Update
- At May 01, 2018
- By Heather
- In Crowdfunding
0
Update
The details:
To 5/1/18: Our crowdfunding campaign has brought in $3,500 through our IndieGoGo site (now closed) and direct PayPal donations. A very warm thank you to all our donors, especially World of Tanks player Sofilein, who brought in $1,300!! And the Sherwood Rangers, who donated an additional $300. And although this is not enough to pay for a videographer to accompany us to England and France, it is enough to bring Charley and Graham together again in England, and with a LIBOR grant (1,450 pounds) from the British government, on to France. In total we have accumulated: $5,624.
We appreciate your support!
Live Tomorrow March 17, 2018
Our crowdfunding campaign for Graham and Charley goes live tomorrow, don’t miss getting the following perks:
- autographed photo postcards,
- tank books autographed by the authors,
- tank museum tours in the US and the UK,
- tank driving opportunities in the US and the UK,
- a chance at more personalized opportunities to meet the veterans, once you donate at the $50 level.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/former-enemies-best-friends-friendship-peace/coming_soon
The Last of the Desert Warriors
The Last of the Desert Warriors
75 years after fighting each other in Africa
Two former enemies from World War II share deep bonds of friendship
In late March 1943, Allied and Axis forced prepared for one of the fiercest battles of the World War II African campaign near Mareth, Tunisia. It was here, where after four months on the run, Rommel’s Africa Corps took one of its last stands. Enclosed on one side by rocky, hilly terrain and the Mediterranean on the other, capturing Mareth proved a difficult proposition for the British Eighth Army.
In order to outflank the Axis forces, the British 8th Armored Brigade, along with New Zealand infantry swung southwest and then north through an inland mountain pass to attack the Axis troops from behind.
They ran into the German 21st Panzer Division. Karl Friedrich “Charley” Koenig, only newly arrived in Tunisia as a 19-year-old officer candidate, waited for his first combat as a loader in a Panzer IV long-barreled tank of the 5th Panzer Regiment.
Across the hardscrabble Matmata hills, Sherman tanks of the Sherwood Ranger Yeomanry Tank Regiment readied themselves for the attack. In one sat machine gunner and co-driver Graham Stevenson. Graham had fought at the battle at El Alamein and bailed out of a tank as a 17-year-old. Taking part in the hard fighting all along the way from Alamein through Tunisia, he had just barely reached the tender age of 18.
On March 23rd, 5th Panzer Regiment and the Sherwood Rangers tanks stalked one another and engaged in individual tank battles. Shells whistled loudly by Charley’s tank, his experienced commander advising calm. Their Panzer IV would not be knocked out on this day, but it would not be long.
The next day, a radio signal warned the Germans of an incoming RAF Hurricane IID tank buster attack. Scrambling out of their panzer, Charley’s crew moved side-to-side as Hurricanes swept in from all directions at nearly zero altitude firing their powerful 40-millimeter cannon.
An accurate Hurricane pilot hit the rear of the tank, shortly before a lone British artillery shell, fired out of the blue, made a direct hit on their rear deck. A half-track arrived in the night to tow them to the repair shop. Charley was now out of the way, while Graham and his crew took part in the Tebaga Gap battle on March 26th, the Shermans and the Maori infantry inflicting a severe mauling on the 21st Panzer.
General Freyberg, a New Zealander decorated with highest British medal for bravery for his exploits in World War I, and an experienced battle commander in World War II, watched the action from his front-line tank and declared the ensuing battle “a most awe inspiring spectacle of modem warfare”.
Graham survived, returned to England with the Sherwood Rangers to train in DD swimming tanks for the invasion of Normandy. Due to a slight disagreement with a commanding officer that landed him in the guardhouse, he came in on Gold Beach a bit later than his Sherwood Ranger comrades.
In his first day of hedgerow fighting, untested and frightened infantrymen escorting his tank fled under fire, leaving Graham and his tank commander to conduct their own reconnaissance. Just steps outside of his tank, Graham was hit and nearly killed by German machine gun fire. As an artery bled out, his life hung on a thread. Luckily, a nearby aid station saved his life. But his war ended there.
Charley’s had ended in May, 1943, when he was taken prisoner by the Americans and transported to camps in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Belgium, and England before returning home in 1947. Even decades later, he could never forget the war in Africa, and his honorable opponents.
In 1991, he sought out the Sherwood Rangers and found Ken Ewing, head of the southern branch of the Sherwood Rangers Old Comrades’ Association. It wasn’t long before they became like brothers. After Charley attended ceremonies for the regiment in Normandy and Holland, he was invited in as a member of the Association, where he was accepted wholeheartedly by the remaining British World War II veterans, including Graham, who was in the same tank crew with Ken.
Now Graham and Charley are the only members of Sherwood Rangers Old Comrades’ Association left alive who fought in Africa 75 years ago. Their friendship, which has transcended the brutality of war to reveal that mutual respect, healing, and reconciliation can exist between former enemies, sends a powerful message to future generations.
The World War II History Project is launching a crowdfunding campaign to bring Graham and Charley back together one more time this summer in England then in Normandy for the 75th anniversary of their fight in the desert. It can be found here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/former-enemies-best-friends-friendship-peace/coming_soon#/
Ramping Up
Dearest Old Bolds, Friends and Family,
Our World War II History Project website has had a complete refresh, with a new Profiles section of some of the veterans we’ve interviewed over the years, some great curricula ideas just for teachers, and a short video about the 75th anniversary of Graham Stevenson (British Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry Tank Regiment), and Charley Koenig’s (Africa Corps) meeting in the desert, and our efforts to bring them back together.
Stay tuned for an upcoming crowdfunding campaign with exciting perks – autographed photos, chances to ask the veterans questions, and even tank driving experiences – and much more.
Let us know what you think! We want to hear from you.
Much love,
Heather
The (Shockingly Wet and Windy) British Days of Normandy
Dear Old Bolds, Family and Friends,
I’ve been working so much lately on my book that it’s been some time since I’ve taken a break for anything. But tonight is the opening of Dunkirk at the local IMAX theater, and I’m giddy with excitement. I bought my ticket days ago, and can’t remember the last time I went to opening night of a film. The reviews about the movie have been so over-the-top that I hope it can live up to all the acclaim.
This summer Charley and I stopped at Dunkirk on our way across France. It is, like so many other battlefields in northern France, a place haunted with the spirits of the young men who suffered and died there. There is truly something about France that makes this so – whether it be the 1870-1 Franco-Prussian War, World War I, or World War II – or even the wars of the last centuries. But there is something ancient, mystical, and otherworldly – to use the Hawaiian concept of “mana” would be about right – there is an aura of energy about these sacred places which resonates profoundly. With their sensitive and deeply emotional souls, the French feel this eddy of power. And so, for the most part, they do keep these places free of too much modern building and interference.
On Gold Beach, the German bunker which stood in the way of the Sherwood Rangers’ entry into Normandy still stands sentinel. On that spot this June 6th , the Sherwood Rangers dedicated a plaque to the tankers who fought and died to take this beach. In the middle of the ceremony, storm clouds broke open and lashed us all with pelting rain and wild winds. Unlike the British, who are quite used to this type of weather, and being outside in it on occasion, I am not. It’s not just that I still consider myself a southern Californian. It’s that my wardrobe is still southern Californian. While our friends, for the most part, seemed quite snug in appropriate waterproof and fleece-lined rain wear (on the 6th of June! June!!), I discovered for the first time that the rain jacket I wore so rarely for over a decade in San Diego is not actually waterproof.
In any case, we had a lovely reception afterwards with the people of the village during which we did our best to dry 
off. Our lunch there was followed by an interesting visit to the D-Day Academy, a center point for young people to learn more about what happened here in 1944 complete with vehicles, airplane wreckage, and machine guns to play with (unloaded, of course). If you are looking for a tour of the British sector, or are bringing children with you to Normandy (or 90-somethings who like to play like children), these are the people to talk to: http://www.ddaca.com/en.
The 7th of June started with our usual visit to the Musee de la Bataille de Normandie, where the Sherwood Rangers and Essex Infantry are celebrated annually for the liberation of the town in 1944. This was followed by a visit to a British cemetery in Tilly-sur-Suelles, where Sherwood Ranger and famous poet Keith Douglas found his final resting place, and German soldiers are buried in a corner tucked in the back. A ceremony at the small farm where beloved officers of the Regiment were killed was our next stop, and then, as the sun moved lower in the sky, we gathered with some other British regiments to commemorate the fighting around the town.
Two very long days, full of rich remembrance so personal to our beloved Sherwood Rangers.
On the 8th of June we set off for the Paris Marriott Rive Gauche, where I had engineered a devious surprise for my charges. Although we arrived thirty minutes late, we had a large reception circle of staff who cheered our arrival. Graham and Charley were offered champagne and warm welcoming handshakes. We were upgraded to suites, and as I directed the unloading of our luggage from the car, the boys were swept up as VIP’s to the rooms on the 18th floor, where sweeping views of Paris awaited them. While he napped, welcome gifts of wine and chocolate were brought into Graham’s room, with a handwritten card full of appreciative sentiments. Everywhere we went in the hotel, Graham was fawned over, thanked for his service, and pampered. It was exactly as it should be.
Although we had to leave Graham at Orly the next morning, we were of course very sad to see him go. Every moment of the time together was precious to us, and I shall always be grateful for the privilege and pleasure of accompanying him to the places that have such deep meaning for him, and for Charley.
Let us hope we may repeat the experience next year.
With much love,
Heather
