Reunions Save the Dates!

Annual West Coast Party 2005 April 10-16, 2005 Palm Spring, CA

2005 Biannual Reunion August 15-19, 2005 Savannah, GA

Howard Hensleigh

Dear Ben:

Mail Call, the Website, the ODYSSEY, reunions and books about WWII all have intertwining revelations. Let me see if I can tie this one together. It started in the small Fleet Landing library where I saw a book, "MAJOR GENERAL MAURICE ROSE, World War II’s Greatest Forgotten General". The name rang a bell and I thought of the First Bn. I then turned to the Bulge pages and saw Manhay all over them. It said we lost Manhay, but it was quickly retaken. It didn’t say by whom. That was by the Third Bn., so I added my pen and ink footnote on that page. The book was interestingly written so I was trapped into reading the whole thing. Rose was an unusual soldier. He joined the Colorado National Guard at 16, was commissioned at 17 as a 90 day wonder at the Infantry School, fought and was wounded in France in WWI, took the surrender of the Germans in Africa as chief of staff of the 2^nd Armored Division and eventually ended up as commander of the 3^rd Armored Division where he met his death on March 30, 1945, after encircling the Ruhr pocket. My remembrances of the tankers included the Phoenix City beer joint fights with our troopers and a tank shooting up H Co. men on a distant mountain in Italy. We all knew Patton did great things and broke through to the Screaming Eagles at Bastogne, but the book gave me new insight into the transformation of the horse cavalry to the tankers and their rightful place in the sweep across France and Into Germany.

Every time I go to a reunion I run into something that makes the entire trip a worthwhile experience. Both Bill Boyle and Don Fraser were present and accounted for at the FL Snowbird mini so I had the privilege of talking with both. They clearly remembered their experiences in dealing with General Rose and Col. Howze, commander of the 3^rd Armored’s Combat Command Reserve. Bill, as the commander of the first Bn. to arrive at ridgway’s Corps Hq., was ordered to report to Rose at his CP in Manhay. Rose’s Combat Commands A and B had been assigned to other hot spots. He was left only with his reserve to cover a 13 mile front where the main thrust of the SS tigers were set to penetrate. In such a desperate situation, Rose did what many American commanders did–attack. I got the impression that Rose gave Bill more latitude as to how he could assist in achieving objectives than Howze gave Don. Don didn’t have anything good to say about his direct orders to attack up a road over open territory after he pointed out to Howze that there was cover available in another attack route. I read the Odyssey for the detail of what the 1^st Bn. did to salvage that situation and how the 3^rd Bn. retook Manhay after it was lost. All this is good reading.

As you know we have a young friend, Stevin Oudshoom, who has taken interest in our 517^th CT men who are buried in the Magraten Cemetery in the Netherlands. It contains the graves of those of us who fell at Bergstein and were not returned to the States for reburial, including the grave of Capt. Woodhull of the 460^th. General Rose is also buried there. His book contains the interesting details of why he is entered there today rather than in Arlington Cemetery. If you can get your hands on this book, Stevin, I am sure you will enjoy learning about one more American who is buried in that cemetery you and we care about.

The book also gives some clues in answer to your question as to why some American officers were as far forward as Woody and I were at Bergstein. General Rose believed in leading from the front, as did Bill Boyle. It gave him a clear picture of how the battle was going so that his decisions could be made immediately on his first hand view of the battlefield. It also demonstrated that he valued the lives of his troops as highly as he valued his own. He was trained at the Infantry School at Ft. Benning, GA., where at age 17 he became a "shavetail" second lieutenant. The School’s watch word is "Follow Me". Leading from the front was one of the reasons General Rose is there in Margraten Cemetery. The other reason was that he had to depend on close air and artillery support to make up for the fact that the German tanks were superior to the Sherman in fire power and armament. The Pershing tank came along at the end of the war as did the recoilless rifle anti-tank weapon, snow pack boots and a lot of other good equipment. When his leading elements encountered heavy fire from the Panzers and Tigers, he called in air support. The Air Corps erroneously reported that they had knocked out the enemy tanks. Those Panzers and Tigers led to his death and the destruction of the leading elements of the 3^rd Armored Division on March 30, 1945.

We of the 517^th CT are highly gratified that you have taken a keen interest in Woody and our our other troopers who fell at Bergstein and that a Major General of Rose’s caliber lies there with them in that peaceful well kept cemetery.

Thank you from all of us. Howard Hensleigh

Chris Lindner

Hi Ben:

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL OF THE 517^TH MEMBERS!!

I was reading the Mail Call and I noticed June Huffman’s post about meeting many of the 517^th men many years ago.  I wanted to ask June if she could write in and tell us about the wonderful times and stories from these men during training during the war and of course the stories that she heard while attending these reunion.  That is exactly the things I would like to hear from the wives of the men that served in the 517^th. I am sure June has some fond memories of her and her husband with the other men of the 517^th even after the war.

I hope you are reading this June and I am sure you have some great stories to tell.  I am also sure that Dorothy McKenzie would have some wonderful stories to tell too.

Have a great day!!

Chris Lindner

Ben, I recently went through an old trunk that was at my dad’s house when he died.  The trunk originally was in his mother’s house in Dublin, Georgia but we had not gone through it after they sold his mother’s house and obtained the trunk while he was alive.  I wish we had.  There were several uniforms in that trunk along with a Nazi hat.  YIKES!  One of my dad’s brothers must have taken it off of a Nazi solder.  My dad had three other brothers that where in the service during that time.  One was in the air force at a later date, the other two were in the army at the same time my dad was in the army but in different companies.  These things are so fascinating to me.  Smile.   Thought I would share them with you. My dad was the only one of his brothers that was in the 517^th. 

Margaret