Recent website additions:
A Company in Life Magazine
1944
Pvt. Harry A. Hill, B Company -
200 photos and clippings
Pvt. Richard L. Lynam, H Company,
KIA
Operation
Dragoon After Action Reports
Mail
Handling Procedure During the Invasion of Southern France
Photo from St. Cezaire
Bill Christian
I was remiss in not informing the West Coast attendees
that our usual bartender Alex Sierra Co D was missing due to the death of his
daughter Ann. Sophie and I attended the church service and expressed our
condolence on behave of the517th Paratroop Team. Bill Christian
Bob Dalrymple
Ben , I will contact Lory directly , as requested . I will send Gene $10
right away (tomorrow) . Bless that sweetheart, Karen . What a caregiver ! Par
excellence . And God Bless Bette .
Frank Ramos has been seeking the original wording of
a Presidential Unit Citation Explanation below. I believe that Frank
wanted this information confidential until we could get results. However, I
believe that some member or a widow might have a copy of this PUC. I
have contacted Dick Seitz and others. It might make more sense to read info
below from bottom up-Ben
Hi Ben,
The only 7th Armored Division PUC recommendation was for the defense of St.
Vith in December 1944. The 517th was not attached to 7AD at that time. There is
a full and an abbreviated version of the recommendation wording of a Presidential
Citations for that award (submitted in 1947 but not awarded due to an
administrative decision that no more divisional PUCs would be awarded; so CCB of
7AD was given the PUC), and complete transcriptions of those are on the 7AD
Document Repository (
http://www.7tharmddiv.org/docrep )
in the December 1944 section. The long version does include a January 1945 photo
of the 517th, which I am attaching to this note, but the photo was included only
to show the location and conditions and not for anything to do with the
517th.
There are a number of documents in the January 1945 section of the 7AD
Document Repository that mention Seitz and the 517th, but these do not have
anything to do with a PUC.
Wesley Johnston
In a message dated 4/10/2009 5:48:57 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, Ben517
writes:
Hi Wesley,
I am Ben Barrett ben517@aol.com and I have a we site for
the 517th PRCT
Perhaps you can help us. We are trying to locate a copy of
the original . Seitz and his men were nominated for a Presidential Unite
Citation, but in the confused business of the Bulge, the award was never
made." It has been suggested to me to check with The 7th Armored
Division
Any help would be appreciated
Ben Barrett
Ben, I hope this does not sound stupid, but I would
start with Dick Seitz. He knows his way around the army better than
most.
The 7th Armored Division was the one for which the
2nd Bn. took high ground that allowed the 7th to get back into St. Vith .
talking with Dick more recently and from other things I have seen, I
think the 7th treated the 2nd Bn. quite well. If something was written
up, I think it must have started at the 7th Armored Division and that is where
I would start looking. But, I must admit it might be a lost
cause. Howard Hensleigh
"The battered battalion, which lost more than 400 of
the orignal 600
who entered Belgium only four weeks earlier, won acclaim
for it
grueling feat inn the freezin evenings of a Belgian January. Seitz
and
his men were nominated for a Presidential Unite Citation, but in the
confused business of the Bulge, the award was never made."
I
would like to get a hold of the original wording in that nomination
that
did not get processed.
Thanks
Frank Ramos