Dear Ben: Kent's photos of his uncle Floyd Stott almost brought him back to life for me. I just lost a message identifying who and what I could and then lost it, so I may take one item at a time.
FIRST PICTURE: Left to right: Jim Birder, then executive officer of I Co., later commanding it; killed at Bergstein when he sat on a shu mine while trying to get some of his men out of the mine fields. Erv Pinkston, G Co. platoon leader. Floyd Stott with the football, I Co. platoon leader. Bob McMahon, executive officer 3rd Bn. Marty Fastia commanding I Co. who flamed out near Ridge X and Col de Braus. Undoubtedly taken at Mackall east of the officer's mess. After duty and before dinner we played touch football there. They were hard fought games, but if you wanted to eat, Mel Zais' team had to be ahead at the end. Some games lasted quite a while but I don't think anyone missed a meal.
THREE: This is at the officer's club at Frascatti, Italy. Erv Pinkston found and liberated a several storied, elegant house owned by one of Musolini's henchmen. For his labors, Erv was made club officer and prepared a gala club opening while the rest of us trained in that hot Italian sun preparing for the jump into S. France. When the dehydrated troopers rolled out the barrels of cold beer, no one could find the barrel spigots to release the contents. Erv had sampled the other liquid refreshments to the extent that he could not be wakened. The next day Erv was out in the field with us, big head and all.
SIX THROUGH EIGHT: All these are from our 3rd Bn. bivouac area, Fracscatti, Italy. Mel Zais could not bear to have his 3rd Bn. unwashed and rigged up showers which Floyd is using in the last one.
NINE: O'Club, Frascatti.
TEN; Floyd Stott taken around the Sospel, Col de Braus area.
ELEVEN: I am sure this is the Negresco Hotel in Nice, where we got 24 hours out of combat for an overnight stay and a bath. It was a wonder what the chef could do with our five and ten in one rations along with some fresh French vegetables etc. Nancy, my daughter, who has visited Nice recently, says the Negresco is still THE hotel in Nice. She did not pony up the price to stay there.
TWELVE: Yes, This is Southern France, near Sospel. If you had to fight a war, this picturesque place wasn't a bad place to fight it. It was easier to defend those mountains than to take them. We took them all the way to the Italian border.
Thanks Kent for your tribute to a great Iowa boy who deserves it.
Highest Regards to all the troopers, Howard Hensleigh
1st Lt. Floyd A. Stott, I Company (KIA)
Jo Anne Roberts Gray ( Hal's daughter )
Hi Ben,
I wrote you last week wanting to receive Mail Call but don't seem
to
be getting it. Can you check.
Jo Anne Roberts Gray
gigharborjo@comcast.net
Oops, you will now. - Ben
Virginia Jorgen
Note to Jean-Loup Gassend: There was a third battalion man whose name I think was Riddle who fired a rifle grenade at a German riding at him on a motorcycle during the first few days after the jump, just a day or two. It occurred after we had hiked the 30 kilometers from where we landed around Calliian back to the intended drop zone area. I think Riddle was from G Co. The grenade hit the German, not the motorcycle and did not explode. The fins of the grenade were sticking out of the German and I remember looking at pictures of it. The reason the grenade did not explode was that Riddle forgot to pull the pin. Back at Mackall, Reed ("Stinky") Terrell and I were charged with teaching the men in the Bn. how to fire the grenade from the end of the M-1. I felt we had failed to get across the important step of pulling the pin, but like many things the 517th did, it all worked out for the best. The grenade killed the rider and did not damage the motorcycle, which Riddle rode for a few days before some officer took it away from him. There may have been another similar incident involving another company, but I remember this one very clearly.
Highest regards, Howard Hensleigh
Bob Barrett
