My Uncle (Ervin Daniel Schmidt, KIA 8 Jan 1945) was in Company F of the 517th. The letter that you had attached was sent from the 517^th, it looks like, and I was wondering if there might be anyone who knew him. He was called "Smitty" and the way I understood it, his pal was a man named Dave Siegal. Ervin was from Peoria, Illinois. His wife was Mildred (Mil) and she passed away just a few months ago.

Thank you all for your service and for doing the Mail Call.

Debbie Schmidt-Martin

deb-martin@comcast.net

Deb, On the American Battle Monuments Commission website ( http://www.abmc.gov/search/wwii.php ), I found a record of a PFC Erwin C. Schmidt, from Iowa, who was KIA on Jan 8, 1945. Could this be your uncle?

But in the NARA enlistment records, I see and Erwin H. Schmidt from Illinois, but with a different serial number. http://tinyurl.com/y9j9v2x

Bob B.

Hello Bob,

The reverse of Jay Sutcliffe's photo is just a private address in Paris.

The picture was most likely taken in Nice, probably someone from Paris they met there or maybe later. If I remember well there is a photo of Gene Frice taken at the exact same place in Nice.

I laughed when seeing Dieter Laes' note about the 3 languages. Here in Switzerland we have four different national languages: French - Italian - German and some weird dialect they speak high up in the mountains :) For example if you look at a pack of cigarettes here, the health warnings are written in all 4 national languages.

The funniest part was when I was in the army. We had Swiss German NCO's... and since we couldn’t understand each other, we communicated..... In English!

I am leaving for Southern France now and will stay in the 517th area for a couple of days. We will visit the

area with Vanessa Armand, Don Fraser's Granddaughter.

Happy Easter to all the Friends of the 517th.

Kind regards, Gilles

Hi,

I have been monitoring your website periodically over the last few years, ever since I played a role-playing game following the 517th's wartime service in Europe. I recently became interested again in the 517th, and came back to your website intending to sign up for Mail Call, only to see that Ben Barrett had passed away. My sincere condolences - he has provided a place of remarkable legacy for the men of the 517th. However, I noticed that the Mail Call is still going in his memory, and I would like to be added to the list. Thank you!

Also, is there an archive of old Mail Call emails? When my grandfather passed away, my dad went through his diaries and compiled a "best of" for the family, a book of interesting entries and memories that we had no knowledge of until that time. I think it would be interesting to compile something similar out of the Mail Call emails, perhaps to print for the families or to add to the website. If there is interest, I would be willing to work

on such a project.

My best to all the vets,

Sarah Ravely
Burnsville, MN

Sarah,

I will add you to the MailCall list. (Feel free to un-subscribe whenever you want.)

Yes, old MailCalls are almost all available at: http://517prct.org/mailcall/

Bob Barrett

My mother's 1st husband trained with the 517th.... she still had the battling buzzards badge, but he jumped a train and came to see her for the last time in Toccoa as they were shipping out. He was busted from Sgt, to pvt. and later went over with 513th and was killed in the Ardennes in 45..... Both she and my dad (a navy vet) are deceased now, so there is no one to ask.... Does anyone remember him while in Toccoa? Before her

death, mom ran into one man who told her he thought "blasko had turned chicken and run". This was not the

case. Can anyone help me?

Paul Blasko

crburrell@windstream.net

To the members of the 517th and their families: A belated Happy Passover, a most blessed Holy Week and a beautiful, joyous Happy Easter.

Pat Seitz and Alan Greer

Bob:

I sat next to a fellow at a luncheon following a funeral. I had worked with this fellow in Bismarck for approximately 30 years. Eventually the conversation got around to military time and he indicated he was stationed at a camp in North Carolina in the mid-1940s called Mackall. Then the conversation got more detailed. He remained behind when the rest of us left and had actually signed some of the papers calling for our deployment. He remained with the group that maintained the camp and was in charge of the detachment assigned the mission of guarding the railroad from the South Carolina border to the city limits of Charlotte, North Carolina during the time President Roosevelt's body would be passing through the area on its way to Washington, DC. This would take place one day after the President's death on April 12, 1945. (See attachment)

That morning I had just come back from a night spent on the top of a tall elevator adjacent to the Rhine River. I was trying to determine the location of a large German railroad gun by use of an aiming circle and stop watch. The Army Air Corps would then use this information to try to knock it out during daylight hours. The first people I ran into told me the President had died. I couldn't believe it. He was the only president I had ever known.

Small world.

Merle W. Mc Morrow

Easter Blessings

Dear friends of America,

We think of you and we send our Love to all of you. MAY GOD's LOVE BE WITH YOU AT EASTER; Maria joints us to wish you a Happy time at Easter. God bless you all.

Arnold and Irma TARGNION - Trois-Ponts Belgium

Who is This Trooper?

From our special “Who is this Trooper?” correspondent, Jerry Wofford:

This is a follow up on the Coleman brothers who were the subject of last week’s "Who was this trooper" Quiz. The first is of Dabney Coleman who is the younger brother of the 517th's own Randolph Coleman of F Co. Dabney starred in such movies as "Nine To Five" where he starred opposite Dolly Parton and Jane Hanoi Fonda. He was also seen in "On Golden Pond" as well as hundreds of other stage, tv and movie productions.

Anyone notice a family resemblance here?

The photo below is of Sgt Randolph Coleman who was a member of F Company until he like so many other 517th troopers became a casualty. He spent the last days of the war in a hospital in England. The photos are from 1943 and the other was from 2005 shortly before his death. R I P Sgt Coleman.

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

OK then, Who is This Trooper?

This 517th trooper would meet the new recruits as they arrived at the train depot at Toccoa Ga. His rank was Lieutenant and he was one tough cookie. He loved to stand the "newbies" at attention out in the parking lot of the depot so that they would have to look him in the eye as he stood before them. He would glare at them with his steely eyes and look them up and down as he slowly passed by each man. If looks could kill this group of troopers would all be dead. If he asked a question of a trooper and didn't receive a satisfactory or a prompt answer, he would yell at the top of his voice at the young man, "get down and give me twenty-five". And so it went. He was not large in stature but he had the temperament of a Pit Bull and no one wanted to find out if his bite was as harsh as his bark. 1st Hint: His favorite speech would begin with, "So ya said ya wanna be paratroopers eh? ........ Well let’s see if ya meant it". And that is how many of the original "Toccoa

Boys" were introduced into the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

2nd Hint: Our mystery trooper just so happened to be assigned to Hickam Field, at Pearl Harbor on that notorious "Day That Will Live In Infamy". December 7th, 1941. Our trooper was in on the ground floor of WW II history. Who was this Officer and a Gentleman, 517th trooper?

Submitted by Jerry Wofford

N E P H E W O F A B U Z Z A R D

[Too easy. -- BB]

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

[ I did get a draft bio from Ray Hess. I will get it posted this weekend. – BB]

Send your news to MailCall@517prct.org