70 Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA.02025 *781 383 0215 * Mail Call : Ben Barrett Ben517@aol.com

MAIL CALL

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Hello,

Please let me know if you want to receive Mail Calls or if you have a problem receiving them. You can always read Mail Calls by clicking on www.517prct.org/archives

Washington Reunion. Arrival Wednesday June 27. Banquet Sunday July 1. Depart Monday July 2

I try to avoid political and religious issues in Mail Call and for the most part stick to matters pertaining to our war and let historians deal with what is right and wrong with present conflicts.

Ben

Website www.517prct.org
Mail Call 517th Mail Call
Mail Call Archives www.517prct.org/archives
Roster www.517prct.org/roster.pdf

Reunions Florida Snowbird Mini-Reunion January 21 - 25

2007 Palm Springs, CA. Mini April

Washington, DC National June 27 - July 2

Click on http://517prct.org/auxiliary/ to find the mission of the Auxiliary and an enrollment form

The History of Veterans Day The History of Veterans Day

Howard Hensleigh

Dear Ben,

This is the season for serious college football, when it gets down to the crunch. I love to watch it, but have only today become interested enough to watch a game since Jan's death. Big Ten is my kind of ball--I have been in the stands to watch them all. That has been a few years ago, but the fire in the belly is still there and the uniforms haven't changed much. Today the game for me was Iowa vs. those Wisconsin boys who are the darlings of my good friend Tom Reber, who wore one of those red jerseys as his Dad, Bob (our stalwart mortar plt. leader), watched.

Well Tom I have to hand it to you, Wisconsin won fair and square. I was not happy about the first few minutes which gave the Badgers 10 points. The rest of the way It was a good game and Iowa came within three of catching up giving your coach the hebe gebies. My prejudiced eye says that when better games are played the Bid Ten will play them. We can look forward to the Michigan--Ohio State game which should be a doozie.

My apologies to all the supporters of those other conferences. Howard Hensleigh

Don Gentry

Hello Ben and Bob, by accident I was taping this program and at the mid-point, Melvin Biddle and the 1st Battalion, 517th are front and center. It is the first time I have seen the unit recognized in historical dramatizations ever. The segment runs about 15 minutes including some long commercials. I wrote the following from watching over and over to try to make heads or tails of dates and places. Can't confirm or deny at this time.

The 517th "Shootout" action for Melvin starts on Dec 21 1000hrs. Near Soy, he is lead Scout. PVTs Donald M. Hainey and Francis A. Bloom are with him on patrol. This is the day he takes out the three machine gun nests.

2nd SS Panzer Division attack ongoing.

Dawn Dec 23rd near Soy the Battalion moves out. Melvin gets into the firefight with 14 Nazi troopers which he dispatches with ease. Biggest counter offensive of the war. Hitler's 6th SS Panzer Division take Saint Vith.

Claim that skies clear after fighting over a week (Dec 23rd) This does not compute.

Martin K.A. Morgan, Director of Research, The National D-Day Museum and Melvin narrate

I went to this web page but tonight's episode is not shown. Maybe later.

Click here: Shootout! Didn't do a search for a repeat either since the theme is not listed. I did go back and forth a bit and gave up.

Jan 3rd 1945 counteroffensive attempt to join the 1st and 3rd Armies at Houffalize, Belgium, then push East into Germany..

551st Parachute Infantry Bn (800 men) join the 82nd at this point, objective- Rochelinval on the Salm River. One of the Platoon Leaders of this unit commanded his troops to "FIX BAYONETS". By 25 Jan, the Germans had been pushed back to their homeland.

Hope you have a pleasant Veterans Day. Thank you for serving.

Don

Merle McMorrow

Ben;

I don't know if you saw the story of the 517th last night on the History Channel but it was surprising to realize that it finally got some recognition as a separate unit. They covered Mel Biddle's actions justifying his award for the Medal of Honor. They also had a short interview with him.

Our greetings to Fran.

Merle

Al and Robin Sperry

Ben, can you start sending Mail Call to Al and I at this email address. I've retired, yesterday being my last day, and will no longer be receiving mail at the old address. Looking forward to seeing everyone in DC.
Thanks
Al and Robin Sperry

Tom Reber

Ben,

Please relay to Claire and all others that there are several tabs to the roster spreadsheet. The "Mailing List" tab has shrunk to keep the mailing costs of the Thunderbolt in check. This trimming was done in response to a great deal of detailed work from Bob Christie who performs the virtually impossible dual tasks of Treasurer and Thunderbolt Publisher. Bob cleaned up the list from returned copies and non-payments (as previously outlined in several T-bolt editions).

I keep a master list ("Main List" tab) that maintains all information trusted as current. This information is complete except for the e-mail addresses. I have to confess that I rely on Ben to deal with that additional level of detail (for Mail Call) and he is superb at it. I also take the Main List tab and re-sort it by Company to serve as an aid for those who are searching for buddies and contacts by the Company designation, like 460-C, or HQ 1st.

All of the information, including the Thunderbolt subscription status, is contained and maintained from the Main List tab. I copy, sort and trim according to the data from the main list to make all of the other versions. If anyone seeks the most complete information, please click on the Main List tab and you have the total view.

I hope this explanation helps everyone. My hat is off the Bob Christie and Ben Barrett for being the beacons in the night and guiding us all toward better, and more complete communications for all of the 517th family. I count these two special friends as true heroes of the human spirit and ultimate examples of commitment to their comrades. We can never show them enough gratitude and appreciation for all they have done and continue to do. Bravo to them both!

Best regards,

Tom Reber
son of Lt. Robt. J. Reber, HQ 3rd

Bob Christie

Ben, Claire Giblin wants to know why so many names are missing from the 517th. Mailing list. We have deleted those who are not supporting us with a donation. We, of course, suggest $30.00/year. This isn't written in stone, but we do ask that everyone contribute something and if not, please write to let us know that you would like to receive the Thunderbolt and what you can afford to pay. We have deleted 900 names who have failed to contribute or have not contacted us. At the rate we were going, we would run out of funds eventually. Bob