From: Ben517@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2001 7:58
PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: MailCall
NO.63
Hello,
I am sending this Mail Call today and so
soon after NO 62 because I've I had
problems and best to send it out before
I get more confused. I also want to
give you the latest news on Merle
We have added a few photos on the website.
_______________________________________________________Subj: Re: Merle
Date: 2/25/2001 5:54:31 PM Eastern Standard Time
From:
MardyC111826
To: Ben517
Dear Ben,
The news is all
good about Merle. He gets stronger every day and is driving
and taking his
dog for her walks. Tuesday he starts his cardiac rehab and
that will give us
a better indication of how he's doing.
I'll keep in touch. Thanks for
your concern.
Mardy
_____________________________________________________-
____________________________________________________
Subj: Re: MAil Call
NO>^@
Date: 2/24/2001 6:24:19 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: Wild bill 517
To: Ben517
I think all the news you put in is fine. Even tyough
it will not
interest everyone in every case. Inthis one-NO.62 Iwas ready
to put in my two cents worth on Talorico and Keene. They were
all in my
Bn. However on redtng all the letter I found you had
passed on all that I
could be sure of. I used to stop and visit Doc. Keene
when I drove to
Florida but do not drive south anymore.
I'm sure he is still inChester,Va.-I
had a Christmas Card from there
this year. I remember the two
Talaricos but know nothng about them snce the
war.
Bill
Boyle
____________________________________________________________
-----------------
Forwarded Message:
Subj:
John Salzmann - records
Date: 2/24/2001 11:18:12 AM Eastern Standard
Time
From: MUMTIQUE1
To: PRCT517
Hello,
Bob. I thought it might help to tell you something my uncle told me
this week. I was so shocked to hear something that I, nor my mother,
had
never heard before. My dad's younger brother told me that my
father and all
the paratroopers on a drop once jumped way too soon.
They landed on a
mountain instead of safe ground. Many died or
were wounded. He said my
father was in an army hospital for a year
overseas. I can't believe this is
true even though I can't imagine why
my uncle would say it if it weren't
true. I keep wondering about it.
Once, my father, who never drank, did, at
a family reunion. He
had had too much to drink this once, and he started
crying (which I had
never seen before, and never did again.) He kept saying,
"My buddies,
they all died."
Well, Bob. I don't know about the hospital.
Never heard a word about it
before. I wonder if any of this is
connected. Poor guy. The war must have
been awful. I feel
bad for him. I love him so much.
Anyway, I hope I'm not bothering you.
Thanks again.
Jill
_______________________________________________________________________
Subj: Thanks for the info
Date: 2/24/2001 8:43:44
PM Eastern Standard Time
From: talarico@amug.org (Jules
& Joanne Talarico)
To: Ben517@aol.com
Hello
Ben, I'm Julius Talarico's oldest son, Jul and I want to thank you for
helping my nephew Matthew find out about my dad. Yes George is still
in
Collingswood, New Jersey and I'm sure he would like to hear from you
especially if you were the one who helped him when he got
wounded. His
address is 208 E Graisbury Ave. Audubon, New
Jersey.
Did you know my dad very well during the war, if so I myself
would love to
hear from you about him. Growing up my Dad was very
quiet about his war
experiences, I guess what he saw and went through was
well left in the past.
My father was very much in support of the war in
Vietnam, but in no way did
he want me to participate as a soldier, instead I
became an Air Traffic
Controller and as I guess was his wishes I never went
over to Vietnam.
Matthew told me of the book by Gerald Aster and I will
anxiously await till
I can read it. Thank you and I would love to
communicate with you about my
dad. Talarico@amug.org
_____________________________________________________________________--
Subj: Re: Mail Call NO. 62
Date: 2/24/2001 10:17:04 PM Eastern
Standard Time
From: GEMA9 79
To: Ben517
Hi Ben
I just got through reading the Mail-Call
and it is a wonderful thing you are
doing. I feel so sorry for the
kids who want to know about their grandfather
and fathers war record. But
isn't it a great they are becoming aware of what
you guys did.
Good Luck
to you and keep up the good work
Florence Mehegan
____________________________________________
Subj: Re: John Salzmann -
records
Date: 2/24/2001 10:55:37 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: Tomx517
To: Ben517
Ben:
I did not pay any attention to
the Salzman story and erased my 517th Mail
Call so I am sort of "out in left
field" on this one.
I really do not know how to respond except to say if it
"hots up" and you
need some help then I will be glad to do what I can.
It sort of sounds like we are about to become engaged in the
airborne
alumni version of a "Dear Abby" Column sort of thing.
Regards,
Tom
___________________________________________________--
Subj: Fwd:
Charles Keen
Date: 2/25/2001 11:28:51 AM Eastern Standard Time
From:
PRCT517
To: Ben517
--
Forwarded Message:
Subj: Re: Charles
Keen
Date: 2/25/2001 3:15:12 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: Omega173
To: PRCT517
Sorry about adding the "e" to Keen's name.
He's always been referred to as
"keeney" by my family (he, my great
uncle George and my grandfather all
enlisted together), so I tend to just
drop the y and leave that extra e in.
Keen is still alive, although
he's fighting Parkinson's. My uncle visited
him not too long ago and
was unable to understand most of what he said. It's
too bad, as a lot
of what the world knows about the 517th came from
interviews he's done all
along. He's still at his same address.
M Myers
_______________________________________________________________________Subj:
Re: Book
Date: 2/25/2001 11:46:29 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: PRCT517
To: Ben517
I first saw the First Airborne book at a Barnes and
Noble. I have seen it at
other B&N's in the past, but not
recently. It is much cheaper over the web,
even after shipping.
And it only took a few days for them to send it.
Go to our web
page, and the book link takes you right to Amazon's listing for
the book.
Bob
_________________________________________________________________----
This
was sent to me by JD Butler. Carlos Davis and others
If Earth's population
were shrunk into a village of just 100 people --
with all the human ratios
existing in the world still remaining --
what would this tiny, diverse
village look like? That's exactly what
Phillip M. Harter, a medical doctor
at the Stanford University School
of
Medicine, attempted to figure out.
This is what he found:
57 would be Asian
21 would be European
14 would be from the Western Hemisphere
8 would be African
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be nonwhite
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be
Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world's wealth, and
all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard
housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from
malnutrition
1 would be near death
1 would be pregnant
1
would have a college education
1 would own a computer
The following
is an anonymous interpretation:
Think of it this way:
If you
live in a good home, have plenty to eat and can read, you are a
member of a
very select group. And if you have a good house, food, can
read and have a
computer, you are among the very elite.
If you have never experienced
the danger of battle, the loneliness of
imprisonment, the agony of torture,
or the pangs of starvation ...you
are ahead of 500 million people in the
world.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of
harassment, arrest,
torture, or death...you are blessed. More than
three billion people in
the world can't.
If you have food in the
refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof
overhead and a place to
sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the
bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a
dish someplace, you are among
the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If your parents are still alive and
still married, you are very rare--in
the United States.
If you hold
up your head with a smile on your face and are truly
thankful, you are
blessed because the majority can, but most do not.
If you can hold
someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the
shoulder, you are blessed
because you can offer a healing touch.
If you can read this message, you
just received a double blessing in
that someone was thinking of you, and
furthermore, you are more
blessed than over two billion people in the world
that cannot read at
all
_________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Subj:
Poem by Jean-Pierre
Date: 2/25/2001 4:24:12 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: TheTraveler@pnx.com (Shirley McCarey)
To:
Ben517@aol.com
Ben ---
I had a friend that speaks
and reads French, translate the poem by
Jean-Pierre, and she did the best
she could with the poem. This is what
she wrote me just
now:
Shirley -- Here is a rough translation of the poem.
Some of the letters are
not decoded from French to English properly.
The French language has several
accents on vowels and as an example, it
seems that a's with certain accents
on them are decoded with the copyright
symbol. There is one sentence that
makes no sense at all. I will
send it to my niece for a better translation
and perhapsI will e-mail
Belgium for decoding information.
signed: Theresa
Ben, Theresa has a niece that lives
somewhere in Belgium, so I am sure that
the niece can
help. Unless Boom Boom's friends can come thru.
The following is the line by line translation (by Theresa):
I
think of you, here tonight.
The rain is hitting my window panes and it
is dark.
Young men, Glory and Fury
Facing death, we are alive
Diving
from the sky like hawks.
But instead, there are old trucks
Gaping holes
in their sides, freezing cold
Endless roads, violently shaking night.
In
the fight, so many lost men
Pressing memories, living sacrifice.
Go back
to those bygone times
Without every forgetting the proverb:
Steel,
wretchedness and fear
Kill a young man in spite of his passion.
Look
back at the times of fury
(Here is a line that is unreadable)
I am here,
what can I do (unreadable word)
So much grief, so much courage
But
forever in spite of (unreable word)
It is no longer raining, I close:
The tears of (unreadable word) reach their end.
Thank you, thank you for
all
It is thanks to you that I live.
I hope that
this will help in some small way. Maybe Theresa's niece can
retranslate the poem. I'm sure Theresa will let me know.
Shirley - friend of the 517th
thetraveler@pnx.com
Thanks Shirley.No idea how I got this color.
Ben_____________________________________________________-
______________________________________________________
The following is by OB Hill of the508.It is from his column in the Static
Line
. IHe has given me permission to print it here.
Ben
It
is always good to learn that people read what you are writing. I have
been writing this colu