HI everybody:
calling you from hospital bed - trying to juggle this laptop and
the nurses trying to punch me in the butt with needles and nurses harassing
me. I had a wonderful weekend with some friends up at the Sacramento Delta
and they run me out of breath-Monday- I couldn't breathe very well and so I went
to the VA Clinic and they sent me to This beautiful Monterey Hospital- called
Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula where the doctors have been trying
to inflate me with oxygen tanks ( and I won't say where they inserted the
nozzle)! Hope to go home Sunday, floating on a cloud of oxygen- so please
don't send any more candy or those gorgeous girls - I have plenty here.
This morning a beautiful young lady took me into the shower and I was greatly
embarrassed at first- she scrubbed my back , then I got used to it and she quit
and said finish yourself!! "Did I do something to offend her?" I wondered. So
here I am back in the room , well scrubbed and she is coming with more needles-
miss you guys and will talk to you all later!
(Post Script: this is #1 daughter writing this for him as he
dictates and eats his dinner!!
June Huffman
Hello Ben,
That
picture was really
impressive! Thanks for forwarding it.
I hope I have not missed
anything important this past month. I have not
been able to receive my
messages and there were 184 in my mailbox, so I
have been trying to delete as
I can.
I went to
New Mexico with a friend and while there I had
a mild heart
attack... so... one son went to get me, and I stayed 2 weeks with
his
family... then the Texas son brought me home. I am afraid I had
become
spoiled with all of the attention. ..enough about me, I am doing
fine
just have a few more tests to have done.
I will try to retrieve your
e-mails, hope I have not missed something
important. I
did see the good news from Hal giving the dates of the
next reunion.
Thanks for all you two guys
are doing for the
517!!
June
Cecil Doty
Ben and the Airborne family;
Things are getting back to normal, after the two weeks starting
with Memorial day, D Day remembrance and ending with President Reagan's
funereal.
Thirteen years ago I decided we needed to remember the Hesston's Veterans
on Memorial Day. With the help of my wife, Arlene, we started with an
avenue of Flags. At that time I was told it would never happen in Hesston,
a Memonite Community. We started with 5 Burial Flags, we now fly 37 on
Memorial Day. We also place small flags on a 125 Veterans' Graves in and around
Hesston, I keep record of all living and deceased Veterans in the Hesston
area, starting with the Civil War, up to the present time. We Honor
each Veteran deceased in the past year at our memorial service. We honored
eight this year. It is great to have a committee of seventeen
of younger veterans help us now.
This year was one of best and largest Service we have ever had.
Our Speaker was a young Veteran, Sgt. Eric Voss. Despise his young age of
26, enlisting at the age of 17, he has seen service in
Bosnia in 1990, in Kosovo in 1990 and 2000 and in Iraq with the
101st Airborne
Voss' opening statement was "I know that the freedoms that we all have
today is not something that is God given. Many time in our
history our freedoms has been challenged, if not for our forefathers we
could be speaking any number of different languages and practicing many different
customs other than the ones we have now.
It was a great blessing to talk to a young Airborne Veteran.
Airborne Cecil Doty
Gene Brissey
Thanks to General Seitz for his knowing input
concerning the Battle of La Roquette. Also for the kind words. I could write
many details about the encounter but it might be too long for Mail Call. I could
also write a bunch of short sentences which would tell the story, or let well
enough alone. In any case that action was truly unbelievable considering all
circumstances.
Gene Brissey
Josh Brooks
My name is Josh Brooks. I wrote you several weeks ago about Riley
Graham Watts and you kindly replied that he was in service company. I
wanted to thank you for your time in looking up my Grandfather and to ask you a
bit more about service company. I know that he worked on trucks and other
equipment, but I also know that he did see some combat because he received a
purple heart. My question is, How exactly was service company used in
combat situations or were they more of support group? I have some great
stories that he told of the men he served with and I know that he was very proud
to be in the 517th. Thank you for your time and for helping us learn about
our loved ones.
Thank you,
Josh
Brooks
