The Last Transmission

WWII 1944 and 2003—A Radio Call Across Time

Jack Ralston—retired horse trainer and lifelong ham radio operator—still carries the guilt of missing World War II after tuberculosis kept him home. On a stormy Kentucky night in 2003, his radio catches a ghostly signal: Technical Sergeant Thomas “Tommy” Huff, a radio man with Combat Command B, 10th Armored Division, speaking from the frozen siege of Bastogne in 1944. The impossible link isn’t a prank; it’s a time-warp of crackling tubes and ionospheric luck.

Across thirty-two nights, Jack and his wife Molly trade warmth and wisdom with the terrified young soldier—maps, sock-drying tricks, and Cincinnati Reds box scores that soften the edges of war. When Tommy calls Molly by her childhood nickname, “Freckles,” doubt ends. Jack cannot change history, but he can steady a voice that refuses to quit.

As shells fall and supplies dwindle, the line becomes a lifeline—one man fighting to hold Bastogne, another fighting to redeem the years he lost to guilt. In the end, a final transmission seals a promise: if the past cannot be saved, it can be honored—with witness, love, and the courage to listen.