Hello everyone,

lately, a few people were asking, how did the veteran tanker charity end up. I am pleased to say, it ended up amazingly well.

The final sum collected was 168.000,- CZK (cca 6133 EUR) and on 20.1.2014, this sum was transferred to the account of Československá Obec Legionářská (ČSLO), Czechoslovak veteran organization. As I wrote before, I took part in one of the meetings with the ČSLO representatives, who were quite cordial and extremely surprised, how much money was actually collected (really quite high for Czech and Slovak republics). It was agreed upon to

- split the sum to more people than just one or two
- not to simply give money to the veterans, but rather gifts they need (medical bed, TV and such) in order to avoid issues with “greedy relatives” misusing the money and such stuff

This organization took time, but finally, yesterday, the representatives went to visit first two veterans to arrange everything. Along with them came Clearevil (yes, THAT Clearevil the moderator), one of the organizers of the event, to physically witness everything and to thank the veterans personally. Sadly, the event’s mood was a bit tainted by the fact that on Wednesday evening, one of the few remaining Czechoslovak RAF pilots, who served in Battle of Brittain, Brigadier-General (ret.) Miroslav Štandera, passed away. Also, sadly, in these two months it took to organize the entire thing, the list of potential candidates from the ranks of WW2 tankers also grew smaller by one…

Either way, since only Clearevil could attend (Catfood, Akcido and Uanubis were far away, Carramba – the main organizer – is in hospital, I am still ill), the rest of us did put together a short letter, thanking the veterans for their sacrifice. It was very moving :)

The first veteran, Walter Zimmermann (an anti-fascist German serving in Czechoslovak exile army), was a driver in the western Czechoslovak Independent Brigade, who fought at Dunkerque. Here he is, reading the letter from us, he was quite moved. Photos by Clearevil.

The second veteran, Antonín Šulák was a driver of SU-85 and T-34/76 vehicles, who fought at Dukla Pass and near Ostrava, participating in the worst fighting near the Hyrow mountain. Clearevil said that he was extremely chatty and would spend ages talking about his fighting. I am really sorry I couldn’t be there to hear it too.

He told Clearevil about how it was, that he was actually fighting on the repaired old model of T-34/76, because (as a politically unreliable person), he did “not deserve” to get the new T-34/76 Model 1942 tank. At the end of the war, he was seriously injured, when his T-34 was destroyed by an AT gun (his commander died in the tank) and spent 5 months in hospital.

Either way, he was very happy that someone actually remembers him and appreciated the event greatly. ČSLO will continue to visit the veterans next week as well and the entire event will be closed next Thursday with Lt.Col.Šerák.

Thank you all, who made it possible!