From: Ben517@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 12:14 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: MAIL CALL NO. 1691-517TH PRCT - January 3, 2009
 
70 Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA. 02025 ,781 383 0215 * Mail Call : Ben Barrett  Ben517@aol.com 
 
Hello,
 
Just got out of Tahoe before a new snow storm and am now in Dublin, Ca.  I will visit Howard Hensleigh soon. Hope I have not over looked much mail.
 
Please let me know if you want to receive Mail Calls or if you have a problem
receiving them. You can always read back Mail Calls  by clicking on www.517prct.org/archives
Ben

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

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


                                                                  National Reunion

Palm Springs, CA                                                Salt Lake City

West Coast Party                                                July 2009

April 20-24, 2009


Rick Sweet

 Hey Lory,
             Did you read in mail call that someone wants to buy your book? I prefer the hardback book so you should offer it . I have more of your books than anyone! I guess you will be getting your rifle soon. Don't forget to get yourself some ammo with bandoleers that are already loaded into clips. I noticed that in Clint Eastwood's new movie, Gran Torino that he points an M-1 at some punks and says "Get off my lawn". Sounds like something I would do and say to a bunch of punks. I gotta see that movie . It will be out on the 9th. I want to see Valkyrie too , even tho I don't like Tom Cruise much. Thanks for the Phone call and Happy New Year!!
                                                                                                                                                     SOB Sweet

Lory Curtis
Ben,
I emailed Larry Zickefosse with the information on obtaining a book Letters Home, A Paratrooper's Story.  I told him he could email me at lcurtis@utah.gov for information.  Larry, and family, thank you so much for your interest in this book about my Dad and the 517th PRCT. 

Also, I want to wish everyone in this wonderful 517th Association a very Happy New Year.  I hope to see all of you at the National Reunion in Salt Lake City, July 9-13, 2009.  Myself and Mike Wells, son of Chester Wells, H Company are in the process of working out details for some fun activities while you are here in Salt Lake City. I noticed on mailcail some are interested in doing family research at the world's largest genealogy library.  It is only a city block away from the Radisson Hotel where we will be staying.  A few years ago I found information about my 4th great grandfather who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill in the Revolutionary War, and his son who fought in the War of 1812.  Until I visited there I never knew this information.  It has been great to find out more about my heritage.  It is surely a great resource, and it is all free.    

Lory Curtis, son of Bud Curtis, HQ, 1st Bn.

Eddy Lamberty ( our Belgian friend)
 
  To all the 517ers,their families & friends

Jerry Wolfford
 
"If we cannot forgive, how can we in turn expect the All Mighty to forgive us ?"                                      

Happy New Year to all of you.                                                                                                         http://wandascountryhome.com/newyear/recipe.html


Don Gentry
Happy New Year to the 517th PRCT Men and their Families. Play it again Sam.

Walter Smith
Subj: Ageing

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avant-garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant. 

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.
 Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will
 
I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old.
I know I am sometimes forgetful.
But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.
So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver. 

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore.
I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day (if I feel like it). 

 MAY OUR FRIENDSHIP NEVER COME APART ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S STRAIGHT FROM THE HE
MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE A RAINBOW OF SMILES ON YOUR FACE AND IN YOUR HEART FOREVER AND EVER! FRIENDS FOREVER!