Matthew Myers raises a very good and specific two-part question:
"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?"
This is something that we discussed at the inception of
the Auxiliary. I just wrote in a previous Mail Call about the horror of
finding unit memorabilia on Ebay or in garage sales. This is to be avoided
at all costs.
Though we did have input when we established the Auxiliary
last year, I would like to second Matthew Myers' questions:
How do you wish to be remembered?
What can we do to help?
Some things are obvious: Ben and Bob Barrett, bless them, have
assured us that this superb website will always be here. If you don't
appreciate how great this site is, by all means, go on some other units'
websites. Ben and Bob have done an incredible job, and we should
appreciate them every day.
I have also asked recently that if anyone would like his war
memorabilia well cared for, he should consider Eric and Jean Michel at the Musee
de la Liberation in Le Muy. They'll be at Portland, and they are
tremendous friends to the unit. Your items will be displayed with a
placard indicating that you donated the item.
We would like to facilitate taking the oral or written histories
of 517 troopers. I'd like to get a form on the site with general questions
(it could go in the Thunderbolt as well). If it is personal for you and
your loved ones, keep it to yourself. If you'd like it recorded, forward
it in and it can live on the website.
Frankly, I feel that the prevailing sentiment is often
modesty. Troopers tend to remind us that they were part of a larger
effort, and I haven't met a trooper who thinks he was anything special. I
think that this can lead to a reluctance to share one's story because, after
all, it's only one man's story.
But that is just the point. The war was made up of millions
of stories, and we (the children and grandchildren) would be grateful if you
would tell your individual stories. We're not trying to be intrusive, but
we're eager to hear what you would like to share.
So gentlemen: what can we do to help?
Thank you all for your service on this 4th of July.
Claire Giblin
2nd VP, 517 Auxiliary
Marie Rommel
If I may put in my 2 cents worth. I think that Darrell Egner has a
good idea about having the 2007 reunion in the Midwest. It has been
awhile - how about St. Louis? You can't get more central than that.
Marie Rommel
Bob Dalrymple
Close your eyes...And go back in time.
Before semi automatics and crack...
Before SEGA or Super
Nintendo...
Way back...I'm talking about
Hide and seek at dusk.
Red light, green light.
The
corner store.
Hopscotch, butterscotch, doubledutch,
jacks, kickball,
dodgeball.
Mother May I...
Red Rover and Roly Poly.
Hula Hoops.
Running through the sprinkler.
An ice cream cone on a warm
summer night...
Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or
maybe butter pecan.
Wait...
Watching Saturday Morning cartoons...
Short
commercials.
Fat Albert, Road Runner, The Three Stooges, and Bugs.
Or back further...
When around the corner seemed far away,
And going downtown
seemed like going somewhere.
Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians,
Zorro.
Climbing trees, building igloos out of snow banks Running till you
were
out of breath.
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt.
Jumping on
the bed.
Pillow fights.
Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling
down...
Being tired from playing...Remember that?
The worst embarrassment
was being picked last for a team.
War was a card game.
Water balloons were
the ultimate weapon.
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike!
into a motorcycle.
I'm not finished just yet...
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
When you
got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped
without asking, for
free, every time...
and, you didn't pay for air.
When nearly everyone's
mom was at home
when the kids got there.
When it took five minutes for
the TV to warm up, if you even had one.
It was magic when dad would "remove"
his thumb.
When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to
dinner at a
real restaurant with your parents.
When girls neither dated
nor kissed
until late high school, if then.
When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they
failed...and did!
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared
to the
fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home.
Basically, we
were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of
drive-by shootings,
drugs, gangs, etc.
Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat!
Didn't that feel good? Just to go back and say, "Yeah, I
remember that!"
Remember when...
Decisions were made by going
"eeny-meeny-miney-mo."
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do
over!"
"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
The worst
thing you could catch
from the opposite sex was cooties.
It was
unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic event.
Having a weapon in
school meant being caught with a slingshot.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed
and made better.
Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable
aspirin.
Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare."
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have
LIVED!!!