Interesting note form AOL. Apparently, you have violated their rules with your MailCall. They think that you are the spammer. At least this might help explain why you were getting blocked for a while.

It doesn't say who reported a violation, and I'm sure that none of your readers would complain. My guess is that your email hit one of the other services (comcast, msn, etc.) which did an automated review of the email and identified it as spam or bulk mail. Q: How many people do you have on your email list now?

Apparently they are interpreting your paragraph about "please send donations" as either a Spam mail or Bulk email or asking for money. I took a quick look at the AOL Terms of Service and I don't see anything at all that explains exactly what the problem is. By highlighting that paragraph, they seem to be most concerned about asking for help. (If I put the word "d on a tions" in here too many times, it will probably set off the same alarms.)

I will try to contact someone at AOL to explain the situation and see if we can come up with some work-around. (Don't get your hopes up.) Until then, don't put that paragraph in the emails. Don't even include the note from AOL with the words in it. In future MailCalls, maybe I can put a link somewhere -- "Please help the Association through your contributions" -- instead of the exact text. (XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.)

I will look into it over the weekend.

Bob Barrett

Dad

You could try inserting this photo instead of the former paragraph. This should not get picked up by the Spam filters.

Bob

Howard Hensleigh

Dear Ben,

George (Red) Meline, one of the Third Battalion S-2, Intelligence Team originals, was here for a pleasant afternoon of recollections yesterday. George came to the batallion after everyone had gone through basic training. His first job was to convince Joe McGeever, Hq. 3rd CO, that he should be allowed to remain and then he had to talk Mel Zais into it. Mel agreed, but said he would be on his tail all through training looking for the slightest screw up. Red must have done alright as he was soon selected for the S-2 section and Mel made sure he was in the plane with him on the S. France jump. That paid off as Red and other members of the S-2 section, in the black of early morning, soon got the troopers Mel could round up on the road to the drop zone, some twenty miles away. Red was a mainstay in the S-2 section through all of the 517th's training and combat.

Red returned to his roots in Weed, CA after the war and married Betty, a nearby rancher's daughter on whom he had his eye from grade school on. George was interviewed last D Day by Jim Shultz of the Record Searchlight who ended his article:

Jerry Wolfford

Hi Ben.This is In response to your previous "Mail Call" inquiring about attendance of troopers and family for the 09 national get-together in Salt Lake City. I am acting as liaison for my uncle George W. Cavnar, Reg. H.Q. 517. He was also one of "Boom Boom's" demolition guys. I spoke with Unk by phone this week and quizzed him about his plans. He said definitely "yes" he would attend the S.L.C. function barring unforeseen maladies. About the personal preference on future sites for reunions he spoke favorably of the Kansas City destination. If Uncle George is able to attend next year I plan to accompany him as a guest. He will be coming from Ohio and I from Texas. Thanks for all you do. Nephew Of A Buzzard