January 22-26, 2006
Bradenton, FL
From the
CRIBA website
Lou Darden
To All 517th Troopers and All Family
Members:
Reality is here. Thanks to the dreams and forethought of
Howard Hensleigh and the Troopers of the 517th PRCT, the Auxiliary is finally up
and running.
I want to stop right here and explain to everyone what the
membership of the Auxiliary will consist of. The list includes: wives,
widows, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, brothers, sisters, aunts,
uncles, cousins. It also includes Honorary Members of the 517th PRCT &
families. Any one that is a blood relative of one of the 517th
Troopers and Honorary Members will be eligible.
All my life I have heard about people being in the right place at
the right time. Howard Hensleigh is one of those people. He had the
dream and the knowledge that it took to get the Auxiliary organized and
legal. Over the last few months Howard had asked me to help him with lists
of names and asking my opinion (not sure how much that is worth) about
things. I thank him for his confidence in me to help him.
I also want to thank the women that were in the very first meeting
of the 517th PRCT Auxiliary meeting for their confidence in me to elect me
President. The meeting was held immediately after the Ladies
Luncheon on Thursday, August 18th at the Reunion in Savannah,
GA. The first item on the agenda of the Men's business meeting was to vote
to approve the forming of the Auxiliary. As soon as we received the word
that the vote was positive, the ladies meeting was called to order by Mrs.
Howard Hensleigh (Jan). Several organizing committee meetings had been
held earlier in the week. A slate of officers was proposed by this
committee. Mrs. Hensleigh presented this slate to the meeting and called
for nominations from the floor. Being none, the slate was approved.
Your Auxiliary Officers are:
President Lou
Darden (wife of Jesse Darden, 460th HQ)
1st VP
Helen Beddow (wife of Hal Beddow, 1st A/BTF)
2nd VP Claire Johnson Glibin (daughter of Alan
Johnson, 596th),
Secretary Laurie Frice Wallace and Robin
Frice Hopewell (daughters of Gene
Frice,
F Co, Incoming President of the 517th PRCT)
Treasurer Karen Frice Wallace (daughter of Gene Frice, F
Co.)
Board of Directors:
Jeanne Davis (wife
of Gareth Davis, F Co.)
Gary Davis,
Jr. (son of Gareth Davis,
F Co.)
Tom
Reber,
(son of Robert Reber, deceased, 3rd HQ)
Steve
Gomez
(son of Benito Gomez, deceased, 460th B)
Donna
Hillard (daughter of
Silas Brown, 3rd HQ)
Kristie
Wright (daughter of
Jesse Darden, 460th HQ).
The Historian Committee and the people that have agreed to serve on
them are:
Bob Barrett (son of Ben Barrett, H Co.)
Paul Beddow (son of Hal Beddow, 1st A/BTF)
Morris
McDowell (cousin of Layton Pippin, KIA. H
Co.)
The Publicity Chairperson is Leah McBride, fiancée of Steve
Gomez.
I think we have a good representation across the board of most of
the units of the 517th.
This is just the beginning. There will be many
more committees as we move forward.
It is very exciting to be in on the beginning of this wonderful
organization. In the first sentence of this article, I said the Auxiliary
is up and running. I mean that literally. The young people involved
in this endeavor are truly running. They are so excited. They had
been hearing about the possibilities of this organization and now they see that
the Troopers really meant it.
We have many ideas of ways we can support our Troopers. A few of
these are:
1. Helping to keep down the cost of registration to the now Annual
Reunions,
2. Having people that can help any Trooper or Family member that
needs help physically attending the reunions (some of these things could be
meeting planes, buses etc, and help during the reunions for people that may be
handicapped in some way). For instance, someone may want to attend a tour
or function and needs help getting to the event. This will all be
explained in detail as we continue to work on these areas.
3. We also
want to help all Troopers and their families in saving any relics, pictures, and
stories. It is being proposed that many of these things be put in museums
that are established or being established.
Remember this is only the beginning. We need YOUR Help
-- Everyone of you. This is not an organization for you to
join and sit back and rest on your laurels. This is a working organization
for every one of its members. You will be receiving a letter that will
tell you more about the Auxiliary. We hope that all of you will join
us. We are going to be here to keep alive the memories of the Troopers of
the 517th PRCT.
I remember when Jesse & I started attending the reunions,
there was a large group of his unit. I enjoyed so much meeting and
becoming friends of these wonderful people. None of those people were at
this last reunion. Many of the Troopers have gone to the big airport in
the sky and their wives don't come anymore. I really hope that this will
bring the wives of these wonderful men back. I miss them so much. They know who
they are and I hope to see you all next year.
If you have any questions, you may reach me at any one of the
following ways:
Lou Darden
343 W. Adams
McAlester, OK
74501
918-423-0706
loujad@sbcglobal.net
Michael Carrillo
Patrick Tremblay
Celebrating Bill Yarborough
Friday, September 30
1:30 p.m.
A
bust of famed retired Army leader Lt. Gen. William Yarborough will be unveiled
at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum in downtown Fayetteville on
Friday, September 30 at 1:30 p.m.
The unveiling ceremony will include
remarks by Yarborough, now 93, and retired Gen. James Lindsay, chairman of the
museum's board of directors. Refreshments will follow.
Visit the museum's
website at www.asomf.org for more details and information on Yarborough's
career.
This event is free and open to the public.
Oscar Knerr
Hi Ben,
I just got back from visiting my kids and checking
my Email found that some of the Outbox had somehow got lost. This included
my reply to your queries about Alfredo Vorshirm. We know him as Ben.
I don't recall exactly when he first showed up, but I think it was in southern
France. I could be wrong, maybe it was in Italy. I just don't
know. He attached himself to us in the Reg Hq I and R platoon.
Sometimes he disappeared for a week or so and then, there he was
again. We never knew much about him. One day he was a
Frenchman, the next a Belgian, the next a Swiss. Never the same story
twice. As far as him making a parachute jump, I don't ever recall
kidding him about it as he says in his letter. I remember that the wheels
tried to get a plane for some replacements to requalify so they could get Jump
pay. But they couldn't shake one lose. That I know for a fact.
When it came to plain BS, he was a master. He was a personable guy who
could translate any European language and he was a good scrounger. Also he
always found the nearest cat house whenever we moved. Above all else he
was a great story teller. We never could figure out if what he told us was
true or not. I do agree with you that the accomplishments he talks
about in his letter are definitely suspect. It would be interesting to find
out the truth, but I don't think we will ever find out after all this
time. Have a nice day, Oscar Knerr