pilot who shot his plane down over Denmark and who, in turn, was shot down by Ed's crew.
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A 'Guest' of the Emperor: Karnig Thomasian Part 2
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It
War has a way a producing iconic sayings, from "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" at Bunker Hill to "I've not yet begun to fight" in the War of 1812, to "Retreat Hell! We just got here" at Belleau WoodI, to "By the grace of god and a few Marines MacArthur returned to the Philippines" in World War II. Part 2 of my 2000 interview with Karnig Thomasian features another iconic phrase from World War II: Extract Digit, the meaning of which I'll let Karnig explain during the interview.
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A 'guest' of the emperor
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It
Where I used to live in New Jersey there was a remarkable group of ex-prisoners of war. There was Ed Hays, who traveled with his family to Berlin to meet the German fighter pilot who shot down his B-17. There was Tim Dyas, who parachuted into the middle of the Herman Goering Panzer Division. And Hal Mapes, the only survivor of the crew of his B-17. And there was Karnig Thomasian, who was a prisoner of the Japanese.
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Uphill Both Ways: The Great Depression
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It
At the Naval Air Station Wildwood Wings & Things, a visitor to my display asked me if I'd done an episode about the Great Depression. I said no, but I'll do one next. So here it is.
info_outline Occasionally when doing an interview, I'm treated to a bit of ancillary history. Once, when I was listening to the tape of an interview with a D-Day, I was annoyed by a radio playing in an adjacent room. Then I realized the veteran's wife was listening to a basketball game, and that it was a Knicks playoff game. That was kind of cool, I thought, as it brought back memories of my years working in the sports department of the New York Post, where I began a five decade career, as a newspaper copy editor.
Charles Vorhees was a tank driver who was involved in two important episodes in lmy father's tank battalion's history. He was there when Quentin "Pine Valley" Bynum was killed at Bras, Luxembourg, during the Battle of the Bulge, and he was wounded in the explosion that killed Lieutenant Ed Forrest. As the interview was winding down, he was talking about his family, and I asked if he had any siblings. He had a sister, he said. And then he said she disappeared.
She disappeared?
Yes, he said.
Sandwiched between the kidnaping of the Lindbergh baby and the trial of O.J. Simpson, a strong candidate for the Crime of the Century was the 1977 murder of the Brach candy heiress: Helen Vorhees Brach.
Charles' sister was a coat check girl who married the founder of the Brach candy company, makers of candy corn for Halloween, jelly beans for Easter, chocolate covered raisins and a slew of other treats.
Her disappearance has never been solved, although a man she took up with following her husband's death was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, sentenced to life in prison, and was released in 2019 at age 87. There have been several books and TV specials, as well as a number of true crime podcasts about the case.
But now, back to World War II and my interview with Charles Vorhees who talks about his sister near the end of the tape. I'm Aaron Elson. Thank you for listening, and please, consider supporting War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It by checking out my books at amazon and the interview CDs in my eBay store.
Richard Bailey released from prison
The usual suspects:
