Hello,

Website-----------www.517prct.org

Mail Call------------Ben517@aol.com
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Subj: Re: William Branch 
Date: 7/28/2003 5:37:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: dhaverin@yahoo.com

Ben,
I would like to thank you very much for answering my
note.  Dad actually passed away in Sept.1988.  He lost
his arm and part of a lung in the firefight on the
18june44.  He served in the Texas State Guard as a
colonel and was head of a unit called the 601st
internal security battalion until approx. 1977. He is
buried at FT. Sam Houston.  The awards that I remember
he received were: the Bronze Star, purple heart w/
oakleaf clusters, italian campaign medal,
European-African theatre medal, his wings, and a
combat infantrymans badge.  I am also thinking he was
awarded a good conduct medal.  Anyway, I will try to
get in touch with the VA.  Also, do you know where I
could purchase a 517th patch??? Thank you again for
your help.Sincerely, Diane Branch Haverin
                                              ***************
Diane's father was William Branch B company. He was seriously wounded June 18, 1944 during the first day of combat for the 517.-Ben
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Subj: Lost Jumper 
Date: 7/28/2003 8:52:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: louettad2001@yahoo.com
To: ben517@aol.com

I am looking for a Trooper by the name of Layton
Mabrey of the 517th  HQ 460th FA.  I at one time had
his address an telephone # but the last several times
I called or mailed items to him they would come back,
so if anyone out their knows of his where-abouts
please let me know by e-mail or s-nail mail Thanks.  
Jesse Darden 343 W Adams McAlester O K 74501  Ph # 918
423 0706  Thanks.                                    
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Subj: Jack L Rogers 
Date: 7/28/2003 10:21:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: acdoty@southwind.net

Ben   In mail call 505 Jack L Rogers was asking for information about a mine field in Belgian.  I believe he was thinking about Bergsteun, Germany.  It was the largest mine field in the ETO   We, the 517th was to attack at midnight, 5/6 Feb.,   with the 2nd Battalion on the right and the 3rd on the left. If Jack Has the book "Paratroopers' Odyssey" there is a good  report about this attack starting on page 157.
 
I believe, Myself and another trooper from H Co. , I'm sorry I can't remember his name. were the last to go through that mine field.  While carrying out the WIA many rifles and my 60MM Mortar were left. We went back through the mine field the next morning,, following the taped trail,  hoping and praying that it hadn't been mined again.  We brought back 7 or 8 rifles and my 60 MM Mortar.
 
I checked the Christmas  1944 Rooster. and found Jack L. Rogers, Ralph Rogers, Delbert C. Randall, M. Sura, Ray Vanderport, and Geroge Monkhouse were in H Co.  not D C0.
 
Cecil Doty
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Subj: Re: William Branch 
Date: 7/29/2003 11:47:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: dhaverin@yahoo.com

Ben,
How kind of you.  I will gladly pay you for the patch.
I was able to get the casualty report and made a
copy.  I wish you would thank Mr. Archer for me.  I
have a very bad copy of my dads discharge papers, so
it took me a while to find what company he was with.
That part was smudged.  Again, thank you so much.
Sincerely, Diane B. Haverin
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Subj: FW: A Thank You 
Date: 7/28/2003 12:50:09 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Michael.Carrillo@rcc.edu

Hi Ben, just received this and thought I'd share it with you and the
rest of the guy's. It's funny that whenever I hear an older guy talk
about airborne, just jump in and talk about the 517th. I even put one of
those large luggage tags of the 517th on my back pack when I travel and
the looks that I get...I just tell them you right I don't look old
enough but I show it because I'm proud that my Dad was there!  Take care
and best wishes to you and yours, Beaver Carrillo's son, Michael.
                                         *************
Michael was at the Oklahoma City reunion  along with his dad Beaver who served with H company.-Ben

Subject: A Thank You

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet  pilot in Vietnam.  After 75 combat
missions, his plane was destroyed by a  surface-to-air missile.  Plumb
ejected and parachuted into enemy  hands.  He was captured and spent 6
years in a communist Vietnamese  prison.  He survived the ordeal and now

lectures on lessons learned from  that experience!

    One day, when Plumb and his wife were  sitting in a restaurant, a
man
at another table came up and said,   "You're Plumb!  You flew jet
fighters
in Vietnam from the aircraft  carrier Kitty Hawk.  You were shot down!"
     How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.
    I packed your parachute," the man  replied.  Plumb gasped in
surprise and gratitude.  The man pumped  his hand and said, "I guess it
worked
!"Plumb assured him, "It sure did.   If your chute hadn't worked, I
wouldn't be here today."
    Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking  about that man.  Plumb
says, "I kept wondering what he had looked like in  a Navy uniform: a
white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom  trousers.  I wonder how
many times I

might have seen him and not even  said 'Good morning, how are you?' or
anything because, you see, I was a  fighter pilot and he was just a
sailor."
    Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor  had spent at a long
wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving  the shrouds
and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each  time the
fate of someone he didn't know.
    Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's  packing your parachute?"
    Everyone has someone who provides  what they need to make it through

the day.  He also points out that he  needed many kinds of parachutes
when his plane was shot down over enemy  territory - he needed his
physical parachute, his mental parachute, his  emotional parachute, and
his spiritual parachute.  He called on all these  supports before
reaching safety.
    Sometimes in the daily challenges that life  gives us, we miss what
is really important.  We may fail to say hello,  please, or thank you,
congratulate someone on something wonderful that has  happened to them,
give a compliment, or just do something nice for no  reason.  As you go
through this week, this month, this year, recognize  people who pack
your parachutes.
    I  am sending you this as my way of thanking you for your part in
packing my  parachute.  And I hope you will send it on to those who have

helped pack  yours!