Hello,
We would like to receive anecdotes for Recollections page on the website.. They will be there for your great children to view.
Ben
Website----www.517prct.org
Mail Call----Ben517@aol.com
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Subj: Re: Joe Mackiewicz
Date: 7/12/2003 11:24:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Smackiewicz4
hi ben this is steve today is 7-12-03 yesterday we put my dad to rest it was a very touching funeral. i'm sorry for not getting in touch with you sooner but we had a lot of preparing to do. i just want thank you for giving my father the courage to talk about his ordeal in the service and allowing him not only to share them with you but also sharing them with me. he never talked to me about his military day's and when i asked he would always say ( that was another time and another life ) but through you and his friends in the service he began to shre his past with me and again i wish to thank you and all his friends from the 517th i salute you and all those who served with my father for all of you ARE THE BRAVIEST OF THE BRAVE. AND AGAIN I THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRAFICE TO KEEP THIS COUNTRY FREE AND TO KEEP MY FATHERS MEMMORY ALIVE WITH THE 517th. may GOD bless you all and please keep sending me his mail call so i can share with my son what you have given to me PRIDE IN OUR GREAT NATION AND AN HONOR TO STAND WITH THE BEST. FROM A GRIEVING CHILD TO A HERO'S SON
MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL
STEVE MACKIEWICZ
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Here is the story that Joe sent to me and is the Recollections page on the wesite-Ben
Subj: August 15,1944 - Jump into Southern France
Date: 11/26/2001 5:49:54 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: Joe Mackiewicz
Ben, I can vividly remember the morning of August 15, 1944 when we jumped into Southern France. It seemed that no sooner than I got the opening shock from the chute opening I was in the tree tops. It was black as hell and I couldn't see anything nor did I hear anything. There I was hanging in the trees and wondering what to do next. I spilled my reserve. (It was white - the main canopy was camouflaged.) The reserve seemed to spill out and down to about what I thought to be about fifteen feet down. In my anxiety to get the hell out of my predicament, I took my jump knife and began cutting the shroud lines on my main chute. When I got down to the last one, I realized that this is not what I should be doing. My intention was to pop the release and climb down the reserve. Well to make a long story short , I cut the last shroud line and prepared myself to fall ten or more feet to the ground. Well guess what, I only fell about six inches and was on solid ground. WOW what a feeling that was. Then to make matters worse, I lost my trigger housing group to my M-1 and couldn't find it right away. I searched around for almost an hour before I found it, it was dark and I was scared all to hell. Incidentally, the reason the reserve fell so far is that the tree was on the edge of a terrace and it missed the edge going down. That was only one of many times that I was scared to death.Joe Mackiewicz
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Joe was WIA at St. Cezaire in So. France Aug 22, 1944 and while in the hospital, the Red Cross found out that he was under age.-Ben
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Date: 7/12/2003 9:19:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: mfhupman@hotmail.com
To: BEN517@aol.com
Why not make a stamp to remember those lost on September 11 instead of those who caused it.
Marion Hupman daughter of Frank Hupman 517 460 C
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Subj: Poster
Date: 7/13/2003 12:56:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: rcoleman8@satx.rr.com
Ben, I too had the problem John Bramswig had; no poster. When they become available, I would be anxious to have one. Just let me know the cost, etc. Thanks to you is always in order. Randolph Coleman F. Co.
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Subj: Re: Poster
Date: 7/13/2003 1:21:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Ben517
Hi Randolph,
I'll send mail again. Let me know if you receive it. Ben
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Subj: Re: Poster
Date: 7/13/2003 3:04:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: rcoleman8@satx.rr.com
Hi Ben, got it!! Many thanks. Hope all is well with you. Wonder if maybe we did'nt cross trails one time or another in the white sands of of Camp McK. or even the red dirt of Toccoa? Take care. Randolph
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Subj: Re: Company "C" 517th
Date: 7/13/2003 1:49:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: TDorman323
To: kathygreen@hvc.rr.com
CC: Ben517
Hi Kathy,
I went through my dad's photos and could not find any with your grandfather's name (Bill Delaney) listed. However, there are several snapshots where there are no listings. He could be included.
Sorry I could not be of more assistance at this point.
All the best,
Tom Dorman
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Subj: Fwd: MAIL CALL NO.511 517TH PRCT
Date: 7/13/2003 4:24:48 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Camrod518
Hi Ben......Just got back from Washington and a visit to Jim's grave at Arlington. I hope I paid my respects to all the 517 men who are interred there. Question, do you have any idea how many there are? I know of only one, other than Jim. The cemetary is so impressive, and it reaffirms how much these men have given in the call of freedom. I was not able to print the poster, and I hope I can get it to keep with the things I have sent to Jim's son Pat. Thanks Ben......Dorothy MacKenzie
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Subj: WWII Veterans May Be Eligible For One More Medal
Date: 7/13/2003 6:23:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: DGentry509
To: Ben517
Ben, I found this interesting article in the Military.com web site.
Army News Service reports that World War II veterans who earned the Combat Infantry Badge or the Combat Medical Badge are eligible to receive another award to honor their heroism, the Bronze Star. In 1947, the Bronze Star Medal was authorized for all of those who earned a Combat Infantry Badge or the Combat Medical Badge, according to Army regulation 600-8-2, Military Awards. The medal was designed to honor the infantrymen who endured the greatest hardships and the medics who accompanied them on the front lines, officials said. When the son of a World War II veteran was restoring lost copies of his father's record, he found out from the National Personnel Records Center out of St. Louis that his father was one of many who had never received the Bronze Star Medal. Officials from the National Personnel Records Center say that they don't know how many veterans are eligible for the medal or who still have not received the award, because a massive fire in 1963 destroyed most of the official military personnel files from World War II.
Check the web site here: Awards, Medals, & Decorations Look under Benefit Updates, "WWII Veterans May Be Eligible........."
Don Gentry
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