My name is Tyler Boland, and I’m a 22-year-old college student majoring in history at a liberal arts college in Reading, PA. Growing up there in Berks County, there was a strong culture and proud heritage in a working-class made up of family members of World War veterans. Both of my Great-Grandfathers served proudly in their service during World War II, one in the Navy, the other in the Marines. But there were several key elements that stirred my interest in history.
[Ed Note: When I heard what Tyler Boland was doing to preserve the voices of WWII veterans, I had to reach out. Here he is with two veterans’ stories about WWII Jeeps; they’re short, but any new story from a WWII veteran is as good as gold. Thank you eBay for enabling this piece as part of The Autopian’s WWII Jeep build series. -DT].
The first influence was close to home. My mother began her career in education as a history teacher. Growing up, my interest in American History centered around the major events that shaped our Nation’s role in the defense of liberties across the globe. At first, wanted to learn about early American history, but as I got older my interests started to change.
In the fall of my freshman year of high school, 2019, my third-period class was history. We were supposed to meet a Veteran who served in Iwo Jima in the Marine Corp. As my interest in WWII started to grow at this time, I was very excited. But the day before he was supposed to come into our school, he passed away, at the age of ninety-four. This was devastating, but it pushed me to find a WWII veteran whom I could speak with about the War.
After doing admittedly amateur research, I found a local D-Day veteran in my hometown of Reading named Joseph Zebertavage. I went to this 95-year-old’s house, very nervous, armed with only a pen and paper, not certain what I was going to ask this gentleman. After talking with him, I realized that what was delayed on that first visit to my school only proved to be the experience that launched my drive to learn everything I could about World War II history.
This first encounter with the Veteran took place in April of 2019. Later that Spring, in June, I decided to attend The Mid-Atlantic Air Museum’s World War II Weekend, the premier event of its kind for honoring our history through D-Day remembrance, vehicles and aircraft displays, war Veterans and speakers, battle simulations, and vintage aerial planes and flight demonstrations.
That year marked the 28th annual event. It was a formative experience that forever shaped my drive to learn firsthand, from those who served and were still living, what occurred during the trying time that was World War II. At the show, I met another WWII veteran, Matt Gutman, who was from the Allentown, PA area. He served as a Higgins Boat driver for the 1st Marine Division. Coincidentally, he served with one of my great-grandfathers, who served in WWII as a Marine. These proud and inspirational men helped fill the void of not meeting my great-grandfathers, who both died before I was born. “Why did you get started? What got you interested in this?”
The fact that I had two family members whom I had never met who were heroes drove me crazy. Since that realization, I made a promise I would interview as many WWII veterans as I could, regardless of their story and where they are located.
At first, it was hard finding them, but over time, I found more. My goal was to meet one hundred, and at this point, I have well passed that. What started off as a high school project has evolved into something more. I interview at least one to two WWII veterans every week. Not only do I interview them, but I do many events with them. I host dinners, take them to veteran events, and even partner up with veteran organizations to take them back to their battlefields.
I could write hundreds of pages about the adventures I’ve had with this growing WW2 “hobby.” But the most impactful was the 42-hour trip I took this past May. I went across the world and traveled to the country of Palau. Within this island nation, I traveled to the island of Peleliu. Today it’s a peaceful, beautiful, hot paradise, but 80 years ago it was the site of one of the bloodiest battles in all of WWII. A battle that should’ve lasted three days took two months. It was so important for me to get there because of my great-grandfather. He had served with the 1st Marine Division and landed on Orange Beach. On this island, he received two Purple Hearts, which ended his fighting during WW2.
On this island, you can still see war relics that remain—tanks, planes, bombs, etc. I always say it’s like the war happened yesterday, but everyone just went home and left everything behind. It was a very emotional experience to go to this island, because I was the only family member of my great-grandfather to return there.
Within this journey, I bought a WWII jeep (Willys MB ’45). About two years ago, my father and I drove up to upstate New York and bought this beautiful jeep. But the jeep did not run. I had a vision that I was going to name my WWII jeep after my great-grandpa and restore it to drive my heroes around. After a year and a half, I did just that, and every 4th of July, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day, I take dozens of WWII vets in my Jeep, ride and honor them in parades in honor of my Great-Grandfathers.
It has been a good run so far. I now have a Facebook with 115,000 followers, a YouTube channel, and a website all called “Keeping History Alive.” I have interviewed hundreds of WWII veterans, traveled the world with them, and documented their stories to preserve them for history books. Along the way, my work has been featured on national news four times, and I even reunited two WWII veterans after 81 years, one of the craziest and most meaningful moments of my life.
As I always say, I am nothing special — I am just on a mission to find these heroes. A college kid with a camera. Anyway, let’s get to two of my more recent interviews in which I asked — on behalf of The Autopian’s WWII Jeep build backed by eBay — for some WWII Jeep-related stories:
Truman Christian (106th Infantry Division): One Jeep, Two Friends, and the Cost of War
Truman told me this happened around mid-March 1945, when he was with the 106th Division, 424th Regiment, Heavy Weapons Company D, holding a position along the Siegfried Line in the Ardennes. That’s here:
Conditions were rough, and the Germans watched every move the Americans made. Truman had become close friends with a motor pool guy named Tony Rudge — the Jeep driver who brought mail and chow up to the line. One day, Tony asked Truman to help him turn his jeep around on a narrow, snow-covered road so he could make a fast run over a hill before the Germans opened up on him. They had tried to hit him many times before. But this time, the Germans were ready.
As soon as they got the Jeep positioned and started moving, machine-gun fire tore into them. Tony hit the gas. Truman was sitting in the passenger seat, and the two of them drove out of there just in time. As they were speeding away, they could actually see the bullet holes appearing in the windshield, the gun rack, and the side panels — shots that missed them by inches.
Later, when they went back, Truman saw a bullet lodged in the metal of the passenger seat right at gut level — exactly where he had been sitting. Another was stuck in the canvas top bow near his head. Another had ripped through the gun rack inside the windshield, a shot that could’ve hit either man.
A week later, tragedy struck. Tony and the Jeep were disintegrated instantly when the wheel hit a hidden mine. The engineers had removed the top mines, but the tracks had worn down far enough to trigger a second one — a German trick. With that, they lost their mail, their chow, and Truman lost a friend he really cared about.
Even in war, Tony had a sense of humor and heart. Seventy years later, at a reunion in 2006, Truman’s old buddy Sam told him that Tony often kept small animals, like rabbits, under his jeep seat. He used them for trading or just to bring a little life to the soldiers along the line — a tiny reminder of home in the middle of the fighting. Truman imagines there were probably a rabbit or two under the seat the day of that attack, hidden among the chaos.
“Oh, the terrible price of war,” Truman told me. Even at 100 years old, he still remembers Tony Rudge — a guy who carried more than just mail and chow in that Jeep. He carried a little piece of humanity in the middle of a brutal war.
Russell Sattazahn (1st Infantry Division): Held Onto The Jeep By One Hand!
Russell joined the 1st Infantry Division — the Big Red One — in late January 1945 as a replacement, right at the end of the Battle of the Bulge. He was assigned to the 18th Infantry Regiment, G Company, and pushed straight into the cold and the mud as they headed toward Germany. For about two and a half months, Russell fought his way forward with the division. But on March 24th, 1945, everything changed for him.
Outside of Bonn, there was a little town called Uckerath that his company was ordered to take. They gathered in a barn, got the word, and moved out across an open field. By this point in the war, most towns barely had any Germans left in them. But for whatever reason, this town was different. The Germans gave it everything they had.
As soon as Russell stepped into that field, a German machine gun opened up. He dove into a bomb crater with another GI, but the shots were getting closer and closer, kicking up dirt right at their feet. Russell looked at the other guy and said, “I’m getting out of here.” And he stood up and ran. At that moment, he was the only man left moving across the field.
He could actually see the machine-gun rounds hitting the dirt at his boots as he sprinted. Russell finally reached an abandoned house and dove into the basement. German 88s were hitting all around them. As he stood up and pushed into another room in the basement, an artillery shell came straight through the house and exploded. The blast blew off his right hand almost to the elbow.
Russell lay there the entire night calling for a medic. No one came until the morning of March 25th. Two medics finally reached him. They asked, “Can you run?” And Russell said yes. He ran outside and threw himself onto a stretcher.
A medical Jeep pulled up — two stretchers strapped across the hood and two on the back. Russell was put on the first stretcher on the hood. The shelling started again, so the driver hit the gas. They hit a big bump, and Russell’s stretcher slid right off — but with his left hand, he grabbed onto the jeep and somehow held himself there. “Hey, take it easy!” he yelled at the driver.
Russell could have easily fallen off and been killed by a Jeep, the same vehicle that was trying to save him, if it hadn’t been for a check. After what felt like forever, they made it to the 96th Evac Hospital. From there, Russell was sent to Paris for more treatment and eventually sent home.
Now at 99, Russell is a proud WWII Army veteran. He wears his Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation, Bronze Star, and two battle stars with the kind of quiet pride you only see in men who truly earned it.
My grandfather, who passed in 2005, fought in the Pacific in WWII. He was one of the last B24 squads to be sent there. He was in the Philippines (there is a shot of his plane airborne above Luzon on a Photobucket somewhere), Angaur Island, and eventually Okinawa. He wouldn’t tell a lot of stories about his time in the service, given he saw a lot of pretty terrible things. One of the few he would tell involved stripping parts from planes that couldn’t be made airworthy to make stills and then booze to trade to the cooks for steak.
I used to have his ’88 K2500 and wanted to have it painted OD green and get his squad’s insignia airbrushed on it. One of the few regrets I have in life is letting that truck go.
Edit: I found a picture of him in front of plane.
Second edit: realized it was wildly inappropriate and removed the link.
Great stories. These men and their generation put life on hold for years risking life and limb to stand up for their beliefs.
My parents were both WWII veterans. My father had gone to Europe and gotten involved with partisan groups fighting the Wehrmacht.
He had been badly wounded and could barely walk. But he had first hand knowledge of how the German Army would fight. Invaluable.
Despite being a cripple, he served as a drill instructor. That is where his jeep came in. He used to claim that he was probably the only DI with his own jeep and driver.
While I have been a paying member of the Autopian for a while, I never posted a comment on but this article really speaks to me. Both of my grandfathers served in WWII but neither were on the front lines. My paternal grandfather served in Spain and never really told us what he was doing there as Spain was neutral during WWII but the only story he shared was one time he was riding in some form of troop transport and they were all sitting shoulder to shoulder when he heard a shot. The bullet went between him and the solder next to him and tore his uniform. The solder across from them was hit in the chest and died. That was all we could get out of him before he passed in 2005.
My maternal grandfather spend WWII in New Zealand as the bartender for the officers club. He was 6’3 and 120lbs. During boot camp he was required to always have some sort of food with him to try to get his weight up. When that proved futile, he was reassigned to the mess hall. He was always a teetotaler and never had consumed a drop of alcohol. When the mess officer found out, he made him the bartender knowing that he would always be fit for duty. He told lots of stories about drunk officers and the fun that solders had. He passed in 2018, I miss them both.
Great article, and you’re doing really good work, Tyler. Please keep it up – as you well know, there’s not much time left for these men to tell their stories.
That was such an amazing article, I think everyone alive has been touched by those past wars and has a connection, as a teacher, I am happy to see that there is still a continued interested in finding these stories.
My grandfather, who we named our son after, fought for “the other side” as a mechanic and ambulance driver before being captured by the Russians and forced to work in coal mines. You would never know that he experienced the horrors of war as he was the a kind and gentle grandfather, always teaching me about engines and repairs, and inspiring me today.
When I was very young, I asked him about some memories during the war. He told me that his job was to cut the holes into Hitler’s Swiss cheese (which I told all my classmates about, not realizing his joke) and peeling a lot of potatoes. When I got older and was riding sport bikes, he told me about changing sprockets and cutting the exhaust off his motorcycles to go faster.
Just before he started to go, I heard darker tales. The one that stuck with me was of him carrying injured soldiers off the battlefield on his shoulders. However, explosions and gunfire were coming at them from the rear. The man he was trying to save took all the shrapnel and actually saved my grandfather, which is the reason I exist today. Very somber to think of that, and makes me grateful that I’ve lived in relatively peaceful times and places.
My grandfather was in the resistance. I’ll never know what he did or didn’t do to Nazis. He only ever talked about the lighter things he did, like cooking stolen potatoes by slapping thin slices against a wood stove. They fell off when they were ready to eat.
I imagine that’s part of the coping process, trying to find the lightness in dark time that they were thrown into.
That’s probably right. He also told stories of sneaking out of the work camp into potato fields to steal those potatoes. (He was not in a death camp).
This piece and the work that you’re doing with documenting stories with excellent video work is nothing less than phenomenal, Mr. Boland.
Both of my grandfathers fought in the war, so this hits very close for me. Thank you.
Me too, my Dad fought in the South Pacific. Great article written by an obviously talented young investigative writer.
It’s remarkable to consider that out of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, as of late 2025 to early 2026, estimates for the number of living veterans range from about 45,000 to over 100,000, with many sources pointing to around 66,000 based on 2024–2025 VA projections. My grandfather, born in 1899 was too old, my father, born in 1932, was too young.
THANK YOU Tyler for helping to preserve this history. All the generations who followed the Greatest one need to hear these stories and learn what they did to protect their country and their democracy.
My father was in flight school during WWII, but got so sick he nearly died. He never saw action and was discharged with a partial disability.
My father-in-law was in Patton’s army in the Ardennes, as a tank mechanic. They ran out of tank drivers and put him in one and sent him to the front. He missed the Battle of the Bulge because he was wounded and in the hospital. Over 40+ years, I heard him speak of the war only once.
My grandfather was in a trench in France during WWI. It was his birthday, and he was about to be sent to the front where attrition was very high. A truck with large speakers came by and announced “The war is over!”. He always said it was the best birthday present he ever got.
These stories are so important, and the people who can tell them from a first person perspective will soon be gone. Keep up the good work, Tyler. You, too, are a hero.
My father’s older brother perished on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. We have a letter from him to their mother dated December 6, 1941. In it he talked about the younger sailors being spooked by the talk of war. He tried to reassure them that nobody would be foolish enough to attack the United States.
Wonderful article, Tyler.
Thank you for preserving and sharing these stories.
Great story keep this up we are very close to losing every veteran to age. Go to VFWs and ask for people and ask whoever you interview for more heroes.
Thank you Tyler for honoring these soldiers by documenting their service! I’ve been reading Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” and it’s crazy how we are mirroring the Robber Baron era of the 1930’s with the Oligarchs in modern times while losing our grasp on democracy itself. I wonder what these Veterans think of current events and the political actions that ignore the Constitution that our country was founded on.
You know maybe this site and this post isn’t the place to push a political agenda?
Um, the Constitution is controversial now?
This did sound like an “agenda”. To me it just sounded like a concerned citizen.
Very concerned. I almost didn’t post since I respect that this site is typically free from heavy politics. But I do wonder what the Greatest Generation (credit to Tom Brokaw) would think about 2026 USA.
Geez … can’t type. This did NOT sound…..
Sorry, this is a revered site for me as well. I have just been a bit too tuned in to what’s happening out there. Sorry to mention it on this site. No agenda, just observations.
Thank you Mike ;
Both observations about WWII are valid .
-Nate
Considering a particular perspective that you disagree with isn’t “pushing an agenda”.
Both of my parents were WWII veterans. They were extremely unusual people. In the 30’s they would have been though of as being of the far left.
In the 40’s my father used his work for the state of California to force a municipal government to allow a racially integrated group into their park facilities.
In the 60’s they were actively involved in the anti Vietnam war movement and in working to protect the property rights of home owners against eminent domain taking. They had the home phone numbers of some very well connected Democrats in the state legislature.
By the late 70’s my mother considered herself a Reagan Democrat and my father was a social conservative who used his law degree to help people dealing with government regulations.
My mother read political journals ranging from the American Communist party magazine to the National Review. My father mostly read his Sidur and the (his words) “bullshit” that came out of the state legislature.
They were both very proud of their son who was designing anti-aircraft weapons, mostly for the US Navy.
I think they would have seen Trump as undisciplined and uncouth; unfit to be President of the US. And they would have seen the political left as unhinged and very undemocratic.
Great read! My grandfather was on a converted fishing trawler patrol boat in the Caribbean and an LSD in the Pacific where they participated in the Philippines landings (shortly after the Battle off Samar) among others. They got torpedoed by a plane, but saved the ship. He was in Tokyo Bay at the surrender. He said it was terrible because, when they were going in, there were some Japanese who refused to surrender that they (though not his particular ship) had to take out. He did get to go on board the Nagato. A friend of his who worked in logistics stole the signal light and sent it home in pieces (something that some service members apparently did with Jeeps, inspiring a plot in MASH). What the guy did with it, who knows—my grandfather said he lived on a farm across the country and he didn’t see him after the war. He didn’t blame the Japanese people, just the warmongers who lied to them. He signed up the day after Pearl Harbor because he felt he should so something. Even though he was in the Navy, he never learned how to swim. He skipped past the line for people who didn’t know as he figured if they got sunk, he wasn’t swimming home, he’d either have something to cling to or be eaten by sharks. He died at 103 and I got his combat knife. After the war, he employed it as a utility knife and he used it around the house until the end. It’s been resharpened so many times that the blade is almost a different shape. He used it out of practicality, but I love the symbolism of figurative swords into ploughshares.
My grandpa fought in the Korean War and worked as a mechanic keeping the deuce and a half / M135 trucks going, in addition to servicing Shermans and Pattons. He never mentioned much about the war itself, but he did talk about Seoul and the other areas he visited, as well as what it was like to work on the trucks and tanks.
He was a diesel mechanic his entire post-war career, mostly working on Kenworth trucks. He, along with the rest of that side of the family, passed down the “gearhead” gene that’s always run through my family and its love of machines, continuing with me and now my own kids.
My grandfather fought under Patton, including being in the Battle of the Bulge. He was an officer with a Jeep assigned to him. Best we could make out from his notebooks (which I have), is his job was to go from tank to tank and make sure everybody had their orders and had what they needed to fulfil those orders.
Typical of WW2 veterans, he didn’t like to talk about it much, but he did have some funny stories he would share. There were two Jeep related things he told me about. The first was that he was supposed to carry a case of grenades under the seat, but they scared him, so he refused to do it. “Sumbitches were just rattling around in a box of sawdust!”
The second was that he would trade the Jeep as often as he could with anybody who had a motorcycle assigned to them.
He made Captain during the war, and because of material shortages he was issued a sad set of pressed tin captain’s bars. His men didn’t think that was befitting of him, and they carved him a set out of silver dollars. I have them, and you can see the remnants of the coin face on the back side of them. They are my prized possession.
I also have a shoebox full of amazing photographs.
“He made Captain during the war, and because of material shortages he was issued a sad set of pressed tin captain’s bars. His men didn’t think that was befitting of him, and they carved him a set out of silver dollars. ”
That is a remarkable display of leadership by his men and a reflection of the impact your grandfather made on them
Thank you. He was a remarkable guy. He was truly the coolest man I have ever met. He was extremely funny, very wise, and also very caring. Everybody loved the guy, and he made friends everywhere he went. He was in his 30’s during the war, so I’m sure he was like a father figure to all the young men serving under/around him.
The one time he ever let out the darkness from the war in my presence, we were watching 60 Minutes. They were doing a segment on Vietnam, and they showed a video clip of an army bulldozer pushing a pile of soldiers’ bodies into a mass grave. In a hollow voice, with a haunted look in his eyes I never saw before or since, he said, “We buried half our men like that.” I was too young to really understand what he was saying, but it still stuck with me until I did.
1st I’m always happy to hear about incredible people!
Im gonna go out on a limb here and say War is terrible.
Even seeing let alone forced to experience such terrible events leaves, at minimum, permanent scars on one psychologically
Much better for all, when auto makers are making autos, than when they are pressed in to the service by their governments in making killing machines
War is hell, no doubt.
Not long before he passed away is when we invaded Iraq. Watching tanks drive through the desert live on TV, he started having war nightmares again. My grandma told me about it after he passed. He would wake up and think Dwight Eisenhower was at the foot of his bed, and telling him to have his men take that hill.
Dad’s wing commander had a new jeep he was very proud of- until some drunken folks from another base stole it and replaced it with an old one, he thought this was very unfair as they had stolen the new jeep only 2 days earlier
Operation Petticoat but is it the Kelsey Grammer or the older version with Tony Curtis and Rock Hudson? The only original and remake that were quality. Although McHale’s Navy, Hogan heroes and Gomer Pyle all had that story
Yeah sometimes wonder but did see photos where they put pianos at the end of the gun butts and tested the planes armament- he was in France in 45 and said they had so much equipment coming through that people would abandon jeeps and trucks if they ran out of gas
Thanks for this. Certainly puts a lot of things in perspective today.
Excellent even inspiring article? Check!
Correct conjugation past tense of to lie?(Russell lay there…) Check!
Author portrait wearing PJs with Jeep? Check!
All in order!
70 years after 1945 isn’t 2006 but the rest mostly checks out :p
Great work!
My grandfather was in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. He was a motorcycle scout (Indian Motorcycle) and delivered messages when needed. He was eventually blown off his bike in Northern Italy towards the end of the war and was sent back to the states to a military hospital in Illinois. That is where he met my grandmother and raised a family. After the war, he still owned Indian motorcycles and I have a pic somewhere of my mom on the back of his motorcycle when she was little.
I wish he was still around to get more detail about the bike and the story.
My grandfather was in a lot of those same places. He fought under Patton, and was in the Battle of the Bulge. He was an officer who had a Jeep assigned to him, but he prefered to trade it as often as he could with somebody who had a motorcycle.
My Grandpa was a Navy man on a Convoy Escort Carrier. nothing special, just a boiler tender, but he had plenty of interesting stories that he was not often willing to tell. But they were always welcomed when he opened up.
Fantastic article, thanks for sharing, as well as what you’re doing to keep these stories alive.
When I was a teenager in the 90’s, I worked at a gas station and had a few customers that were WW2 vets, including a Pearl Harbor survivor. Looking back, I wish I had the nerve to talk to these guys more, I’d have loved to hear their stories.
There was one of them who told me a Jeep related story. “Fast” Eddie, we called him. Very nice gentleman, one night he was telling me how he was at Normandy – “It was no big deal, I was on the 6th wave”, he said as he saw the look on my face.
It sounded like he had a similar job as Tony, he mentioned running back and forth to different CP’s to shuttle messages or people. His story was one night he was driving at a good clip, when suddenly the road fell out from underneath him. While running with no lights, he had driven right into a shell crater. He wasn’t badly hurt, but he had to hoof it back to the CP. He said his CO gave him a good ass-chewing for losing the Jeep, and they next day he and a few guys went back and got it out of the hole.
That seemed like a good memory for him, he was laughing while he told me. I never pressed him for more stories – I figured a lot of the memories were not so good.
My own grandfather served in the Pacific as a SeaBee, I never heard him say a word about it.
That was very typical of all those guys. They’d share the few funny stories they had, but most of it was so traumatic they couldn’t talk about it. My grandfather was the same way.
I have one from my Grandfather. He was tasked with testing one of the Jeeps they had just done service on and apparently part of said test was run it through water to ensure the “tub” was watertight. They had pulled all of the plugs and forgotten to put them back in. So the Jeep sank and he got in a little trouble over that one.
Maybe he was just using the David Tracy Custom model.
These kinds of stories are aways interesting to me. My Grandfather was in the Army Air Corp (now Air Force) in the Pacific. He would never tell any stories other than after end of war their troop ship ran out of food and couldn’t dock for some reason for many days.
Amazing stuff – thank you Tyler for sharing this here, and all of the work you’ve put into helping these heroes tell their stories. So cool.
Very cool article. Thank you for sharing what you learned Tyler. I love the stories and connections to just this one vehicle they have.