Success!!! It’s All IN the Can!!!

Sir Gordon Hearne

Yesterday, we met with the quite wonderful Sir Gordon Hearne & his lovely wife Jenny. Sir Gordon is a veteran of the U.S. Army and served in the ETO during the Second World War. His unit – an anti-aircraft battery – was attached to the 28th Infantry Division in its push out of Normandy and subsequent campaign across France. It also got caught up in the Battle of the Bulge, and Sir Gordon had several close shaves during his service with the unit. In his own words, he “had about eight or nine near death experiences” and is immensely – and rightfully – proud of his service during the war. He’s been back to Europe about a half dozen times since then for D-Day  & Battle of the Bulge Commemoration Events. It was in Belgium that he was knighted, Chevalier L’Order De La Couronne , by none other than Albert II, King of Belgium. Sir Gordon is a wonderful man and quite the fascinating  individual: he landed at Normandy on June 7, 1944 – the day after D-Day. He walked the beaches and the “evidence the the landings the day before were all around’, he said. “Graves registration had not been through, so you had bodies stacked three – and in some places – four deep where they fell up by the seawall. They were clustered there because that was the only cover on the beach.” [blockquote align=center]

D-Day Assault Troops Awaiting Burial

The strangest thing he said, about this surreal experience was to witness “a  French woman walking with her daughter through all this. The only conclusion I could draw from that was that she wanted to show her daughter what war really was.”

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The “close shaves” began soon after when battling through the tough hedgerow country in France, “German 88’s made our lives miserable. Add to that there were so many trees that many of these would explode in the branches above – a tree burst – spraying shrapnel in all directions. My rifle was ruined by one of these: pieces of shrapnel penetrated the barrel.” Another time an 88 exploded literally right at his feet and threw him back into the position they had dug for their anti-aircraft gun. Getting up and dusting himself off, he suffered nothing but a few bruises. Some of his other comrades were not so lucky as he during this incident: “One fellow got a shoulder full of shrapnel and another of our crew had his lower leg amputated. Whether it was the force of the explosion or shrapnel I don’t know, but then they made me Chief of the Gun Crew by default.”

Sir Gordon Hearne relating his experiences with “Masters of War:Soldiers of Distinction” Creator/Writer Robert E. Wilhelm III

His experiences during the Battle of the Bulge were equally as hair-raising, and something we look forward to getting deeper into in a full episode. His lovely wife Jenny worked for years in the motion picture industry, being a personal hairdresser for actor Robert Young. With lenser extraordinaire  David Hansen-Sturm of Twin Palms Media, she made us both roast beef sandwiches – on her own volition entirely! – plus sodas and several apples!!! This is the first time that  has ever happened!!! We both can’t thank you enough, Mrs. Hearne. Without a doubt two of the most wonderful people either one of us has ever met.

They don’t call them “The Greatest Generation” for nothing!!!

Now over the weekend will get the footage over to Evan Campbell for editing, and by the end of the week should have the Masters of War: Soldiers of Destruction  teaser reel ready to go. More to come. Stay tuned for more updates since we now have…

Success!!! It’s All IN the Can!!!

We also can’t thank Sir Gordon & Mrs. Hearne enough for their graciousness in opening up their house to us.

Sir Gordon Hearne

Lenser Extraordinaire David Hansen-Sturm

Sir Gordon Hearne & Robert E Wilhelm III