70 Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA.02025 *781 383 0215 * Mail Call : Ben Barrett Ben517@aol.com

Hello,

Website www.517prct.org
Mail Call 517th Mail Call
Mail Call Archives www.517prct.org/archives
Roster www.517prct.org/roster.pdf

Annual Reunion
July 17-22, 2006
Portland, OR

REGISTRATION FORM

I am the Infantry
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Tom Stadler

Hi BEN

IN A CONVERSATION WITH MY SON, NACE COHEN MENTIONED THAT BUEL E. PUTNAM PASSED IN FEBRUARY. BUEL WAS A HQ/2BN PATHFINDER AND ALSO A CONTRIBUTOR TO PARATROOPER'S ODYSSEY. I BELIEVE HE RESIDED IN LEXINGTON N.C.

TOM

Claire Giblin

Good evening, Ben,

We've made our travel plans to Nice for this summer. Dad (Allan Johnson, 596), Leo Dean (Reg. HQ), and I are going to depart on August 7, arriving August 8 in Nice. We will first drive to Italy, especially to Florence to pay our respects to Lt. George Flannery's grave there. There are observances in Le Muy on August 14, 15, and 16. We will also, of course, visit the Rhone Cemetery while in Le Muy. We will come home on August 18.

Is anyone else planning to be in France this summer? Let us know.

Claire Giblin

Patricia and Roland Orengo

Ben, Howard and all of you,

We could not be with you this year in Portland and we whish you a great reunion with a lot of good moments.

We are ready to help you for a monument in Sospel. It will be a great honor for us and an opportunity to see you again. Tell us what we have to do, we can be your representant to discuss with the Mayor (he is our friend).

Best regards

Patricia and Roland Orengo

Sospel, France

Lory Curtis

My father, Bud Curtis, and all of our family send our deepest sympathies
at the passing of Jack Dunaway and Joe Miller. Jack and Dad were both
from southern California, and grew to be good friends over the years.
Dad will miss him dearly.

Lory Curtis, son of Bud Curtis, HQ, 1st BN

Marty Donahoo

Hi Ben~~

This is pretty long but interesting. Do with it whatever you think is best.

Lud and I went to the Memorial Service for Jack Dunaway on Saturday. I'm forwarding this photo of Jack and his son, Michael, (taken in late '43 or early '44) along with a synopsis of his obituary. His ex-wife wrote the obit. She told us that they had remained friends throughout his life. He did many things in his life that I think anyone who knew him might be interested in.

He was born in Oklahoma in 1914. His maternal grandmother was a full-blooded Indian of the Cherokee Nation. He enjoyed

growing up with friends and relatives as part of the Cherokee culture.

Jack was very interested in school and graduated from High School at age 16. He graduated summa cum laude from college at the age of 19. After graduation a cousin working in the casting department at 20th Century Fox in Hollywood told him he might beable to get him work at the studio for $50 a week (1936). Several screen tests later Jack was under contract. He soon became one of its most in-demand stunt men, particularly in Westerns. As a Cowboy, and sometimes as a feathered Indian, Jack took falls for the likes of Clark Gable, Joel McCrae, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry as well as on countless Studio location film sets.

Jack met actress, Virginia Wicks, on a Paramount Studios set where they were shooting "Wells Fargo." Jack was Joel McCrae's stand-in for the film. Later that year Jack and Virginia married. They had one child, a son, Michael Wicks Dunaway. Not long after, Virginia was under contract to the Samuel Goldwyn Studios. She was a Goldwyn Girl.

At the outbreak of World War II Jack enlisted and trained as a paratrooper. He served with the 517th PRCT.

Returning to California after the War, Jack set up a driving school in Hollywood and attended night courses, earning his law

degree and passing the State Bar of California January 14, 1954. He soon after opened a small office at Hollywood and Vine.

An important thread in Jack's life was always the yearly gathering of Jack's parachute combat team, the veterans of the 517th. He never missed going until his health finally deteriorated to the point where he was unable to attend.

In 1973, Jack met Yoko Seto, a Hollywood film editor. She remained a faithful companion of Jack's for the rest of his life.