70 Pleasant St. Cohasset, MA. 02025 ,781 383 0215 * Mail Call : Ben Barrett Ben517@aol.com

Hello,

Just returned from a very successful Reunion planed by Lory Curtis and so triumphal there is talk of continuing to have reunions. Possible Nashville in 2010.

We were honored once again to have present General (call me Dick) Seitz and his daughter Judge Patricia Seitz and her husband Attorney Allan Greer who is also a veteran and also attending Trevor Markle, a remarkable young person. Hi Ed.

I will leave it to others to sum up the successful reunion as I am just trying to bring Mail Call partially up to date.

Ben

Send contributions for Film Project to.

Leo Dean

Update on the 14 Stonehenge Lane

517th Film Project 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

Website                                www.517prct.org
Mail Call                               Ben517@aol.com
Mail Call Archives                 www.517prct.org/archives
Roster                                  www.517prct.org/roster.pdf

Recent website additions:

Hello all,

I would like everyone to know that Thomas Garcin passed away May 1,
2009 at 83. I would like to hear from anyone who knew him. He was my
beloved grandfather.

Thanks,

Thomas Garcin was in B Co. - Ben
Dave Frear
702-275-5000

Got home last night and I am still on cloud nine! Just wanted to thank all of you Vets and your families for making this Reunion one of the very best. As the chair Lory Curtis worked 24/7 with his help to make it the best. Thanks Mike Wells, Debi Coates, Tim Curtis and all the others that jumped in when needed.

Next thanks to all for the beautiful Plaque that Ben Barrett presented to me at the Banquet. When he was talking I kept wondering what trooper did all those nice things he said. Never at any time did I think it was me. Oh by the way Ben don't scare us with your Hospital stay, you know we can't get along without you.

Our very own Dick Seitz made his usual talk telling you Vets now great all of you were in the big War. Again not taking any credit for making it happen. I was sitting next to General Tarbet and he whispered, that's the mark of a great man when after 65 years his men still loved him. I second that remark.

Staying with the Seitz clan I wish to thank Pat Seitz for arraigning that wonderful letter I read at the Banquet from Eric Shinseki a retired 4 star General who is the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Some time ago I asked General Seitz to sign two Paratroopers Odyssey' books which I will send to Eric Shinseki and General McCaffrey who was also involved in the letter I received. I will send these books this week with a letter of thanks to both men.

I plan to also send a thank you to General Tarbet our Keynote speaker. He commands 7,500 National Guard Troops and we were privileged to see his Honor Guard present the best I have ever seen. Maybe I can get them another stripe, huh? The concert his troops gave was first class, what a great bunch of soldiers. I had no idea what he was going to talk about but he hit the nail right on the head. It was a super speech.

Wade Gilbert, the Son of Ernie Gilbert, what can I say. He is by far the biggest Donor to the 517. He almost covers the cost of producing the Thunderbolt each issue. Then at the Banquet he picked up the check for our liquid refreshments and as most of you know Paratroopers drink a lot. OK a few don't. The next thing he is going to do is re-produce the movie and mail it so every one can receive a copy at his expense. I'll work on how we can order the movie. My plan is to place a order form in the next Thunderbolt as not everyone is on the Web. Thanks Wade and thanks Ernie for raising such a great bunch of kids.

This is getting to be a book so I better sign off. I wish every success to Merle McMorrow your new President. And a very special thanks to all you Vets and your families who attended this great Reunion.

Darrell Egner
Past President

I just posted this article on my web site....

I have been privileged to share this last week with a group of American heroes, the members of the 517 Parachute Regimental Combat Team at their annual National Reunion in Salt Lake City.

These men have shared a common bond of grit and brotherhood with my dad in this under appreciated unit from World War II. They were part of the Airborne Invasion of Europe in the Battle of the Bulge, and saw battles in Italy, France, Germany and Belgium. They were a unit that was used as firefighters to assist in many of the hot spots in the battles of Europe. They went on in life to build a solid backbone for America.

To see more history on this great unit, please visit http://517prct.org .

To see more pictures from this reunion, please see my gallery starting here;

http://markleweb.com/gallery/v/wwii/reunion/SLC/

As a descendent of one of these great men, I encourage other descendents and family members to get involved with the 517prct.org to maintain, improve and preserve the history of these MEN.

.... it's the least they deserve.

-Steve

Howard Hensleigh

Dear Tory, I am delighted to hear from you and learn that you have written about your uncle Bob Woodhull to enlighten your family and future descendants about the brave and heroic man he was in his role as forward observer for the 460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion in defeating the Nazis during WWII. I will treasure it however you send it. My address is Howard Hensleigh, Building 331, Wing D, 795 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025.

Best regards to you and your family, Howard Hensleigh

From: Tory Parlin <vparlin@eos.net>
Sent: Jul 7, 2009 6:46 AM
To: Howard Hensleigh hhensleigh@earthlink.net

Howard - I was glad to hear that you are doing well. I wondered if you would like to read the paper that I wrote about Robert Woodhull? It is the story that I reconstructed from your account, the book Paratroopers Odyssey and his letters to the family. If you would like to read it I will need your address so that I can send it to you. Or I can send you an electronic copy and you can print it out for yourself.

Best wishes - Tory
--
Tory Parlin
1495 Moon Valley Lane
Cincinnati, OH 45230

Mike Kane

Ben, regarding Lt.G. Grange who was with the 517th, a fellow I work with pointed out a video clip on the web that includes an interview with him. The clip is about the Best Ranger Competition. My co-worker said he thinks the competition was started by LtG Grange.

You can see it on the website http://www.armytimes.com/

On the right hand side, you'll see "Multimedia". Below the viewing screen are thumbnails of different videos. As you scroll through them, you'll see one entitled "2009 Best Ranger Competition". Click on it. Its about 5 minutes long.

Mike Kane

Gene Frice

John,

Gene Frice here, Hey, thank you for your dedication, devotion and whatever. Appreciate it greatly - and thank you even more for picking up the "F Company." We (the 517) is gathered in Salt Lake City at the Radisson Hotel on our 65th, gathering I think. The Association is probably only 50 something years old-of course our crew is much older - ha.

You would be greatly interested in our web page and all the associated links to it. It provides more information than most would want. The 517th page is simply 517prct.org and our email is Ben517@aol.com If you would want to get on the email (almost daily) you need write and ID yourself, and request to be place on the mail list. You will find it quite interesting. So many on the email are ones similar to you - or kin to a trooper who likely is no longer with us. We have reactors with us today and they have participated with us at our reunions for years.

A number of us are headed to Europe soon. I will be in Salt Lake for a few more days after most leave on Mon. Then, I head on military air (I hope) for Berlin for "Valkyrie" and my 3 daughters will join me for 3 days Berlin, 3 in Garmish, then to Belgium and Southern France for Operation Dragoon, Nice.

If I can help you with any information don't hesitate to call.

Col Gene Frice (then PFC).

On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 10:24 PM, JOHN COFFEE <jcfrom1973@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hello, Mr. Frice.
My name is John Coffee and I am the NCOIC of a WW2 living history group that portrays F company, 2d Bn., 517 PRCT. I have been in contact with Walter Perkowski's Daughter, Kathryn. She gave me your email address, I hope you don't mind? I want to start off by saying, Thank you for your service. I feel you were a member of the greatest regiment in the U.S. Army. We chose to portray the 517th for that fact, and to educate the public about the unit's contributions to the war effort. It has been our observation that few know of this illustrious unit. Everyone knows the 82nd and the 101st, especially E/506 "Band of Brothers", but your story needs to be told as well.

We have a website, feel free to check it out. We've only been doing this for about a year and we're still small. I know we don't have everything right, but we constantly strive to better our displays and our impression. We would love it if we could contact you from time to time, to help us with that endeavor. Would you be willing to serve as an advisor to us? The last thing we want is to be a disservice to the unit by getting it all wrong.

There are few references on the 517th, compared to other units. This makes it very difficult to get all the small details down that can really make an impression. It's those small details that can separate units from each other and help the general public get a truer feel for the unit portrayed. The only real source for those details are the vets themselves, unfortunately they are a dwindling resource as well. Any opportunity to tap into this well of knowledge is a golden one. Please consider my request and thank you for your time. The link to our website is below.

www.battlingbuzzards.org

John Coffee

I don't want to make this Mail Call too long. Try to send an other later. However, this is the frosting on the cake.-Ben

Chris Lindner

HI ALL:

I ADDED ANOTHER HOBBY TO MY LIFE!!! I JUST THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE IT WITH ALL OF YOU!!!!

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS U-TUBE VIDEO!!!!

CHRIS

Chris

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ICh_XChPzQ