Episode 5 - Tom Saftig

John Wayne Gritcast

If you want to hear some never before heard stories about John Wayne, then this is the episode for you! Who else knows you better than your best friend? Ernie Saftig was one of John Wayne’s longest and closest friends. Ernie was there for many big life events including when Duke met his wife, Pilar, acquiring the Wild Goose, filming the Alamo, and raising their children together.

Today, we have the pleasure of sitting down with Ernie’s son, Tom Saftig. Tom and his family were around for so many great times with the Wayne family, including traveling on the Wild Goose, filming The Alamo, and life in Newport Beach.

Tom tells the story about how his father helped John Wayne acquire the Wild Goose. Ethan and Tom also remember the fun times on the boat including their fathers’ love for card games on the Wild Goose and Tom remembers playing Duke in a game of chess while Duke was also deep in a game of Bridge.

Ernie helped Duke in a lot of movies and in The Alamo, Tom got his chance to help Uncle Duke. Find out how he missed his big Hollywood moment!

Tom remembers how thoughtful John Wayne was with a story about a trip to Dallas where Duke and Ernie ended up bringing him back a Dallas Cowboys warm up jacket from Bob Lilley and Ralph Neely! Every teenager’s dream.

Ernie and Duke were big fans of the ocean and Ethan and Tom remember their father’s boats and how they carried that on.

This is a really great episode and we hope you enjoy listening to two family friends catching up!

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