Jack's Story: 7th Armored Division Tank Commander World War II

Jack's Story: A WWII Tank Commander's Journey Through Some of the Greatest Battles in History

At twenty-three, Jack Wilson went to war as a tank commander. He left behind a young wife, a baby on the way-and a life he could only hope to return to.

He arrived in Europe as Hitler launched his last great offensive. With the 7th Armored Division, Jack fought at St. Vith in the Battle of the Bulge, where American forces helped blunt the German advance, and then fought on through the final months of the war in Germany.

Through it all, Jack constantly wrote home to Jean and his parents.

Those letters would survive long after the war-and eventually reveal a story his family had never fully known.

More than fifty years later, Jack began writing down his memories of the war. After Jack and Jean were gone, their family discovered more than one hundred letters he had written home from Europe. The letters tell the story in Jack's own words, written while the events were actually happening.

Drawing together Jack's wartime memories, his letters, photographs, military records, and extensive research, his son reconstructs his father's journey from a young husband going off to war to a tank commander fighting through some of the final and fiercest months of World War II.

It is a story of combat, love, survival, and family-and a son's discovery of his father.