I recently read a story about George Herron,who recently passed away, that read like a Jackknife story.It was told on David Petzals blog at fieldandstream.com
Mr. Petzal told about he had known Mr. Herron for years before he found out that the knifemaker was even ever in the service.They had saw a large tree that was blown over and the roots were out of the ground,and George got a distant look in his eyes and made a remark about an artillery round could cause similar devastation to a huge tree.Over time Mr.Petzal said his friend had slowly opened up and told a few stories from his military days.Turns out the humble knifemaker he knew was also a highly decorated Marine who had had his boots on the ground at the Chosin reservoir,and other places that American soldiers had been in that forgotten war in the early fifties.
After the war he had done intellegence work for our government in an un-named agency.One story had him blowing up a cobra in India with a grenade,but the story that reads like a Jackknife tale involved East Germany.
Seems the agent had been tasked with getting intel on the latest Soviet tanks that had been recently fielded.He was taking photos from inside one and saw a kopek on the floor.Before he left he pocketed the Russian coin,and put a US quarter in its place.Imagine the surprised communist soldier that found that!I reckon he did not know whether to crap or go blind,as it was probably a crime even to possess an American coin and he might think his superiors would think he was lying about where he found the imperialistic coin.
Some of the readers of the blog expressed either disbelief, or said they had heard other versions and it was a myth.I don't know if it was true or not ,but coming from a fellow he had known for years before he learned that he was ever in the service,much less a decorated Marine that fought in some of the bloodiest fighting American soldiers ever engaged in and went on to serve his country as an intellegence agent,back when intel came from people who used eyeballs and not satellites(sp?)to gather it.I'll choose to believe it.
Thats my story of a story I read that read like a Jackknife story!
Mr. Petzal told about he had known Mr. Herron for years before he found out that the knifemaker was even ever in the service.They had saw a large tree that was blown over and the roots were out of the ground,and George got a distant look in his eyes and made a remark about an artillery round could cause similar devastation to a huge tree.Over time Mr.Petzal said his friend had slowly opened up and told a few stories from his military days.Turns out the humble knifemaker he knew was also a highly decorated Marine who had had his boots on the ground at the Chosin reservoir,and other places that American soldiers had been in that forgotten war in the early fifties.
After the war he had done intellegence work for our government in an un-named agency.One story had him blowing up a cobra in India with a grenade,but the story that reads like a Jackknife tale involved East Germany.
Seems the agent had been tasked with getting intel on the latest Soviet tanks that had been recently fielded.He was taking photos from inside one and saw a kopek on the floor.Before he left he pocketed the Russian coin,and put a US quarter in its place.Imagine the surprised communist soldier that found that!I reckon he did not know whether to crap or go blind,as it was probably a crime even to possess an American coin and he might think his superiors would think he was lying about where he found the imperialistic coin.
Some of the readers of the blog expressed either disbelief, or said they had heard other versions and it was a myth.I don't know if it was true or not ,but coming from a fellow he had known for years before he learned that he was ever in the service,much less a decorated Marine that fought in some of the bloodiest fighting American soldiers ever engaged in and went on to serve his country as an intellegence agent,back when intel came from people who used eyeballs and not satellites(sp?)to gather it.I'll choose to believe it.
Thats my story of a story I read that read like a Jackknife story!