Tom Stein, Author-Episode #339

Doctor Tom Stein recently published his first book, Gratitude Is Not Enough, The True Story of a Belgian Family Forever Changed by a Band of American WWII Soldiers. The book focuses on the Remember Museum ‘39-‘45 in Clermont, Belgium that was opened by Marcel and Mathilde Schmetz, better known as the M&Ms by soldiers in a U.S. Army Company of the First Infantry Division who were briefly quartered on Marcel’s family farm in December 1944 before the Battle of the Bulge.  Marcel saved many of the items the soldiers left behind, what he calls “treasure,” and which became the core of this special collection dedicated to the Americans who helped liberate Belgium from four years of Nazi occupation. The Museum, which is adjacent to the M&M’s home, contains the requisite "stuff" of a museum, but importantly, tells the soldiers’ stories, many of whom became lifelong friends with Marcel and Mathilde.  

I’ve read Gratitude is Not Enough and can tell you it’s a powerfully written account of what the people of Clermont endured during World War II and the M&Ms efforts to preserve its history in their museum. I highly recommend this book to you. 

Dr. Tom Stein is a retired Emergency Physician, as well as a retired Colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. He completed his Emergency Medicine Residency at Darnall Army Community Hospital, Fort Hood, Texas and served thirty-eight years in the Army and Army Reserves. Emergency Medical Services and Disaster Medicine are his sub-specialties.