"Loaned for the Summer" - A Discussion with Craig DeSteiguer

Battles of the First World War Podcast

Mike Cunha

History

4.8 • 812 Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Writer Craig DeSteiguer joins us to tell the story of his grandfather John Horace Merriman, who was deeply affected by his First World War-era service.

"Death in the Trench"

Let me sing no whispers of war.

Let me tear my eyes, of all death…that lay.

Let me hold the hand of their last breath.

Let me pray their soul is gone….to home.

Let me sing no whispers of war.

For when I too shall come home,

To whispered songs no more…. of that war.

"Loaned to the Summer" - Where to buy:

https://a.co/d/iHhnW5I

The BFWWP is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/BattlesoftheFirstWorldWarPodcast.

Any questions, comments or concerns please contact me through the website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Follow us on BlueSky at @WW1podcast.bsky.social:

https://bsky.app/profile/ww1podcast.bsky.social

and the BFWWP website, www.firstworldwarpodcast.com. Email me directly at [email protected] with any questions, comments, or concerns.

Please review the Battles of the First World War Podcast on iTunes! :)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The The
0:23.6	The Hey, folks, welcome to theles of the First World War podcast.
0:56.5	Joining us today is Mr. Craig DeSteiger here to share with us the story of his grandfather
1:02.2	and the novel he's written based on that story.
1:06.2	I first heard of Craig through his commenting on my social media posts, And I reached out to him. And I have to say,
1:13.5	I'm so glad I did. We're going to get right into it because Craig has had an incredibly
1:20.1	interesting life. And I want all of you to hear about it. So Craig, thank you so much for coming on
1:26.2	the podcast. Yes, thank you. much for coming on the podcast.
1:28.5	Yes, thank you.
1:32.3	I'm very grateful to be invited to the podcast.
1:36.8	And whatever I can try, contribute to, I certainly will be.
1:38.0	Yeah.
1:46.8	So the first thing is when we spoke on the phone, you know, to set up our talk here, you mentioned having visited 62 countries so far. So we have to, we have to hear about this. Can you,
1:55.8	can you tell us about your life growing up from the world? Yes.
2:01.6	Yes.
2:02.6	I actually was born in Beaumont, Texas in 1949.
2:07.6	And my mother remarried in the age of age of one.
2:12.6	And we left the United States in 1975.
2:18.3	My father was an engineer with an oil company,
2:25.3	and we went to Venezuela as our first state.
2:29.3	And so at that moment, the venture of worldwide and a lifetime started, you know, and I've traveled, like I say, through any countries.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mike Cunha, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Mike Cunha and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.