From:
Ben517@aol.com
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 7:04 PM
To:
undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: MAIL CALL NO.1749-517TH PRCT-MARCH
20, 2009
70 Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA. 02025 ,781 383 0215 * Mail
Call : Ben Barrett Ben517@aol.com
Hello,
Send contributions for Film Project to.
Leo Dean
14
Stonehenge Lane
Albany,
NY 12203
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
Reunion
info:
Darrell Egner
Hi Folks
I am so pleased and proud the way you
responded to our call for donations for the making of the Movie of the
517. This is a wonderful thing that we will leave for our children and
generations to come. The donations are coming in like gang busters and I
am sure we will meet our goal. We have raised over half the money we
need. Rest assured the Movie will be made and in time for it to be shown
at the Reunion in July at Salt Lake City. I can't thank you
enough!
First of all I am not a CPA nor do I claim to be a tax man, I
just pay them. I read our Corporation papers from the Internal Revenue
Service stating we (517 PRCT) are exempt from paying
taxes. I also found the following section, I quote: "Consistent with
your current status as a veterans organization, donors can deduct
contributions made to of for the use of your organization".
As I said before I am not a tax person so please consult with your tax person if
you should have a problem with the IRS.
Again I want to thank all of you
that sent donations and those that will.
Darrell Egner
President 517
PRCT
Dick Seitz
For Kathy
Perkoski . It was a treat to read your e mail. It brought back fond
memories of your dad, a brave comrade and fine paratrooper. He and his
comrades in F Company were a fine group of great troopers. Glad you want
to support the 517th movie. All good wishes. Airborne all the
way! Dick Seitz
Betty Traver
Hi Ben,
Please pass this on to Edith Miller. Myrle
also received the letter, certificate and pin that she described. It is
our understanding that all who served in the army was receiving this. We
also noted that the Paratroopers were not mentioned.
Our donation will be sent to Leo Dean for the
movie.
Betty Traver
Click on.-Ben
Schmidt Bergstein Attack - Jan-Feb 1945 by Myrle Travers, F
AWARD OF THE SILVER STAR
Private First Class Carl E.
Votti, 33 590 969, 517th Parachute Infantry,
United States Army, for gallantry in action. On 12 January 1945, Company "B",
517th Parachute Infantry, was assigned the mission of establishing the
bridgehead across the L'Ambieve River and clearing part of the town of Stavelot,
Belgium. As Private First Class Votti attempted to enter a building on the edge
of town, he was ambushed by three well camouflaged enemy dressed in snow capes.
One of the enemy held a machine pistol against him, one started to disarm him
and the other held his rifle at the ready position. Private First Class Votti,
thinking and acting exceptionally fast, kicked the enemy holding the machine
pistol and pushed it aside just as the enemy fired. Almost simultaneously, he
felled the enemy attempting to disarm him, grabbed his weapon and attempted to
fire at the third, who fled. Instead of permitting himself to be captured,
Private First Class Votti risked almost certain death to free himself and
captured two prisoners. Information gained from these men proved invaluable to
Company "B" in the accomplishment of its mission. Entered the military service
from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Ken Meise
Please post this, I sent in a ton of mail my father wrote to
his sister during the war and anyone can feel free to use them as it gives
insight of the times. Ed Meise passed away Jan 26th 2009 as I reported awhile
back. He told many stories of the was including a very low level jump in which
some guys got hurt. He said the moment the chute opened, they hit the ground
hard. I think he said 1200 feet????? which he believes they were experimenting
that night. They never did it again after a near riot. Then he told me they
wanted the men to jump with the rifle assembled and the men refused and a
tough guy from some outfit called them a bunch of sissies and said he would
show them and the guy died who jumped with the rifle going through him. Then he
told us of a Mercedes car that was attacked and someone took pictures with the
Germans dead in the car. He said he thinks officers got the car in the end
somewhere. I found the pic on your site and showed it to Dad and he said
yes that's it and he was there when it happened. My father was in company C and
trained for mountain fighting. He said the entire unit was attached to many
different outfits and the unit had to be ready to go in 10 minutes. Maybe he
said 20 minutes, I can't recall. One more story was during basic training, there
was a mountain in Georgia that they ran up and he said no one could make it too
the top (part of their training) b ecause the ground was loose and so on. I
could go on and on but he always said those days were the best of his life
before he was wounded during one attack that he said a lot of guys got hurt or
killed...in Belgium??? Not sure where he said. I do know he liked a Sergeant Rock
a lot. Feel free to use the stuff I sent as you wish.
I don’t remember
getting this before. But I did lose a lot of my email a while ago, and may
not have gotten to it.
If he has something
worth posting I could take scanned copies. But if it is really a “ton” of
letters, I probably wouldn’t want to post it all. And I wouldn’t
have time to scan in everything.
Bob
B.
Scott Ramsey
Good morning Ben,
I am so excited about the new film
project and can't wait to see it. As you know I am also trying to interview
veterans, but have yet to interview or receive a history from a 517th member.
Below is a link to a local newspaper article concerning my interviews, which I
have been doing for almost five years now and would very much like to do a small
phone interview with a member of the 517th. With my interviews we only discuss
what you want to talk about and is on your time table.
Please contact me anytime.
850-276-7324
Have a great day and I look forward to hearing from you
soon,
Ray Hess
Hello Ben: In Mail Call #1747, Bill Christian has a list of
individuals who are planning to attend the West Coast Mini reunion. My question
is primarily to Bill. I didn’t notice Ernie Gilbert’s name. I can not get to his Daughter, Barbara, by E-Mail nor his son. I do hope that Ernie is Okay. Any
information on Ernie would be appreciated. Best regards Ray R.
Hess
