Dear Ben:
Until this afternoon, the press of work kept me
from reading Mail Calls #1854 through 1858. To read them in the same
sitting was indescribable experience as they transported me to the 517th's
wonderful trip to France and Belgium and to being with the remarkable
Irma, Arnold, Maria, Patricia, Roland, Eddie, Eric, Jean
Michael who have done so much to preserve the history and memory of the
contributions of the 517th. I am so grateful to you and Claire for sharing
summaries of the outstanding experiences and the impact on those whom you, Hal,
Leo, and Merle touched with your stories, Merle's comments and Howard
Hensleigh's certificates, as well as the emails from the families you met
at Draguignan and even the flight attendant on the plane coming back from
Europe. Thank you to all who made this trip possible and thank you to all
who shared their reactions and photos for the rest of us to savor.
Sincerely, Pat Seitz and Alan Greer
PS Thank you also for the link to the CSPAN commemoration of the
D-Day invasion at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and for the web site on
Frank Campos
Rick Sweet
Hi Ben,
I am glad that
you had a great trip and made it home safely. I loved the pictures and the
stories that are still coming in. I wish that I could've been there with you to
see the places where my dad fought. He was just a simple country boy before
joining the paratroopers and he got to see some beautiful country under the most
dangerous conditions. Could you kind of point out to me the place where you were
wounded. I suspect that my dad was wounded in the same area on the same day of
January 5th 1945. He was with you in H co and shrapnel hit his ear. It really
scared him when it hit and he thought he was hurt worse then he was. He ran from
there to an aid station where he heard that so many casualties had occurred. He
and we were very lucky that it wasn't worse. I have never been able to
find his name in the records but he did receive a purple heart with an oak
leaf cluster. He was also hit in the big toe on a different occasion. Shrapnel
went through his boot! I guess those records were lost in the
fire.
I finished the "Paratroopers Odyssey"
not too long ago
which was a pretty good book. Soon I
will be starting on
" More Than Courage", a book about
the 504th. He was with them before he was a replacement sent to the 517th
on Oct 9, 1944 They sure did move you guys around allot!
Thanks again for sending all
of us your pictures and story. It is very helpful to us that couldn't be there.
I am also very thankful for the 517th mail call and web page that has given me
so much information that I didn't have before. It has become very important to
me indeed! God Bless
SOB
Rick Sweet
Photos from Belgium and France
