Dear Ben: Only after Alan read the article and
asked him about it. As is his style, he said it was nothing!
Thanks so much to you and especially Bob for doing such a marvelous job on
the wedding pictures. Dad and Mama met in college at Kansas State, Dad was
a junior, from Leavenworth, KS and Mama a freshman from Ellis, KS. At
the end of his junior year, Dad went into the service (he had been majoring in
agricultural chemistry so he could take over the family creamery business, but
said his only decent grades were in ROTC!). Mama finished college in 1942,
but they kept in touch. While each of them said that they were not serious
and dated others, the family stories do recount that Dad did
come back to K-State for football games (how he did it in the days of no
superhighways floors me!) and Mama went down for a Propblast party as I have a
copy of the dance card/invitation in her scrapbook (apparently my grandfather
first met my Dad when Dad was sleeping on the couch of the Pi Phi house after
one of these drives and my grandfather Merrill was also in town; needless to say
it was not an impressive first meeting) and Dad apparently named a jeep or two
the Bettie Jean, until it was blown up. Mama was a journalism major
and after college was working writing advertising copy for a radio
station, when her father said: "There's a war on, I have no sons, do your
part." So she joined the Red Cross and was shipped overseas to England in
the Spring of '44 then was moved to Holland in the winter of 44. The two
kept in touch by letters but didn't know where each was because of
censorship. When she saw in the Stars & Stripes that Dad was
engaged in the battle of St. Vith, by herself, at age23, in knee high snow, she
drove in that commandeered car shown in the pictures, found the 517th
regimental headquarters (the farm house), went in, announced that she was "Betty
Jean Merrill and she was there to see Dick Seitz." The men there said,
that's great, Betty, but you can't go where he is. After the Bulge, they
reconnected. Mama recalls going into Paris with Dad, Mel Zais, John
Lissner and some of the other guys -- tey knew how to party, and Mama being more
cautious, on occasion thought retreat before the MP's arrived was the better
approach. They discussed getting married, but decided to wait until after
the war. Mama always jokingly said she caught Dad with Battle
Fatigue. Dad had told her just let me know when you are ready to get
married. So after the war ended in Europe, she sent Dad a telegram, that
said "Have Bridesmaid will arrive for wedding." Dad, with the help of Tom
Cross, Madame Breton and the rest of he 517th put together a wedding in a very
short amount of time. It wasn't easy to get married -- it had to be
approved up the chain of command, but permission was
obtained, and they were married. Mama told the story that she didn't
have anyone to tell her about the "Birds and the Bees" before the wedding, so
she went for a long walk with the regimental surgeon before the wedding
who filled her in on those details! Tom Cross tells the story about
the trials and tribulations of obtaining a wedding ring from Paris. Dad was
proud of how sharp the men from the 517th looked in their Class A uniforms
-- probably the first time they had been in them since the states. Tom
Cross can tell stories about how the guys enjoyed the champagne! Leon
Dean recalls attending the wedding. Mama and Dad spent the first
night of their honeymoon in the hotel in the picture, but they had to share
a "bathroom facility" with everyone else and the toilet consisted of a hole in
the floor, so they decided to head on south to Nice and ran into more men
from the 517th and it took them several days to shake them before they
could have a honeymoon. Needless to say, with a beginning like this you
can understand why the 517th has an extra special connection for our
family!
Bob,
I loved the suicidal goose story! This is the sort of thing I always
hoped I would find on Mail Call. I know the rest of you have stories.
Let's have 'em!
Jo Anne Roberts Gray
Bob Barrett
In case people could not read the Goose story in your last MailCall, they
can view it here:
Pat Seitz and Allan Greer
Dear Darrell: You are outstanding and we are all so grateful for your
dedication and leadership. With great admiration and affection. Pat
Seitz and Alan Greer
Merle McMorrow
Ben & Helen:
I have reunion booklets for 1969, 1975, 1983
1990, 1991,That was back at a time when Unit pictures were taken and couple
pictures were taken before the dinner banquet. In 1983 24 showed up
from Bttry C.
Most pictures taken at the reunion were in the
booklet and furnished to the attendent after the reunion was over.
Do you want them or do I throw?
Merle
