Dear Ben: This is a good day–September 6. It has significance. Good news about Don Fraser, one of our main stays for many years. Hang in there Don. Good to hear that Dick and Tom x get together by phone to cement down details of that Italian campaign. A package came from Herb Jeff today. Some Mail Calls ago I mentioned a book by a 460th trooper I picked up on an overseas flight. Herb who was Woody Woodhull’s radio man refreshed my memories at OKC and the package contained Kings Go Forth, the book written by Joe David Brown. Joe David was quite a character as many 460th troopers will tell you. He is a good writer. So, Easy Company of Band of Brothers fame is not the only outfit to boast a writer. Even if Joe David didn’t go to Harvard like the Easy Co man, a couple of his books were made into good movies–as I recall this one was called Combat Patrol. I started to read this book on the plane and soon concluded that this guy Brown had to be in the 460th. He knew too many details about what we did to have picked it up from someone else. Tommy Thompson of the 460th confirmed that when I got back to Washington.
One Hundred eight years ago today my father was born; sixty years ago the Benning School for Boys tried to make a gentlemen of me on OCS graduation day; and 21 years ago today I got kicked out of a tree by a chain saw and sustained my spinal cord injury. These dates do follow us around. I would like to forget about that last anniversary!!! God bless you all, Howard Hensleigh
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Re: Mail Call #538 - Sept. 5, 2003
William F. Thorng came to "D" Company when we first got back to the Rome area. He was assigned to the 3rd Platoon, 2nd Squad which I am the only living member from the Squad. We were good friends.
I know exactly where he died along with Anthony A. Fabrick, Daniel T. Lopez, Travis V. McDonald and James Starr the morning that two companies of Germans attacked "D" Company on the mountain west of Col de Brau.
If Linda Schlarb
will sent me her telephone number, {want her phone number because I want to pay for the call} I will tell her about his time with "D" Co. I hope she can answer a question that I have wondered about ever since Sept. 1944. The day he was killed Joe Kowalczwk [squad leader] told the squad that Thorng had told him if he was killed that he had a little religious statue in his watch pocket that he wanted Joe to take it out and send it to his mother. It had been sent to his mother from France in World War 1 after it had been taken from his dead father's watch pocket. Joe didn't want to go get it so I got it from his pocket and gave it to Joe. Very short time after that Joe left the squad and I have always wonder if that statue found it's way back to his mother.Floyd L. Polk Co. "D"
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Well, Ben and Tom Reber, I think we are sure of one thing, the 517th troops were transported to Civittavecchia. Thanks to two outstanding senior officers, Dick Seitz and Tom Cross it appears that we did not cruise aboard LSTs even though, according to Tom our history stated that we did. So, thanks to you Tom R. we got that clarified. It's good that descendants like you are interested enough to write which results in some worthwhile exchanges. It was very good to see Dick and Tom become involved. As far as I'm concerned those two gentlemen carry tremendous knowledge of the PRCT. Gene Brissey, CO. E
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Sometimes in our everyday life we tend to forget what's going on
elsewhere in the world and that the brave men and women of the service are just
like you and I. They have family and friends back home who love them very much
and are praying for their safe return.
Pictures you rarely see on the
news!!
