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

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

517th Annual Florida Mini-Reunion January 17,18,19, 20, 2009

Banquet on the 20th (Tuesday) and Departing on the 21st (Wednesday)

Hosted by: Leila Webb, Location: Ramada Hotel & Inn Gateway

7470 Highway 192 West

Kissimmee, Florida 34747

Tele: 1(800)327-9170 FAX 1(407)396-4320

web site: WWW.ramadagateway.com

Contact: Leila Webb, Helen Beddow and Lou Darden

4155 Kissimmee Park Road

St. Cloud, Florida 34772

Tele:(407)892-3595

Room Rate - $65.00 Registration Fee - $40.00

Palm Springs, CA

West Coast Party

517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team
517th Parachute Infantry Regiment
460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion
596th Parachute Combat Engineer Company

The Battling Buzzards Home Page

Click on logo above to enter

This site is dedicated to all Troopers of the 517th PRCT, their families, and the brave French and Belgian Resistance Fighters who supported and fought with the 517 PRCT in WWII.

517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team 1943-1945

517th Corporate Sponsor:

Recent website additions:

596th PCEC Newsletters 1980-1983

Sospel 1944 and 2008

Pvt. Richard Whidden, D Company

Col de Braus battle - 64th anniversary

Sospel 1943 and nows

Contents

517th Unit Overview and Short History

517 PRCT Association
517th Auxiliary (Relatives and friends)

517th History and Archives: Training and WWII Histories, Books, Stories, Documents

Training and WWII Photos

517th Mail Call

Meet the Troopers

Soldier Stories in the News or on the Internet

Friendlies - Links to other related sites

Reunions and Commemorations

Guestbook Sign in now!

How to find information about a 517th soldier

517th Logos, Patches, Shirts, and Insignia

Sponsors

Search this site

Links

Airborne, Army and Other Links on the Web

The Static Line

Airborne and Special Operations Museum

Veterans History Project

Florida State University, Institute on WWII

Heartland Airborne Memorial

The World War II Honor Roll Now searchable by Unit

Military Records from Ancestry.com

WWII Enlistment Records from NARA

Request Copies of Military Personnel Records

Wikipedia listing for the 517th PRCT

Reunions
Save the Dates!

Florida mini-Reunion

January 17-20, 2009

Palm Springs, CA

West Coast Party

April 20-24, 2009

National Reunion

Salt Lake City

July 2009

Major John "Boom Boom" Alicki, Reg. HQ

1917 - 2008

St. Louis, MO - 2008 National Reunion photos

Washington, DC National Reunion
June 27-July 2 2007

Photos

Vice President Dick Cheney - video

The Story of Corbin Zickefoose's Letters from France

Irma Targnion's Story
Battle of the Bulge

History of the 517th by

Lt. Gen. Richard Seitz

at the 517th Reunion, Savannah, GA

August 2005

See Site Information for submitting material.

517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team

Unit History and Archives

History and Archival Documents

Includes December 1944 roster

How to find information about a 517th soldier

Training and WWII Photos

Books and References about the 517th

Individual Decorations

517 Honor Roll

European Grave Sites

WWII Casualty Reports (under construction)

WWII Recollections - Soldier's Stories

Soldier Stories in the News or on the Internet

Meet the Troopers

517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team

Parachute Training
and
World War II Documents

Some of these documents are in PDF format, for easier viewing and printing. To view these, you need to use the free Adobe Reader program, available here:

(pdf*)

Written Histories

1944 - Operation Dragoon After Action Reports (under construction)

1945 - 7th Armored Division After-Action Report for January 1945

includes the 517th 2nd Battalion attached (Task Force Seitz)

1945 - "517 PCT" Book - The "Blue Book"

1945 - "A Record of Company C"

1947-1948 - Blue Book Magazine articles

1949 - History of the 13th Airborne

1949-1950 - The Operations of Company E, 517PRCT, in a River Crossing and an Attack at La Roquette, France, 27-28 August 1944; Cpt. Walter Irwin, Fort Benning Infantry School (pdf*)

1949-1950 - The Operations of the 551st PIB (attached to the 82nd and the 517th), in the Attack on Trois Ponts, Belgium, 2-7 January 1945; Cpt. Bill G. Smith, Fort Benning Infantry School (pdf*)

1985 - Paratrooper's Odyssey - A History of the 517th Parachute Combat Team

1985? - Chronicle* (A short chronicle of who, what, where, when by unit)

1987 - Aimé Léocard's Story of the French resistance (pdf*)

1988 - 517th PRCT - A Short History from Airborne Quarterly
includes 460th short history and 596th short history
19?? - Original version of the 460th history as written by Fred Brown

1989 - Autobiography of PFC Howard W. Ruppel, F Co. Part 1, Part 2 (pdf*)

198?, 1989 - Autobiography of Eugene L. Brissey, E Co.

1993 - 'Battling Buzzards' : The Odyssey of the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team 1943-1945 by Gerald Astor; Paperback, Hardcover

2004 - Escapades autobiography by "W.T.W." (William T. Webb)

2004 - From Breckenridge to Bastogne by Merle McMorrow

2005 - WAR - My Story of the 517th, by Jim Mortensen 460th PFAB

2005? - Airborne Invasion of Southern France - Operation Dragoon, 1944

200? - The Schmidt Bergstein Attack - Jan-Feb 1945 by Myrle Travers, F Co.

2006 - Irma's Story - 1944-1945 by Irma Targnion

2007 November - Paras en Provence: Le 517th PRCT Dans Les Alpes Maritime
from Armes Militaria Magazine cover, article (pdf*)

2008 January - When Weather Changed History: The Battle of the Bulge video on The Weather Channel

Oral Histories

Accounts of the 3rd Battalion atttack on Manhay - 26 Dec 1944
Recorded at the 517th Annual Reunion , Oklahoma City, 04 June 2003
Lud Gibbons, Fred Harmon, John Guthrie, Cecil Doty, John Strojan, Ben Barrett, Bob Vaught

The Hurtgen Forest Bergstein 1945 - Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4
by Lud Gibbons, 517th (PRCT) from the DropZone web site

History of the 517th - Lt. Gen. Dick Seitz at the Savannah, GA 517th Reunion
Recorded by Lance Anderson, August, 2005.

Supporting Documents

WWII Campaign Maps

WWII Casualty Reports (under construction)

Prayer of Les Quatre-Bras

???? - "What Can I Say?" poem by Lt. Dick Spencer

1985 - Paratrooper's Odyssey poem by Jack C. Casliglione

2003 - Commemorative drawing (pdf*) provided by the WWII Airborne Demonstration Team at the June 2003 517th Reunion

History of the 517th Patch

Historical Archives

1942 - "Selection of the Parachutist" (pdf*) from Military Surgeon magazine, Vol 91: pp 81-83; 1942. Military Review 22 No. 86: 64; 1942. 225.

1943 - Parachute School, Fort Benning - Parachute [Packing] Training

1943 - Parachute Training

1943 - Paratrooper Training Postcards- Fort Benning

1943 - Paratrooper Training - Fort Benning

1943 April 6 - 17th Airborne Information and Compliance (pdf*)

1943 June 12 - "Prop Blast" Book

1943 - 17th Airborne Division football champs

1943 July 8 - Letter from Camp Toccoa, Pvt. James S. Slaten, B Co

1943 Aug - The Thunderbolt - August 1943 (pdf*)

1943 Aug 19 - Letter to Moms

1943 Sept - The Thunderbolt - Sept 1943 (pdf*) - excerpts

1943 Nov 23 - Postcard from Camp Mackall, Pvt. James S. Slaten, B Co

1943 Dec 4 - "Prop Blast" Book (cover only)

1943 - Christmas card from Camp Mackall

1943 - Christmas Greetings from the Men of the Five Seventeen

1943 Dec - The Thunderbolt - Dec 1943 - Lt. Col. J B Andersen and Joe David Brown

1944 - Parachute Injuries at Jump School - The Journal of Joint and Bone Surgery

1944 Jan - News clippings and paratrooper knife

1944 Jan 4 - Tennessee Maneuvers (pdf*)

1944 Jan 7 - Parachutists "Take Camp Mackall, The Charlotte [NC] News

1944 February - Equipment for Airborne Troops - Quartermaster Equipment for Special Forces (pdf*)

1944 Spring - Physical Fitness test results

1944 May 1 - Letter to 596th Wives and Mothers

1944 July 9 - Memorial Service - Italy (includes list of KIAs to date)

1944 August - "TOP SECRET"

1944 - Bronze Star Citation for Burton Stadler

1944 - Ration menus from Southern France

1944 October 14 - Parachute Jump School Certificate (Italy)

1944 October 22 - Thunderbolt newspaper

1944 November 15 - General Orders #22
Good Conduct Medals and Combat Infantryman's Badge

1944 November 8 - Card from Southern France from Ray Wilson

1944 December 1 - Memorial Service (includes list of KIAs to date)

1944 Dec 3 - Liberty Pass front back

1944 - December - Letters to mother of Sgt. Robert J. Miller, I Company (KIA)

1944 - December 9-21 - Photo of Soissons in northern France

1944 - Christmas Greetings (includes complete 1944 Team roster)

1944 - Christmas V-Card - blank copy

1944 - Christmas V-Cards from Charles Pugh and Vernon Glenn, 596th

1944 Dec 28 - Commendation Letter to 1st Battalion from General M.B. Ridgway

1944 Dec 21-25 - excerpts from the History of the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment (1st Battalion of the 517th attached)

1945 Jan 06 - Starts and Stripes - War Correspondent's Notebook - Col de Braus (pdf*)

1945 ? - Starts and Stripes - War Correspondent's Notebook (pdf*)

1945 January - Croix de Guerre citation for Capt. James P. Birder

1945 Feb 10 - 517th unit reported in Stars and Stripes

1945 Feb 11 - Telegram reporting Robert A. Harp KIA

1945 March - "517 PCT" Book

1945 - April - News Clippings about the 3rd Bn "Leftovers"

1945 - Letterhead made for HQ Co, 3rd Battalion: letterhead 1, letterhead 2

1945 - April - Paris Pass

1945 - SSgt Nello Arterburn - Bronze Star Award Citation

1945 May 19 - 517th Victory in Europe Prop Blast

1945 May 22 - War Letter Home from Nello Arterburn, G Co.

1945 July 27 - General Order 48 - Awards of Silver an Bronze Stars (pdf*)
for Dallas, Hughes, Kane, Kleinendorst, Markle, Zygnowicz, Mills, Guy, Hensleigh, Kendrick, and White
(received from Becky Martinette, daughter of Maurice White)

1945 August 10 - Silver Star for William Thorng

1945 August - Passenger list from the Madawaska Victory ship

1945 - September 28 - Paratrooper Landing postcard

1945 - "A Record of Company C"

1945 - Capt. James Birder memorial - Notre Dame 1945

1945 - Christmas Dinner - Reg. HQ - Ft. Bragg

1945 Dec 27 - Presidential Distinguish Unit Citation - 1st Battalion, 517 PIR

1945 - Presidential Recognition Certificate (pdf*) from Harry Truman to Gene Markle

1946 - copy of French Croix de Guerre Citation 247

1947-1948 - Blue Book Magazine articles

194? - Postcards from Camp Mackall

???? - Paratroopers in gliders - Lt. Athey's story