mailcall/94.htm

Hello,
We have added to the website The Honor Roll, a list of 517th members killed
in action.

If you haven't already done so, try this on the website.
1. Content page
2. Other Links on the Web
3. Airborne and Paratrooper links
4. Parachute Screen Saver.
When you click on no. 4 , it will bring up a picture of paratroopers jumping
from an Dokota Aircraft. You can change the settings from expert packer to
psychopath. It will change the number of chutes that open. You can make it
your screen saver if you wish or like my grandchildren just watch the picture.

Interesting mail from Doug Harris, a nephew of Douglas T. Emmons who was
awarded The Legion of Merit Award while a member of the 517th. Please send
him any information that you know about his uncle or send it to me and I'll
see that he gets it.

Reunion is May 20. Register today if you haven't already done so.
Ben

Website-----------members.aol.com/prct517/--------No www

_____________________________________________________--
Entry of Apr 23, 2001 at 23:04 [EST]
Name: russell a johnson
Unit: presently active duty marine
EMail: ktusmc@aol.com
How I found the 517th page: Other
Comments: my father norm johnson was with the 517th. i believe this was from
the beginning of the units activation. he passed away last year on jan 15
2000. the only persons name that i ever heard being talked about is bill
lewis. i have read the thunderbolt on a regular basis up until a few months
before he died. sort of miss the old man he was proud of this unit and his
time in the miltary.
__________________________________________________________Subj: Mail call
request.
Date: 4/21/2001 10:46:09 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: zick@fuse.net (LCZ)
To: Ben517@aol.com
CC: Genedie77@aol.com

Mr. Barrett,
Please add me to list to receive "Mail Call". My father Corbin Zickefoose
served with the 517th through out Europe. He now lives in West Virginia.

I came across the 517th site some time ago. When dad was visiting I showed
it to him. He was really interested. I have been in contact with Gene
Brissey. Mr. Brissey even call my Dad, and had him sent the Thunderbolt
(very nice of Mr. Brissey). Dad is not on the internet but every time he
come down (I live in Kentucky) we get on the net and look up stuff on the
517th. He really enjoys that.

Thank you,
Larry C. Zickefoose
email: zick@fuse.net
_____________________________________________
Subj: Douglas Emmons
Date: 4/24/2001 4:15:32 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: doug@wi.rr.com (Doug Harris)
To: Ben517@aol.com

Hi, Ben, I am just compiling some family information. One of my heroes in
early childhood (I was born in 1939) was my uncle Douglas T. Emmons, and I
still remember the thrill when he came through town quietly on his way back
from WWII.
Later in my first year in college (at Rice in Houston Texas) I shared a room
with him and accidentally came to learn that he had earned a Legion of Merit
with the 517th during the war.

So I did a web search for "517th" and found the home page, and found him
listed as one of the three recipients of the award from that unit.

What I am wondering is if you know some place that I could look to learn
more about his involvment with the 517th and such during the war. He was
just such a quiet and strong man. My son (Ethan Douglas) and I visited him
in Houston when he was in his 70s and partially paralyzed in bed. He still
had all the dignity he always possessed, was watching CSpan and totally
involved, and made a deep impression on my son at that time.

Thanks for any help you might suggest. It is really important that folks
understand the incredible things that were done, by youngsters, that make it
possible for us all to live so well these days. I am a professor of
computer science, classes packed with students who are fun to have around,
but they need to always remember the things that kept us going in some
pretty awful times.

I've got a couple of pictures, including my grandkids, on my home page
http://home.wi.rr.com/dougmeilieharris/. Some day I will be proud to tell
those grandkids about their grand uncle, and his unit.

I met Audie Murphy a little when I was in the 36th Division National Guard
(which I joined at age 15 - by writing, as the captain suggested, the 9 in
my 1939 birthdate with a very small loop so it looked like a 7). He was a
movie star by then, but still seemed basically a freckle-faced country boy!

_________________________________________________
Subj: Military.com
Date: 4/23/2001 11:16:10 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: vze2b3gy@verizon.net (Ray R. Hess)
To: Ben517@aol.com (Ben Barrett)

Good Morning Ben: Last evening on the "history channel" they showed stories
of the "glider troops" and during the showing they advertised the web site
"military.com" Have you hear of it? I tried it this morning and found it,
but not enough time to explore it for long. Thought you might be interested
in looking at it. THANKS for the fine job that you are doing for the guys
that were in the 517th    RAY R.Hess

I suscribe to military.com, but I spend most of my time on matters pertaining
to the 517th..Military.com is mostly about the modern army and would be of
interest to military buffs.
Ben
______________________________________________________-
Subj: Re: Douglas Emmons
Date: 4/24/2001 6:52:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: doug@wi.rr.com (Doug Harris)
To: Ben517@aol.com

Thanks for the nice, and quick, response. I had run into a mention of the
Paratrooper's Odyssey on the web, and was getting ready to head to the local
bookstore (or Amazon.com if they do not have it here) for "Beyond Valor", and
had found a reference to "The Battling Buzzards".

Perhaps a great role model for my life has been Grace Murray Hopper, who
retired as a Rear Admiral and the oldest officer on active duty in the armed
forces
(and once when someone asked her in front of me if she had ever felt
prejudice, expecting you know what kind of answer, she said "Yes, I was a
Reserve in the Regular Navy! - they didn't get it, but I did. She never
fought in combat, except perhaps in the Pentagon, but the most important
lesson she ever taught me - and I have just completed chairing an academic
department for 21 years - was that "you get loyalty up by first showing
loyalty down, and it doesn't work the other way around - which I am sure
Uncle Douglas would agree with, having been apparently a jump sergeant before
he became Master Sergeant).

Although a life-long Democrat, with Sam Rayburn as Congressman and Lyndon
Johnson as Senator (I grew up in Denison Texas) I marched at age 13 in
Eisenhower's Inaugural Parade and have always admired him in many ways, and
the one thing I learned from him is how much the military understands the
horror of war, but also how much understands that once you commit to it you
actually have to fight to win no matter what! That's what you guys did and
it has taken a long time for people to really realize the full horror, and
the full miracle, of what happened.

Sadly enough in some ways the bulk of my graduate students are Chinese or
Indian (don't know why "regular folks" don't want to come to school) but the
admiration they have for our country and the interest many of them have in
understanding us more is amazing, they sometimes seem more committed to our
"way of life" than some of us are. So besides the "regular" students I will
tell them a little of what I learn, and point out that they need to
understand how/why so many people willingly gave up so much to save so many.
My own wife is a refugee (1950) from China, because her family was wealthy,
and they made it to Inchon in Korea just in time for that invasion when she
was 10 years old. We returned to China for the first time 40 years later 11
years ago, and sadly arrived in Beijing the day after the Tien-An-Men
massacre, which is the only time fortunately I have ever seen burning tanks
and jeeps on street corners. And last September we went to Tibet for the
first time in either of our lives, and really saw the value of the freedom we
enjoy and the respect others have for us as a result.

Anyway, thanks a lot for putting up the site, and please be assured that
there are folks "out there" you will never meet in person to whom it has deep
meaning. I use "the web" constantly for my teaching and learning, and it has
unexpected impact in ways you may not see for years, or ever. There are so
many things it now makes it possible to find out about, and it is good that
you folks in particular can keep in touch, perhaps around the time you have
finally unwound enough that it is a good thing to do!

I'll close with one thing Uncle Douglas said when my son and I visited him.
As it happens I am a professor in a Jesuit University, although very much not
Catholic. I mentioned to him that so many of the older priests I had met over
the years are alchoholic, and I had always heard "it happened during the
war". He said "That's really simple. If you're in a foxhole and a grenade
lands, everyone can turn away from a victim except the priest, who has to
comfort him!".   Boy did that make me realize the personal horror of war, and
thank God again (having "grown up" between Korea and Vietnam) how lucky I am
to have escaped it, and how grateful to those who did not.
_______________________________________________
Subj: Vegas reunion 2002 & 3 & 4 & infinity
Date: 4/23/2001 7:51:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: artann3447@juno.com (Tom mcavoy)
To: Ben517@aol.com

I just returned from Vegas and will have to wait 10 days for a formal
invitation from my contacts ,in talking to them it sounded very
promising, I* ask for a figure from the top of your head on 4-nites
5-days just to see if we are talking reality, here?? He said to start
with we only have 300 rooms here at boulder station , there are 500 rooms
at sunset station ,and 1000 rooms at Palace station, so it will probably
have to be at Palace Station, He said I am thinking in the neighborhood
of $62.50 per nite, but that includes 2 free meals a day at our buffet.(a
great buffet), I ask for a golf tourney, To be paid for by each
golfer,??? I ask for 3 comp. rooms for our foreign guest. I ask for a
hospitality room for free. I ask about R>V> hookups I ask about airport
shuttle (free) I had to guess at number of 517 members and wives that
might come??? I gave a figure of 3-to 500 equals approx 300 rooms . These
people require a deposite of 20 % payable in Jan of 2002 ??? so hold
tight and we will see. if we are interested when the proposal arrives
in 10 days.   Tom McAvoy

Well, if we can have Ed Flannery tend the bar, Bob Christie do the cooking
and Tom McAvoy deal the cards we can have the reunion any place.
Ben
________________________________________________________________
Subj: THUNDERBOLT and Reunion
Date: 4/24/2001 7:12:46 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: Genedie77
To: MMcmor8391
CC: Ben517

Dear Mr President, Secretary, Treasurer, Merle for short
Have just read the latest issue of the THUNDERBOLT. It is a very
interesting copy. Your item concerning paratroopers, wings, jumpboots and all
that goes with being a paratrooper is extremely interesting. I have never
heard the term Corcoran with respect to Paratrooper Jump Boots. Thanks for
the article. Also the Lt. Edward M. Athey's "rendition" of the C-47 Crash
Recalled, is of great interest, and probably unknown to most of us. As usual
the letters and other items included were worth reading at least twice. There
is but one apparent mistake that has gotten me in deep hot water with my
wife. While reading the list of those registered for the reunion we noted
that many or all