REGISTRATION FORM
Matthews Meyer
Hi Ben, thanks for keeping the mail call
alive!
After reading mail calls 1144 and 1145, I have to admit they leave
me
feeling pretty ashamed of myself. I'm sure there are many more
people like me reading the mail calls: I'm the relative of a now-deceased 517th
member and I keep the memory alive by reading the mail calls as they come
in. I admit I don't pay much attention to the details of the organization
as it exists today; I mainly enjoy the recollections and updates on how folks
are doing. I don't check the website much, as I just like to keep up with
things as they pop up in the mail call.
But 1144 and 1145 were a big wake-up call for
me: This could be gone someday, and soon! I don't have as much time or
money as I would like for devoting to the 517th - I'm an over-the-road truck
driver, deeply in debt, and am starting a new family with #2 due in
September. But what can I and others like me do in our own little way to
help with the transition?
EVERYTHING I know about my grandfather's
service in WWII is due to this organization and this mail call. I can't
stress that enough. My grandfather died when I was 3, and he never
told his wife or children about his service. I am grateful to Maj. Boyle
for his kind recollections of my grandfather, Julius Talrico, and my
grandfather's cousin, George Talarico, both of 1st Bat. HQ Co., HW
Platoon. I can't thank all of the 517th enough for their contributions to
this site. I think it's also important that we descendants of the 517th
recognize how very, very difficult it is for them to recount their efforts and
activities. We need to accept that there are many things, very many
things, that will never be told due to the pain and fear attached to those
memories. It is therefore so important that we are that much more grateful
for what has been told, and that we hold no grudge or question for that which is
not recounted. There are some things that must die with old soldiers, and
Godspeed that those sufferings end. It is a crime and a sin to judge a man
for what is required of him in time of war. They will always be great
men. Period. Please understand that I make no insinuation of
misdeeds, but rather feel that the horror and internal
struggles left on a
soul in combat leave great questions with that person which are best left
unmentioned among those who were not there.
So those of you who can answer, please do:
How do you wish to be remembered, and what can those of us with little time or
money to spare do to help?
Greatest respects,
Matthew
Myers
The average age of the military man is 19 years
She walked to the station to borrow a gas can and buy some
gas. The attendant told her that the only gas can he owned had been loaned
out, but she could wait until it was returned. Since the nun was on
the way to see a patient, she decided not to wait
and walked back to her
car. She looked for something in her car that she could fill with gas and
spotted the bedpan she was taking to the patient. Always resourceful, she
carried the bedpan to the station, filled it with gas, and carefully carried the
full bedpan back to her car.
As she was pouring the gas into her tank, two men watched from across the street. One of the them turned to the other and said, "If it starts, I'm turning Catholic."