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Honk, Rattle, and Roll Celebrates
Long-Time AACA Member and War Hero’s 100th Birthday
Photos By Arlene Timbs, Club Photographer, Murfreesboro, TN
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The AACA’s Honk, Rattle, and Roll Car Club from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, gathered on Saturday, April 9, to recognize, honor, and celebrate long-time AACA member, Honk, Rattle, and Roll Car Club member, and World War II hero, Jim Sutcliffe, on his 100th birthday! Jim was born on February 13, 1922.
Jim Sutcliffe joined the AACA in the early 1960s, and has attended the Hersey car show every year, but one, from 1964 to 2021, and is making plans to attend for 2022. Jim Sutcliffe’s love for machines began with his fascination of airplanes. He tells the story of paying 50 cents to take his first plane ride as a boy in a two-seater Waco biplane flown by a barn storming pilot at the county fair. He became so taken with airplanes that in high school he built and flew gas-powered model airplanes and ran a model airplane business from his bedroom.
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His other big love was cars, and his first car was a blue 1939 Plymouth business coupe, which he was obliged to sell when he was shipped overseas. He always looked for another car like it, but not until Hersey 2021 did he spot and purchase a blue 1939 Plymouth convertible sedan, one of only 18 known to exist.
In 1943 with the World War II raging, Jim Sutcliffe was granted a six-month army deferment due to his work in the aircraft industry, and he used that opportunity to marry Ola Smith of Clarkrange, Tennessee. Jim was inducted into the army in November 1943 and sent to Macon, Georgia, for infantry training. Half-way through the training, Jim was hospitalized for a severe cold and had to start his basic training all over again. Jim believes that this cold saved his life because the training delay caused him to complete his basic training too late for the D-Day Invasion.
However, the severe cold did not keep Jim out of the war in Europe. His troop was sent to France and was involved in the Falaise Gap Battle in August 1944. The German solders retreated to the opposite side of the Meuse River and began an artillery barrage. They were then able to zero in on Jim’s location. He had just moved away from an angry ant hill next to his leg. Moments later shrapnel shredded the edge of Jim’s pants and wiped out the anthill only 8 inches away from him. This was one of many small decisions that would save his life again and again.
When Jim and his comrades crossed the Meuse River, they marched into an ambush, were captured, and were sent to Stalag 7A by train. Forty soldiers were loaded in each train car, which allowed nothing but standing room. During the several days that the soldiers were being transported, American bombers dropped bombs very close to the train. Jim and his comrades were shaken-up, but still alive.
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The prisoners were held in crowded conditions, only let out to do work repairing railways and sorting mail. Jim and his fellow prisoners tried to do as little as possible, and undo as much as possible, without attracting attention. The food was mostly cabbage and sawdust bread. Jim traded some items of his Red Cross package, like cigarettes, for eggs or a roll, to supplement the meager fare.
As the Allies closed in at the end of the war, another danger arose from the possibility of being bombed by mistake. The post office where the prisoners worked was bombed at the close of the war, and Jim was one of the lucky ones who got out. At the very end of the war, even the German prison guards were called up for frontline duty, and the prisoners waited unguarded for the Allies to arrive. Finally, after spending eight months as a POW, Jim was liberated when a few GIs rolled into their prison camp in jeeps.
As Jim returned home and sailed into New York harbor and the land of the free, he told the Statue of Liberty, “If you ever want to see me again, you will have to turn around!”
Jim and Ola set up house in Wayne, Michigan, where they raised two children, Rita and Barry. Jim worked for the Wayne-Westland School District as Superintendent of Transportation and Superintendent of New Construction until he retired in 1980.
With retirement, Jim was finally able to devote himself to classic car restoration, and his first major project was to restore a 1932 Buick Country Club coupe that was a national prize winner in its class. He also restored a 1915 Saxon, a 1947 Chevrolet truck and a 1960 Triumph, as well as tweaking a 1953 MG and a 1938 Buick. The Triumph restoration had waited 40 years for him to finally get around to it.
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When Jim and Ola relocated to Sparta, Tennessee, in his wife’s native state, the move required the sacrifice of several cars waiting for restoration, among others: a 1929 Franklin, a 1937 Buick 90 Series Limo, a Singer and two 1938 Buick Centuries. However, Jim said it was worth it to meet a new group of antique car friends and enjoy the many local car shows.
It was such an honor to attend and meet Jim Sutcliffe, a passionate classic car lover, a real-World War II hero, and a great American from “The Greatest Generation.” Lots of thanks to Butch and Stephanie Roth for organizing and hosting this 100th birthday event at their beautiful home in Sparta, Tennessee. Also, as a side note, there was another birthday celebrated on this day. Butch and Stephanie Roth celebrated the 100th birthday of Hershel, their 1922 REO T6 7-passenger touring car.
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