Aaron Elson’s Gift to America 

By | December 9, 2024

[December 9, 2034]  Aaron Elson is the son of a World War 2 combat veteran. After Aaron’s dad was hospitalized in 1980, Aaron bought a Sony Recording Walkman to use in one-on-one interviews with the soldiers of his dad’s unit – the 712th Tank Battalion. Later, he would interview troops from all branches of the U.S. military. The audio tapes are a precious gift to America for we can hear, in their own words, what these men did during the war.

Aaron purchased the recorder originally to record his dad’s time in the Allied war on Germany while part of the offensive into German territory. Sadly, his dad passed away before he could record him, but luck would have it that Aaron would attend his dad’s annual unit reunion.

From this small start, Aaron has accumulated more than 100 tapes of these veterans as they tell their stories about their time in the most destructive war ever fought in human history. Hearing them explain what happened leaves out the reinterpretation of the events discussed by a historian, so we can listen to the people who were there: a soldier, marine, sailor, army airman, and Coastie.

Aaron has published several dozen books based on these recordings. At least 24 can be found on Amazon. I recommend Aaron’s website as a starting point. Warning: It’s being updated so that you will find many dead links. His webpage can be found at this link: https://aaronelson.com.

The fastest way to access the audio tapes is by clicking on the Audio Podcast tab, which loads with a photo of several members of D Comy, 712th Tank Battalion. This battalion’s combat efforts are also well documented at the Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Digital Library (link here).

Please connect with Aaron on his social media pages and listen to those veterans tell us, in their own words, what they went through. Aaron suggests the place with easiest access is Aaron’s Substack account. See you there.

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Please read my books:

  1. “55 Rules for a Good Life,” on Amazon (link here).
  2. “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” on Amazon (link here).
Author: Douglas R. Satterfield

Hello. I provide one article every day. My writings are influenced by great thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Jung, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Jean Piaget, Erich Neumann, and Jordan Peterson, whose insight and brilliance have gotten millions worldwide to think about improving ourselves. Thank you for reading my blog.

10 thoughts on “Aaron Elson’s Gift to America 

  1. American Girl

    Thank you, Aaron Elson. U.S. American Patriots thank you! 🇺🇸

    Reply
  2. JT Patterson

    If I hadn’t read Gen. Satterfield’s article today, I’d never had known about this “gift to America.”

    Reply
    1. Julie Asher

      …and this is exactly why I visit this site daily. Also for everyone reading this, I just finished “55 Rules for a GoodLife” by Brig. Gen. Doug Satterfield and found the book easy to read, full of the greatest wisdom of mankind (other than the Bible), and all in a short, well-constructed book at a great price. Others have suggested that we get copies and give them as gifts. Why? Because wisdom is forever. Keep that in mind as you think about this upcoming holiday season.

      Reply
  3. Tony B. Custer

    Thank you, sir. I’ll be headed out to his website after I’m done here reading your articles.

    Reply
  4. Jack of Spades ♠️

    Yes, indeed a precious gift because we will no longer hear their words in any other way since all the ww2 veterans are no longer with us. Gen. Satterfield, thank you sir for highlighting Mr. Aaron Elson’s efforts and pointing out that he has also written dozens of books telling the stories of our ww2 veterans. Well done.

    Reply
    1. Rev Michael Cain

      🙏 and let us pray for all these men and women who served during the most important yet destructive war the world has ever seen. Plus, let us also pray that the hard-fought for lessons of that war teach us the many lessons of humankind. We deserve to live better for them as they epwere apice of history to never ever be forgotten. 🙏

      Reply
      1. Nick Lighthouse

        Yes, let us pray for them. For, they have given us a piece of something more precious than anything man can give us —— freedom. I’ve been a long-time reader of Gen. Satterfield’s blog, maybe for over 5 years and if there is one thing I learned, it’s that I get more great info and ways to think and learn than any other so-called leadership website out there. All the others have content that you have to pay to access. All that Gen. S. Asks is that you purchase his books and give him an honest review on Amazon or wherever you find his book for sale. Sir, Mr. Aaron Elson, also thank you for your efforts to record our WW2 veterans.

        Reply
  5. Jackson Meredith

    Wow, such a generous gift that Aaron puts the electronic version up on the web for free access. Well done. And I recommend, like Gen. Satterfield, that you sign up for the newsletter. 💯

    Reply

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