From: Ben517@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2007 9:20 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: MAIL CALL NO. 1409 517TH PRCT-OCTOBER 6, 2007
70  Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA. 02025  *781 383 0215 * Mail Call : Ben Barrett  Ben517@aol.com
 
Hello,
 
 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



 
 Kenton Immerfall
 
I also want to thank Claire for her insights from one of the brave soldiers who made it back from WW II and the European Theater.  I also watched the Ken Burns Special as I do anything that comes on TV about WW II.  I keep thinking that one of these days I'll see Uncle Floyd or a 517th patch on one of his buddies go by the camera.  Claire's comment about soldiers writing down or recording their experiences is not new but still is a darn good idea.  The question for many soldiers, however, is..."Do I want to relive that time all over again?"  Some men and women can, others can't.  It is even difficult to encourage older family members to discuss or record their experiences when genealogy research is being gathered.  Some things are just too painful to "want" to remember and relate to others.  Each person needs to deal with their past the best way they know how.  I respect their wishes.  And back to Ken Burn's The WAR... I found a comment made by one of the returning soldiers interesting.  He spoke about people, who remained stateside, thanking every soldier as if they all fought in battles.  There was no differentiation whether a person typed in an office away from the front or if a person loaded/unloaded ammo from ships.  I wonder how the men of the 517th felt about their comrades who were soldiers but did not see action.  I guess I've wondered about this for every war.  Kenton Immerfall
 

Leo P. Dean
 
2 October 2007
 
Recently there were three WWII airplanes at the Schenectady airport. A B-17, the Flying Fortress, a B-24, the Liberator, and a B-25, Mitchell.
 
Last Saturday one of my instructors at Mohawk Valley Skydiving called and  asked if I would like to jump out of the B-17. Of course I said yes.
 
Sunday, September 30th, eleven of us went from the airfield at Mohawk Valley Skydiving to the Schenectady airfield. Only less than 10 miles away.
 
We climbed into the B-17 for a dry run. Not much room in the bomb bay. It only held twelve 500 lb bombs, six on each side of the bomb bay.
 
Then we went into the hanger and put on our gear and got back into the B-17. Took off. Leveled off at 6,000 feet. To the Drop Zone. Six climbed into the bomb bay. Doors opened. They dropped out.
 
Plane came around for a second run. The rest of us climbed into the bomb bay. Again the door opened and we were over the drop zone. We dropped out. A few seconds later I looked at my altimeter and already I'm down to 4,000 feet. I popped the chute. Landed right in the middle of the circle. TV cameras rolling!
 
Adrenaline really pumped up!
                                                    **********
Any volunteers for backup Secretary-Treasurer just in case? - Ben

From: 1/Lt. Greg "Popeye" Henesy [mailto:g.henesy@airborne506.org]
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2007 9:15 PM
To: webmaster@517prct.org
Subject: 517 Vet

Sir,

    I was contacted recently to research information on a WWII veteran by the name of James Ramsey Kennedy, serial 33-901-305, by his daughter, Lois.  She advised that he past away in the mid 60's when she was 19 and she is trying to piece information together.  He mother has also passed on and the only things she has to go on is a picture of him with an Airborne Command patch, his jump wings, and a handwritten brief stating that he joined in December 43, was in the 517 PIR, was in France and Belgium, 13th Airborne, and re-enlisted in November 45.  Not a lot to go on, but she looking for guys who may have known him, what company he was in, and where he might have been.  Any guidance would be appreciated.

Greg Henesy

Matt Greene
 

Hello Ben, My wife & I enjoy getting Mailcall very much. Sorry we haven't been able to come to the reunions lately.  We don't feel that strong any more.  Hopefully we can come to the next one.
Do you still have the decals of the 517th PCT for car windows?  We bought a new car & would like one for it. Thanks much.
Matt Greene G. Co. 735 E 11000 S. Sandy, UT  84094

Jean-Loup Gassend
Dear Ben

I would like to ask any guys from H company, but particularly Tom MacAvoy, if they can tell me why Paul
Desso is listed as missing in action in France on August 21st 1944? Was he wounded, captured, etc???  I
saw he was at some reunions after the war, so obviously he survived the war.

Thanks

Jean-Loup Gassend
jean-loup@gassend.com