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Sheraton Westport Registration Form Reunion schedule of Events 517th Reunion Registration Form	Sheraton Westport Registration Form Reunion schedule of Events 517th Reunion Registration Form

70 Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA. 02025 ,781 383 0215 * Mail Call : Ben Barrett Ben517@aol.com

I just learned about the passing of a good friend and an Honorary member of the 517, Col. Bob Piper 505, was a career soldier attended many of our reunions and had many friends in the Airborne community. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, February 8.

We are starting a fund with volunteer contributions to assist our friends from Belgium and France to attend the St. Louis reunion. You can send a contribution to Leo Dean at 14 Stonehenge Lane, Albany New York 12203

Please let me know if your email is not to be included in Mail Call by inserting FYEO.

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

Please try to send in donations 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 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

We up dating theThunderbolt roster. Please send mailing address to Helen Beddow HBeddow@cs.com please include the name "517th" in the subject box.

Ben

Website www.517prct.org
Mail Call Ben517@aol.com

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:

517th Victory in Europe Prop Blast - May 19 1945

Toivo Moisio (?), Company D

Blue Book Magazine articles - 1947-1948
George W. Cavnar, Reg. HQ

When Weather Changed History: The Battle of the Bulge

The Thunderbolt - August 1943

Paras en Provence: Le 517th PRCT Dans Les Alpes Maritime
from Armes Militaria Magazine (cover, article)

Claire Giblin

Hi, Ben -

Helen and I are hard at work on the Thunderbolt, and we are issuing a call for submissions. Did you have a great time at a recent or long-ago reunion? Was there a long-lost buddy that you reconnected with? Just a funny 1-liner?

Or can you share a story that you might or might not have told your family?

Remember, the Auxiliary is growing, and while spouses might have heard your stories, the children and grandchildren have not.

And the Thunderbolt is the ideal place! Of course, we are searching Mail Call for this sort of thing - but we welcome submissions! The Thunderbolt is here for its members. Feel free to email us at clairejgib@patmedia.net or HBeddow@cs.com

Claire Giblin

Darrell Egner

Subject: SOF Micssion First

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQhjaCgAS80&feature=related Watch it - Ben

When you hear the media's talk of war deaths from "friendly fire," or rage, or pure murder, you have to remember that war is not the one-on-one shootouts depicted in movies and TV. War is hell, ambushes, and often being overrun and out numbered. This video show the close air support provided by a USAF AC-130 supporting the extraction of a small group of commandos. Modern technology helps identify the good guys from the bad guys, but you can see how quickly the decisions have to be made. You will see several RPGs fired at the good guys only to have the person launching the RPG being sent to see his 72 virgins. I pass this on so that you can better appreciate the environment that our soldiers are subjected to. Were our members of congress and our senate personally involved with this the way o ur troops are I think that the troop support votes would be a lot different...

AC-130U Specter Gunship built by Lockheed, flown and operated by the USAF 16th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, FL. Their motto .... "you can run but you'll only die tired."

Now this is how CAS is supposed to work! The person you hear talking to the crew is on the ground. He is with the British Special Air Service (SAS) Commandos in a firefight making their way to the Helo extraction point Landing Zone (LZ)

Jerry Wolford

USS New York Built With World Trade Center Steel

We are compiling a list of names of members who have recently passed on for a memorial service at the St. Louis reunion. We started a fund for a Don Fraser memorial, but Don's family requested that the memorial service include all other members. We can add any members who have passed on.

Below is a partial list compiled from past Mail Calls. We will continued to search and would like to have anyone to add names to this list. -- Ben

Clifford Marchand 460 D

James Degan H Co.

Thomas Priest Hq 3

Fred Harmond H Co.

Elbert Duran A Co

Lou Holzworth Reg.Hq

George Mitchell 596

Harland Curtis Hq 1

Donald Fraser Hq 1

Leo Turco 460

Hale C. Jeffers C Co.

Raymond Poe 596

Daniel Laselo

Buel E. Putnam 2nd Bn

Flave Carpenter I Co

Claude Burleson 460 D

Carol Eckert

Jack Anderson F Co

Ed "Dog" Jordan B Co

William Evans

Gene Markle 596

Raymond Gearon I Co

Gordon Lippman

Bob Magnuson H Co

Hu Mclung Weeb

Jerry Larson

Mike Bilino 596

Paul Smith I Co.