For years he traveled Asia, which he predicted in the ’90s to be the next great automotive market. He traveled to Korea to work with manufacturers and to share his unique knowledge of clutches. On his last trip to China, he climbed the Great Wall, or parts of it, at 74 years old, one year before his death on November 19, 1998. I still have the ceremonial scarf the mayor of one industrial village in China awarded my father and his team.
Dad was such a well-respected figure in the automotive world that his clutch patents are still used today. An engineer by trade, he collaborated with professors at The University of Michigan on the first electric car. John DeLorean even requested that he join his automotive team. And Werner Von Braun, noted German rocket scientist, once called upon Dad to fix his “broken” rocket. Dad got Von Braun’s call in his office one night, drove over, climbed the scaffolding, and, like your best mechanic, fixed the wiring 30 feet up in the air. Needless to say, the launch was successful.
Everyone who knew Dad will agree he was truly a gentleman and a scholar who, with his genius IQ, could do almost anything—from singing on the radio as a boy in Cincinnati to playing Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady for Royal Oak, Michigan’s Civic Theater. Dad passed in 1998, but his kindness, enthusiasm for life and humor lives on in the hearts of many people.
To order books, to view the trailer or to request more information, please follow Leanna Conley in social media or The War Stories Fan Page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/warstories.afathertalkstohisdaughter. You may also go to the publisher’s web page at http://www.pelicanpresspensacola.com.
Acknowledgements
I offer sincere acknowledgement to all the following:
The staff and doctors of William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan, who cared for my father.
The staff and doctors of The University of Michigan’s Comprehensive Care Center at the University Hospital, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Linda Wasserman, my publisher and editor, for her endless help and for her belief in me, and her husband, Wade Wasserman, Vietnam and Gulf War Veteran, for his research.
Lori Frick, Linda Wasserman’s insightful daughter, for inspiring The Elephant Epilogue.
Linda Grissette and historian Kevin Born, both of The National Society of the Pershing Rifles.
M.A. Zavoy, Retired Navy Commander, for his help with editing, research on WWII and collaboration on beautiful illustrations for this book.
Kirsten Aimes, whose class in NYC helped me “go beyond” and write these stories.
Russell Rice, writer and WWII veteran, for all his support and advice.
Marrow Conley, my uncle, WWII Veteran.
Janet, my mother; Phyllis, my sister; and my Aunt Reka.
The Toastmasters Club of Gulf Breeze, Florida.
Write On! Pensacola, my writer’s group in Gulf Breeze, Florida.
Friends who supported the research, writing and promotion of this book.
My faith, which has sustained me.
A special thanks to the Veterans of WWII—and to all the men and women of the Armed Forces—who have heroically served this country every single day.
GB ‘Signal Team Permanent Party’
9th Replacement Depot
Fontainebleau, France, 1944
From left to right, Top Row: Captain Vanderplas, Bill Trojan, Grant, Unknown, Dick Teagarten Unknown, Al Fredricks, Tranes, Frank “Shorty” Morris, Mike Sands
Leanna Conley Page 6
