From: Ben517@aol.com
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 8:35 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: MAIL CALL N0. 1714 517TH PRCT-JANUARY 29, 2009
 
70 Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA. 02025 ,781 383 0215 * Mail Call : Ben Barrett  Ben517@aol.com 
 
Hello,
Please try to send links instead of downloads for Mail Call. You can send me anything but I try not to publish material pertaining to religion, jokes or inference pertaining to the political specter.
 
 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

  Click on                                                              Salt Lake City Reunion

Palm Springs, CA          Thursday July 9 thru July 13

West Coast Party

April 20-24,2009


Jay Sutcliff

Hi Ben, hope all is well,

Thanks for all the hard work,

This is a reply to Mr. Hensleigh comment regarding the flares during the Bergstein night attack.  My father like everyone else’s talk very very little about the War.  I remember sitting watching a WWII movie with my dad.  During the movie, Germans shot off flares to expose the Americans.  My dad said, “Those flares make it as bright as daytime.”  I could tell by the tone of his voice, he had experienced something that wasn’t good.  I always wondered about what he had experienced. Reading Mr. Hensleigh's comments made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.  I can’t even begin to tell the Troopers how important it is to share their experiences, so the family members get a better understanding of what took place.

For what it’s worth

The Bomb Squad on my High School Team was nicknamed the “Screaming Eagles”.  Every year before the 1st game the coach would keep all those after practice, who were a part of the Bomb Squad and explain why and how the name “Screaming Eagles” came to be.  It was a great story that was meant to motivate, and it did.  I would sit there every year and listen to that story and get goose bumps.  My dad picked me up after every practice, and every year I would tell him that same story about the Screaming Eagles, and every year he would say the same thing, “How about that.”, never saying a damn thing about the 517.  If only I would have known.  Those bomb squads would have been called “The Battling Buzzards”.

Thanks for listening


Merle McMorrow

Hello Ben:
 
At the conclusion of another successful and fun-filled reunion, we took Ponnie to The Villages, spent a few days, and then went up to St. Augustine.  So many events were cancelled or postponed because of "cold weather".  If we stopped all activities in ND when the temperature plummeted to 40 degrees we would have to hibernate from September through April. 
 
Bill Webb wants to come to Fargo in the worst way but before that is possible, he needs approval from our Tourist Bureau.   This approval requirement is a result of all the terrible, untrue, misconceptions he spreads about North Dakota and Fargo in particular.  Should he by chance get the required approval, I would form an ad hoc committee that would do everything in its power to secure our borders against the entry of undesirable persons
 
The only unhappy occurrence during our trip was the loss of my camera.  I suspect I left it on the front seat when I turned in the rental car.  The camera can be replaced; the pictures can't.  Tell Helen if some stranger turns in some photos for publication in the Thunderbolt to get his/her phone number and address.
 
Our appreciation and thanks to
 
                                                               Merle & Mardy
Leila, Helen. Claire and the Auxiliary
 
I am a church friend of Jack c. Walbridge HQ CO. 3rd Batt Company I.
 
I would be interested in being added to your e-mail Mailing list.
 
deakins@hotmail.com
Steve  Gomez

Ben,

Greetings to all the 517th troopers and friends!

Last weekend we graduated 14 new parachutists at the Frederick Army Airfield in Oklahoma after an exciting week of training.

The weather was unusually mild and allowed us to complete 236 individual jumps!

A timeline of events with some excellent photography can be viewed here...

http://www.wwiiadt.org/JSch09W.html

AIRBORNE!

Steve Gomez


Bill Christian

Hi Ben,

I have received a number of calls from troopers and their families regarding this years West Coast reunion. Have enclosed a copy of the itinerary again and I would appreciate if you would post this ASAP.

Call or email me with any questions.

Bill

I will send out a special Mail Call with all the information every so often. However, the link , 

    Palm Springs, CA

    West Coast Party is every Mail Call. Just click on it.-Ben

April 20-24,2009 

 
I am very interested in learning all I can about you outfit and WW2.