David Willey | Top 5 Veteran Stories | The Tank Museum 

That story for the light tank was so emotional and a brilliant message at the end

As 'Top 5 Tanks' go, this one is a mic-drop. Imagine being the poor sod who has to follow this one up. Brilliant story-telling as always.

The story I'll always remember, a rather famous quote, from Ken Giles: "The '75' is firing. The '37' is firing, but it's traversed round the wrong way. The Browning is jammed. I am saying, 'Driver, advance!' on the A set, and the driver, who can't hear me, is reversing. And as I look over the top of the turret and see twelve enemy tanks fifty yards away, someone hands me a cheese sandwich."

Wonderfully touching stories about what really matters-humans. Merry Christmas, and thank you for making and sharing.

God, that French girl saying to the British tankist "Thank you for coming" really moved me.

The tragic story of the young RTR crewman of the Mk VI tank loosing his life crossing the Somme was moving. The stoic courage of his family was quintessentially British. We see the tanks and sometimes forget the courage of the men who went to war in them. Thankyou for making these machines come to life.

Am I the only one who nearly cried hearing every one of these stories? I knew so many WW2 vets, I miss them and their stories so much.

I haven't been this moved in some time, the stories you've attached to each tank have, in turn, broken me and put a smile on my face. I shall be raising a glass to those who have served or are serving in the armed forces. Merry Christmas to all at Bovington.

One of the best Top 5 so far. Genuinely moving.

This has been a really touching series of stories and connections.

Thank you so much David. We've all been waiting for your top five, and it has been worth the wait. The stories of the veterans associated with each tank gave your choices a human touch that is often lacking when we talk simply about the characteristics and statistics of the vehicles. Thank you again, and Happy Holidays.

In 1976 one of my mother's best friends was entertaining her uncle from Germany, who was a veteran of the Eastern Front. My Dad spoke German and asked "Uncle Carl" what he did there. He replied, "Ich war ein Tiger Panzer Chauffeur" (I was a Tiger tank driver). He went on to say he was issued a rifle that he never shot, but allowed instead to rust inside his tank. He was captured later on and remained a guest of the Soviets for a year or two after the war. When he finally made it back home, he went to the town square where residents often left messages for missing loved ones. His family had moved away, but he managed to eventually locate them. They were thoroughly shocked when they saw him, having believed he was long since dead. During my brief association with him he introduced me to German menthol snuff. I swear that one sniff felt like it shot through my right nostril, right eye, skull, and out my right ear. I never tried it again, but he obviously got a kick out of watching my reaction. He was a very jovial and engaging character, and I regret I never got to learn much more about him.

As an ex infantry soldier I found this to be the best top 5 yet , spending some time on operations in and around warrior ifv I totally understand the connection to a vehicle and the men who crew them I even have fond memories of wmik land rover's excellent piece tank museum well done

This top 5 is incredible. Every possible emotion being felt within all those stories. More of this please!

0:11 As an American, it's funny to hear 'scheme' used so casually. In America, it's synonymous with 'evil plot,' but in Britain, it simply means 'program' or 'plan.'

I can only echo the comments of how affecting this is. For me, the comment that vets did not necessarily talk much about their experiences hit home. My father was a Bronze Star and Purple Heart holding infantry officer in the U.S. Army from Normandy to the Hurtgen Forest. He only very rarely spoke of his experiences and then briefly. I remember that he once told the story out of nowhere that his CO had called him over for a field conference next to a Sherman. He said that he was very reluctant because tanks drew artillery fire! I only then realized that my civilian idea that tanks were the infantry's friend was not the full picture!

Thank you David. That was by far the best top 5 tanks episodes by far. Excellent work. As a veteran myself of the Balkans conflict, I whole heartedly agree that people should try to listen to veterans.

Definitely my favorite Top 5 yet. Talking tanks and history is a wonderful thing. But, adding that human element just makes it that much more special. Thank you, Mr. Willey. And, obviously, happy holiday, to all (and hopefully a better 2021).

I was thinking wow what a great story for the first and then we had that 2nd story, and then again for the 3rd, fourth and fifth, all fascinating stories, it truly is Christmas!

I didn’t expect to cry watching this, this was wonderful to watch

Merry Christmas Tankers of the World!!!!

I always figured when David Willey got a chance to do a top 5 list it would be something special, and this was assuredly that. Simply incredible- thank you sir!

_Sometimes we play with the subject. They did it for real._ What a great line to show respect for the crews of these tanks in your collection.

I'M NOT CRYING! YOU'RE CRYING! DAMN ONION-SLICING NINJAS!

The stories make this so much more real and describes exactly how all vets feel after the heat of battle we by nature are not born or become killers but we stand between the danger and the rest we have sworn to defend even if it costs us everything. Then we have to live with what we have had to do to keep all safe and how it has changed us all . My mother said that the man she fell in love with never returned from WW2 but she understood he had been changed by things he had seen and done. He would never talk about his experiences in details but would some times make statements about how getting Malaria and being pulled out of the line for treatment had saved his life due to the fact the man that took his place had a grenade explode at his feet, or the time when he was helping with air drops and his harness broke as they were pushing the load out of a low flying Dakota and his only chance to survive was to hold as tight as he could to the package he had pushed out and hope he landed on the allied side of the river and then had to stay there for 3 weeks till they had been relieved and how he started the trip in only his hot weather flying kit and ended it 3 weeks later having fought again as infantry. He was meant to be a part of the 7TH Division Cavalry Regiment as driver of Bren gun carrier but during the whole of WW2 never drove them in any combat, their carriers were deemed to be unserviceable shortly after arrival in the middle east and were never used and after return to Australia retraining and being sent to Port Morsby with the still unserviceable carriers the carriers were chained to a group of trees till after the end of the war. He and his Regiment always fought as Infantry. His unit was sent to Port Morsby in 1942 after returning from the middle east and retraining and were put into action at a place called Sanananda road where the first day their CO was killed by a sniper and the regiment was cut into 2 half's with the second half unable to fight through to the first half but due to the Pardre they had there was found a way out through what was described as an impenetrable swamp which enabled the forward half to be withdrawn after it was decided there was no way to rejoin and fight through, My father was in the forward headquarters and was in the half that was surrounded. When the Regiment was officially withdrawn from Port Morsby 3 months after going into the line of around 1,000that landed only 60 were left the rest had either been killed in action wounded in action died of illness or were returned to Australia due to medical conditions, at this point his regiment was struck from the battle order as no longer existing. Many of these details i only found out about in the last 2 or 3 years before his death at 76

The story of the RSM who manned the A-13, eventually invading Italy reminds me of my Uncle Bill. The family had just returned from Uncle Sid's (veteran of the Pacific air war) funeral and my mother-in-law from Lake Forest told how my wife and her parents visited Italy in the early '70s. She went lyrical about how wonderful the trip had been. When she wound down, Uncle Bill piped up to say, "I took a walking tour of Italy from South to North. It didn't seem quite like what you saw." That was the second time he left my mother-in-law speechless.

Great work! Reducing tanks to technical data and a few heroic tales leaves out most of history. Fear, guilt and trauma are a way bigger part of tank history than often shown.

Brilliant! Moved to tears, mate, moved to tears!

Had a lump in my throat from start to finish.

And a Merry Christmas to you Tank Museum!

David Willey always does a tremendous job of telling the story.

Outstanding. My favorite of all the “Top 5” sessions.

I met a WW2 veteran when I was working at an old peoples home he recounted a story when he was in a Sherman tank hiding behind a house in Italy. They were discovered and a round from a Tiger tank blew up the the building. A lucky escape but it is incredible hear their stories. Thanks for a great channel from Nz

I saw the video title and expected the typical technical analysis of tank types. What I got instead was an excellent series of emotionally moving personal stories about real people who had seen the elephant. Well done.

I was privileged to know a WWI veteran who served as an infantry rifleman in the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the early 1980s this gentleman was in his late 80s and had many interesting stories to tell. There is nothing quite like history straight from the horse's mouth.

I think that was the best tank chat, ever. You are the right man for that job.

NIce one Mr Willey. Thank you. This was the best top 5 so far. The narratives are excellent. Has the tank museum collected any spoken histories from the surviving WWII veterans?

Thank you for these great and very important impressions from tank crewmen. Really great work :) Greetings from a former crewman in a German panzerhaubitze 2000 :)

A tank is simply nuts and bolts until you ad a crewman. We must treasure these men's stories forever. Thank you for sharing these.

After seeing all of the top 5 videos, I was a bit sceptical at first. I thought I would get another Sherman, Panther, T34, Mark IV, etc. list. Boy, I was dead wrong, I am bloody thankful of it! Mr. Willie, thank you for this video. We, regular viewers knew already much of those tanks, but with this presentation, the lifeless steel beasts just came alive. I think this is by far the best Top 5 video, and definitely in the top 5 best Tank Museum videos of all time! 2 years ago I did not know much about tanks. Now with the work of you, Mr. Fletcher, the Director, the other representatives (really liked that AT pieces for example, and the restoration videos) you became a household name, face, and genre in our family!

Big thanks to David Willey for sharing the veteran stories. I was really moved.

What a wonderful Christmas gift! David's top 10!!!

We are so lucky we have the internet so David willey can pass on these amazing stories. Puts tear to my eye's every time.

David, I have watched all the Top 5 videos, but yours is easily the finest. I am 56, studied military history since I was 6. You have moved me to tears on each of these stories. Thank you for being so good at your job.

Arguably the most enjoyable and informative 30 minutes I’ve watched recently. With all the Brexit and COVID stuff getting me down, this really puts everything into perspective. Thanks for 30 minutes of pure enjoyment, information and emotion.

Superb, humanizing story. Reminds me ... In the '60s, I was in a Boy Scout in the USA, and a proudly and patriotically naturalized American who commanded a German tank in WW-II. He told us about his experiences in France. I've never forgotten, and I think this awakened my interest in tanks and AFVs ... their history, modeling tanks - even being the on-camera historian on 9 History Channel programs about mil-tech, including tanks. I'm sure this video has the potential to have the same kind of impact. KUDOS!

For some reason until know I had assumed that Mr. Willey had already done one of these, I am very pleasantly surprised. Merry Christmas.

This has to be my Fav top 5. Not beacuse of the tanks named but because of the stories that come with them and how it was delivered. Bravo and thanks from Down Under.

One of the all time best films you chaps have done, interesting and profound. Merry Christmas and thanks a lot.

Spot on...Very well said David. These WW2 era tanks are great machines, but , they are nothing without a crew whom lived & operated in them.

Absolutely outstanding David. Great stories of the humans of war not just the machines

I spent a whole day about 20 years ago with an uncle who was a Sherman tank commander in the US 3rd Armored division. It was a wonderful experience.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. I just like David had a tear in my eye after he recounted the raspberry story

Thank you so much David. That was the most informative episode I've seen from you folks. Tying each tank with a personal story about a veteran, really hits home as to why places like your Tank Museum are so important. As is often the case, the stories are of just regular, hard working people, that end up doing extraordinary things simply because it was what was needed. I do so hope in the future I am able to make it over from Canada, to visit you and your excellent museum in person. Thanks again. And I really miss your curator at home series. That was by far one of the highlights of what was generally a pretty horrid year for so many of us.

I like the focus on the crews. So often everyone gets so hung up on the vehicles they forget the people that crewed them.

Wow...Christmas content from the Tank museum! Happy Christmas everyone! 🎄🎄🎄

Merry Christmas to you David from Indiana in the USA! What a nice surprise for Christmas morning! Thanks so much and stay safe.

As part as our Bachelor in History we had to go talk to Belgian resistance members. The person we interviewed had been captured together with his brothers and sent to multiple concentration camps. That was the hardest talk both me and my partner had ever done. Hearing about the attrocities from someone who was there was just traumatizing. The professors were a bit mad at us for not pushing him even further, but how could we? That man had suffered more than we could even imagine. We failed that class and the year after I took a different one because it was still fresh in my mind.

Mr David Wiley, this is the best Top 5 Tanks ever. Thank you for sharing the human element involved with these tanks. Will the interviews ever be published? I want to buy a copy! After seeing your Top 5 Tanks, I want to know more about the people behind the tanks! The tanks are cool, but people are inspiring! Also, the heart you show while talking about the Cromwell - it's obvious the people mean so much to you. Thanks for your humanity. Thanks for sharing it with us. I guess I'm saying you inspire us too!

They really should make movies about these stories. Imagine joining an enemy column and being waved on. And having the guts to BLAG it. Brilliant. God bless you lads.

That was a wonderful episode

Three weeks of training as a Panzer IV radio operator... Bloody great top 5 btw!

Best top 5 tanks by far. Amazing stories. I bought Ken Tout's book this past summer from your shop. It was an absolutely fascinating read. I highly recommend anyone interested in tank warfare to give it a read.

The finest Top 5 yet - utterly riveting from start to finish. I would hate to be the one to follow this with the next Top 5. Fantastic job David Willey.

Would have expected the Mark IV in David's Top 5 tank list. Nevertheless one of the best episodes on this channel so far.

The veterans’ stories gave me a hell of a roller coaster ride through David

Hats off to you Mr. Willey , for making this video/ film .

Beautiful. Best Top 5 ever. Thank you.

Best Top 5 ever . Fantastic. Love the personal stories of the soldiers.

A great thanks to David for this emotional video. All friends of military history and military equipment should watch it, and never lose focus on what really matters: the people themselves.

It's always a real eye opener when you talk to a veteran of any war. I was in a Barns and Noble book store once reading a magazine about P51 Mustangs when all a sudden a older man probably in his 80s sat down beside me and said. " I used to fly those " He was a Korean war veteran and he just started talking about his experience during the war and the P51D Mustang he flew. There was over a thousand of the planes at his base where they were being sent out of and he said the sun was just coming up over the mountains and when the sunlight hit the steel surface of the Mustangs at his base they all started shinning in the light. He talked about the supercharger whistle nose the plane made and how it flew effortlessly in the air and just the performance of the plane and how by that time they were being decommissioned because the new Soviets MiG-15 and American F86 Sabre jets were just coming out. Really amazing to stumble upon a man who lived during the time and actually flew the planes I was reading about.

This is my favorite of all of the videos done so far in this series, thank you!

LOVE the personal touch of this top 5! Thank you so much!!!

24:32 *chokes up slightly* ...and then she said quietly, thank you for coming" Love the heartfelt narrative. So genuine, without any sort of bombast. A rare thing in the age of RU-vid.

These personal stories are absolutely the best! Steel, rubber and diesel is all fine and good, but the bloke and his stories in these steel beasts make it all come alive. Well done!

Classic DW, excellent Top 5 Tanks, especially the Light Mark VI. Personal stories, priceless.

Splendid presentation. Not a word I use alot really. But these stories make the hulking monsters more personal. Thank you so much Mr. Willey. Happy Christmas to you, and all those there at the museum with you.

Watched all the top 5 tank series , this is by far the best and most emotional and captivating one . Really looking forward till we can all come and visit you again .

David is pure class. This is by far my favourite of this series, thankyou for sharing these stories and preserving them here.

Just to echo what has been said, this is a brilliant video. Thank You

You gotta love this video, hearing the tankers stories. Looking at what happened from different perspectives. Well chosen point of views. Thank you for that.

Thank you for reminding us that war is not machines or madmen, but humans doing what they hope is 'right'. and reminding us the horrific cost of those choices.

David Willey is the best! He makes the Top 5 tanks about the people that make the best use of technology and not just about the tanks and technology.

Merry Christmas to everybody at the Tank Museum! This is a very nice and Christmas like take on the Top 5 concept

Finally the man himself gives his top five! Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁

I love all these stories. I knew many WW2 Veterans including both my grandfather's, I miss talking to them about the war. They didn't just start talking about it, you had to show interest and knowledge of the situation and then they gladly told their stories.

Simply the best Top 5 Tanks ever. Each story is so moving and David tells them so well.

Mr. Willey's approach to top 5 tanks is exactly what I love about history. Sure stories about battles are impressive and cool, the events of old are awe inspiring, tanks and guns and all the gadgets are fascinating. But what really matters to me is the story of the people who actually use it. Who live through the events. That is what touches me. A few years back my grandmother died and the family cleaned out the attic, where we found my grandfather's Karabiner 31. I decided to fix it up and make it look as good as I could without replacing anything. Turns out it is in near perfect shape and with just a little love it looks amazing. A gunsmith approved that it is in operational condition and yes, it works flawlessly. In the butt plate of the rifle I found a strip of paper which the soldiers back then had to mark their rifles with. It included his name, his unit and his role. I showed it to my mother and she confirmed that it was his handwriting. That's the first and only time I ever saw his handwriting. I can't remember his voice, since I was about three years old when he died. But at least I know how he wrote. It is a peculiar twist of life, that the one thing I receive from my grandfather about 30 years down the road is part of a topic (History) I love and even a part of it which I am most interested in (war history of the 20th century). I just felt the urge to share this. Thank you for all your good work at the museum!

This was a very moving video, thank you David for sharing these tales with us. Being a mere civilian I can't help but feel in awe of these stories, especially given how these men were about my age or younger at the time. Merry Christmas to the Tank Museum and especially to all the veterans. Thank you

Thank You for this Great Storys - Merry Christmas from Germany.

This was a treat, thank you!

Superb, touching stories. A war is fought by... humans. Thank you for these stories David. I would very much like to hear more of them. Most of the time, it's about specifications or other technical details. In the end, it doesn't matter a bit when you see the bigger, human picture. Are there any books you would like to recommend from your bookstore, containing similar stories/experiences? I would like to recommend the book Six weeks of Blenheim summer. Stunning, true story of a RAF crew in France 1940.

Every Tank Movie made is simply a Crew Movie.

Thank you curator. You give the history a face and those who long passed away, a voice. Thank you very much. We can't just worship those weapons and celebrate their glorious times in battle, without the souls attached. Thank you also in the name of the men back then.

I am speechless. Thank you!

I really appreciated the story about the "young man" in the Wiking Division. My father-in-law was in the same division and joined as a 17-year old French youth (he had German parents but was born in Rouen). He almost never talked about his experiences, but mostly because his wife discouraged it. When he talked to me about his experiences I could tell he was reliving the experience and it wasn't good for his heart. On the Russian front he described manning a machine gun and being attacked by a solid wall of Russian infantry that stretched across the horizon and firing until they ran out of ammunition. I didn't ask further but it occurred to me that at 1200 rounds per minute he must have killed hundreds of Russians. He knew that if he was captured he would be tortured because the Russians almost never took SS soldiers alive, so he always kept a grenade in his belt and one in his boot: "One for him and one for me" At the end of the war he ended up working for the Canadian Army as a translator because he could speak 7 languages. He mentioned being part of a rescue attempt of Mussolini that I've never heard of. No, not the Skorzeny mission. He said he was part of a second mission to rescue him after Mussolini was arrested the second time and unfortunately they got there too late. If anyone knows of any reference material describing this second rescue attempt please let me know! Cheers, and Merry Christmas.

This was brilliant. The top five (hopefully) no one can argue with.

The main component to a tank, the people. The young lads doing their duties. Cheers Big Willey and happy holidays to all our veterans and the people they defended without a second thought 👍🏻

These are some of the best stories about the war I have ever heard...thank you for sharing!

The best top five episode so far