Hello,
it's Stu Redwine,
and this is a special bonus episode of Ad Infinitum.
What you're about to hear is something personal.
This piece was produced in collaboration with the team at Ad Infinitum,
with sound design by John Mattiliano,
and audio production by Zach Hahn.
We created it for the 20,000 Hertz competition SoundOff,
where audio storytellers from around the world were invited to submit short,
fully produced stories that explore the power of sound.
Thanks for listening to The Sound of Falling.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday,
Pa.
We hope you like this birthday tape player and tape.
Hi,
Pa.
Hope you have a happy birthday.
You're getting younger every year.
Happy birthday,
Pa.
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.
during World War II.
My name is Stu Redwine,
and this is the sound of falling.
Left side was on fire,
and bailed out,
and then all at once she just flew right out the sky.
It was somewhere between 9 and 10,000 feet.
It was colder now,
fairly clear,
few clouds.
I thought to myself,
well...
He hadn't had too much of any instructions,
except count to ten to pull the ripcord.
By the time I get a hold of the ripcord,
started pulling on the handle,
nothing happened.
The chute didn't open.
Then I saw,
I don't even have a hold of the ripcord.
I've got a hold of the handle that you carry the chute around on,
which is about four inches from the ripcord.
So I reached up and I pulled that ripcord,
and right away,
little chute comes out.
When that parachute opened,
I prayed a little.
Who wouldn't?
You'd pray too.
It's quite a sensation falling through those clouds.
It's just deathly quiet.
The way he's got his chute didn't open.
Anyone could have had that chute,
but it was...
I don't want to make this recording about that.
I hit the dirt,
started running over towards Lee,
and all of a sudden dirt was flying up in front of me.
30,
40
Germans over the horizon there,
all over the hill.
Needless to say,
I threw my hands in there and threw my .45 on the ground.
Wasn't no need in me fighting the whole German army.
A few minutes,
here came a German jeep.
They loaded
Lee and myself up in the jeep and took us to Frankfurt.
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
uh be six feet under take your choice he was shot down on january 21st 1944
and liberated on April 27,
1945.
For much of that time,
he was a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft 6 in Nazi-occupied East Prussia,
what is now modern-day Lithuania.
I was in on one escape deal,
and that's another story.
It took us six months to fork this thing up,
and,
well,
it didn't develop it.
Developed to the extent where a couple of them got shot,
you know,
but,
well,
I don't feel like going into that right now.
They walked us out of there.
We was headed toward Berlin,
so they told me.
They called it the Black March.
February's cold.
Miss Prussia,
it was on that
March,
68 days.
You didn't walk,
you didn't jog,
you ran.
In fact,
if you didn't,
you'd jam a van up your rear,
and that'd get you to going quick.
The first two or three days is the roughest part.
All you'd dream about at night was food.
At least two-thirds of us,
you know,
made it through that march.
Some of that stuff should never be recorded.
And it...
I already believed my grandfather was a courageous man.
And as I listen back to these recordings and share them with you...
I understand even more the courage it took to tell these stories,
especially when I hear him hold back.
And as I grow older,
I understand the silence.
This story has been a part of my family for decades,
and it means a lot to share with you.
If you've got stories in your family,
big or small,
I hope this encourages you to preserve them.
Even a single voice can echo through the generations,
and they're worth preserving.
Thank you so much for listening,
and more soon,
right here on Ad Infinitum.