Hello everyone,

it is finally here. After months of organizing and work, the Veteran charity event (to which some of you contributed) is finally, concluded, all the money collected was used for buying the things the veterans need, contracts were closed, things were distributed and now it is done. It actually took five long months due to various complications, including health issues of some of the veterans and other matters we had to attend to.

Well… I say “we”, but most of the work was done by Clearevil and carramba66, especially Clearevil was the “ground trooper”, who went with the Veteran association (ČSLO) members to visit the veterans themselves and oversaw the entire thing. Here’s a “closure” video, made by carramba66… I hope you like it.

Translation of the Video (spoken by carramba66)

Five months ago, we asked you, World of Tanks community members, to contribute to the charity we organized in order to help Czechoslovak tankers, WW2 veterans. When we organized the charity, we assumed that we would collect 400-600 Euro, which we will use to buy for example medical accessories for one of the veterans. The amount of money collected however exceeded original estimates several times and so, thanks to you, we could help not one, but fifteen members of Czechoslovak tank units from both the western and eastern front.

Too many of you contributed for us to thank everyone in person, so please, all of you who contributed, accept our deepest thanks at least this way – not only from us, but also from the Czechoslovak Legionnaire Organization, that organized the transfer of the gifts. We also hereby convey the thanks from the veterans themselves, who were especially pleased by the public interest, that came from the side they did not expect.

There are officers and generals amongst those, who recieved the gifts, members of the tank crews of the Soviet T-34, T-70 tanks and SU-85 tank destroyers, British Cromwell tank crewmembers and the members of the auxilliary units. Some of them you might have seen in the video we published last Autumn, when we announced the event.

The gifts we could have purchased thanks to your contribution were medical accessories, medical furniture, but also home accessories, which will enable the veterans to live in better conditions. Each veteran also – apart from the gifts – recieved from us a letter, thanking them for everything they did for the Czechoslovak Republic during the war. I will now quote the closing part of the letter:

Ever since our childhood, we read about the heroic deeds of our military units on the battlefields of Second World War. We know your stories, both during and after the war and we will never be able to thank you enough for you winning the lost freedom for our nation. Nothing you have did for the Republic will ever be forgotten. Be surrounded by the people, who love you, be in good health, live full and happy life.

Finally, allow me to thank specifically to Marek Štalmach, a journalist of MF Dnes, who helped to spread the information about the charity publically and to Petr Hozlár, secretary of the Czechoslovak Legionnaire Organization, who organized the purchase and transfer of the gifts and to the colleagues from World of Tanks community akcido, Catfood, Silentstalker and Uanubis, who helped with the event and to Clearevil, who co-organized the transfers. But the biggest thanks of course go to you all, who contributed. We thank you.

A few words to close it…

If anyone has any questions about this entire event, please contact either me, Clearevil on WG EU forums or – in case a more official statement is needed – the ČSLO veteran organization directly.

The list of veterans:

Mr.Komár – Studebaker truck driver with the 1st Czechoslovak Tank Brigade, had tank training, but due to the lack of tanks he couldn’t serve on one.
Mr.Šutera – commander of the T-34 tank, after the formation of the Czechoslovak units, he stayed with the Soviet Red Army unit and made it to Berlin. After the war, he settled in Czechoslovakia.
Mr.Szatan – Cromwell tank loader and gunner, Czechoslovak Independent Brigade, served during the siege of Dunkerque
Cpt.Kulich (and his wife) – T-34 tank gunner and later commander, his wife was a nurse – Czechoslovak Independent Brigade
Lt.Col.Turek – Cromwell tank commander, served at Dunkerque
1stLt.Schovánek – radioman, later T-70 tank commander, eastern front
2ndLt.Mrázová – she was a radiowoman at the 1st Czechoslovak Tank Brigade
Mr.Škrabal – radioman, 1st Czechoslovak Tank Brigade
Mr.K.Šerák – T-34 tank commander
Mr.J.Šerák – T-34 tank driver (tank under the command of B.Opočenský), K.Šerák’s brother
Mr.B.Opočenský – T-34 tank commander
Mr.J.Opočenský – submachine gunner of the tank desant unit, attached to the tanks of the Czechoslovak Tank Brigade
Mr.W.Zimmermann – ambulance driver, Czechoslovak Independent Brigade
Mr.Šulák – T-34/76 and SU-85 driver
Gen.Končický – T-34 tank commander, sacked from the army in 1968

The list of gifts I was asked not to publish by the veteran organization. There was a… certain feeling by some other veterans about the event and the reason is to prevent any sort of disagreement. If you insist on knowing the list of gifts – please contact Clearevil in private (forum PM perhaps), he was there to witness it all.

So, once again, thank you all, you made it happen!