The Silver King's War

Send a text This bonus episode about The New Yorker magazine, its context & history, is part of Stanley's transition from soldier to civilian.  It's October 1945. Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer & creator of The Silver King's War podcast series, reviews how the magazine influenced his life & writing. His favorite aunt, Phyllis Gordon, introduced Michael to The N...

Send a text This bonus episode continues Stanley's transition from soldier to civilian with an April 1982  New York Times Magazine  story about Dame Rebecca West.  Stanley was 59; Dame West was 89.  Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer & creator of The Silver King's War podcast series, shares background on the context for those who wrote about World War II.  Dame Rebecca West die...

Send a text This bonus episode includes a New Yorker Magazine (October 26, 1946) story by Dame Rebecca West about the Nuremberg Trials. Dame West traveled to Nuremberg, Germany, to cover & write about the conclusion of the first major trials. Published one year after Stanley's train ride home to Birmingham, Alabama, it completes an important context discussion about world events related t...

Send a text This bonus episode continues Stanley's transition from soldier to civilian.  As Stanley leaves active duty in October 1945, and rides the train home to Birmingham, Alabama, the Nuremberg Trials begin in Germany.  The trials, conducted in Nuremberg's Palace of Justice, prosecuted the Second World War's war criminals. Four allied nations (Britain, France, the Soviet Union...

Send a text This episode begins Stanley's transition from soldier to civilian. He rides a train home from Ft. McPherson, Georgia, to Birmingham, Alabama.  He completes a ride that began on a train from Birmingham to Nashville, Tennessee, on January 10, 1943.  Now, thirty-three months later, it's mid-October 1945.  Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer & creator of The Silver King&...

Send a text This is episode fifteen in the final review of The Silver King's War. It's October 1945.  Stanley has arrived at the U. S. Army Air Corps Separation Center at Fort McPherson, Georgia. Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer & creator of this podcast series, reviews his father's final days & paperwork to leave active duty.  His total flying time from training thr...

Send a text This is episode fourteen in the final review of The Silver King's War.  It's September 1945. Stanley makes his second Atlantic Crossing, this one from Antwerp, Belgium, to New York Harbor.  The European war ended in early May and his four-month wait is finally over.  When he reaches the states, Stanley learns that he's not quite done with the Air Corps. President Harry T...

Send a text This is episode thirteen in the final review of The Silver King's War. It's August 1945.  Stanley has been waiting for news about when he'll ship for home.  During his wait, the war in the Pacific ends with the delivery of atomic weapons over Japan (Hiroshima & Nagasaki) on August 6 & 9.  Japan agrees to an unconditional surrender on August 14.  The Silver King n...

Send a text This is episode twelve in the final review of The Silver King's War.  It's mid-May 1945.  Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer & creator of the podcast series, reviews his father's war. Stanley is cooling off from his front-page temple bulletin status as he celebrates letters from his pilot & co-pilot, Jack Festi & Jim Fomby, Jr. They're alive, safe...

Send a text This is episode eleven in the final review of The Silver King's War.  It's April 1945 (first published on Father's Day 2023).  Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer and creator of this podcast series, reviews his father's war. The month is full of adventures and revelations.  Stanley & his crew made an emergency landing near an American field hospital near Ko...

Send a text This is the tenth episode of the final review of The Silver King's War. It's March 1945 and the busiest month of Stanley's war.  Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer and creator of this podcast series, reviews his father's war.  Stanley, who finally has his silver bars as a First Lieutenant, flew 13 missions in 31 days and earned his third Oak-Leaf Cluster.  Pac...

Send a text This is episode nine in the final review of The Silver King's War.  It's January 1945.  The weather is bitter cold and flying is limited as Stanley sits by the fire to write letters home and enjoy Ida Mae's chocolate-chip cookies. Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer and creator of this podcast series, reviews his father's war as Stanley completes one year as a...

Send a text This is episode eight in the final review of The Silver King's War.  Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer and creator of this podcast series, reviews his father's war as a B-26 Bombardier.  The A-72 base supported Pathfinder missions to guide bomber crews to success via the Oboe System.  The German Army began a surprise counter attack in Belgium's Ardennes Forest at...

Send a text This is episode seven (first published on Memorial Day 2023) of the final review of The Silver King's War.  Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer and creator of this podcast series, reviews his father's war.  It's late October 1944.  Stanley & his crew have arrived at A-72 north of Paris. The 597th unit history for December 1944, records The King's first miss...

Send a text This is episode six in the final review of The Silver King's War.  Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer and creator of this podcast series, reviews his father's war.  It's late June 1944.  Stanley's training to fly the B-26, Martin Marauder, at Barksdale Army Air Base, in Shreveport, Louisiana. Barksdale is home to the 2nd Bomb Wing, which flew with Billy Mitche...

Send a text This is episode five of the final review of Stanley's War. It's January 1944 and The Silver King graduates from Bomber School in Carlsbad, New Mexico. He's now a 2nd Lt. in the U. S. Army Air Corps. Then it's five months for advance training at Columbia Army Air Base in South Carolina. As the allies invade Europe on D- Day with Operation Overload in early June, Stan...

Send a text This is the fourth episode of the final review of The Silver King's War. It's January 1943.  Stanley rides a train to Nashville for Army Air Corps cadet classification testing. He's classified for pilot training at Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama. As Stanley reaches pilot school in Lakeland, Florida, the allies prepare for the Sicily invasion with Operation Husky. ...

Send a text This is the third episode of the final review of The Silver King's War.  Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer and creator of this podcast series, reviews his father's war.  It's 1942, FDR signed Executive 0rder 9066 on February 19. Thousands of Japanese Americans were forced from their homes to inland internment camps. John Steinbeck wrote "Bombs Away." Sta...

Send a text This is the second episode of the final review of The Silver King's War.  Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer and creator of this podcast series, reviews Stanley academic life as he becomes a University of Illinois freshman in September 1940.  France fell to Germany in June, and FDR, running for a third term, signed the Selective Service Act. The first B-26, Martin Marauder,...

Send a text This is the first episode of the final review of The Silver King's War.  Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer and creator of this podcast series, reviews the nation's history ahead of his father's war.  The context considers Glenn L. Martin's national status, a history of the B-26 Martin Marauder, and discusses major events before the Second World War begins in...

Send a text This episode, first published on the Silver King's birthday centennial (April 23, 2023), is the conclusion of the "Dearest Ones" epilogue.   Our hero, the Silver King, wrote hundreds of letters to his family throughout World War Two.  It's September 1945 and Stanley is waiting for a ride home from his war.  He wrote two descriptive, thoughtful letters from France ab...

Send a text This episode is Part Forty-One of the "Dearest Ones" epilogue.  It's August 1945 and the Silver King remains in France, waiting for a ride home to his family in Birmingham, Alabama. It may be a ship to New York harbor or a flight to Miami. He hasn't received any mail in a month.  He's bored, frustrated and gaining points as he waits (77 to 85).  The war in Euro...

Send a text This episode is Part Forty in the epilogue for "Dearest Ones," the letters that The Sliver King wrote to his family throughout the Second World War.  It's July 1945.  Michael G. Sievers, the series creator, reflects on his dad's summer stories. Our hero battles the boredom and uncertainty about his future. He dreams of football games and a wardrobe update. And share...

Send a text This episode is Part Thirty-Nine in the epilogue for "Dearest Ones," the letters that The Silver King wrote throughout the war.  It's June 1945.  Michael G. Sievers, the King's narrator, reflects on his father's June activities. Stanley battles boredom with thoughts of Paris and home. The mail is stalled due to a classic snafu. The Colonel claims the unit'...

Send a text This episode is Part Thirty-Eight of the "Dearest Ones" epilogue, the letters Stanley wrote to his family throughout the Second World War.  It's a special discussion of The Silver King's writing about Paris and Brussels, and the development of "City Stories," a writing course that Michael G. Sievers, the writer, producer & creator of the podcast series...