______________________________________________________
Subj: Errors In THUNDERBOLT
Date: 10/13/2002 5:06:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Tomx517
To: Ben517
CC: Seitz2@webtv.net

Ben:
       Would you please publish this e-mail message in your next issue of Mail
Call since the THUNDERBOLT publication errors described herein can receive immediate Association member attention rather than wait an undetermined about time for possible explanations and/or retractions in the next issue.
       One of the many things that plagues publishers of recent military history today is "second generation authors" that try to interpret what we did and said in WW II in order to fit their own views and concept of what we actually did and said. The other is the WW II author, amateur in nature combined with poor recall and a disregard for researching material and consulting with those that are more learned of issues and facts pertaining to the issue concerned.
       Unfortunately two instances of incorrect reporting attributed to both of the above situations occurred in the last issue of our THUNDERBOLT. I refer directly to the article entitled Army Life (Seventh Installment thereof) authored by PFC Bill Houston, 460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion. In the first instance he states that the entire 2nd Battalion of the 517th Parachute Infantry went AWOL and that as soon as they left camp the Commanding Officer cut orders giving each man a furlough. This mutinous type action never occurred. I have been in contact with Dick Seitz, in the past 48 hours, who was the 2nd Bn. CO, throughout WW II and I was the Bn. Exec. Officer of the 2nd Bn. and we cannot recall this incident and can categorically state that it did not happen. How it got started and then put into writing is unfortunate and reflects poorly on our Association Newspaper.
       Another error of a lesser note is that the 517 PIR was the first parachute unit to use their steel helmets during their jump training at the Fort Benning Parachute School and was the only unit (1st and 2 Bns.) to complete jump training without any washouts. These facts are adequately described in our
PARATROOPER'S ODYSSEY.
       The 460th Parachute Artillery Battalion joined the 517 IPR when the 517th PRCT was formed, with the addition of the 596th Parachute Engineer Company, at the conclusion of the Tennessee Maneuvers. The 460th was an outstanding outfit. It overcame a terrific obstacle when just 2 weeks prior to embarkation the Bn. CO and the entire Staff was replaced by Lt. Col. Ray Cato and 8 officers from the 466th Parachute Field Artillery. Dick Seitz and I to this day feel strongly that the 460th had no equal in WW II and we were sorry to see it revert to the 13th Airborne Division Artillery when we arrived at Joigny, France.
       Ben, I know this action is unprecedented but we must keep true to our history and heritage and to the truth of what we did and when and how. We have an outstanding Unit Historian in Clark Archer. He is the best in the business and has been an outstanding source for accurate material for many of our present recorders of WW II airborne history. I enjoin all to use his services and knowledge. We are all getting "long in the tooth" and we must properly and accurately record what we did and when and how.
Regards, Tom
-____________________________________________________--_
Subj: 88's at Fescatti
Date: 10/11/2002 1:17:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: hhensleigh@earthlink.net

Dear Ben:  Since the subject of artillery at Frascatti has come up I will mention an incident I may have covered before.  As the 3rd Bn. off loaded from the trucks, fresh from 88 territory, we formed up in Bn. formation.  No sooner had we formed that the sound of an 88 flattened the whole Bn.  In Joe and Willies words, our buttons were in our way between us and mother earth.  It was fireworks.  A little Italian kid who had set the thing off was running up through the olive trees as fast as he could go, but not fast enough to outrun one of our sergeants, who spanked his bare but in front of the whole Bn. Although there was a disabled 88 in our grove, that Italian kid gave us the only artillery experience we had there.  In a short time we had chased the Jerries all the way north to Piombino (sp?).  Although the 88 could do wonders, they could not reach us in Frascatti. 
Incidentally for Les and Frank Fenton--I meant that Frank had spent his life as a faithful civil servant in the county of PA that stretches up to Lake Erie, not the Erie Canal.  My best to all you Buzzards,  Howard Hensleigh

--- Howard Hensleigh
_________________________________________________________________________

Subj: Mail Call 371-Al's Notes About Leo Dean
Date: 10/11/2002 7:26:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Genedie77
To: Ben517

Hi Al:
You had a little problem spelling Albookirkie I mean Albuquerque. Al, that's not a problem. No doubt at least 90% of Americans can't spell it and many don't know that it's a state. Hell, I lived here five years before I learned to spell it and still have to start over if I pause somewhere in the middle when I write the word. Albuquerque is the HOT AIR Balloon Capitol of the world and I'm sure Leo enjoyed it. Balloons have been flying around and over my house since 5 Oct. An interesting story, to me anyway, took place during the 2000 and 2001 Balloon Festivals. In 2000 a French balloon was hovering over our front yard and dropped a French flag down to us with the note "From France the land of champagne, year 2000." This was an unexpected thrill in view of my French "travels" so I located the pilot and with the help of a French friend who lives near Les Arcs, I wrote him a letter and sent pictures of his balloon which I had taken as he drifted over my house. He couldn't write in English so I never heard from him. In 2001 I spotted the same balloon. Early the next morning I took the French Flag and went to the balloon field and found the balloon preparing to take off. I flashed the flag and with the help of an English speaking member of the party we started talking. The pilot reached into his pocket and pulled out the letter that I had written in 2000 and also a Nice France newspaper account of my lost dog tag story which had been written in 1990. The tag had been lost and found in the yard of the man who lived in the house near Les Arcs. I'll stop here with the hope that many troopers may be able to visit the Balloon Festival someday.
Gene Brissey
E Company
______________________________________________________________________-

Subj: Columbus Day
Date: 10/11/2002 8:26:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: BoomBoomAlicki
To: Ben517

WORDS FROM THE PRESIDENT ON COLUMBUS DAY  
“Reflecting on Christopher Columbus' legacy, we remember his great courage in choosing to sail across uncharted waters, we recall the power of his adventurous spirit, and we are inspired by his willingness to assume considerable risks for the sake of knowledge and progress. These virtues have been echoed down through history by some of America's greatest pioneers, from Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's daring explorations of our western frontier to the Apollo astronauts planting the American flag on the moon. Our Nation continues to follow the example of Columbus' bold desire to push the horizon, pursuing new paths of research and using our discoveries to benefit all of mankind.”  
--George W. Bush
_________________________________________________________________________
Subj: Ambrose
Date: 10/13/2002 2:27:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: hhensleigh@earthlink.net

Dear Ben,  We lost a good man to lung cancer today.  Stephen Ambrose made history live for his history students and for millions of his readers.  In Citizen Soldiers, D Day, June 6, and Band of Brothers he told our story in a way that brought it to a new height of understanding and recognition  Although he did not write specifically about a company of the 517, his telling the story of E Company 506th, relates the experiences of all parachutists.  He dedicates Band of Brothers "To all those members of the Parachute Infantry, United States Army, 1941-1945, who wear the Purple Heart not as a decoration but as a badge of office" .  We knew we were doing something important as we did it, but it seems strange that our airborne experiments and successes are being brought to light almost sixty years later.  The infantry is highlighted in the quote above, but we all know we could not have succeeded and in many cases stayed alive without our strong companions in the Artillery and Engineers.  Let us hope for more history professors like Ambrose, who have a desire to write history as it happened, not rewrite it to suit some politically correct notion.  We also could get along without guys like that fake Viet Nam vet professor  who is still holding his job in spite of the revelation that he never served, which should have been his disgrace and dismissal.
Howard Hensleigh.
                                          ****************
Howard is referring to Joseph Ellis, a liar and phoney airborne veteran who is a professor at a local College. Mount Holyjoke  here is Massachusets.
Ben