“No finer man have I met.”
Those were the first words spoken by local radio host and journalist Steffan Tubbs at the eulogy for 2nd Lt. Robert “Bob” McAdam of Highlands Ranch, who passed away on Sept. 11, 2022, just months shy of his 102nd birthday. Bob was a quiet hero, a man who defined humility and represented what we all should aspire to be. At a very young age, he gave himself to love of his country, and to protect the rights and freedom of people he had never met. He continued to share his love with all those who came to know him later on with that same passionate and caring spirit.
As business partners in Mountain Time Media, Steffan and I were honored and blessed to have developed a meaningful friendship with Bob during and after the production of our documentary on his unabashed heroism in “25 Steps,” which premiered on June 6, 2018. This film is the amazing story of two WWII POWS shot down in Europe, imprisoned at the same Nazi POW camp, and by happenstance, meet each other for the first time at Wind Crest Senior Living Community in Highlands Ranch some 72 years later.
Incredibly, Bob's life paralleled another Highlands Ranch WWII POW veteran, the basis of "25 Steps."
The story of Bob, a flight engineer in a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber shot down on his first mission, and Col. Sherwin “Butch” Desens, a 22-year-old P-47 squadron leader shot down on his 70th mission, is “quite a story,” as the film’s narrator Peter Coyote states. “25 Steps" recounts the amazing parallels in the lives of two men from the time they spent in the Stalag Luft I camp in Barth, Germany, to the memories they shared while getting to know one another so many years later. Butch passed away in October 2019 in Highlands Ranch.
“The man, like so many men and women of the Greatest Generation, didn’t complain,” Steffan continued in his eulogy in September. “They overcame adversity. They did. They accomplished. They made America great long before the phrase would be divisive at best.”
As much as Bob was accomplished in tennis, racquetball and as a long-distance runner, Butch also utilized his skills, training and competitive nature in various sports. In his 60's he won his club's golf championship multiple times and shot his age nine times as well. He continued his love for downhill and cross-country skiing well into his 80's. A quiet and unassuming man, it would never occur to him to boast about his leadership as a young man responsible for the lives of hundreds of other fighter pilots during those dangerous missions.
It is fitting that in the month of November we not only pay tribute to our veterans but also gather our friends and family to give thanks for our blessings. Bob and Butch's examples set a high bar for everyone to serve others without asking what you will receive in return.
In addition to documentary films, Mountain Time Media also produces The American Veteran Show which airs at noon every Sunday on 710AM KNUS radio, hosted by Steffan Tubbs. Watch “25 Steps” and other documentaries by Mountain Time Media on YouTube and at cfcfilm.org.