From: Ben517@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 8:52 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: MAIL CALL NO. 1286 517TH PTCT - MARCH 14,2007
 
70  Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA.02025  *781 383 0215 * Mail Call : Ben Barrett  Ben517@aol.com
 
 
.PLEASE SEND ALL PAYMENTS FOR THE REUNION REGISTRATION TO THE ARMED FORCES REUNIONS
 
 .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 June 28-July 2 . All rooms for early arrivals are taken.   Banquet Sunday July 1. Depart Monday  July 2
Ben
Hello Ben,
Thank you for all the mails we received. We are always so happy to read the news from our dear friends in America.
We are sorry because we are not able to attend the reunion in Washington. In fact, I have some problems with thyroid, for a long time I am under doctor's care but now I'll need surgery (on april 16th) because I have an important goiter inside my chest (goitre) It is not easy for me to explain in english. I will survive (of course) but I do not know by now how long I need to recover from this surgical operation. The surgeon says that I should be dumb during a few weeks and Arnold says : at last,  the silence !!!  We miss you and we think of you with love and gratitude. Best wishes from Trois-Ponts. Irma Targnion 
 
BIll Christian
 
Ben,  Here is latest list of reunion attendees Lud /Marty Gibbons, Vera Anderson, Gerald /Betty Davis, Jay/Rita Castello, John Knoph/Son, Leo Dean, Bill/Gloria Hudson, Ponnie Davis {Bill Lewis sister}, Bill Brannon, Ben Barrett, Marv/Ricki Tetrick, Alex/Vera Sierra, Joe/Marie Louise Spencer, Gene/Sarg Snyder, Marv/Kathy Williams, Gene Frice/Daughter, Virgina Jorgen {wife of Lt. Andy Jorgen E Co.}, Bill/Sophia Christian, Bob Dalrymple. There are others who have called but have not finalized their attendance. Bill
George Ross
 
 Hi Ben
 
I have been receiving mail call for a couple of years now...recently somewhat sporadically,,, the last one was #1272  2/18/07. Since I sent you the News about my dad I haven't received any all.  I would like to have read any comments regarding my Dad and responded if able....can you help me out here?
 
Warm Regards
 
George Ross
 
Hello George,
 
I have had a problem getting mail to AOL members. I now have got your  address in a special group. You should be getting Mail Calls  okay now.
 
1281 has a photo of your dad at the museum in France with Eric and Michael . Please let me know if you can get by clicking on www.517prct.org/archives  and please let me know if you receive this mail.
George Ross
 
 Hi Ben
 
Thanks...I got your email...I'll let you know of my progress with the archives!
 
Best Wishes
                                         ************
I am considering changing providers.  I will probably go with comcast - Ben
Don Sliker
 
http://www.flashdemo.net/gallery/wake/index.htm
From the website after the Savannah reunion.
 
The following message is from our Belgium friends , Irma and Arnold Targnion:

From Patricia and Roland Orengo, our friends from Sospel, France:

Dear Friends,

We would like to thanks all of you for your welcome in Savannah.  It was our first reunion with the 517e but not the last.  Helen and Hal have done a tremendous job for … the “cream”, their family and friends.

We are very proud to know you, to share your souvenirs.  Our mind will keep for ever, your kindness, your disponibility, your happiness, your love of life : a great lesson for the future generation.  It was, also moving to see children grand children, cousins, nephews attend to the reunion.  We have to keep alive your sacrifice in the memories. It is our legacy.

We are still French, we speak still French because one day you have jumped in France, a small country, on the other side of Ocean Atlantic, almost unknown  by you, only, to save us.   

Thanks so much.

And don’t forget : The French love Americans as you love us.

Vive l’Amerique, Vive la France.

NB : For those of you who they did not understand our awful accent, we send you included, our speech (Banquet – Savannah 08/19/2005. 

Patricia and Roland ORENGO

Banquet - Savannah, August 19, 2005

Dear Friends of the 517e,
To begin with, let me tell you where I have come from, so that I can be in front of you today.

My husband Roland and I come from a village in the south east of France, which is called Sospel.
A good number of you know our village which is at the southern end of the Maginot line, between France and Italy with numerous strategic fortresses and gun emplacements.

We are the humble representatives of our village’s mayor and the population of Sospel who present to the 517e this plate in homage for your action in the World War II.
 
We will be eternally grateful to you for liberating France from the enemy’s yoke and the Nazi suppression. We thank you for sacrificing years of your life so that our lives can be free.

We are with you today, thanks to the invitation of Nolan Powell and his family, which are most generously allowing us to stay with them during our time in the USA.
We met Nolan, in Sospel, a few years ago and we persuaded him to make a tour of the village in our Jeep.
This led to an exchange of correspondence with letters and photographs, which cemented our friendship.

In honour of this friendship, we present Nolan with the medal of Sospel.

We thank you for your reception but we are especially grateful for the efforts you have made to give us freedom.

We recently celebrated, like many villages and towns of France, the 60th anniversary of our liberation which took place on October 28.

One of you was in Sospel on that date. It was Marvin Moles, who had the good idea to mislay his helmet in a corner of France which then enabled a young guy to find him !
He is among us today and I greet him and thank his family who wrote beautiful things about us on the 517e’s website. Thanks to Marvin, Diane and Mark.
We will be happy, in the future, to be your guide to those of you among us who wish to visit our beautiful village.
Do not hesitate to tell us when you will come.

Thank you.