We were away for the weekend and almost missed the opportunity to
wish Gen. Seitz a very happy birthday! We will raise a glass to him and
his service!
We want to hear how he celebrated!
Warmly,
Claire Giblin
I have received expressions of appreciation from General Seitz
and his family. - Ben
Darrell Egner
Morris McDowell thank you for your kind offer to put together
something along the line of Power Point regarding honoring our departed
Brothers. I think this a wonderful idea and long over due. Frankly I
am not up to speed on Power Point or other methods of presenting this
information. How do you plan to present this? I have two thoughts
such as showing this at our Banquet on June 29, 2008 in St. Louis or setting up
a device to play it in the Hospitably Room. My choice would to present
this at the Banquet so everyone could see it. I'm sure our Co-Chairs of
the St. Louis Reunion, Chris Lindner and her sister Bev Strothkamp could work
this into their plans.
I believe Ben Barrett would be the best source of information
regarding who has departed. Also if anyone reading this who lost a loved
one please contact Morris and provide pictures and stories. Follow the
example of Don Fraziers family who requested that his memory be noted at our
Reunion. This information could go back however many years. My
thinking goes back to Jim Mackenzie who is resting in the National
Cemetery. I am sure Dorothy, his widow, would provide any information
you would need. Another person (s) would be Chris and Bev who lost
their farther about 30 years ago. Another source of information could come
from Clair and Helen and the Auxiliary.
Morris I can't tell you how much the 517 would appreciate what you
are offering to do. What a task! When you get into this project and
have some idea how long this will run (time wise) please convey this information
to Chris and Bev so they can work it into their schedule.
Again thank you for your suggestion and your generous
offer.
Darrell Egner
President
Helen Beddow
Hello everyone,
I think the Power Point presentation would
be fantastic. Personally, I don't know how to do a Power Point
presentation, but I have seen some really good presentations using Power Point.
Go for it!!
Helen
Lyn Vickers
Thanks for putting the link in about the 1991 reunion
booklet. I had never seen it as the picture company lost our order ... when
I finally thought about it & called them, they said they had destroyed the
negatives & no more pictures, etc. We were pretty upset about that as
we had no pictures to speak of from that reunion. It was good to see us
again at such a YOUNG age... LOL.
Lyn Vickers
The
Widdah Lyn, Cocoa, and Poopin Pepper the Crappin Cajun
Helen Beddow
Good morning, everyone!
Claire and I
are working on the next Thunderbolt, and we are learning a lot in this whole
process. It is a new ballgame for me to be out of the music world with
this endeavor. A little strange, but still very exciting.
We are
wanting to have some pictures of the Kissimmee reunion. For those of you
that were there, we would be very grateful if you would share them with
us. If you will email them to me: HBeddow@cs.com I will then send them on
to Claire and we will decide which ones that we want to use. What we don't use,
we will keep for a display in St. Louis.
I have been getting
several confirmation of mail addresses for the Thunderbolt. If you have
moved in the past 2 years, I want to check to make sure you are on the mailing
list with the correct address. Thank you to those that have sent me their
correct mailing address.
I want to thank everyone for their support in
helping Claire and I get started with the Thunderbolt. We hope to soon
give you a time that you can expect the see a Thunderbolt in your
mailbox.
Darrell Egner
Email to our friends overseas
First of all I would like to thank each and everyone of you for
keeping the memory of the 517 PRCT alive. Next I would like to say thanks
for the way all of you have graciously made our visiting troopers so welcome in
your country. You took your valuable time to escort us around to the
various sites we desired to see. And treated us like we were
royalty. Also your E-mails and pictures are much appreciated. We owe
you a great deal for keeping our history alive.
As a small token of our appreciation we would like to invite you to
our national Reunion in St. Louis, Missouri. The dates are June 26 -
30, 2008. St. Louis is almost in the middle of the United States You
would be staying at the beautiful Sheraton Westport Hotel. They provide
free transpiration from the Airport to the Hotel. We will comp your Hotel
room between the above dates and also your Registration fee. St. Louis
is a beautiful city and it would take weeks to see all the sites.
I'm sure I forgot some of our friends from over the pond. If
I did please let me know and I will extend this Invitation to them as
well. My E-mail address is BIGDEGNER@AOL.COM.
If you are able to attend please let me know. We will make the Hotel
Reservations a take care of the Registration.
Hope to hear from you and thanks again for all you do to keep our
history alive.
Regards,
Darrell Egner
President 517
Jean Loup Gassend
Dear Mr Egner
Thank you for your kind
invitation to the St Louis
reunion. I would love to come, but unfortunately
am a
medical student, and am not free in the month of June.
However, I am
still looking for 517th veterans from
southern France to talk to
(Particularly G company),
for an oral history book I am making.
Anybody
interested in helping me by telling me their souvenirs
over the
phone can contact me here:
Jean-Loup Gassend
Phone:
04-93-20-22-91
Email: jean-loup@gassend.com , or
schyzowolf@yahoo.fr
Sincerely
Jean-Loup
Bob Barrett
A PowerPoint presentation just means a slide show. Powerpoint
is the name of the program that most of us use to create a set of slides with
text and pictures. Most of the slide shows on the web that people send you
("look at this!") were built using Powerpoint.
For the reunion, someone can just build a set of slides, then use a
projector to display them on a large screen. It sounds like that is
exactly what McDowell has volunteered to do.
Note: They would need to buy, rent or bring a
projector. The hotel can usually provide a projector, at a cost. A
few years back, Wade Gilbert brought one for us, since he is in that
business. I don't know if he is planning to attend St. Louis. Or you
can buy a pretty good one at your local BestBuy for only $500 or so. If
the committee plans to do this at many future reunions, they might want to spend
that money rather than renting one for $100+ each time. Maybe McDowell
already has access to borrow one.
Bob
Ray Estrella
Ben, thanks for passing on my thoughts/ideas on to the
Association regarding the 517th coin. I will have some samples of the coins to
show you folks at the reunion in Palm Springs. We are now in the planning stages
for our trip to Europe in Mid-August. We have decided to visit Italy, France,
Belgium, and England. Ruben and I will have a lot of questions, and need a lot
of input, regarding our desire to retrace the 517ths campaign route thru
Europe. -- Talk to you soon Ben -- Again, Thank you -- Ray Estrella
Gilles Guignard (Swiss friend )
Dear Ben and Bob,
A friend located a 460th PFAB near Luceram. All photos are
featured on page 70 and 71 of my 517th website.
Kind regards Gilles
< Click on 