Bonjour Ben, hello to
everybody,
Now it is time to follow with my childhood
memories. We are now in 1945.
BATTLE OF THE BULGE - the end of the war -
first days of Liberty.
American soldiers left us. Just some of them
staid in our village. Some people say that it is for the munitions. They are
very kind to us and are giving us food, chocolates and chewing-gums. As we lost
everything, Marie-Josée is sewing, she makes shirts, dress, pants with all the
material people can find. She uses the blankets (khaki) to make coats, capes,
mantels, she uses the parachutes to sew for the children and the ladies. It is
like a new fashion. For us, the children, there are many new games, we find many
things to play with in the trenches. With René (6), Roger (3) and me (4,1/2) we
collect the bullets. We knock them on a stone, we open and so we find some kind
of pellets. When we have gathered a big pile, we are porrowing some pellets in a
line and put the fire. wham ! psiiiitt ! boom... fire. My father surprises us
one day and he did not find that very funny. He gets angry and put us in the
cellar for 2 hours. I have to say that a few children were killed as they play
with guns. Our neighbour Louis (14) and his brother Joseph (12) were killed as
they are playing "war", some other boys were wounded with mines, one lost
his arm an other became blind, and...;
after that, we were afraid and we
tried to be more quiet, we were building huts with all the loss in the fields.
In my village, all the men are farmers and the problem is to feed the cows,
Everybody is waiting for the spring. During our stay in Prayon, my uncle Joseph
of Hierlot and Pierre (the young boy from Brussels) came every day to feed the
animals. Pierre was living in Hierlot with my grand-parents and family during
our evacuation. In may, after 5 years, my uncle Joseph (my father's brother)
came back from Germany where he was prisonner. His 4 children could not
recognize him. My mother's brother Léon came back in the same time from a
concentration camp in Germany(5 years too). He was captured as a member of the
resistance mouvement. He was 29 years old when he came back but he was looking
like a man of 70. During the summer 1945, we had many celebrations to welcome
the prisonners, we had parades and the ladies sewed american and belgian flags
with the material they can find, sometimes with curtains, sometimes they dye the
sheets. In fact, all the floats, vehicles and horses, were giving a famous
colored procession. In spite of the sorrow and the pains, the people of Ardenne
trust in the future and celebrate the freedom with joy and hope.
Dick Seitz
This message for
our President, Gene Frice. In the latest Static Line I noticed there is
no 517th page. Also noticed is that the 517th Mini Reunion, the West
Coast Reunion and the Annual reunion are not listed among the reunions
listed. Have we lost contact with the editor of the Static Line, Don
Lassen? The Static Line is read by a large segment of the airborne
community, including the 517th and is a good source of news on airborne units
and activities. Dick Seitz
Floyd Polk
Ben,
Harris Johnson can get in
touch with Dave Barry if he wants to know about Service
Company.
Dave Barry was in Service Company,
not "D" Company like he claims.
Floyd
Polk
Jim Royer
I am forwarding to you a copy of an e-mail from
a friend, a member of
the 106 Div. It concerns the use of the Armed
Forces Reunions, inc. The
106 used them for their reunion last year.
It
is worth considering. They handle all the details for a nominal cost
per
person.
I will be glad to obtain additional information, if you so desire,
or
John Schaffner will.
Jim,
If you click on this website it will
give you all the details of AFR, Inc.
If you have any specific questions I
will be glad to talk about them. This
company has been extremely cooperative
with taking care of any little
details that come up. If the hotel doesn't
accommodate with something
expected the AFR rep is on the spot and will run
it down for you. I can't
say enough about them.
Best, John
P.S. If
your current chairman would like to get in touch with me I would be
happy to
talk with him.
www.armedforcesreunions.com
Something to think about.- Ben
Bob Christie
Ben, Before I raise Cain with our Thunderbolt
printer and mailer, Has any one received the 4th Quarter Thunderbolt?