Hello,
I try to limit Mail Call to three and at the most four printed pages and therefore will send it out as often as necessary. -Ben
Website-------www.517prct.org
Mail Call-------Ben517@aol.com
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Subj: Feedback on website problems
Date: 3/5/2003 6:48:23 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: PRCT517
To: Ben517
I am still poking around the pages of the website at the new location. I have found and corrected a few errors and broken links. Mostly pages that still pointed to the old location. If you see any pages that don't work, or are missing photos, or any other problems, just keep a list and let me know.
I will start to delete the old pages soon, and that's when we may notice what is missing. But I think it is 95% there now.
Bob
*************
Just to let all know what is involved in moving the site-Ben
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Subj: bluebook
Date: 3/5/2003 7:15:53 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: PRCT517
To: Ben517
Dad,
By the way, In looking through the list of records kept at the Carlisle Barracks, they also mention that in Col. Graves papers, there includes articles written in France (the Joigny booklet), and also the 3-part series written for the BlueBook magazine in 48-49. So it really does exist! It might just be the same material as the Joigny book rewritten.
Eventually, we're going to have to get someone to go over there and look through those boxes, and make copies. Road trip!
Bob
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Subj: Re: FRANK GRBINICH
Date: 3/5/2003 6:48:21 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: SwishdaO
To: Ben517
If you don't mind me asking, where did you fight in World War 2? Also I appreciate you answering my questions. It's nice to have somebody to ask questions about the War. Do you think it would be possible to find soldiers that knew my grandfather? Also, my grandpa gave us the book " Battling Buzzards " before he passed away. Thank you very much.
Alex Hunt
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His grandpa was Frank Grbinich. Those many that knew Frank please contact Alex ( SwishdaO ) or via Mail Call-Ben
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Subj: Re: MAIL CALL NO. 435 517TH PRCT
Date: 3/5/2003 8:19:53 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: RChrist150
BEN:
I bet there would be many people interested in Kelly Edward's finished project (video).
My son Pat is always trying to get his grandfather (Bob Cooper) to talk about his experiences
Bob
Dec 7, 1941
Sept 11, 2001
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Subj: 517
Date: 3/5/2003 8:03:16 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: JBJB93
To: Wild bill 517, Ben517
Hello Mr Boyle,
My father in law Ed Marconi Comp A (deceased) was wounded Feb 6-8 near or abouts Schmidt ( I think??). Ed always talked about the action as being at night. He said the troop was walking slowly forward in the dark when all hell broke loose. He said there was no heads or tails about it and it was a mess. His comment to me was that he thought the Germans were waiting and his group was used to "expose the enemy". He took shrapnel in the leg and in the 1960's had another operation to remove more of it. The govt' reduced his monthly stipend by 10 dollars and he said "Those sons a bitches, I should have left it in"!
Can anyone remember that night and give me any, any story about it. All I have in my mind is what I can remember him telling me and it seems like an unfinished book. Can any trooper of 1st Battalion or Co A, or anybody remember??
Regards and all the best,
John Bramswig
jbjb93@aol.com
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Subj: Mail Call
Date: 3/6/2003 1:18:29 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: coonas@webtv.net ( June Huffman )
To: prct517@aol.com
This is proving to be very interesting and informative. Thank you for
your time and efforts. Re: Oklahoma City, I hope we will have good
attendance... we are not getting any younger...and 2 years apart is a
very long time!
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Subj: THE FLAG
Date: 3/5/2003 9:11:10 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: newacct1088254 ( Boom Boom Alicki )
To: Ben517
A Beetle Bailey cartoon you will want to view.
Click below
http://www.beetlebailey.com/images/flag.swf
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Subj: Fwd: Earthquake in France
Date: 3/5/2003 10:14:28 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: TDorman323
To: Ben517
>
> Severe Earthquake in France
> American Battle Monuments Commission | February 14, 2003 |Today it
>was reported that a severe earthquake has occurred in central France. The
>severity was measured in excess of 10 on the Richter Scale. The cause was
>the 56,681 dead American soldiers buried in French soil rolling over in
>their graves. According to the American Battle Monuments Commission there
>are 26,255 yankee dead from World War I buried in 4 cemeteries in France.
>There are 30,426 American dead from World War II buried in 6 cemeteries in
>France. These 56,681 brave American heroes died in their youth to liberate
>a country which is guilty of shameful unspeakable behavior in the 21st
>century. May the United States of America never forget their sacrifice as
>we find ways to forcefully deal with the God-forsaken turncoat country of
>France!
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Subj: Check out Operation Dear Abby.net... Messages from Home
Date: 3/5/2003 9:58:06 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: TDorman323
Operation Dear Abby.net... Messages from Home
This link will allow you to send an e-mail to one of our servicemen/women to let them know they are in our thoughts and prayers.
Tom
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Subj: Re: MAIL CALL NO. 435 517TH PRCT
Date: 3/5/2003 10:16:32 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: Dallasandjerrie
To: Ben517
Dallas will let you know about Oklahoma City as soon as he has finished his tests. I have got him walking a mile five times a week. He is looking much stronger, and I know he really wants to come. I still remember twenty-five years ago when he was in the hospital with a heart attack every time I got in to see him, he would say "I have just got to go to Albany." I am almost up to two miles, and I know I feel better! Jerrie Long
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Subj: RE: MAIL CALL NO. 435 517TH PRCT
Date: 3/5/2003 11:21:27 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: chrislindner@bellsouth.net
Hi Ben: I’m having a little bit of trouble figuring out what everyone is saying about the Bulge. Was Rideway in the 13th airborne, the same 13th airborne that most of the men were so very FOND of at the end of the War? Thanks, Chris Lindner
___________________________________________________________________________Subj: Jump in France
Date: 3/6/2003 11:44:21 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: dpastalenic@dctnet.net
Hi Ben - We appreciate your time and all that you do to keep the 517th alive
and active.
I would covet a picture or two of our troops boarding the C-47 for our night
jump into France. We were told the equipment on our person weighed 85-90
pounds and there were two guys, one each side giving us an extra boost to
climb the steps into the C-47.
We are grateful for all the information processed through Ben. I missed out
on all the fun you guys had at the Bulge. I was popped by a German burp gun
in the vineyard just over the R.R. tracks (was it by Mr. Mustard or was it
by Professor Plum?!!)
Also, are we qualified to display on our car an Airborne Plate with one star
above the wings?
John Pastalenic
1014 North Hill Road
Arkport, NY 14807
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Subj: Women link
Date: 3/6/2003 12:46:51 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: juliana@island-fever.com
Hi Ben,
LOVED the link from Chris Linder-if you guys only knew how true that is...
Hope you are well,
Juliana Stonis
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Subj: Alzheimer's Anyone?
Date: 3/6/2003 2:03:49 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: hhensleigh@earthlink.net
Dear Ben: Did we hear from a B Company man recently that there wasn’t much in Mail Call about First Battalion, most of it about Second and Third? For years B Co. had more people at the reunions than anyone else. They must have had a good outfit and good officers like Capt. Robbins, Whitey Hillsdale, Russ Miller and others. Bill Boyle always comes through with a concise reply on any issue that involves the First. To read more about the First, all it takes is for more of your troopers to write in. We all have something to add to the composite history of the 517th. Russ Miller wrote me the other day that he recalled going into a defensive position in the first days of the Bulge and helping stop the Jerry avalanche that was rolling toward the Dutch ports. All I could remember was our first action–the attack on Manhay. His memory was correct as confirmed by Bill Boyle’s recent contributions on our separate battalion deployments. I hear a lot about fading memories and exaggeration of our war stories as the years go by. Mail Call demonstrates day by day that our memories of what happened almost sixty years ago are still clear and collaborative. Sometimes it is like a jigsaw puzzle the way the bits and pieces of information fit together. It is also amazing after all these years how similarly we think about present day events that affect us and the nation. Howard Hensleigh
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