Hi Ben,
The mini reunion banquet is on Jan 23rd, 2008 beginning at
6:30PM
Menu choice is:
1. Tropical
Chicken
2. Roast Beef
Leila
Lou Scaringi
Ben, I saw Dick Seitz's request for info on Melvin Schiers requested by
Mel's daughter. I believe I can help answer some of her questions since
Mel was a good friend of mine. How can I get in touch with
her?
Lou Scaringi
June Huffman
Ben, I am trying to locate Benny Putman. He was in Hg,
2nd. Last address was in North Carolina. He was originally from
Winston Salem. He and "Monk" were good friends and I met he and his wife
Betty several times. I would love to locate them. Can anyone help
me? June Huffman (Officially his name may be Ewell?)
Thanks,
***********
W.F. "Monk" Huffman made the maps for Paratroopers'
Odyssey -- Ben
Helen Beddow
Hal and I just received the 517th DVD, and it is just awesome!! I can
appreciate all of the hours and hard work in getting the DVD made and available
for all of us. Many thanks to Wade, Gene, Karen and Mr. Adamski.
Your work is great!
We hope that all of the East Coast people are
getting their registrations in to Donna and reservations in to the hotel.
It is always such fun to see everyone.
Claire Giblin
Frank Ramos
Ben: I shared earlier with Claire a recommendation for the next
reunion of the 517th in St. Louis to invite a senior Veteran's Administration
representative to share information and follow up on some the issues that the
517th members have with their WW II injuries, etc..
I had thought of collecting a list of outstanding individual claims
and deliver them to the Veteran's Administration in Washington, DC, but there
are privacy concerns, etc. that I do not want to get the organization involved
with. What I can do is contact the VA with the notion of how to help the
individual members with some oversight follow up by the auxiliary at the top
level.
My basis is from an encounter I had when I ran into a 517th member at the
Savannah Airport who recognized me from that reunion. He remarked he was wounded
and left the hospital before officially clearing out because he did not want the
military to inform his mother he was wounded and wanted to get back with his
regiment. He never received his Purple Heart. Likely, he has no
record of his injuries and could have some lingering affect of his injury.
How many more members likely have the same issue to deal with the VA?
Your thoughts on how the auxiliary can help you all out?
Best
Frank Ramos