Mr. Wellman,

Thank you very much for your thoughtful gesture of sending along the Wayne Cross Service Company information from the "Thunderbolt" .  As you may have read  from my posting on the 517th Web site, Larry died recently.  I await the remainder of his personal and heretofore private papers so that I can, I hope,  delve a bit deeper into his 517th career.  His discharge  provides little information.  I have, upon inquiry, established that many times the typist simply inserted whatever information the recipient provided.  For example, Larry's discharge identifies only one wound,  he apparently suffered others. as he died still carrying bits of metal from his time with the 517th;  so the idea that his discharge document would be of help in reconstructing parts of his career went down the tubes immediately!  I eagerly await the posting of more 517th Casualty Reports to ascertain when and where his other wounds took place and have offered to assist in their preparation for the site.   For example, I have separate information that one of his injuries required that he be evacuated to England for hospitalization [understand he and his brother were in the same hospital there at the same time.], but it was not the wound cited in his discharge.  That one took place in Italy and is confirmed on the web site in the initial Casualty Report posted there.   Nothing is available from the Army as his records were apparently destroyed in the Saint Louis fire.

I am particularly interested in a more complete story of the incident of the road intersection South East of Callian in which the FFI played a part.   Larry provided me some information on his role in that action, sometime before his death, but was not particularly forthcoming about specifics other than the fact that it was the only time he looked carefully at the dead  Germans after a fire fight.  One of the dead was apparently a very young German and Larry vowed to himself never to look again.  He commented that he kept that vow.  For some reason, no one involved in the incident seems interested in providing further insights.  I find this unusual as while it may have been only a very small action it is often cited in historical items, specifically naming Lt. Skutaik and M/Sgt Coil, on Dragoon and usually eager amplifications are forthcoming from several sources when an incident is cited or information is requested, as I did, on the web site.  Curious, but perhaps everyone involved has passed on. 

I attempted to contact 28 members of the Service Company asking if anyone remembered Larry,  thirteen letters were returned and no information was forthcoming from anyone else.

Again, my sincere thanks for your consideration.

Harris Johnson