Gene and Ben,
Thank you so much for another great
517 PRCT reunion. We all had a tremendous time and look forward to the
next one in Washington D.C.
I would like to help any way I can
and would like to propose our company take out a 1 page ad in the Thunderbolt.
I would like to offer $1,000 per ad with the understanding that 1/3
will go to keeping the Thunderbolt profitable, 1/3 going to the Auxiliary, and
1/3 going to the general fund for the 517.
If this is acceptable, I will
prepare a black and white 1 page ad for the inside cover and email it to the
appropriate party.
All I need is some
type of invoice for marketing from the 517 for $1000 each time the Thunderbolt
is mailed out.
I would also like to recommend 1
page be dedicated to a “change of address” or some type of address
verification each person has to do each year to keep receiving the Thunderbolt.
I have a feeling a lot of these issues are going to and old or wrong
address. If everyone is required to phone, fax, or email an address
verification this will cut down on the number of wrong mailings the Thunderbolt
does each year.
I would also like to see the
Thunderbolt solicit more ads from other people / companies who want to
support the 517. Maybe dedicate 1 page and say “Your ad could be here. For
more information on advertising in the 517 Thunderbolt please contact XXXXX at
XXXXX.
And Ben if it’s OK with you maybe we
can get a link to our web site on the 517th web site.
Please let me know you’re thoughts
and thank you all once again for everything you’ve done for our country and the
world.
Best regards,
Wade Gilbert
www.iavi.com
Bob Dalrymple
Dear Hardworking and Dedicated
friends. All those many, many details that you had to contend with paid off in
Spades! What a fine show it was, too. I , for one, had a great time, thanks
to you and the many who attended . You arranged some outstanding attractions,
many of which were new to most of us . I had to pace myself so didn't take on
more that I could handle . As a consequence , I was able to spend more
time in our Hospitality Room . That was most enjoyable . I think we were very
keen on getting our work done, which we did in our business meeting. So
we will go to DC next June or July, or whatever works out . I believe we were
wise to select that professional group to manage our reunions . It is just
too much to expect one of us trooper to take on that job in future years. You two
had your great personal "staff" doing most of the leg work and they were superb;
Karen, Laury, Robin, Greg, Phyllis, Gary, Melanie (I know I missed a someone , but
give some slack. Maybe it will come to me in the night. If it does I'll call
you!) What a swell bunch . And what a pleasure to get to know them "up close and
personal". I hesitate, but Gary surely deserves special recognition .
Hats off to Gary!! And those thoughtful souvenirs : the cards , the neck loop
for holding our name tags, and that beautiful pen with our unit on it !
Outstanding! And I believe it was wise to consider our auxiliary members who are
still working when determining our reunion date next year. I was thinking of
Bonnie Fraser and others . Two highlights for me were the Blue Spruce visit and
the afternoon with the Rangers (BBQ). We had that other Capt and a supply
Sgt eating with us : What splendid soldiers they are . Others items will come to
mind as I age, but I did want to get this off to you . I am a little tardy
because I drove over to the OR Coast and spent a week with my families after
the reunion . Our middle daughter , Jean, lives in Salem and they have a beach
house to Walport, below Newport . Mary , our oldest, and husband Bill have
rented a beach at Yachats (pronounced YA HOTS) below Walport for several
years . Mary's daughter, Julia ( and Tom) brought our two great grand kids,
Peter and Eric , 1 and 4 up from Ft Worth area. So we had a mini family reunion
.
Gene Frice
Bob,
Thank you
for the note. I was happy to see the bright lights in the eyes of so many of
those (particularly during happy hour in the hospitality suite) who moved
heaven and earth to be there,
however, I missed so many others who could not
attend. Those that attended, in many cases, came despite floods, fire,
frustration, illness, irritated spouses, frantic children (oh dad not that
paratrooper thing again) - not to mention the cost, time, effort, jet lag; and
those beautiful members of the AUXILIARY who become increasingly beautiful every
year (the gals that is).
The desire of the
Portland Planning Committee was to provide a comfortable, however exciting,
setting for the Portland Reunion 2006. The bright eyes of the children in a raft
approaching a Class III (well maybe a Class 1 and one half) white water portion
of the river; or looking up at the one of the largest airplanes in the world
made the entire event worth while.
It was a lot
of work by all of our group. My only regret of the entire event was my
neglecting to have all who served in the Committee to stand during our dinner so
that we could again see all of the reunion warriors - the golf cart "NASCAR"
drivers, the box carriers, keepers of the funds, the sweepers and cleaners of
the hospitality room at 1AM, the greeters, and so many other task servers
(probably twenty five warriors in all).
Again,
my thanks to all of the Portland Committee and the the Troopers, Auxiliary, and
family members who attended to make the entire week an occasion to remember.
God Bless all and see you in DC in 2007. Be
there.
Gene Frice, President
Raymond Paul Moats
Seeking information about Paul R. Moats, of Company
E, 517 PRCT
He is my Father who died in 1987.
Thank you
Raymond Paul Moats
Billie Hiers -- Don
Gentry
Dear Ben: Thanks to our son we have finally discovered the 517th has
an organization to contact. David was very excited when he first phoned to
tell us that he had collected some contact addresses for my husband. His
name is Ludwick H. Hiers, Sr. (better known as "LUCKY"). We have two
mailing addresses so the BEST way is to send us an Email:
Our CO telephone # is 970-468-5853; PO Box 6014, Dillon CO
80435
Our FL telephone # is 727-391-2504; 18304 Gulf Blvd. #103
Redington
Shores, FL 33708
Lucky is hoping to attend a reunion with others who served in the
517th. He was a happy young man when he made the cut and became a
paratrooper. He will no doubt be writing you a note before much more
time passes. He just celebrated his 84th birthday and is basically
in good health ... for which we are both very grateful. He still "hopes"
to make another jump!!!!
Thank you for your time and energy in keeping the men in contact.
Mrs. Billie Hiers (aka Mrs. Lucky)
In a message dated 7/26/2006 8:17:57 A.M. Central Standard Time,
david.foster1@us.army.mil writes:
Ben posted your email today so welcome aboard. Make sure you ask Ben
Barrett (
Ben517@aol.com)
to put you on the MailCall
list.
-----------------
Forwarded Message:
Mom,
Read the
message below. I recommend you guys e-mail them. They are excited bout
finding another one of their own- and rightfully so. If Grampy s waiting
to finish the book tell him to put it down so he can start talking to his
buddies.
Don Gentry
Dear MAJ Foster, it is indeed a pleasure and wonderful thing to have
another relative of the 517 PRCT find the unit web site.
We just finished the Portland Reunion. My cousin Richard Baysinger, B
Company 1/Bn was with the 517 during the Battle of the Bulge and I am his
conduit to the units emails and web page. As his main man, I also attended this
reunion as his guest and had the chance to meet with these wonderful men and
their families. It is hard to say how proud I was of them for their actions then
and now. Wow, is about a one word description. Goosebump city.
Ben posted your email today so welcome aboard. Make sure you ask Ben Barret
(
Ben517@aol.com) to
put you on the mailcall list.
This address is for the archives where almost 1,100 mailcalls are in
residence:
www.517prct.org/archives It
might be best to read from the latest but there is a search feature that you can
use if you have a name or incident to search for.
This is the roster PDF:
www.517prct.org/roster.pdf
List of member poc data and others like me. You can give Ben information on you
and your father. The more info the better.
Dr. Harvey, Secretary of the Army, is aware of this fine unit and sent a
letter regarding this reunion. It was read to the men and Ben will post it to
the web site and put into a mailcall.
Could you provide your step father's name, rank and the unit he was
assigned? Also when he was in jump training and where. My cousin Richard was a
replacement and he did not get to the unit until southern France on16 November
1944. We are trying to locate other folk that were among the 500 replacements
provided at that time and find the datres and ships that brought them to Naples
and then to France.
Also, if there are any photographs or copies of orders, anything to do with
the unit is of very high interest to all the readers.
I am retired from the Army (1977) but have continued in IEW activities with
some part time tdys to AD units to RESET Prophet and Prophet Control IEW
Systems. My contractor has a task order with PEO-IEW at Ft. Monmouth, NJ but I
live in East Wenatchee, WA.
I would be interested in your service and activities as well.
MSG Don R.
Gentry
US Army Security Agency Retired
Still Serving
Denver Combs
Denver Combs
Veteran2Veteran LLC
955
Indigo Creek Circle
Dayton, Ohio 45458
(937)
439-7959