From: Ben517@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 7:27 PM
Subject: MAIL CALL NO. 1730-517TH PRCT-FEBRUARY 18, 2009
 
70 Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA. 02025 ,781 383 0215 * Mail Call : Ben Barrett  Ben517@aol.com 
Hello,
 
 
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  
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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


Jim Mortensen

Hi Ben

Thanks for letting us know about Dick's 39th birthday. What good news. 
Hope he has a great day.

Best

Jim Mortensen


Wayne and  Kerry Cross

Best wishes for a very Happy Birthday General Seitz!  Wayne and Kerry Cross


Merle and Betty Traver

Ben,
Please forward our congratulations to General Dick Seitz on his birthday. 
We are looking forward to the SLC reunion and hopefully all of those troopers who are able will attend this last national meeting.
Myrle and Betty Traver

Jim Mortensen
HI Ben

Let me add the best wishes to Dick's birthday. He must be at least 39 
this year.

He asked me to jump again when he last saw me at the reunion but, even 
after second thoughts, I'm glad I said "NO."

Anyway, it's a pleasure to know him . . . and a pleasure to recall the 
moment we jumped out of the door.

Best

Jim Mortensen
                                       *****************
Jim, because of his expertise, was chosen to push out of the door on the Southern France jump the bale with vital communication equipment and to make sure that this vital bale was launch at the right time and land in the correct spot General Seitz assisted him. My understanding is that this vital bale was never found.-Ben

Dick Seitz
 
Nmc.  Ben, my best thanks for you birthday greetings.  Per usual you were real kind and so thoughtful.  I appreciated you greeting very, very much.  The Good Lord has truly blessed me over the years and I thank Him every day.  With profound respect and admiration for the man you are and all you do for so many.  Airborne all the way!.Dick
Can you pass this to Phil Gioia? Phil, thanks for you kind greetings.  It was great hearing from you after so many years.  You did wonderful job taking charge of the VIP Brazilian General when he visited Bragg.  He was pleased as was I. Airborne All The Way.  Dick Seitz
Lory Curtis
Ben,

    Please forward our heartiest birthday congratulations to General
Seitz.  He is such a wonderful man and I feel very honored to know him.
At the reunions General Seitz always takes time to talk with us, and I
sure enjoy listening to what he has to say.  In fact at the Washington
D.C. reunion I asked General Seitz what his criteria was for selecting
men for the 517th back in 1943.  He said, "I interviewed 3,100 men and
only allowed 700 into the 517th.  Headquarters was putting a lot of
pressure on me to get the battalion staffed, but I was looking for men
with spirit and heart, not muscles.” 
By the way it was Major Seitz in 1943 who interviewed my Dad and
allowed him to become a member of this famed 517th PRCT.  This is what
my Dad wrote home to his mother about then Major Seitz.  I have recorded
this letter in the book Letters Home, a Paratrooper's story:

General Seitz, my brother and I wish you a very happy birthday!  AND
MANY MORE!

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

Exert from a letter dated April 27, 1943 Bud wrote:

"Well today the first thing we did was to jump from the mock tower.
Then we had a personal interview by a Major (Seitz). Boy is he a swell
guy.  About 30 years old.  Well I walked in. Saluted him, told him my
name.  He asked me how I liked the paratroops.  I told him
“PERFECT.”  He said he was organizing a bunch of paratroopers
for actual combat overseas in about 9 months from now.  He asked if I
wanted to be in it.  If you could have heard him, the way he said, “If
you do come into my battalion, you are going to work, and work hard, and
when I’m through with you, you’ll be a man, and the very best.”(
Major Seitz also told Bud we are going to go to Japan and kill the
Japanese, is that what you want to do?  Bud responded, “Yes sir!”)
Then if you could have heard him say.  “Write your folks and tell them
you are in my outfit, and that you’ll be overseas in 9 months, and
tell them that I’m personally going to bring you and all the others
back alive.”  Well cold chills went up my back, and I would have done
about anything he wanted me too.  Well anyway I’m on the road to being
a paratrooper.  But I am going to have to work for it." 

Edith Miller
How delightful to receive the notes and pictures of the great reunion in 1995 in Kansas City.  It brought back many good memories and a trip in nostalgia--Many thanks--Edith Miller

Lory Curtis
Ben,

   Please thank Steve Markle for me for listing the ship's manifest of the Oneida Victory.  On page 38 I found my Dad's name listed with Hq &Hq Company.  It was great to see this information.  I sure do appreciate his research.

Lory Curtis, son of Bud Curtis, Hq, 1st BN

 Philip Gioia 

Ben

 Great news; many thanks.

 Please pass to General Seitz that Juan Montes joins me in sending birthday wishes – he will remember Juan. Juan was my first company commander when I reported to the Division as a Second Lieutenant in June 1967.

 All the way,

Phil

 Philip Gioia Managing Director Pathfinder Partners LLC

PB 29284 Presidio of San Francisco CA 94129

415 250-1486

www.pathfinderpartners.us