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Hello,

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it's Stu Redwine,

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and this is a special bonus episode of Ad Infinitum.

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What you're about to hear is something personal.

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This piece was produced in collaboration with the team at Ad Infinitum,

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with sound design by John Mattiliano,

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and audio production by Zach Hahn.

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We created it for the 20,000 Hertz competition SoundOff,

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where audio storytellers from around the world were invited to submit short,

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fully produced stories that explore the power of sound.

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Thanks for listening to The Sound of Falling.

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Happy birthday to you.

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Happy birthday,

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Pa.

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We hope you like this birthday tape player and tape.

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Hi,

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Pa.

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Hope you have a happy birthday.

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You're getting younger every year.

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Happy birthday,

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Pa.

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Those are recordings of my cousins and my uncle from 36 years ago when my Uncle John gave my grandfather a tape recorder to recount his stories of being shot down and as a prisoner of war.

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during World War II.

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My name is Stu Redwine,

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and this is the sound of falling.

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Left side was on fire,

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and bailed out,

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and then all at once she just flew right out the sky.

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It was somewhere between 9 and 10,000 feet.

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It was colder now,

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fairly clear,

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few clouds.

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I thought to myself,

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well...

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He hadn't had too much of any instructions,

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except count to ten to pull the ripcord.

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By the time I get a hold of the ripcord,

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started pulling on the handle,

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nothing happened.

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The chute didn't open.

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Then I saw,

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I don't even have a hold of the ripcord.

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I've got a hold of the handle that you carry the chute around on,

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which is about four inches from the ripcord.

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So I reached up and I pulled that ripcord,

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and right away,

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little chute comes out.

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When that parachute opened,

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I prayed a little.

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Who wouldn't?

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You'd pray too.

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It's quite a sensation falling through those clouds.

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It's just deathly quiet.

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The way he's got his chute didn't open.

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Anyone could have had that chute,

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but it was...

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I don't want to make this recording about that.

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I hit the dirt,

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started running over towards Lee,

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and all of a sudden dirt was flying up in front of me.

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30,

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40

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Germans over the horizon there,

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all over the hill.

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Needless to say,

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I threw my hands in there and threw my .45 on the ground.

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Wasn't no need in me fighting the whole German army.

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A few minutes,

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here came a German jeep.

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They loaded

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Lee and myself up in the jeep and took us to Frankfurt.

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for interrogation five days five nights that was a hell hole you get to the point where you don't care but you still don't talk because if you did talk you might still be there for

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uh be six feet under take your choice he was shot down on january 21st 1944

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and liberated on April 27,

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1945.

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For much of that time,

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he was a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft 6 in Nazi-occupied East Prussia,

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what is now modern-day Lithuania.

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I was in on one escape deal,

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and that's another story.

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It took us six months to fork this thing up,

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and,

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well,

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it didn't develop it.

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Developed to the extent where a couple of them got shot,

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you know,

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but,

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well,

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I don't feel like going into that right now.

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They walked us out of there.

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We was headed toward Berlin,

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so they told me.

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They called it the Black March.

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February's cold.

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Miss Prussia,

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it was on that

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March,

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68 days.

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You didn't walk,

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you didn't jog,

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you ran.

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In fact,

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if you didn't,

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you'd jam a van up your rear,

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and that'd get you to going quick.

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The first two or three days is the roughest part.

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All you'd dream about at night was food.

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At least two-thirds of us,

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you know,

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made it through that march.

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Some of that stuff should never be recorded.

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And it...

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I already believed my grandfather was a courageous man.

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And as I listen back to these recordings and share them with you...

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I understand even more the courage it took to tell these stories,

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especially when I hear him hold back.

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And as I grow older,

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I understand the silence.

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This story has been a part of my family for decades,

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and it means a lot to share with you.

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If you've got stories in your family,

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big or small,

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I hope this encourages you to preserve them.

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Even a single voice can echo through the generations,

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and they're worth preserving.

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Thank you so much for listening,

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and more soon,

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right here on Ad Infinitum.