Dear Ben, dear friends in
America,
Here there is the following of my
souvenirs.
December 1944, Battle of the
Bulge
Brux, Lierneux - Belgium
Everybody is crying, they says "they are
coming back", they are now in St Vith !.
Our neighbour, Nestor, is 75 years old and
he gets together all the men in his house and he says "go away
immediately, I will stay with the women and the children" and then, my father,
godfather, cousins and neighbours leave with their bikes. They wish to cross the
river Meuse.
My mother takes us and we go to stay with
auntie Marie and auntie Pauline because their cellar is very solid and secure.
My brother René is 6 and he wants to know what's going on. My mother answers :
be quiet, shut up... she never speaks like that, she uses to be so soft with us
but now we know that it is a very special day and we keep silent. The cellar is
vaulted, Auntie Pauline and our cousin Catherine are in the basement already,
they brought many things and in a corner, auntie Pauline put clean white sheets
on the potatoes, She says, it is my corner so we cannot share this corner with
her, we are not careful enough. My mother says, once more : "be quiet" My little
brother Roger (2) is sick. "lay down" says Catherine, we are running under the
stone table (table for the butter). A big, big noise makes the house shake.
Somebody knocks at the door, Nestor is coming with his family, a bomb blowed up
on their house, no wounded. Now, we are 15 persons in the cellar. Helène is
looking through th little window, "german are coming, I can see their
boots" Everybody is praying, especially auntie Pauline, we are frightened to
death. Noise, somebody is opening the door. A german officer is coming down in
the cellar, looks around and says to Auntie Pauline "move away". Some soldiers
are now bringing a wounded soldier, he is screaming, he is very dirty, he lost
his blood, the soldiers let him in the so clean corner, auntie Pauline's corner.
René, Roger and I, we are under the stone table and we are laughing because
of the neat, clean corner. My mother looks ghastly pale, she murmurs "be
quiet".
.....to follow
dear friends,
I beg your pardon but it is not
easy for me to express those souvenirs in english. As you may
understand, the memories of a child are different. I forgot many things and I
can remember special events. Best wishes and Love to all of you. Irma TARGNION
from Ardenne. Arnold says hello to you.
Gene Frice
Ben/Bob
David Robertson, C /1st Bn,
new member! I have enclosed my return letter to him. I am sure some of our
membership will welcome him.
Gene
Frice
November 13, 2005
David Robertson
33801 Zarzito
Drive
Dana Point, CA 92629-2432
Dear
David,
Welcome back to
the 517th Parachute Combat Team and thank you for your
letter.
While our numbers have reduced over the
years, we are currently an organization of many current troopers with a strong
Associate membership made up of family members, as well as number of active
517th supporters. The above individuals have a goal of keeping the spirit of the
517th alive for the future.
We have a web page,
as well as an almost a daily e-mail "mail call," in which members may exchange
information and salutations. We also publish the "Thunderbolt" publication, of
which I am sure you remember.
I have enclosed my
business card upon which you will find all the necessary numbers. I would
suggest as your first step, (if you are on the internet), to correspond with our
Web Page www.517prct.org, and Ben
Barrett, at Ben517@aol.com. There you will find
many various web links, as well as our mail call. Any problems with the above
please contact me.
I am sure you will find many
previous friends amongst our membership; as well as an update to where we have
been and where we are going.
The 517th has
scheduled a Mini Reunion in Florida (January 22-26, 2006), a Mini Reunion
in Palm Springs in March or April; as well as a National Reunion in Portland, OR
(July 17-22, 2006).
To finance the above
publications we have recently established a membership fee of $ 30.00
dollars.
Hope to meet you in the near
future.
Gene
M. Frice
President
Lory Curtis
Frederic Brega
Bear Ben,
Could you please add
the following email account on your Mail Call mailing list:
Mr.
Pierre
Giordano (a friend from
southern France) just left for
Bangkok due to a job
opportunity. He led recently an interesting investigation on the "St Cezaire attack".
Thanks in
advance,
Frederic
Dear
Ben,
Hope you are doing
well!
I found in
Southern
France the trench knife of
Private Weaver Sterling W. - H Co. mat.
39925903.
Does anyone remember
him / has contact with him of family? I don't have found any information on him
on the website! No picture as well!
best
regards,
Frederic from Nice
Chris Lindner
Hi
Ben:
I just wanted to tell
Walt Smith a couple of little stories that happened to the wonderful men and
women that serve our country today.
On one plane trip that
I took there were passengers in the lst class section that gave their seats to a
few men in the service. The flight was completely booked and these people
gave up there seats for these men.
Another flight I was on
the plane was almost all men and women in the service. Before the plane
took off the pilot came over the intercom and announced the Bn. that was on the
plane and THANKED them for serving in the military. The rest of the
passengers gave them a huge applause.
My daughter and I were
on a flight (I can't even remember where I was going now) and we were setting
next to a young man in the army. He was going home on leave and he was
talking to my daughter and I about how excited he was to be going home for a
while. I looked at him and said "I would like to thank you for being in
the army and doing the job you do for all of the people in our Country".
He just looked at me and didn't really know what to say so he just
smiled.
I have many opinions
about the war that is going on but my opinions are not important. The only
thing that is important is that every American should support the men and women
in the military for what they do to protect us and each and every one of these
men and women deserve a very BIG THANK YOU.
After
saying that; all of the Veterans of the past wars and conflicts also deserve a
BIG THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
Have a great
day.
Chris Lindner
Bob Barrett
Found on the web.
GATES, Roy, 86, Pryor, died Nov. 2; served
in U.S. Army's 517 th parachute infantry regiment during World War II; retired
in 1986 as street superintendent for City of Pryor. Wife, Nellie; three
sons
Myrle Traver
Jerrie Long
Ben:
Thank you for including Dallas'
picture in the mail call. Michael Arterburn's parents were two of our
dearest friends, and we stayed in contact with them as long as they
lived.
The majority of the people we socialized with in North Carolina
aren't with us any longer, but we dearly love all of the 517th troopers.
Dallas is 87 years old now, but he is making a good Master Sgt. around the
house. We celebrated our 62nd wedding anniversary November 6,
2005.
Am happy that the reunion was so successful this year. We
really hurt that we couldn't be there.
Jerrie Long
Bob Christie
Ben, Just got out of hospital today. Entered last Tuesday. After I had a
port put in and mess in my groin drained and bandaged, I felt lousy and was
admitted to hospital. Still haven't started chemo. That will start next Monday.
Now, I am trying to catch up on mail and checks. I have a back log of about 20. I
still feel a little woozy. Message to Clair, Lory Curtis is Bud Curtis' son and
very much a man. At first, I had the same impression. Bob