 Reunions Save the Dates! |
 Florida Mini-Reunion 2005 January 23-27, 2005 Kissimmee, FL |
| Annual
West Coast Party 2005 April 10-16, 2005 Palm Spring, CA |
| 2005 Biannual
Reunion August 15-19, 2005 Savannah, GA |
I have waited 2-3 months for this surgery and the few days before ,they opt out. Like waiting in line for a long time and they run out of whatever when you get up front.
Tom McAvoy
Name: ellen smith
Unit:
EMail: ellen@stmatthew.net
How I found the
517th page: From a search engine
Comments: I'm looking for
information regarding my father, 1st Lt Reed Terrell. He was part of the 517
Parachute Infantry. I believe he may have been in I company from some of the
things I have read on this Website. My father died in 1966 when I was 3 and I
have no memory of him. any stories that you can provide from his days in WWII
would be very much appreciated. Sincerely, Ellen
Terrell-Smith
Howard Hensleigh
Dear Ben and Ellen Terrell Smith:
Thank you for the opportunity to respond with details about Ellen’s father, Reed Terrell, who was a first Lt. platoon leader in I company.
I met Reed when I first reported to the Third Bn. of the 517th PIR in November, 1943. We lived in the same BOQ (Bachelor Officers Quarters) at Camp Mackall, N. C. This was not a palatial home away from home. The BOQ’s were one story buildings on stilts up about three feet off the sand, hastily constructed from green lumber. The boards warped and we could toss a cigar but out through the cracks. They were about 100 feet long with multiple doors from the outside into a hallway that contained pot bellied stoves that were supposed to heat the place up in the morning, if we started a fire. I don’t think we had doors on the individual rooms which contained two tiered bunks for up to four persons. The latrine and showers were in separate buildings of the same sort about 20 yards from the ends of the buildings. I think all the company grade officers (lieutenants and captains) of the third battalion were quartered in the same building. We got to know each other well. Some of the officers tried to harass the newly arrived 90 day wonders fresh from OCS and Jump School. Reed was a good guy and I liked him from the start. We kept track of each other from then until he was seriously wounded as he led his platoon in an attack near Col de Braus, France in the fall of 1944. Captain Joe McGeever and I were with him that day.
We enjoyed seeing your father again and meeting your mother at the first 517th reunion in Chicago in 1949.
I will cut this short today, because we will be going to Kissimmee for the Florida mini-reunion early tomorrow. But, I will be back in touch with additional details in a few days.
Again, thanks for the opportunity to write about a fellow trooper I always admired. Howard Hensleigh