Roger Martin forwarded these photos of his father (James “PeeWee” Martin) and others. He wrote, “I thought you and others would enjoy seeing pictures of the WWII Veterens, who gathered at Taccoa, GA this past weekend for the 71st anniversary of their training at Currahee Mountain.  These were the first and “original”  G Company 506 101st Airborne Division Paratroopers  who parachuted behind enemy lines at Normandy the night before D-Day.  Currahee Military Weekend has become an annual, three-day event in Stephens County.  There are book signings, interviews, military reenactors, a parade, and tours of the Historical Society Museum and Military Museum. The pictures I have sent include Paul Grice’s (Waynesville, OH), 1942 GPW Ford Jeep which he loaned me, and I hauled 500 miles to the event.”

Col. Tom Kennedy (age 92), Ira Morehart (age 90), and James “PeeWee” Martin (age 92) are pictured:

My dad, “PeeWee” Martin is in front of the Currahee Monument:

Reenactors with “PeeWee” Martin:

Me and my dad, “PeeWee” Martin:

Camp Taccoa at Currahee Mountain at the entrance to the original camp at the foot of Currahee Mountain where the paratroopers trained daily by running the 3 miles to the top. The mountain is 800 feet above the valley below. “PeeWee” Martin was there from the first of August until the first of December, 1942 as part of his paratrooper training.:

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Hugo spotted these jeeps on rails from an exhibit at Retromobile 2013, the February Paris exhibition for car lovers. I don’t know much more about the event, but it looks like fun.

http://en.retromobile.com
http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/gallery/32557/Welcome-to-Retromobile.html

Yes, finally, the book will arrive! The Amber Panels of Konigisberg will go on sale next Wednesday. Since the pre-release version, I’ve reduced the number of words, made numerous corrections, changed the font, smoothed out rough patches, cut portions of the book, and added a slight twist to the ending. Even the cover has been altered.

For those wanting signed copies, it will take a few weeks for me to receive my order of books, sign them, then forward them to you (this includes the pre-release readers as well). So, stay tuned for updates.

For the launch and the ongoing sales campaign I’ve created a special website as well which I’ll share Wednesday.

Here’s the newest cover:

The Half Century of Progress Show happened this past weekend in Rantoul, IL. The show takes place every other year. Bob Christy reports there were 13 jeeps or so this year and two empire tractors.

Bob took the photo below. Here’s link to the CJ-2A Page with more photos

Kate Goelzhauser, editor for Lawn and Garden Collector Magazine, was also there. She posted a variety of pictures to her Facebook Page. You can see them all here.

UPDATE: Scott reminded me that this coming weekend is D-DAy Conneaut. Learn more at http://www.ddayohio.us

On Saturday I continued the big sonny-do project of my visit to my parents house: replacing rotten footers under the kitchen. To access them, one of my tasks was to break up some nearby concrete. After working the jack hammer for ten minutes, I remembered why I became a writer; I’m too old to be doing heavy construction. Another two hours passed before all the cement was removed. By then half my body weight had melted out through sweat; I was soaked. But, at least I was done with that step of project. Yeah!

So, how did I celebrate? By abandoning the project for the day and driving down to Tacoma to hang out at the FC Get Together.

The 2pm timing of my arrival couldn’t have worked about better, because there was still some lunch available and I was hungry after digging up half of Renton. I chowed down while enjoying the company of old friends and meeting a few new ones. After lunch, we spent a couple hours basking in perfect weather, staring at the FCs, sharing stories, and discussing the finer aspects of how the Americans consume water from western Canada, yet Canada gets the better view of Niagara Falls. We concluded we have no control over any of it, so we should just play with our jeeps.

One of the more interesting FCs was the FC-150 Blaine dragged to the event late Friday night. He purchased it up north. I think the only thing holding it together is the green moss.

The grand event of the afternoon involved moving of a heavy duty International rear axle from Blaine’s truck to Steve’s truck. Since all of us are handsome and strong bucks, you’d think we’d each grab a part of the axle and move it with manpower.  But, no, we couldn’t possible do that when we had a tool for the job: Jim’s Holmes 440 wrecker setup on his FC. So, with Jim, Blaine and Steve doing all the work and an international community of supervisors, including me, Canadian Dave, and other, providing all manner of advice, they set out to make the transfer. Here are a couple photos:

The wrecking arm getting positioned inside the back of the truck. The wrecker runs off the PTO of the T-98.

Even father inside . . .

Success!

They had to set down the axle and hand crank the big arm upward until it was high enough to drop the axle into Steve’s truck.

 Thanks again to the Mingo’s for putting on the event!

Thanks to Steve Elkins for filing this great report from the 2013 Willys America Open House last Saturday! You can see more pics at the oldwillysforum also.

The annual Willys America Open House was Saturday, July 13, 2013. Over one hundred Willys vehicles converged on the old lumber town of Cazadero nestled among the towering redwoods of the Russian River region of Sonoma County, California.

Once again, Paul Barry opened up his amazing restoration facility to Willys owners everywhere for his annual event. Willys enthusiast from all over the region, and some as far as the Eastern United States, came to the event. Well known names in the Willys World such as Harry & Jo Sheets from Indiana, and Bill Norris, who publishes the best calendars in the world, were there to enjoy a wide variety of Willys on display and to meet other enthusiasts.

Here are some folks caravanning north to the event. Just to their south the Golden Gate Bridge looms amongst a marine push.

Willys America houses the largest variety of unique Willys vehicles anywhere. There were personnel carriers, Mavericks, Sedan Deliveries, Jeepsters, Forward Control trucks, Jeeps built in Japan and the Philippines, military vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks, RR vehicles, just to name a few. There was even a 1943 Allis-Chalmers Snow Tractor powered by Willys (L4-134.)

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