Hello,
Website--prct517.home.attbi.com  or members.aol.com/prct517/
Mail Call--Ben517@aol.com
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Subj: COH Award 
Date: 1/31/2003 12:05:02 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: MMcmor8391

Dear Ben:

I see you have considerable mail to catch up on following your recent trips.  I won't add to your woes.

I frequently read about "Medal of Honor winners."  The most recent one was about Mel Biddle mentioned by someone as a MOH winner. in one of the Mail Calls.  It (the MOH) was awarded.  It was not won in a lottery or drawing.

You are providing a great service to a dwindling number of old men.

                                                   Merle
                                                 ******************
Hi Merle,  Thanks. Some of the dwindling numbers still have  a full head of hair.
Ben
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Subj: Fw: One Photo Is Worth A Thousand Words 
Date: 1/28/2003 7:56:01 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: lbr915@hotmail.com ( Mark Landreth )
To: ftbal12@hotmail.com, IMSTAHOE02@aol.com, Ben517@aol.com
File: Fwd_OnePhotoIsWorthAThousandWords.email
http://www.talltexian.com/AmericaForever/id28.htm

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Subj: Fwd: Golden Pen Award 
Date: 1/30/2003 7:57:01 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: BoomBoomAlicki

 Rec'd from Bruce Silvey from FLA.   

The Golden Pen Award :
Each Sunday The Orange Register recognizes a letter that eloquently expresses a viewpoint or engenders a debate on a topic of public interest. Today's winner is Ann Baker, a real-estate agent who lives in Huntington Beach

" It was our normal Thursday morning business meeting at our real-estate office. No big deal. Before the meeting we hung around the bagel table, as usual, with our coffee.

He stood aside, looking a little shy and awkward and very young, a new face in a room full of extroverted salespeople. An average looking guy, maybe 5 feet 8 inches. A clean-cut, sweet-faced kid. I went over to chat with him. Maybe he was a new salesman?

He said he was just back from Kabul, Afghanistan. A Marine. Our office
(and a local school) had been supportive by sending letters to him and other troops, which he had posted on the American Embassy door in Kabul. He stood guard there for four months and was shot at daily.

He had come to our office to thank us for our support, for all the letters during those scary times. I couldn't believe my ears. He wanted to thank us? We should be thanking him. But how? How can I ever show him my appreciation?

At the end of the sales meeting, he stepped quietly forward, no incredible hulk. As a matter of fact, he looked for all the world 15 years old to me. (The older I get, the younger they look.)

This young Marine, this clean-faced boy, had no qualms stepping up to the plate and dodging bullets so that I might enjoy the freedom to live my peaceful life in the land of the free. No matter the risk. Suddenly the most stressful concerns of my life seemed as nothing, my complacency flew right out the window with his every word. Somewhere, somehow, he had taken the words honor, courage and commitment into his very soul and laid his life on the line daily for me and us. A man of principle. He wants to do it. Relishes it.

And he came to thank us? For a few letters? I fought back the tears as he spoke so briefly and softly.

He walked forward to our manager and placed a properly folded American flag in his hands. It had flown over the Embassy. He said thanks again. You could hear a pin drop. As I looked around I saw red faces everywhere fighting back the tears.

In a heartbeat, my disillusionment with young people today quickly vanished. In ordinary homes, in ordinary towns, kids like him are growing up proud to be an American and willing to die for it. Wow. We'll frame the flag and put it in the lobby. He only came to my office once, for just a few minutes. But I realize I rubbed shoulders with greatness in the flesh and in the twinkling of an eye my life is forever changed. His name is Michael Mendez, a corporal in the USMC. We are a great nation. We know because the makings of it walked into my office that day.

Ann Baker Huntington Beach
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_Subj: Only Kidding! 
Date: 1/30/2003 8:34:19 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: newacct1088254 ( Boom Boom Alicki )
To: Ben517
After enlisting in the 82nd Airborne Division, I eagerly asked my Recruiter what I could expect from jump school.

"Well," he said, "its three weeks long."

"What else," I asked.

"The first week they separate the men from the boys," he said. "The second week, they separate the men from the fools."

"And the third week?" I asked.

"The third week, the fools jump."

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Subj: mini reunion 
Date: 1/30/2003 10:31:33 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: thestadlers@msn.com
Ben,
 
I would just like to say thank you to all of the troopers and their families who made the visit to the reunion such a great experience for myself and my dad.  We certainly would have stayed for the banquet if at all possible, and would like to take part in others down the road.  
 
Brett Stadler 
                                            *******************
Brett is a navy physician and may now be on his way to the Persian Gulf.
Ben
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Subj: Re: MAIL CALL NO 414 517TH PRCT 
Date: 1/30/2003 10:58:44 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: WALTERWS

Ben517, This is walt smith of HQ 1st.  Yes, I clicked the hyperlink for your screen    saver but ran it from it's source and did not download it to download managr. I will however have this MAIL CALL 414 saved to my MAILCALL file in  filing cabinet for later use, especially the hyperlink.  THE DARK SCREEN WITH A C47, I believe,  COMEING INTO VIEW, lumbering across whatevr on a dark night.  The light colors of the C47  were in contrast to the ones i remember, but were necessary for contrast on the screen saver.  Yes, Ben, it is a cutie.
       I,m trying to remember the download you had of a parachute.  I made that download but it never fully completed as a screen saver even though the 'chute is still here as an icon on my screen  as a program but no program.  Oh well, that/s good enough.  = walt

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Subj: RE: MAIL CALL NO 414 517TH PRCT 
Date: 1/31/2003 10:12:23 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: Tim.McLaughlin@msc.navy.mil

ben,
    please change my email to timothy.m.mclaughlin@navy.mil
<mailto:timothy.m.mclaughlin@navy.mil>
thanks
tim
________________________________________________________________________Subj: Looking for someone who new Dervyn Muth PFC of the 517th 
Date: 1/31/2003 4:09:25 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: s.muth@attbi.com
To: Ben517@aol.com

I am interested in hearing from anyone who new Dervyn Muth of the 517th.
 
Thanks,
Scott Muth (nephew)
Seattle WA

Subj: Looking for someone who new Dervyn Muth PFC of the 517th 
Date: 1/31/2003 4:09:25 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: s.muth@attbi.com
To: Ben517@aol.com

I am interested in hearing from anyone who new Dervyn Muth of the 517th.
 
Thanks,
Scott Muth (nephew)
Seattle WA
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Subj: Fwd: 20th Century Jewish History in a Nutshell. 
Date: 1/31/2003 8:48:53 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: newacct1088254
To: Ben517,
In a message dated 1/31/2003 5:07:33 PM Pacific Standard Time, BoomBoomAlicki writes:

This will help understand the Middle East problem

Turn off the TV if you have one and watch the slide show below.  It is
really worth it. Click on the arrows at the top of the presentation to move
through the slide show.
Bill

http://jewishinternetassociation.org/historynutshell/conflict.html