SPARTA, Tenn. (WTVF) — Walk through any town in America this Veterans Day weekend, and you'll find brave men and women with remarkable stories to tell.
"It’s thanks to my brothers and sisters we have these freedoms," said Ron Lapierre, a White County Army Veteran who served from 1983-1988.
"I was an Air Force nurse, and I had a role to play, and I’m proud of what I did," said Colleen Sandell, a White County Air Force veteran who served from 1978-1982.
"We all served, some of us were in combat, others weren’t, but together we made it happen," said John McNall, a White County Air Force veteran who served from 1963-67.
But as time marches on, it's getting harder to find first-hand accounts of World War II. Thankfully, we still have Jim Sutcliffe.
"There’s a lot of stories that I could tell, and some of them I can’t remember," Sutcliffe said with a laugh.
Sutcliffe now lives with his daughter Rita in his longtime Sparta home. He recalled memories of combat for us in the European theater.
"I said which way is the front. [Another soldier] said -- we don’t know. And I said I’d really like to know which way to run," said Sutcliffe.
The 101-year-old Army veteran is proud of his service medals and accolades, but he says they don't capture the pure horror of World War II.
"It was a terrible war, a terrible war. Civilians were killed, the Jews that were killed," he said. "War is hell, war is hell."
Sutcliffe made it to France by the summer of 1944. Only four months into front-line combat, he and others in his company were surrounded by German soldiers and were taken prisoner. He was taken behind enemy lines to a POW camp where he frequently was forced to do hard labor.
"We would work on the railroad tracks and get it closer to the terminal," said Sutcliffe.
The only thing that kept his spirits high was the desire to get back home to his beautiful bride from Clark Range, Tennessee — Ola.
"She had long black hair and she had big brown eyes," said Sutcliffe about his now late wife. "So, I was hooked."
After eight months in a camp behind enemy lines, Jim was finally set free by his captors just days before American troops arrived.
"Relief, great relief that we made it through there. You thought back about some of the fellas that didn’t make it through," he said.
Perhaps it's survivor's guilt, perhaps it's the humbleness of his generation — but Jim still doubts he deserves all the praise his military service receives.
"I say to myself, did I earn that? Did I earn that?" Sutcliffe asked.
But his daughter Rita has absolutely no doubt.
"My father’s a very modest, humble man. He certainly suffered. He put his life on the line, and I think he deserves every bit of appreciation and attention that he gets," she said.
She also knows her Dad won't be around forever to share his story, which is why she worked with her father to preserve it. Together, they wrote down his memories into a narrative that is now available in the White County VFW museum.
"There are so few WWII survivors left. I think it’s so important to hear these stories," said Rita.
"Other people can read it, feel a little bit for it, know a little bit what it was like," said Jim.
We won't always be lucky enough to have Jim Sutcliffe, but now other brave men and women can share his story for many generations to come.
"We need to teach our kids what our country is all about," said Walter Buttrum, a White County Air Force veteran who served from 1968-1974.
"We have to remember that it’s because of people like this we have the freedoms we have today," said McNall.
If you'd like to read Jim Sutcliffe's full narrative of his life and military service, you can do so here.
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