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1st Battalion at Soy, Belgium, 22-24 December 1944
3rd Battalion at Bergstein, Germany, 4-8 February 1945
1944 Dec 14 - Hamburg Iowa Reporter - Howard Hensleigh in Les Arc
Palm Springs, CA Thursday July 9 thru July 13
April 20-24,2009
Jean-Loup Gassend
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I would like to ask a question to General Seitz (he may
remember I phoned him one a couple of occasions last year. And Happy
birthday as well by the way!), and maybe Mr Hensleigh can also help
out.
I have recently been reading some documents about the
liberation of Nice written by some local french historians. These people
have the unpleasant habit of always minimizing the role of the Americans
in the liberation, and when reading their texts, it seems that the French
resistance liberated France all on its own!
Anyhow, in these documents, the historians claim that in late
August 1944, General Patch forbade any of his troops to go across the Var
River. The French historians claim that the US forces were "obliged" to
cross the river although they didn't want to because the French resistance
started an insurrection in Nice.
The French historians claim that when the 517th crossed the Var
river at la Roquette, they were actually breaking orders, and the crossing
was just an initiative of the company commander.
So my questions for General Seitz would be: who ordered you to
cross the Var River? Is there any truth in the claims that US forces were
ordered NOT to cross the Var? As of about august 20th, what were the
orders of the 517th: what were the objectives, and how far was the advance
east initially meant to go: the Var river or the Italian border?
Thank you
Jean-Loup Gassend
Dick Seitz
Ben, I'm so happy you are home
and on the road to recovery. Please take it easy an follow the
doctors orders. In reply to our good friend Jean Loup. The
following is offered. who ordered the crossing of the Var River? I,
as the commander of the 2nd Battalion, 517th ordered E Company to cross
the Var, capture La Roquette and continue the advance to the East
protecting the right flank of the Sixth U S Army. General Patch,
nor anyone gave any orders to not cross the Var. My orders to cross
the Var were in line with orders from Colonel Graves, C O 517th to
continue the attack toward the Italian border to protect the flank of
Sixth Army s advance to the North. As concerns the liberation of
Nice. I recommend you contact the commander of the 596th Engineer
Company, part of the 517 Combat Team. The 596th played a very, very
important role in the liberation of Nice. Colonel, then Captain
Robert Dalrymple an outstanding commander of 596th Eng'eers can give you
details on their important role in The liberation of Nice Dick Seitz
Howard Hensleigh
Dear Gilles, You mentioned that it was hard to figure out who was in charge of what in the 517th. I am not sure this will help, but here it is for what it is worth. As you know we (517th Parachute Infantry Regiment) were part of the 17th Division until shortly after Tennessee maneuvers, when we became a regimental combat team by adding the 460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and the 596th Parachute Engineer Company. We did all our fighting in Italy, France Belgium and Germany as a combat team. In the Spring of 1945 the combat team was broken up and the 517th became the parachute infantry regiment of the 13th Airborne Division, with the 460th and the 596th being absorbed into the 13th's artillery and engineering units. We were on our way through the States for the invasion of Japan when the war ended as we crossed the Atlantic. Our original regimental commander was Louis Walsh, a 32 year old WestPoint graduate who was promoted to colonel soon after taking command, but replaced by Lt Col. Rupert Graves, who graduated from WestPoint about 10 years before Walsh did, and also was promoted to colonel in that job. The regimental executive officer was Lt. Col Walton, who broke a leg on the S. France jump. The three infantry battalions were commanded by: 1st Bn., Bill Boyle; 2nd Bn. Dick Seitz and 3rd Bn. Melvin Zais, all were in their mid 20s. When Walton broke his leg, Zais became combat team executive officer and Forrest Paxton, who had been regimental S-3, commanded the 3rd Bn. until he left on points in the Spring of 1945 and Tom Cross, who had been executive officer of the 2nd Bn., commanded the 3rd Bn. until the 517th was disbanded in 1946. Lt. Col. Cato commanded the 460th and Bob Dalrymple commanded the 596th. Many of the officers and enlisted men continued in the Army after the war with illustrious carriers, Eg. Dick Sietz and Mel Zais ended up respectively as three and four star generals. Many who entered civilian life kept one boot in the Army as reservists and National Guardsmen. The original 3rd Bn. company commanders were: G Co., Grant Hooper, then Pazinsky; H Co. "Skip" Morris; Richard (Lucky Jack) Jackson took over the company shortly after the invasion and commanded it throughout the rest of the combat; I Co. Martin Fastia; his executive officer, Jim Birder, ran the company and took command after Fastia was relieved and McGeever was killed at Col de Braus; Hq. 3rd, Joe McGeever, who became Bn. executive officer shortly before he was killed, and then Bill Pencak. The 3rd Bn. staff members were: S-1 Russ Johnson, who later went to regiment and was replaced by Dick Spencer; S-2 Johnie Neiler, who went to regiment to replace Albin Dearing who was injured in the jump and I replaced him as 3rd Bn. S-2; S-3 Bill Pencak, Paszensky, Hooper, Hensleigh at Bergstein until I separated from the service in November 1945 to go back to law school. I had a great bunch of troopers in the S-2 section; we patrolled all the time and I never lost any of them. The S-3 spot was at the heart of everything important the Bn. did and I enjoyed interfacing with the Bn. and company commanders on all plans, training and operations details. I trust this will be illuminating rather than confusing. Highest regards, Howard Hensleigh
Darrell Egner First I wish to explain that some how I missed Dick Seitz birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DICK! I got
disgusted working on my taxes so I pulled up some old Mail
Calls and there it was. I have stated on several speeches I gave at
Reunions that I and many others are still alive because of Dick's
leadership. Boy was I right!
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