Website---www.517prct.org

Ben, as you know I was a member of E CO, 2nd BN. I am proud of this fact, not because we did anything better or possibly not even as well as others. I am proud because we were lead by Colonel Dick Seitz, now retired General Seitz, as we all know. I send my congratulations to him for more than earning the ABRAMS MEDAL. He was respected by the men of the 2nd BN, a respect that he earned by his every action. General Seitz, I am proud to have served with the Battalion from Camp Toccoa to Bergstein, Germany. Thanks for treating us with respect and leading us in an outstanding manner...Gene Brissey.

Ben:
        I liked Randolph Coleman's Co F story about John Lissner in Nice at the Negresco Hotel. It is typical Lissner.
       Dick Seitz and I were sharing a Lissner story the other day about John Lissner being detailed to pay the Co. F Troopers that were in the Hospital In Nice on a payday. This happened after we came off the mountains outside of Nice and were encamped at La-Colle-Sur- Loup.
        It goes like this: John was overdue from his assigned task of paying the troops in the Hospital in Nice so Dick Seitz, knowing John well and sometimes a willing accomplice in John Lissner's and Carl Starkey's (Co.D) off-duty capers, asked me to go into Nice and make sure I brought John back with me. I took off for Nice and found John and friends at one of the five Bistros, Restaurants, and/or Hotels that were On-Limits to Officers, the rest being Off-limits per Major General Frederick's orders. Fredericks, as you know, was CG of the 1st Airborne Task Force. I found John sitting amidst his buddies well on the way to having a good night on the town. I told John what my instructions were from the Battalion Commander and not getting any acknowledgment or response proceeded to pick him up using the fireman's carry to get him out of the place. I got as far as the exit door where I mistakenly set him down to open the door. He bolted back to his buddies and resumed the activities upon which he was previously engaged. Making a quick estimate of the situation and knowing John as I did I decided to join his gang so I could at least keep an eye on them as the senior officer present. I do not recall much after that other than we all got back to La Colle OK. I attributed our good fortune, with no reprisal, to my sly comment about the Battalion C.O. being a "sometime willing accomplice" earlier in this account. A a footnote let me add that the CG of the 1st ABTF knew that if he restricted his officers just to a few On-Limits places he could always get hold of them or so he thought. I believe this was the only time in the ETO, in my experience, where the Officers were restricted and the rest of the gang had an "Open City." Don't know why I am telling all this but Randolph's comments set me "beguiling,"
Regards, Tom Cross

Dear Ben, My compliments to you and Bob for making possible connections like Joe Combest makes for his father Joe with members of G Co. The combination of the generations make Mail Call a jewel of an asset for the Association. Joe, thanks for your interest and for keeping Ben informed. A couple of the guys your father mentioned were in the 3^rd Plt. Caylor and Henry (Hank) Wengryzinovicz (I’m not sure either of us spelled it right) were in the third Platoon. Maybe Johnson was too. Caylor and Hank would be remembered by most. Ask your Dad if he remembers when Hank had a possum in his foot locker when Zais and Hooper inspected one Saturday morning. Hooper’s dog smelled the possum and was ready to attack the foot locker. When asked by Zais what was in there, Hank without batting an eye said he had just gotten some meat in a package from home. Zais usually got to the bottom of everything, but this time he either believed Hank or had the good sense not to push this one too far. It would make a better story today if Zais had told Hank to open the locker. With everyone at attention, all hell would have broken loose. Caylor weighed about 100 pounds and carried a 60 mm mortar everywhere we went. On a forced march out of Mackall, Caylor was badgered repeatedly by a big guy carrying a light load with, "Caylor, when are you going to fall out?" About 3 am, Caylor had had enough and retorted, "I’ll fall out when Fat Louie falls out of his f—ing jeep!" Caylor used that 60 mortar and a couple of machine guns to hold off a German counter attack to the right (South) of Ridge X and Col de Braus when, in a confusion of orders, his platoon pulled back, but he didn’t. Because of his actions, we were able to hold that hard won piece of real estate. I see we have Caylor’s son John listed in a recent roster at petula.ick.net. You may wish to contact him. I’ll try too. If he reads this and his Dad is still with us, I hope he will do a son’s duty(as you are doing) and see that Caylor gets this Mail Call.

Soft landings, Howard Hensleigh

****************

I believe that John's father has passed away.The email address is no longer valid. I will try to contact John by phone or snail mail.-Ben

From: dalet@dpls.lib.or.us

To: prct517@aol.com

Sent from the Internet (Details)

A patron of our library is trying to locate a contact person for the 517th PRCT Assoc. The information we had for him listed Mr. Allan Goodman as President and sole staff of the organization, however, our patron was unable to make contact with Mr. Goodman. Is there anyone he can get in touch with?

Sincerely,
(Ms.) Dale Tigner
Reference Dept.
Deschutes Public Library
Bend, Oregon

We gave Dale Tinger the necessary information.-Ben

Thank you--I'll pass the information on to the patron

From:	dalet@dpls.lib.or.us
To:	prct517@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)