Click here: Thanksgiving

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Ben,
Happy Thanksgiving to you and all of the troopers, and our 517th
family.  I hope each of you have a very relaxing, peaceful Thanksgiving
Day with your families.  God Bless America. 

Lory and Tim Curtis, sons of Bud Curtis, HQ, 1st BN

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Dear Ben, Thanks for the email.  I did send a contribution to Leo
Saturday.  I would very much like to receive the Mail Call so that
I can monitor any reply to my request for information.

I can provide a picture of 2nd Lt. Charles M. Willis in his airborne
uniform  as an attachment.  I can also provide a summary of where he was
at different times.  To summarize, he entered the Army in November of
1941.   He transferred to the paratroops in March of 1942.  He was
promoted to Lt. and  remained at Fort Benning as a training officer
until March or April of 1944.  He then went to North Africa and Italy,
and saw some combat before about August 1.


He jumped into Southern
France, (St. Tropez, I was told) on August 15. I DO NOT KNOW THE UNIT, BUT
IT MAY HAVE BEEN THE 460TH PAR. FIELD ARTILLERY.  He did send a letter
describing artillery in great detail.  He returned to
Rome in September.  He might have been hurt or wounded. He was reassigned
to the 12th Armored Division, 56th Armored Infantry Battalion at Christmas
time, 1944.  He fought
heroically in Alsace  and eventually was killed in Speyer, Germany.
We think the date was March 23, but the official date is March 24th, and
that is the date of Operation Varsity when so many men he trained with in
the 17th Airborne were lost.

Thanks much for any help you may be able to give.

Mike Woldenberg
100 Lyman Road
Buffalo, NY 14226

(716) 834 2824
geomike@buffalo.edu

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