I bet your wondering why I am writing about the
2008 Reunion that is almost ten months away. Well I am pumped and really
looking forward to the Reunion in St .Louis starting June 26, through June 30,
2008. Thanks to you, the 517 family, we had 300 people attend the
Washington Reunion. With St. Louis being in the center of the USA I am
expecting even more attendance.
I canvassed the Board of Directors asking what
cities we should consider and St. Louis was the unanimous choice. Next I
had to pick some one to chair this event and the first person that came to mind
was Chris Lindner who was born and raised in St. Louis. The Egner luck came
through again as Chris agreed to take on the monumental task as
Chairperson.
We have already contracted with Armed Forces
Reunions who did a great job in Washington. We have also contracted with
the Sheraton Westport Plaza Hotel which we thing is one of the best hotels,
price wise and location in St. Louis. If you would like to view this
beautiful hotel click on the following link. www.westportstl.com
When you are making your vacation plans please
include the following Reunion dates, June 26, 30, 2008. There is so
many things to do and see in beautiful St. Louis but I will save that for another
mail and Bob Christie's Thunderbolt.
Regards,
Darrell Egner
Mike Kane to Howard Hensleigh
Well, my dad grew up in Philly but my parents moved to Boston
shortly after they got married. My dad got an apprenticeship at the Boston Navy
Yard. So I would have been a member of the Red Sox Nation had my dad not
been the laid off in a RIF. So they moved to Philly and he spent the
next 30 years at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard as a rigger.
As a result, I was born and raised a Phillies fan and still
am. But my wife is a rabid Yankees fan as is the rest of her family, so all
things Red Sox are shunned. She still refuses to watch when Johnny
Damon is at bat and is moaning and groaning that Roger Clemons is pitching the
game we're going to tomorrow. Frankly, I am a big fan of David Ortiz
and Curt Schilling but I keep that sentiment below her radar to keep the
marriage on an even keel!
My wife's dad was in the infantry. 168th Infantry regiment in the
I wanted to ask you how you became a paratrooper. Did you go
to OCS or did you get your commission out of college? (I guess they
didn't have ROTC programs like they do today and most officers went the OCS
route after joining. ) At what point did you volunteer for the
airborne?
I also wondered about where you went to law school and you law
career.
I hope you don't mind me asking so many questions. I'm
really interested.
Have a good weekend, LT. I hope they're taking good care of
you out there.
Mike
Howard Hensleigh to Mike Kane
Mike: After the war I commanded Company D of
the 168th Infantry in Marshalltown, Iowa. It was a heavy weapons company
in the Iowa--Nebraska National Guard, 34th (*Red Bull) Division.
I went through four years of ROTC at Iowa U, but we were
not granted commissions on graduation. They sent us to OCS at the Infantry
School, Ft. Benning. After graduating there and a ten day delay in route,
I went to jump school again at Ft. Benning, then to the 517th and you know the
rest.
Ben probably has something on me in the website that
tells the story in outline form. I went back to Iowa Law School after
checking out several others. My parents lived in Iowa City and that was an
attraction after being away several years.
Enjoy those ball games, HH
Mike to Howard
Hello Lt.
I just got home from the ball game (Yankees beat Detroit 5-2) and,
though its after midnight here, I checked my email and found yours. I
couldn't believe my eyes when I read that you commanded D Company of
the 168th. You are not going to believe it but Company D of the 168th
was the very unit my wife's father served in during the
war. Just yesterday, I was reading about that unit and was
telling my wife that her dad was a member of an Iowa National Guard outfit
during the war. He was born and raised in Pennsylvania, so I
presumed that he just got attached when the unit was activated and they pulled
others into it.
Is that a small world or what? I'm attaching a copy
of her dad's discharge noting the 168th and the campaigns he was
in. His name was Charles M. Cray (everyone called him
Mal) I don't think he remained in the outfit after the war, though
he stayed in the reserves here in Pennsylvania, so I am sure you wouldn't have
crossed paths.
I'll write some more tomorrow since its after midnight. But
I couldn't go to bed without letting you know about the coincidence of you
having served with both our fathers' outfits.
Mike
Howard to Mike
Mike: Your father-in-law has an impressive
record. Although his company is not mentioned, he was a heavy mortar
gunner and that fits D Co. He had to be a rugged guy; they carried the
base plate, tube, tripod and a lot of ammo, as well as their individual weapon
(his listed as a carbine) and personal equipment such as mess gear,
canteen, entrenching tool etc. Although the regular infantry as
opposed to the paratroops had more transportation to carry the equipment, he
was in the Rome Arno campaign as we were. It as well as other campaigns
was up and down one mountain after another where no vehicle could make
it. That is why we pressed a few mules into service and the 34th
undoubtedly did the same. Along about this time Maulden published a
booklet called Mud, Mules and Mountains. As you can see, no weaklings
were assigned to the mortar platoon. Four bronze stars and
a good record with other awards records the fact that he was a good
soldier.
My first Sgt. Williamson was taken prisoner at
Kasserine (Sp?) Pass. He survived and rejoined the guard after the War,
as many others did. In the first combat an incompetent World War general
in his Hq. fifty miles to the rear positioned companies and platoons on the
map as though they were still fighting trench warfare. The desert fox
was highly mobile. The 34th's first engagement was a disaster.
When they looked at the gold stars in the Southwest Iowa towns of Red Oak,
Shenandoah etc. they said there would never be guard units in those
towns. When I served with the 168th, those towns hosted
some of our strongest companies.
Your father in law was inducted near the time the 34th
was called into active service and it looks like he served the entire war with
a bunch of Iowans, along with the many replacements from all over. He
arrived in Algeria in Nov 1942 which was probably the invasion date of
the North African campaign. They fought the French there for
several days. There is a good book called Army at Dawn (I think) on the
African campaign that details the difficulties we had in the first action in
the European North African theater. Rommel later said that he never
found anyone who knew less about fighting a war than the Americans, but he
also never found anyone who learned so quickly. The Brits were somewhat
insufferable and thought they should be in charge, but Eisenhower said that if
the Americans were to furnish the overwhelming majority of troops to fight the
war, they would have to be commanded by American officers. I think
Patton proved that he knew how to wage war better than Montgomery, but I'm
sure Montgomery was never convinced of that.
Mike
to Howard
Hello, Lt. Hensleigh.
Thank you for the insight. Its interesting that you can read
all about an outfit, but never get the sense of what the day to day was like for
soldiers in time of war.
I read your description to my wife. She was very proud to
hear what you had to say. Her dad passed away in 1994. He was only
72. She was very close to him. He was a wonderful person who never
talked about his experiences.
My mother in law is living and I am going to call her today about
what you've described. She and my father in law went on a 168th reunion tour of
Italy in the early 80's and they retraced a lot of the places the unit saw
combat. She gave me his military papers since my brother in law (their only son)
didn't have much interest in the military aspects of his dad's life. So
I've had an interest in tracing the history of the 168th as well as the
517th. Unfortunately, there is no Ben and Bob Barrett taking up the cause
of providing a rich forum to document the unit's history.
When I first learned that the 168th in the Rome-Arno
campaign, where the 517th cut its teeth, I wondered if there were any joint
operations between the two regiments. But I think, if I'm not mistaken,
the 517th coordinated with the 36th Division, rather than the 34th in
its initial combat??
I've just finished a book by Doris Kearns Goodwin about Franklin
and Eleanor Roosevelt during the war years. ("No Ordinary Time"). She
spent quite a bit of the book on the decision by FDR to engage American
troops against the Germans in North Africa. The political dynamics behind
that were as interesting as the military decisions.
I could read WWII history, and history of that time period as a
full time endeavor if given the opportunity. The extraordinary
events that molded your generation, beginning with the Great Depression, are
things I can only imagine. I think of the period from 1929 to 1945 as the
most challenging in history and feel such an appetite to learn all I can because
of having parents who lived through it. I try to instill a sense of this
history in my daughters. (They are 22 and 19). Thought they really
try to appreciate it and certainly loved their grandparents, I'm afraid
most of the history is too remote for them to appreciate. Well, they'll
have their own heroes.
I also wanted to tell you that the Yankees were celebrating the
Military at the game I went to on Saturday. Part of that was a jump by 8
of the Army's Golden Knights Parachute Team. That was spectacular to watch
them cruise into the stadium. These modern parasails certainly are a step
up from the canopies that brought your generation from the plane to the
ground. Of course, a parasail chute wouldn't do you much good jumping into
the dark and fog.
Well, better go. Take care and thank you so much for
writing.
Mike
P.S. I keep referring to you as "Lt." when you must have
become at least a Captain. You're bio doesn't say. I don't mean to
be downgrading you, so let me know where the promotions peaked and I'll
show the respect that's due the rank.
Howard to Mike
Dear Mike: Thank you for sending me Operation Dragoon by
Wm. Breuer. Although I had heard about the book, I had never had a copy in
my hands.
The book gives an excellent big picture of the Southern France
invasion. It is interesting that Churchill, (who preferred to cut the
Russians off from eastern Europe, adamantly opposed the operation and tried
to stop it after it was well along), was on hand with the victory sigh to
observe the beach landings. Mark Clark, who lost the 36th, 45th and
3rd Divisions from his Italian campaign thought it was a major blunder while
Eisenhower whose chief aim was to drive through France to Berlin thought the
invasion and drive up the Rhone was a great contributor to the defeat of
Germany.
We all saw the War through our own little knot hole and it is
interesting to look at this invasion from a much broader view. I also
learned a lot about what the other elements of General Fredericks First
Airborne Task Force were doing. The 517th was not extensively covered and
in some minor instances the author got it wrong. Marty Fastia,
with the assistance of Jim Birder his executive officer and platoon leaders
like "airborne Stott", commanded I Company until he flamed out at Col de
Braus. The author has him commanding Hq. 3rd which was commanded by Joe
McGeever. Nevertheless, the book is a good read for anyone interested in
the 517th and the invasion of Southern France. I was delighted to see that
the book was dedicated to Mel Zais who welcomed Russ MIller and me into the 3rd
Bn. with the words, "The first thing I want you gentlemen to know is that I am
a bastad". People from Fall River, MA don't pronounce their
"Rs". Mel then told us what he expected of his lieutenants and what he
would do to us if we fell short. With that understanding we got along
fine.
In closing I want to say how much we appreciate second
generation 517thers like you who take the time and make the effort to
understand what it was like while we were doing what we
did in the defeat of Hitler and liberation of Europe from his
stranglehold. From our correspondence I know that you have gotten as close
to this understanding as you can get.
Highest regards, Howard Hensleigh