517th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 13th Airborne
I wanted to share some information on my
personal research project and what I have uncovered so far and how I came to
search out the 517th.
I am 30 years old and love all things related to the history and stories of WW2.
Movies, books, pictures, movies, videos, etc…seems I cannot get enough of it
lately.
I always knew my grandfather was in WW2 and my father told me he was in the
battle of the bulge, but never had any details other than that. Even my father
and his 5 siblings couldn’t offer any more than that. They all said that GPA
never wanted or offered up discussions about his time in WW2. So the information
is quite limited from stories passed down thru the family, and unfortunately GPA
died from leukemia when I was 8 years old, so I wasn’t able to ask him. Recently
however, I was able to uncover some information that my aunt had stored away in
a box that helped send me in some sort of direction. Pictures, patches, pins,
dog tags, a bayonet, a wallet size version of his discharge form (pretty hard to
read most of it due to its size), an officers school diploma, and some German
and French money.
My Grandfather was Milton Julius Hanson, born Dec 15, 1922 in Mattoon, WI. Entered service in Feb of 1943, and was discharged in Jan of 1946 From what I can read on his discharge papers he was a Technical Sergeant of the 517th Parachute Infantry, 13th Airborne Division. I have attached a few pictures I have scanned in of my grandfather and what I assume is a group of guys from his unit. I also have attached a diploma we found from my grandfather attending Officer’s School in Dec of ’45.
I have scoured the information you have on
your website, including the 1944 Christmas roster, but do not find him anywhere.
Any other pointers on filling in some of the gaps about where he was and what he
was doing during his time in the service? Or how to find out what company
he was a part of? I did submit on behalf of my father, next of kin, to the
national archives to see what info they have, but have no clue how valuable that
will be.
Thanks again, enjoy the pictures
-Mark Hanson
Grandchild of Milton J. Hanson, T SGT 517th
Received from Mark Hanson
Grandchild of Milton J. Hanson, T SGT 517th
December, 2010