70 Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA. 02025 *781 383 0215 * Mail Call : Ben
Barrett Ben517@aol.com 
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Ben
Website
www.517prct.org
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Mail Call Ben517@aol.com
Snowbird mini-reunion
Kissimmee,
FL
Jan 20-24, 2008
April 13-18, 2008
517TH ST. LOUIS REUNION BEGINS:
THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2008 THRU MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2008
THE BANQUET WILL BE ON SUNDAY JUNE 29, 2008.
Recent website additions:
The 551st Attack on
Trois Ponts, 2-7 Jan 1945
River Crossing and
Attack at La Roquette, 27-28 August 1944
Howard B. Goodman, Service
Company
Paras en Provence: Le 517th PRCT Dans Les Alpes
Maritime
from Armes Militaria
Magazine (cover, article)
Claire Giblin
Hello, Ben -
On behalf of the 517 Auxiliary, I want to extend our wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season to the fine men of the 517 and their families. We are privileged to be in the company of this band of brothers.
Make this the holiday season that you share your story - for a grandchild's video camera, in writing, or in giving memorabilia for safekeeping to loved ones. These grandchildren are the last generation of students who will be able to hear the history straight from you. Don't let them miss out. If they're not ready to hear it, write it down. Keep saying it - stories need repetition.
Make your plans now for Kissimmee in January, Palm Springs in April, and St. Louis in June. Reunion season is upon us!
Safe travels to all -
With utmost respect and admiration -
Claire Giblin
President, 517 Auxiliary/Friends and Family
Rick Sweet
Hi Ben,
Thank you for Howard's e-mail address. I believe
he may have known my dad if he was involved with "H " company.
I saw his picture in that group with LT Spencer. He looked like a tough soldier.
I made that picture my desktop background to remind me of what the soldiers
were doing that Christmas while the rest of Americans were home safe in their
beds. I hadn't been born yet until 9 yrs after the war was won. Because of my
involvement in the 517th website and other research, my older brother, who is 60,
has become more interested in researching my dad's history too. I bought him a
book about the 517th and Lory Curtis's book also . I also helped him obtain some
of dad's missing medals for his collection. This is helping to bring my brother
and I closer together which I appreciate very much. It's about time for him to
come around. Sometimes I feel alone like I don't have a family !! See how the
517th is still helping people !! You probably don't realize how much
you have helped me but you have, a great deal. I have a sense of belonging, of
being a part of something! And I am able to be proud of my father for what
he accomplished before he passed away. I would like to hear the men tell of
their battles in mail call and other stories of their down time and things that
happened in the towns. Then there would be plenty of things to put in mail call.
The history of the unit would be a great and interesting thing to read about in
mail call. Those are the things that the family and friends of the 517th want
and need to hear about but it is so hard to get you fellows to talk about it.
Once a soldier has passed away, then it is too late and we are losing valuable
history and information about the man in particular and the events that
surrounded him. I would encourage all of you to tell your story's of what
happened to you during the war and what you observed. Not only would that fill
mail call but it would fill the thunderbolt too. It would sure answer a lot of
questions and create new ones !! What were you guys doing on Dec 14th 1944. Did
you think that the war was about over? I wonder what you felt when the 16th
rolled around and you heard about the bulge and the Germans attacking. My dad
was hanging on the side of a truck in a convoy that day looking back at a
photographer. There were other men inside that truck and some of them probably
never made it home. God Bless you and the 517th for what you did then and what
you do today. You have helped a lot of people... Thank You!!!
SOB
Rick Sweet
Stacey Smart
Hello,
I would like to thank you and Phil McSpadden for helping my family find information some about my dad. His name was Sam Smart was he assigned to Headquarters Battery, 460th PFA., Through the web sites I have found pictures of my dad http://www.517prct.org/photos/jesse_darden/jesse_darden.htm and we have found his name on some documents.
My dad died in 1976 of cancer, he was 51. He was a great man and father. Our family (his wife and 4 children) loved him very much. One of the big regrets that I have is that I never knew him as an adult. We knew that he was a paratrooper and that he had been in Italy and in the Battle of the Bulge, and that not many of his group survived. If their is anyone who has any information or knew him, we would love to hear from them.
I don't know if I will ever understand the scope of what you all went through and sacrificed for us and our country. There are movies that I find hard to watch, especially the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. I can not imagine having to endure that. One of my Dad's favorite movies was the Best Years of Our Lives which really was about returning home and trying to fit in again.
I want to thank you and everyone who has served our country, now and then.
Happy Holidays to all !!
Thank you
Stacey Smart
I would like to thank you and Phil McSpadden for helping my family find information some about my dad. His name was Sam Smart was he assigned to Headquarters Battery, 460th PFA., Through the web sites I have found pictures of my dad http://www.517prct.org/photos/jesse_darden/jesse_darden.htm and we have found his name on some documents.
My dad died in 1976 of cancer, he was 51. He was a great man and father. Our family (his wife and 4 children) loved him very much. One of the big regrets that I have is that I never knew him as an adult. We knew that he was a paratrooper and that he had been in Italy and in the Battle of the Bulge, and that not many of his group survived. If their is anyone who has any information or knew him, we would love to hear from them.
I don't know if I will ever understand the scope of what you all went through and sacrificed for us and our country. There are movies that I find hard to watch, especially the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. I can not imagine having to endure that. One of my Dad's favorite movies was the Best Years of Our Lives which really was about returning home and trying to fit in again.
I want to thank you and everyone who has served our country, now and then.
Happy Holidays to all !!
Thank you
Stacey Smart
Bill Hudson
Mail Call is great. Merry Christmas
Bill Hudson
The 517th moving up to the Ardennes December
,1944
The above photo was in Life magazine in 1945 and in the
Thunderbolt in the late eighty's. The photo was obtained from the
publisher by the family of the member with his head protruding over the top
of the truck and they had it framed for him. He is a member of the 517.
Does anyone know him?
Barbara
Collins
Hello Ben- Jack has not received a
mail call since 12/8. I went to the archives and saw there was one 12/12/07.
What shall we do? Thanks. Barbara Collins.
**********
Send me your new email
address - Ben