Dear Ben,

As you know, I have been updating a roster combining information from several sources. While doing this, I take notice of the names and addresses and just this past weekend, I ran across JK Horne's information and took a moment to reflect on my experiences this past year with him.

I remember meeting Mr. Horne in Oklahoma City as part of the 3rd Bn. group. He was very gracious to make me feel welcome and he took extra care to invite me to a special memorial service he held in his room to honor and remember those who have made the final jump. It meant a great deal to him and the memorial made a strong impression on me. Some time after the reunion, during the past summer, Mr. Horne phoned me to once again extend his welcome to me to the current events of the 517th and to encourage my fellowship with the association. I appreciated and welcomed his phone call.

More recently, I loaned a book to JB Walton (Lexington, F Co.) to read and he was gracious enough to loan me his video copy of the 1999 reunion in Georgia. During that year and that reunion Mr. Horne was President of the association and was a prominent part of that video. The tape brought back very pleasant memories of Mr. Horne and other 517th'ers.

I am saddened by the news of his passing. All who knew him will certainly miss him.

I will send the roster update under a separate message.

Bets regards,

Tom Reber

son of Lt. Bob Reber (HQ 3rd)

Please keep me on the mailing list.

LTC Wallace, S.M.

My father is Charles E. Wallace, G. Co.

Dad,

In the last Mail Call, you mentioned that you are looking for Raymond Cato. In the last roster, he had an address in Largo FL.

I tried a Yahoo People Search and found:

Raymond Cato

400 Lake Ave NE

Largo, FL 33771

(727) 585-3170

Different address than on the roster, but how many Raymond Cato's can there be in one town?

Bob

Attached is the latest roster update. If you care to review it, I wish to highlight several things. First of all, I am very impressed with how well all of the different sources of information matched up. Here are some examples.

There are 1,396 lines of personal contact information. Of those 1,396 lines, only about 14 people (only 1%) have duplicate or confusing or some type of issue to resolve/clarify with their physical addresses. Those 14 people are in bold print. This is truly a credit to those who have kept up this information over the years. I did go line by line and I am impressed at the agreement between lists.

When I added Bob Christie's list to the mix, the persons who were added to the list and not on the previous version are highlighted in yellow. When Bob Barrett posts this version, he is certainly free to change this, I simply wanted it to show the additions quickly and easily.

I added a new column to the roster that indicates that the person was on Bob Christie's list, so I assumed that they were receiving the Thunderbolt. When the time draws near to mail out the Thunderbolt, I can use that column to filter the roster down to a list that will be used to generate the mailing list and it will not include those who did not want the publication or who are not signed up for it. If my assumption was incorrect, I can easily adjust that column or delete it entirely.

I can make this single list do a great deal of work for the organization (anyone comfortable with Excel can), so that is why I keep adding stuff to it. I just didn't want to get anyone alarmed at what I was doing. If we keep the information in one spot on one list, it will lend itself to easier updates and more accurate versions.

I have received at least a half dozen updates from people who are on the Mail Call distribution list, with updates on their information. I thought that was a good response.

Please let me help Bob Christie with some of the mundane, administrative issues (like Mail Merge for the Thunderbolt mailing list) surrounding the publishing of the newsletter. Just give me the go-ahead and the target date(s) to run the mailing list along with the label type being used and I will pull it together and send Bob the file. Then he can print it locally from his machine. Or, with enough lead time, I will print the labels and ship them to him in FL.

I have rambled enough now. I will shut up and let my family back on the PC. Blessings to the Horne family.

Best regards to all,

Tom Reber

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

We have the latest roster on the website. Check it out.-Ben

Hi Ben:

I wanted to write a note about the Military Personnel Records Center. First I will tell you that I grew up in St. Louis and I remember watching the record center burn. In addition to what Tom McAvoy said it is also my understanding (I have been dealing with the record center for over 2 years now with regards to my Dad’s discharge papers) there is apparently micro-film in Washington D.C. regarding the information that was burned.

I personally will not give up until I get the answers I need. I am now dealing with the Congressman of Georgia and now the Senator’s office in trying to get the information squared away. It is a long and time consuming project but if you keep at it you will get results but it is best done on the Congressional level. Unfortunately, the people at the record center do not take the time to look something up and continue to investigate unless the information jumps up and bites them.

Anyone that is trying to get information on their relatives keep writing in and also CALL (and make sure you get names) and also write to your Congressman and/or Senator, that will speed the horribly slow process up just a little.

Does anyone know the whereabouts of Ernie Morrison, from Texas? There is a small article about him and my Dad in the l997 “Thunderbolt” that I would like to find out about if Ernie Morrison is around.

Thanks,

Chris Lindner

Nate Rubenstein’s daughter

HQ Co., 2^nd BN.

P.S. Ben, Darrell Egner spent the weekend in Atlanta with my husband and I and we went to Toccoa (Darrell’s first trip back since training camp 60 years ago). I will be sending you some pictures later that I thought you might want to put on the “Mail Call” or on the website.

Ben; Here is a P.S. to the inquiry about Lt. Moore and Pvt. Kennemer killed attacking a mg nest on 15 Aug 44. According to Merle M. they were both from C Battery, 460th. Please let us know anything you 480th men can remember about either of them.

Good to hear from Mortensen (Danish?) a friend of our author, Joe David Brown. Howard Hensleigh