From: Ben517@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 9:04 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: MAIL CALL NO. 1507 517TH PRCTR-MARCH 20, 2008
  70 Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA. 02025 ,781 383 0215 * Mail Call : Ben Barrett  Ben517@aol.com 
   http://bands.army.mil/music/bugle/calls/mailcall.mp3< Click on
Hello,
Last Mail Call number should have been No. 1506.

Fifty-seven years ago on Dec. 16, 1944 The Battle Of The Bulge began.  I am including in this "Mail Call" a poem from L'OFFENSIVE DES ARDENNES by Eddy Monfort. This is a rough translation from the French. Eddy gave me his book when we visited Belgium in 1994. It is written in French.
 
There is still time to register for the Palm Springs Reunion April 13-18.
 
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
 Ben

Website                                   www.517prct.org                                                        
Mail Call                                  
Ben517@aol.com
Mail Call Archives                 www.517prct.org/archives
Roster                                     www.517prct.org/roster.pdf


Palm Springs, CA

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.

Information and Registration Forms:

 formatted pdf forms simple Web Page format

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

Recent website additions:

Lester Gene Hyman and friends, 596th PCEC

Lots of pictures of the 596th, most unidentified soldiers

517th Victory in Europe Prop Blast - May 19 1945

Toivo Moisio (?), Company D

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

The Thunderbolt - August 1943

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


Arnold and Irma TARGNION, Maria GASPAR

 

Dear Ben, dear friends of AMERICA,
Best wishes to all of you and your family at this moment of the year. Have a nice Spring. We think of you with Love and Gratitude. Wishing you Easter Blessings.
Arnold and Irma TARGNION, Maria GASPAR and members of teh US Airborne Reception Committee. Trois-Ponts Belgium

Heather Riley
 
There was a mention of some other fans of buzzards on the Sunday Morning
Show last week.  The small town of Hinckley awaits the yearly return of the
buzzards to signal spring.  There were a few jokes about their choice of
birds to regal, so I felt compelled to share the website of the Battling
Buzzards of the 517th.  Here is the town trustee's reply.
Heather
----- Original Message -----
From: <rgarapick@hinckleytwp.org>
To: "Heather L Riley" <wt_wildone@nu-z.net>
Sent: 03/18/2008 5:50 PM
Subject: Re: Some other Buzzards


> Thanks for the information.. Nice website
> Ron Garapick
> Hinckley Township Trustee
>
> Heather L Riley writes:
>> Hi,
>>  I enjoyed your publicity today on the Sunday Morning Show.  I would like
>> to direct your attention to the fact that the buzzard was the mascot of
>> some mighty tough paratroopers during WWII.  My daddy was one of them.
>> Please visit the site of the Battling Buzzards of the 517th. You might
>> want to get one of their patches for your collection.  Their website is :
>> www.517prct.org
>> Yours,
>> Heather Riley
>> Daughter of Pvt. Ian Cowan
>> Co. B
Bob Dalrymple
 
For General Richard Seitz . It's no wonder you are a superb LEADER ! Congratulations on that operation and your splendid recounting of the action . That is a first-hand account that should be  in every military leadership training manual . Bob Dalrymple, former CO,596th Parachute Eng Co, 517thPRCT

Jeff Hyman  ( To Bob Barrett )
DEAR MR. BARRETT:

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING THIS FOR ME.  IT GIVES ME GREAT JOY TO SEE HIM ON THIS WEB SITE.

I HAVE ANOTHER REQUEST IF YOU WOULD BE SO KIND.  AS I MENTIONED BEFORE I AM PUTTING A SHADOW BOX TOGETHER WITH DAD’S MEMORABILIA.

I AM TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT RIBBONS AND / OR METALS HE MAY HAVE HAD ON HIS JACKET.  I HAVE WRITTEN FOR COPIES OF HIS DISCHARGE TO THE MILITARY RECORDS ARCHIVES IN ST. LOUIS, MO AND THEY WROTE BACK TELLING ME THAT THEY MAY HAVE BEEN LOST IN A FIRE THAT DESTROYED A LOT OF MILITARY RECORDS DATING BACK FROM 1906 TO THE 1950’S.  HIS JACKET HAS A RED BRAID THAT LOOPS AROUND THE LEFT SHOULDER THROUGH THE LEFT SHOULDER FLAP.  HIS CAP HAS A PATCH WITH A PARACHUTE AND A GLIDER BORDERED IN RED.  I HAVE SEEN THIS PATCH BEFORE ON THE OTHER WEB SIGHTS, BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT STANDS FOR.

FINALLY, DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT THE STANDARD ISSUE RIFLES FOR THE 596TH WERE? ONE OF THE PICTURES OF DAD SHOWS HIM WITH WHAT LOOKS LIKE AN M-1 GARAND.  I AM A GUN COLLECTOR AND HOPE TO FIND AN M-1 GARAND IN EXCELLENT CONDITION SOME DAY SOON.

AGAIN I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR POSTING MY FATHER’S PICTURES.

SINCERELY,

JEFF A. HYMAN

See many photos ad information by clicking on

Lester Gene Hyman and friends, 596th PCEC


 

MANHAY


Hold At All Costs

Where are the worthy GI’s running who liberated us,
They have their tanks, the Germans, with their equipment,
Have been driven back.  They seemed powerful,
Invincible soldiers, masters for a very long time.

Each time the return of the occupying forces is precise.
For the veteran of the underground the decision has been made.
Once again, in the Ardennes, there will be vengeance.
Flee people of the maquis, avoid judgment.

Civilians have left, replaced by soldiers.
Speedily, they have been crowded into truck beds.
Since Reims, in the rain, turning points, chaos,
For parachutists, what hell, no planes, no trucks!

They were forewarned...in the winter by the fire.
A surplus of potatoes, bacon, eggs.
The front has been made right.  Manhay is in the middle.
The site can be razed.   Order to leave the area.

The bolt on Fraiture has suddenly been released.
Spreading out toward Manhay, grenadiers and tanks.
Evening descending on the Ardenne obscures
The steel worms spitting their fire bursts

Suddenly, from behind the low clouds , the moon appears,
Unveiling the barrages, a chance for the enemy.
Under a pale halo, appears the reply.


Nine tanks will be destroyed, the snow has betrayed them.
This Christmas Eve, will be the breakthrough.
In the radio silence, for the imposed retreat,
An audacious Panzer, between two Shermans, slips in.
Spreading terror…a feat of great audacity.


The artillery intervenes from Monchenoul to Deux-Rys
In three days the batteries will destroy the dwelling    
Through numerous battles, until body to body,
Face to face with the enemy, their fate is sealed.

The region liberated, the village retaken,              
The spoils of the sinister building will be counted.
Where have the sheets gone, still so well-folded?
On a slain soldier, is where they will be found.

Friends have left in pursuit of the enemy.
But the heroic Ardenne regains his courage.
The meadows are cleansed and the lodging is rebuilt.
At vespers they tell the tale of this hard, cursed winter.

Today, the village, fixed like a terrace
on the side of the green massif where violent winds brew,
Has found peace, let us hope, forever.
Manhay, her story, her central square: it was well worth the detour.

Manhay “cost what it may”.  The alarm has sounded…and the order has come      
  Down.
Hold at all costs-“Tenir coute que coute”


                                                     Emile PIRARD