I am so glad you put the dates for the Washington, DC reunion in the last
Mail Call!
Everyone, start planning now to join us in our nation's capital from
Wednesday, June 27, to Monday, July 2. We will be at the Doubletree
Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia, a lovely hotel only a few minutes from
Reagan International Airport. There is a free hotel shuttle to and from
the airport, for those of us arriving by plane. There will also be
shuttle service to a new and nearby shopping and dining area.
We stopped at Washington, DC on the way home from Savannah last year and had
a wonderful time. Our nation's capital is a fantastic place to share
across the generations. We'll have certain tours into specific sights, but
families with younger children - our third and fourth generations - might want
to take the Metro in (the hotel also has a shuttle to the Pentagon City Metro
stop) to take advantage of free admission to so many sights.
Get your guidebooks from the library now and start planning what special
sights you'd like to share with your family, and mark your calendars for our
next national reunion in Washington, DC.
Claire Giblin
Frank Ramos
Ben
I gave Gene Frice the original of the letter from Secretary of the Army
for the 517th last Wednesday. I presented it and the Department of
Defense Service Disabled Veteran Commemorative Coin (my office
minted it last year for veteran ceremonies) to him for the
517th at a police fast responder exposition in Virginia Gene was a
Host. The law enforcement attendees all stood up and applauded for what
seemed a minute or two. It was a very nice gesture for you
heroes
************
We appreciate Frank Ramos for his support on behalf of the 517.
His brother Ismael served with "H" Co.-Ben
Karen
Ben,
Don Adamski is trying to put together the dvd for the Portland reunion. He
is in need of additional photos to include. Could we request anyone who
took photos to email them to Don. He would greatly appreciate it. He
really needs photos of the Portland City tour as he did not attend. They
could also mail the photos if they would rather do it that way.
Thank you,
Dons email is
or by mail to me
Karen Wallace
Howard Hensleigh
Ben: That guy in the first picture better get his feet together
or he is going to where he is thinking--to the hospital. One of the
first things they told us in Jump School was get into a landing position early;
that meant feet together and knees slightly bent with enough tension to absorb
some of the downward motion on impact; don't look down so you won't know
exactly when you will hit, but look out at the horizon so you will know
about when. Then on impact, do a right front tumble, which no one
ever pulled off except when we jumped of the officers club balcony onto the
dance floor, sometimes knocking over some of the dancers. On those OC
jumps, it helped to have a couple of drinks, but I did mine cold sober.
Later we did one not advertised at Jump School--a downward pull on the risers as
we hit the ground and that helped if we timed it right (which sometimes
happened).
.
Now, Ben, how did you instruct those guys who wanted the coveted wings and
boots, without breaking a leg, at the overseas school you ran before you
hooked up with the 517th.
***********
I did not run the school. I was just the clerk for the cadre. Instructions
were nil. They were more or less just given a chute and told to bring it
back if it didn't work. The volunteers were combat veterans and FFI.
We had one officer who had won a battlefield commission but could not jump
out of a good airplane.-Ben
Boom Boon Alicki
Subject: Amazing Space Trip
You won't have to click anything when the page
opens. Just sit back and enjoy the amazing trip to far outer
space!
http://spacewander.com/USA/english.html
Bob Dalrmple
Chris Linder
Hi Ben:
How are you doing? Did you enjoy the Portland
reunion?
I am reading about Helen Beddow being in the hospital
but I must have missed the mail call that said why she was in the
hospital. If you have the time could you please let me know how Helen is
doing?
Howard Hensleigh
Ben,
Thanks for this information. I was able to forward it to the Wakemen
family and they have not only ordered the discharge certificate, but also
Wakemen's medals that were burned up when his house caught fire. They and
we are grateful to you.
Ron Robinson
Ben: Thanks much for the email. You should also have
Gene’s daughter on the Mail Call email list. If not please add
her. Her name is Karen Bellm and her email address is
dbellm@dtnspeed.net. How do I get Gene on the official roster
of the 517th? I presume that is a separate process from
your email list.
Thanks for all that you do to keep the memory of the
517th fresh and memorable. I truly look forward to reading Mail
Call when it comes in. What can I do to be
supportive.
Ron
Robinson
Brother in Law to Harold Eugene Harms Company A 517th