Journey complete, 52 years later...

[wgtactical]

Those of you that has been following the Blood Sweat and Tears V100 restoration and the search for the owner of a lost Zippo, today was a special day, as Don Tillman stopped by the shop with his wife Debra to be reunited with an old friend and a lost Zippo. Of course having @patracy there as it all unfolded was an added bonus as stories like this are quite rare. As for that lost Zippo...Don told me that he will be giving that lighter to his great grandson and seemed very excited to be able to pass that portion of his life onto the next generation.

Don Tillman in '70

Don's first time in 52 years being able to lay hands on the vehicle he knew well

Would you believe he asked if it would be ok to climb in? "Of course Don, and while you're at it could you autograph this helmet?"

Don started up the side of the vehicle and before he got to the top he asked "should I take my shoes off" and I replied "did you have them off the last time you were up there?" and with a big ole grin he climbed on top.

This was the spot he dropped the Zippo 52 years ago and the same spot where I put it in his hand, and as I did I said "last time you climbed out of here without it"

Since the original Don Tillman Zippo is going home with it's owner, I asked Don if he'd mind personalizing my copy of it.

There were many more pictures that I will share later, but these were a few highlights. Meeting Don and his wife was a pleasure as both of them were as excited as kids on Christmas morning...just one of those things you'd have to experience, and I am just grateful I was able to.

 

[kendelrio]

Just read about this on FB and to be honest, imagining the emotions Mr. Tillman experienced and the flood of memories he must have had brought chills to me.

 

[m715mike]

Yeah… what @kendelrio said!

This is simply an amazing story. @wgtactical, thank you for making it happen and sharing this with us!

 

[patracy]

Just read about this on FB and to be honest, imagining the emotions Mr. Tillman experienced and the flood of memories he must have had brought chills to me.

There's two sets of doors. The first entrance door, then the door opening to the shop area. Mr. Tillman was just shuffling about, but as soon as he stepped into the shop area he was face to face with the V100. His eyes opened wide and he approached the passenger side hatch. For a moment he touched the V100 and lightly bit his finger. That moment, his entire demeanor changed. He smiled and it would appear that he went back 52 years in time. Mr. Tillman then proceeded to close up the lower hatch, then climbed up the side of the V100 to the top of it as you can see in the pictures. (And asked if he needed to take off his shoes!) From that point on, he climbed through all the other hatches. Even opening up the other hatches. During that time, Don did travel back in time 52 years. Both in spirit and body. It honestly was a wonderful event to have witnessed.

 

[Guyfang]

A once in a life time thing. It brought chills up and down my back.

 

[marchplumber]

Amazing!! Thank YOU for sharing it with us! Ya never know what The Lord has in store for us, but you Sir are a blessing and have been richly blessed in kind!!

Thanks again !

 

[wgtactical]

We have a facebook page for the "Blood Sweat and Tears" restoration and added an album with more photos from Don Tillman's visit

Don Tillman Album

 

[wgtactical]

Been a while since we updated the Blood Sweat and Tears search. As it turns out, the reason nobody remembers "Blood Sweat and Tears" is because that was the second name given to the V100 and it happened after Don Tillman had gone home. A vet named Patrick Spinks sent a group of photos from his time with the 504th MP C company and with those was a shot of a V100 that had a familiar registration number and vehicle number, but the nose art was something I never heard of. I immediately called Don and asked him if he remembered the name of the V100 he served on and he responded without hesitation "Super V...why?" Now the rest of the story...
This is Noel Troxclair, who sent the photo to Patrick Spinks

Noel on the right (who I am talking with now)


Patrick Spinks on left, Joe McGuire on right and just finished the nose art on their V...still holding the paint brush. Noel Troxclair took the photo.

 

[wgtactical]

Seemed the search for photos or finding other service members familiar with the V100 we are restoring (Super V) was becoming more and more elusive. Fortunately we kept up the pursuit and it's finally paying off. In these photos the third of the three V100's assigned to the 504th C Company called "The Hulk" is seen. Noel Troxclair had taken these photos and are some of the clearest I have seen yet. These are not high resolution copies but you get the idea. Patrick Spinks and Noel have been sharing some old war stories and have agreed to commit them to audio recordings and I will tell you that they are pretty cool. I've had old 8mm to digital converted videos shared as well and most are just glimpses into the everyday life and shenanigans that made up these soldier's day. Some of the old polaroid photos capture more of the darker reality of the war, but were quite common to see and sometimes smell depending on how long they laid next to the road.

Anyway with the new pictures coming in, we are moving forward on having stencils made and reference marks made to properly place them on the vehicle. Additionally we are making a tribute 1911A1 with appropriate engravings relevant to this project.

I asked John McDonald, who purchased 10602 (Super V) along with a few others on behalf of Cadillac Gage, when it came back from Vietnam and how did it make it's way to him. His response:

"1972 to Letterkenny then to Red River, then to White Sands target area. And finally, ending up in Tonopah Bombing Range, where I got them."

Obviously not all of the recovered V100's and tracked vehicles made it off the ranges intact but miraculously Super V and a few others managed to somehow dodge the proverbial bullet.

 

[canadacountry]

partially offtopic but sometimes when a vehicle gets old (or the purpose came to an end like eg in this instance war) it just seem like a junk to easily throw away in a manner speaking .. and its only many more years later that the lucky ones somehow surviving in some direct (eg not being too busted up for 'practices') or indirect (eg ending up being reused "somewhere else" and therefore ending up with a better life later on instead) way

the lola t70 cars is one interesting example of starring-in-movie car that were considered throwaway cars at the times as racers were dumping them .. and it was only much later that they did eventually become collectible

its not just military that would "abusively dispose" vehicles too but even the police and fire have been known to take random unwanted/writtenoff vehicles for bomb or fire practice even including an old trolleycar being flamed then cut up in name of firefighting training

 

[Mullaney]

partially offtopic but sometimes when a vehicle gets old (or the purpose came to an end like eg in this instance war) it just seem like a junk to easily throw away in a manner speaking .. and its only many more years later that the lucky ones somehow surviving in some direct (eg not being too busted up for 'practices') or indirect (eg ending up being reused "somewhere else" and therefore ending up with a better life later on instead) way

the lola t70 cars is one interesting example of starring-in-movie car that were considered throwaway cars at the times as racers were dumping them .. and it was only much later that they did eventually become collectible

its not just military that would "abusively dispose" vehicles too but even the police and fire have been known to take random unwanted/writtenoff vehicles for bomb or fire practice even including an old trolleycar being flamed then cut up in name of firefighting training

.
Sad but true...
The old get pushed away - while the new gets talked about.

 

[wgtactical]

partially offtopic but sometimes when a vehicle gets old (or the purpose came to an end like eg in this instance war) it just seem like a junk to easily throw away in a manner speaking .. and its only many more years later that the lucky ones somehow surviving in some direct (eg not being too busted up for 'practices') or indirect (eg ending up being reused "somewhere else" and therefore ending up with a better life later on instead) way

the lola t70 cars is one interesting example of starring-in-movie car that were considered throwaway cars at the times as racers were dumping them .. and it was only much later that they did eventually become collectible

its not just military that would "abusively dispose" vehicles too but even the police and fire have been known to take random unwanted/writtenoff vehicles for bomb or fire practice even including an old trolleycar being flamed then cut up in name of firefighting training

As far as Super V is concerned, ser# 10602, registration # 1304269, vehicle # C55 was built in '69 then sent to Vietnam served it's time there and was returned to the US in '72...really short service life when you consider what kind of sense it would make to scrap a 3 year old vehicle today. Fortunately this one did make it back and it's lineage can be traced from the factory to Vietnam as well as all the steps taken back to where it sits today. I know many of the V100's in private hands were rebranded as other well known V's where this one (Super V) will be marked exactly as it was in the newly discovered photographs.

 

[canadacountry]

@wgtactical on a note about short life .. thats the same thinking when these were built as austerity shunters for the heavy amount of war traffic shunting jobs and considered 'disposable after a short life' but .. by absolutely no surprise, a lot of them literally outlasted the war to the point of still running 70+ years later instead

and if you don't mind me rambling a bit more, how about these which were basically "as powerful a non-articulated locomotive that can be built from limited variety of materials as economically as possible, oh and it must be able to adapt to harsh operating life too" deutsche reichsbahn class 52
[meanwhile post-war a noticeable number of them ended up working well into the 1960's or even later under a new less-harsh life in other countries far from germany, but no surprise]

 

[Mullaney]

@wgtactical on a note about short life .. thats the same thinking when these were built as austerity shunters for the heavy amount of war traffic shunting jobs and considered 'disposable after a short life' but .. by absolutely no surprise, a lot of them literally outlasted the war to the point of still running 70+ years later instead

and if you don't mind me rambling a bit more, how about these which were basically "as powerful a non-articulated locomotive that can be built from limited variety of materials as economically as possible, oh and it must be able to adapt to harsh operating life too" deutsche reichsbahn class 52
[meanwhile post-war a noticeable number of them ended up working well into the 1960's or even later under a new less-harsh life in other countries far from germany, but no surprise]

.
And did you notice that the steam locomotive doesn't have a "high headlamp" ?
It had lights down at the roadway - but nothing up high to wake up the automobile drivers...

 

[marchplumber]

.
Sad but true...
The old get pushed away - while the new gets talked about.

I resemble that remark, Tim......most assuredly!

 

[Guyfang]

We are old and in the way!! Great song, by the way.

 

[wgtactical]

Here is a bit of a rare photo. Over the years I have seen very few armored vehicle interior shots while in war zones. This one features Elton Littlejohn who was on the relay team at USC in '67 with OJ Simpson. This is in fact the interior of Super V although there are no ways of proving it...or are they?

If you look at the weld pattern just above Elton's forearm, you will notice a unique pattern of low places and higher places. Since the hulls were all hand welded, no two weld are the same and unlike fingerprints, the average person can determine a match fairly easily.

At the time of this post Elton is believed to be living in California. Hopefully we will be able to make contact and get his input on this project. (Personally I'd like to know what he was thinking about in this photo)