I have not written a post for over four months. Why? I had nothing to say. But now I do because I received an amazing email yesterday from someone named Ben Clark. If I didn’t have a blog, he would not have found me on the internet, and I would not have received his account of this amazing story from World War II involving both of our fathers.
I have permission to share his email. The video he refers to is this:
The man he refers to is my father, Edward Reep.
And my father tells the story also in a book that he wrote:
Here it goes.
Susan I must start by telling you about my father. His name was Martin Clark. My father was a boxer as well as a soldier. He was a world class fighter and was actually promoted to fight Joe Louis the Brown Bomber…
He (Martin Clark) would laugh when telling his stories He told us many stories over and over again, and my friends would come to our house and listen again and again to his telling of his days in the war. I remember these stories as if they happened to me.
One of his stories was the account of how he was injured at Anzio Beach. He told us all hell broke loose and every one was scrambling for fox holes. He was hit in the leg and later discovered that he (his leg) was almost amputated by shrapnel. His account was as he was laying there a jeep drove up and someone carried him to the back of the jeep. During that moment he was also shot in the leg. As the jeep drove down the beach they hit a bump in the road and one of the men stated that he thought my father was dead. My dad stated, “The hell I am. I am not dead.”
56 years later I was nursing a neck injury. It was Sunday and I could not find my remote; then on PBS came a video about an artist who sketched the war (They Drew Fire). As I watched I learned of your father who in the beginning tells of the story about a group of men who were in a theater tent that was hit by a mortar. He stated that he hid through the night and the next morning felt ashamed and that he was a coward. He also stated that from that point on he would seek to redeem himself by going to the frontlines.
Now the tape moves to Anzio Beach and as I listened I thought that it would be interesting to hear another perspective about the place where my father almost died. Your dad said the same things, that all of a sudden all hell broke loose. Then your dad stated, “Then I saw this poor son of a gun with his leg nearly blown off.” So against his captain’s orders, he left his fox hole and went to the aid of this soldier, not caring for his own safety. He assisted a medic in getting the soldier to the jeep, and as they drove down the road your dad said they hit a bump in the road and he said that he told the driver he thought the soldier was dead. At that moment the soldier stuck his head up and said, “The hell I am. I am not dead..”
At that moment I was coming out of my recliner, I could not believe what I was hearing… I wrote down the number and ordered the video tape. I later watched it and discovered your dads phone number via the internet. I finally summoned the courage and called him. When he answered the phone I told him my name and that I watched his video on PBS. His first words to me were, “I was such a damn coward”…
OH NO, I told him respectfully that I believed that the man he risked his life to save by leaving the fox hole was my father. I described how he would have looked at the time and your dad agreed it sounded exactly like him. I explained that there was no way he was a coward in my book, and that he was a brave man. I could tell your dad was choking up a bit so I promised to write him a letter.
I went on to write you father a letter explaining that because of his bravery my father made it home to his wife for 47 more years of adoring marriage, and that he had four more sons after that injury, of whom I am the youngest of the five. My oldest brother was a cadet at West Point, my next brother served in the Green Berets, My third brother was in the U.S. Navy, and my other brother and I are family men. All of us have college degrees and two have masters. My father up until 2003 lived in Merritt Island, and he lived to see his great grand children.
I attribute the single fact of my existence to one lion-hearted, selfless man: your father. I reported this coincidental sighting of the video to a friend/reporter who followed up with a story. But your dad, like most men of that period, did not say much.
All I can tell you is Captain Ed Reep is my hero. He not only saved my dad’s life but his actions set in motion the life of a family tree. Surely God was directing your father’s steps that cold January day in Italy.
As for you mom, my heart goes out to you; my father suffered dementia also, and I was vigilant by his bedside the evening he entered into the Kingdom of heaven.
Susan if your father is still alive, please tell him that I think about him every day and that I thank the Lord for him. I just wanted to reach out to you as your dad has been on my heart for many years. As I searched for him I came across your website. It gives me great pleasure to share this story with you.
I hope you have a very peaceful and joyous Christmas season.
Peace,
Ben Clark
What a gift Ben gave me with this email. He gave a gift to my dad also, who is 93 and sill living independently (more or less). I printed the email and took it to him. When he got to the part about Martin Clark enjoying 47 more years of marriage and having five sons, Dad was overcome. He said that maybe he had done something worthwhile in his life.
And Ben found me because of my web page. That in itself is reason to continue my blog. Being “found” can lead to unexpected treasures. I’ll try to write another post before four more months have passed. Maybe I’ll find my voice again.
