Gentlemen:

I found this monograph interesting reading.  I looked for some reason to condemn Col. Graves and the 517th for treating the 551st badly and found none.  Mistakes were made and no one could tell in advance just what the enemy would do or exactly where he would be and in what strength.  There was a tragic loss of key officers (including the Bn. commander and others) and men to enemy fire and the Bulge weather conditions.    I agreed with almost all of the conclusions Bill Smith reached although some like when you have contact with the enemy, don't lose it.  Sometimes the enemy moves in retrograde a little faster than an attacking outfit can reorganize, set up a defense against counterattack and pursue.  I got a kick out of the conclusion that officers should not reconnoiter without taking some enlisted men along to do some fighting if they got into trouble.  I know we did a lot of that in the 517 including one time I tripped off a mine while patrolling on my own.  I knew that Johny Neiler and Jack Kinser of the 460th ran into Germans one time and escaped without injury, but I did not know that Johny had gone out with a 551st officer who was killed in the process.

I noticed that Bill Boyle's and Don Fraser's First Bn 517 moved out and took its objective without much fanfare, confusion or delay.  This bears out what a lot of us came to believe -- that the 517 was a lot better at fighting and taking its objectives than it was at getting promotions and awards -- paper work in general.  The 551st must have been good at the paper work, with an assistant S-3 as major, S3 as major and S-2 as captain.  We never bumped our S-2 above 1st Lt. and our S-3 above captain.  One always gets around to being personal; I held both jobs in combat and for many months as a 1st Lt., not that I wasn't recommended for promotion.  At least once the 13th Division held up my promotion until the freeze order hit for some misspelled words.

Wayne Cross is commended for finding these treasures buried in the archives.

Highest airborne regards,  Howard Hensleigh

 Ben this is a long read but it say's it all.  Proud to be an American!