Found an old photograph of 2nd Battalion Officers at Camp Toccoa, May 1943. General Seitz was still a Major and my father a Captain. Dad annotated the names of the officers on the back of the photo. Here goes (forgive any misspellings):

Lt. Jack West (HQ), Lt. John Lissner (F), Capt. MacKenzie (F), Capt. Ed Brooks (E), Capt. Tom Cross BnXO, Maj. R. J. Seitz, Bn CMDR, Capt. Robert Clauer, HQCo, Capt. David Armstrong (D), Lt. William Hale, Lt. Bruno Selmi, HQCo, Lt. Loren James (D), Lt. Francis White, HQCo, Lt. Paul Lewis, HQCo., Lt. Carl Starkey, (D), Lt. Steve Kotchy, Lt. Paul Way, St. T. Paul Quigley (E), Lt. Lilley (Siler?), Lt. Miley, Lt. Dean Robbins (D, later C), Lt. Cavan, Lt. Clarence MacCollum, Lt. George Giucchici (F), Lt. Joseph Kizelwicz (E), Lt. Walter Irwin, HQCo (LMG), Lt. Ed Danziger, Lt. Annon Jorgen, Lt. Harry Riddle, Lt. Ed Brearly (E), Lt. Murray Jones (F), Lt. Witt(?) (D)

- Wayne Cross

[Um... So where’s the picture? -- BB]

I have listed on eBay several V-Mails -- excellent copies drawn by my dad, Dick Spencer III of the 517^th. He did the patch, and he also drew these V-Mails.

Bobbi Jo Spencer McCauley

310165936958 V-mail

MERRY CHRISTMAS V-MAIL WWII 1944 517th Paratroopers Art

Item #120412683476 -

V-MAILS

Voici notre nouvelle adresse
Our new address :

patou.roland@gmail.com

- Patricia et Roland Orengo

This is very nice with just a touch of eye sweat.

Click here: YouTube - Thank You Soldiers - Veteran's Day/Memorial Day Song

Don Gentry

GLAD TO SEE SOMETIHING ABOUT ARLTON BEARDON ON MAILCALL EVEN THOUGH IT WAS VERY SHORT. I CONSIDERED ARLTON A SPECIAL FRIEND. EVEN THOUGH HE WAS IN THE DEMO PLATOON AND I WAS IN S-2. MEANING WE SAW EACH OTHER EVERY DAY. WE WERE CLASSED SO THAT THEY KIND OF SEPARATED US IN OUR TRAINING EXCEPT BASIC TRAINING IN THAT MODE WE WERE ALL RUNNUING TOGETHER ALL THE TIME. (5 -MONTHS OF IT)

TOM MCAVOY

I received a good biography today from Ray Hess, which I will post to the website soon. Here is a small excerpt:

After the towers, and I don’t remember the sequence of events that followed, but we were interviewed by Major (his rank at the time) Seitz. He asked three questions as I remember it, “Did you play any sports in high school? Were you ever in jail? and Why do you want to be a Paratrooper?” After the interview came a physical. If you jumped out of the tower, were approved by Maj.. Seitz, and passed the physical, you were in the 517^th and the next thing was a crew cut hair cut and on to the training. Of the 25 men that left Pa, 4 us of made it. Training consisted of jogging around the camp grounds, roughly 1 1/2 miles, then an hour of calisthenics followed by classes on the M1 rifle, the carbine, machine gun, mortar, tactics, etc and then another run of 1 or 2 or 3 miles. If you screwed up during the day, for punishment it was “give me 25 or 50" that is PUSH-UPS. After 6 months of that, we were mean and tough and with officers like Lissner, Riddle, and Guicchici you couldn’t be any thing different but tough and we were ready for jump school.

From Jerry Wofford:

.......... W H O W A S T H I S T R O O P E R ? ..........

Hint # 1: This former 517th Battling Buzzard had a younger brother who became a famous Hollywood actor.

Hint # 2: Both he and his brother are Texans by birth.

Hint # 3: This enlisted man was a former trooper and Purple Heart recipient.

Hint # 4: Although he was a sergeant, he was known to visit the local Officers Club with his friend Lt. John Lissner, dressed as an officer.

Who was this Battling Buzzard?

And the answer is ….

Sgt. Randolph Coleman of A Company.

http://517prct.org/bios/randolph_coleman/randolph_coleman.htm

Can anyone identify this trooper?

Tell Your Story

We’re still waiting for more entries for the Meet the Troopers section of the Web site. There were 2500 soldiers in the 517^th, and we only have 63 bios on the site! It is an important part of the 517^th history. There’s no time like the present to make a few notes about your life. Start simple. You can always add more info and more photos later. Where is Leo Dean? Gene Frice? Lud Gibbons? Families and friends, please get after your troopers to get their story in. Just get a few words down.

Material submitted is completely up to the soldier, or to their family and relatives. Take a look at the biographies already submitted -- Jesse Darden's bio is a great example. So is Merle’s -- if he would send me some better pictures. http://www.517prct.org/bios/merle_mcmorrow/merle_mcmorrow.htm

But feel free to be as creative as you like. It's your story. This information can be as long or as short as you like. We would like to see any or all of the following items:

¨ photos - then and now

¨ memories from 517th training and WWII

¨ biography - before and after the 517th

¨ comments, philosophy, opinions

¨ anything you want to say to your friends and relatives

Send your news to MailCall@517prct.org