From: Ben517@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 3:47 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: MAIL CALL NO. 1399 517TH PRCT- SEPTEMBER 12,2007
70  Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA. 02025  *781 383 0215 * Mail Call : Ben Barrett  Ben517@aol.com
 
Hello,
 
I have in this Mail Call more emails between Howard Hensleigh and Mike Kane.  One generation to the next generation.
 
Paratroopers' Odyssey is  available for $22.50. Send payment to Leo Dean.
 
You may at times have a problem viewing photos. However, we place most photos on the website under Training and WWII Photos .
 
Please try to send in donations by August 15 to Keep the 517 PRCT Association viable. Suggested amount $30.00 to  include Thunderbolt.  Auxiliary members $20.00 Plus $10.00 if you want to receive the for the Thunderbolt.  Send donations to  Leo Dean, 14 Stonehenge Lane, Albany, NY  12203.  Make checks payable to 517prct.         Donations for the Auxiliary should be sent to  Karen Frice Wallace   66295 Highway 20  Bend, OR 97701
 
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
 
 Ben

Website                                   www.517prct.org                                                        
Mail Call                                  
Ben517@aol.com
Mail Call Archives                 www.517prct.org/archives
Roster                                     www.517prct.org/roster.pdf


Recent website additions:

Matthew Skovera, HQ Co, 3rd Bn.

PFC Anthony S. Celli, I Co. (KIA)

517th Commemorative March 2007- Southern France

Richard Eaton videos - Witness to the War
Madawaska Victory passenger lists
1983 517th Reunion Booklet - San Mateo, CA

Bill Boyle news article


Darrell Egner                    PRESIDENTS LETTER
 
 
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