101st Airborne Division Belgian Friendly Newsletter

101st Airborne Division Belgian Friendly Newsletter
YEAR 2008-VOL. 2
MONTHLY
FEBRUARY
Publisher: Laurent OLIVIER, Tomberg 47, 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium
Betty Grable
Pin-up Girl of the Month
Skylighters. All rights reserved
101st Airborne Division Belgian Friendly
WORLD WAR TWO HISTORY AND REENACTMENT ASSOCIATION
a.s.b.l. N° 718199
Corporation N°: 0465.819.635
Registered office: Rue Rouvroy 297, 5300 Bonneville, Belgium
The staff, at your service:
President:
Michel Bourland
Rue Rouvroy 297
5300 Bonneville, Belgium
Tel: +32.85.84.25.46
Mobile: +32.475.33.24.44
michel.bourland@skynet.be
Treasurer:
Jean-Pierre Marquet
Rue de Toijol 5
5640 Saint-Gérard, Belgium
Tel: +32.71.79.85.56
Mobile: +32.475.95.93.30
Fax : +32.71.79.89.24
j.p.marquet@portima.be
Secretary:
Laurent Olivier
Tomberg 47
1200 Bruxelles, Belgium
Tel: +32.2.771.95.43
Mobile: +32.479.96.19.34
oli_wla_1942@yahoo.fr
Operations:
Raoul Frébutte
Rue Steenvelt, 22 / 2
1180, Bruxelles, Belgium
Mobile: +32.475.34.14.94
RAOULARMY@hotmail.com
« 101st Airborne Belgian »
Local :
Association account
number:
Meeting office:
Affiliated N° 191
Red Cross office
Rue Albert Ier (N922)
5070 Fosses-la-Ville
Belgium
Nr : 732-0005542-64
IBAN: BE29 7320 0055
4264 - BIC: CREGBEBB
Monthly meetings are usually
taking place every fourth Friday.
Hello!
Association News
While we are finishing this newsletter, several of our members are
participating to the 82nd Airborne
march, a quite difficult walk. Other
events already happened this year
and the calendar is already very
busy till the end of December. There
is often more than one event at the
same dates and it is unfortunately
not possible to be everywhere.
We already counted more than 40
events foreseen in our country and
many others in the rest of Europe.
We can see that our hobby, which is
more than a hobby of course, is still
very alive. New members are joining
the different associations and new
groups are appearing. We hope to
meet again with our friends during
some the events we will participate
this year and to meet with other history buffs. May this year be rich in
meeting for everyone!
On January 25 took place our general annual meeting, along with the
staff elections. We made a report of
our activities during the year 2007
and we discussed the projects for
this year before voting for the new
staff. They were several candidates
for the several posts. Four were
elected: Michel Bourland (president), Jean-Pierre Marquet (treasurer), Laurent Olivier (secretary)
and Raoul Frebutte (operations).
Airborne Family
Happy Birthday : This month we
wish a Happy Birthday to Paul
Christophe (04/02), Alexis Gauthier
(06/02), Mark Gerkinet (06/02), Dino
Di Pietro (13/02) et Virginie Michaux
(15/02).
Greetings : We pass you the greetings from our friend Kyle Thomas.
Kyle came back from Iraq en of January. After a well granted rest, he is
back on duty. He hopes to participate with us to some events every
time he cans, as in few months, he
will be transferred back to the USA.
He already made plans to be with
is at Bastogne end of December.
We also don’t forget another friend,
Larry Kellogg, who is in Iraq since
the beginning of January.
We remind you that the 2008 fee
have to be paid for the 1st of March
on the association bank account.
The fee for this year is 20€.
Account
« 101st Airborne Belgian »
# 732-0005542-64
From outside Belgium: IBAN:
BE29 7320 0055 4264 - BIC:
CREGBEBB.
Communication
:
Cotisation
2008
As every year, our association will
organize the Memorial Day ceremonies at our monuments at Fosses-la-Ville and at Sart-Saint-Laurent. This year, the ceremonies will
take place on the Saturday 17th of
March. Thank you to note it in your
agenda. Another date to remember
is the Saturday 29th of November,
the date of our association meal.
We remember you that this year we
celebrate our 35th Anniversary. This
meal will take place at Soignies, in
a very nice ball room from the 30s40s.
Other News
Brevands
Monument
We talked about this subject in
previous editions. Our friend and
member Real Demarets is building a monument in Normandy in
memory of the Demolition Platoon
506th P.I.R., the famous “Filthy 13”
and the men of the 3/506 P.I.R. and
C/326 A.E.B. who took and held the
bridges on the Douve River next to
Brevands village. The inauguration
of the monument will take place on
Sunday 8th of June at 11h00. We
would like to ask for your generosity
to help Real in this project - a project that he has undertaken with no
or little help (financially or humanly).
To help him, we thank you for making a small donation. Payment can
be made to the following account:
001-0727517-93 in the name of Real
Demarets. Please specify: Brevand
Monument and your name. We are
not asking for large amounts of
money, but remember, alone those
men were helpless and together
they made a fighting force to be
reckoned with. If everybody gives at
least 5-10 euros, it will help Real not
only to make the monument itself
but to make him feel that his project is important to keep the memory
alive of those men that fought 63
years ago to gives us our freedom.
You can contact Real by phone on
+32.56.55.87.20 or on his mobile
+32.473.36.06.47 or send him an
email filthy.13@hotmail.com. Thank
you all in advance for your generosity.
USNRG
Gregory de Cock, friend and member of our association, wishes to
announce officially the creation of a
new association (U.S. NAVY Re-enactment Group) to help all collectors
and people interested in the U.S.
Navy to exchange ideas and information about the American Navy
during WW2. This is not an ordinary
ASBL (French version of Association
without any Lucrative Goal) but only
a group of people, mostly friends,
united by the same passion.
A new group of re-enactors is
born (by Gregory de Cock)
Some months ago, if you bought
Militaria Magazine, you would have
seen some articles concerning the
US Navy. After a great re-enactment
at Utah Beach in June 2007 (Militaria Magazine 266 and http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=jNPY_llZTUI
a de facto association was born. We
are a group of people that have U.S.
Navy WW2 uniforms and equipment. The name of our association
is “United States Navy Reenactment Group”.
The main goal of this association is
to regroup all interested collectors
and to create a group of contacts
to share information and knowledge
about uniforms and equipment.
The next big event of our group will
be at Utah Beach around the 6th of
June 2008 to recreate an Aid station
of the 2nd N.B.B. (a lot of pictures
and also a little movie will be made.).
Participation at 2 commemorations
probably will be done also.
This group is open to all the people,
re-enactors and collectors, new or
experienced, that love US Navy. No
down payment for being an active
member is required, just show yourself if you want to be part of it. No
booklet will be made but an internet
site will appear in the future.
For any further information you can
contact us via email at this address
usnrg@skynet.be
or send a letter to
USNRG
Rrue Pierre Longin 6
B-1070 Brussels
Belgium
or you can contact me on my cell
phone +32.477.722.852.
Gregory de Cock
(Brussels)
European Trigger
Time Convention 2
Last December, in Bastogne, our
association organised the first historical convention about the history of the 101st during WW2. From
the 31st of May to the 1st of June
a second one will be organised by
our Dutch friends Erwin, Don and
Jurgen and our Belgian friend Reg
in Eerde (The Netherlands). If you
would like to participate the cost of
the convention is 15 euros per day
(30 for the whole weekend), this
includes the conferences, drinks,
dinner, snacks and tour on the
battlefield. All the participants must
register.
On Friday evening a cocktail will
welcome all the first participants.
Saturday program:
09.00: Opening
10.00: Welcome to all the participants
11.00: Conference of Erwin Janssen
12.00: Lunch
13.00-17.00: Battlefield tour on foot
in Eerde.
Sunday program:
09.00: Opening
09.30: Conference and exhibition,
12.00: Lunch
13.00-17.00:
Battlefield tour by
car in Veghel and Heeswijk.
You can find further information on
the site Para search team
http://www.pararesearchteam.com/
ETT2-01.html.
The historian MARK BANDO will be
there!
Internet Review
This month, there are two Internet
sites to discover.
On the first one, http://www.historylink101.com/ww2_color/index.
html, you will discover lots of pictures in colors of the American US
armed forces during WWII.
The second site, http://www.4point2.
org/index.htm, is dedicated to the
‘Chemical Mortar Battalion’ units.
These mostly unknown battalions
used the 4.2 inches (105 mm) mortar, a powerful and efficient weapon.
Although the Americans have not
employed chemical ammunitions,
they made use of these mortars to
shoot smoke and explosive shells.
This site does not only give a description of the 4.2 inches mortar,
but also gives a precise historical
review of all battalions and many
other pieces of information. Think
to visit the part concerning the 87th
Bn. This unit has disembarked on
Utah Beach the 6th June 1944 in
support of the 4th Infantry Division.
From 9 till 12th June, the B battery,
and from 11 till 12th June, the C battery, were attached to the 101st Airborne to support the division during
the crossing of the Douve River and
the fall of Carentan.
For Sale
We received the following information: Mr Jean-Michel Warnotte,
from Aubel (east of Liège) sells a
military Jeep from 1948. Call the
+32.087.68.72.72 if you are interested.
Mark Bando
As every month, Mark Bando update the pages “Then and Now”
and “Lest We Forget” on his Internet website and every two
months the page “Eagle Talk”.
This month in “Then and Now”:
Lt. Ken Gredler of the US 2nd
Armored Division snapped a
color Kodachrome of this street
in downtown Brussels after VE
Day, 1945. Today, the tall hotel
in the middle distance is the only
aspect still recognizable from 63
years ago.
Two members of the TT forum
community living in that area
generously went to take comparison photos. They are Laurent Olivier and Johan Willaert.
Thanks to both men
Trooper of the Month for February 2008-Pfc Don Ginter HQ Battery 377th PFAB.Don entered the
US Army in the late 1930s and
became a paratrooper in 1943.
He married a girl from Texas,
and arrived in the 101st as a replacement just before the battle
of Bastogne. During that fight,
Don manned the Bn switchboard
in a farm building in Savy, Belgium. Don got out of the Army
in 1945, but re-upped during the
Korean War and retired from the
Army in the 1960s.
He and his bride still live in Lawton, OK. Don came out to Frederick to see the January class
of the WWII ADT jump school in
08. He is now a Legacy member
of the WWII ADT and we expect
to see him at future schools.
This month, in Lest We Forget,
Mark Bando honors the memory
of 2nd Lt Raymond Oehler, 2nd
platoon F/501PIR. Lt Oehler from
So. Dakota, joined the 501st after the initial Camp Toccoa era.
He became assistant platoon
leader of 2nd platoon of Fox Co.,
undet 1st Lt. Leo Malek. Oehler
was 26 years old at the time of
the Normandy Invasion and was
married to a girl named Alice. He
3
1
2
4
had a premonition that he would
not survive the Invasion and
asked 33 year old T.K. ‘Red’ Larson from neighboring Montana
to visit Alice after the war if he
didn’t survive.
Lt. Oehler was KIA below Hill
30 on 12 June, 1944, shot in
the throat while looking over a
hedgerow near la Billonnerie,
France. Larson, a D-day pathfinder, who broke 2 vertrabrae
in his back on the D-day jump,
kept his word and visited Alice
Oehler shortly after WW2. They
were married, but Alice lost her
second husband to a stroke in
the early 1960s. Alice is still living and the Grand-nephew of
Raymond Oehler now attends
the TT conventions and was at
TT 2.5 in Lawton in January 08.
His name is Richard Polkinghorne and he supplied the photo
for this tribute.
In ‘Eagle Talk’, informs us about
the last news regarding Veterans, friends or members of his
family and the activities he is
taking part along with information about his last book.
In this edition, Mark Bando informs us about the Trigger Time
convention #2.5 Lawton, OKJan 22-27, near Frederick, the
ADT home base. 13 guys were
in the current class and it is the
first class in the history of the
WWII ADT to graduate with every man who started the course.
Mark Bando made its 12th and
13th jumps. The TT 2.5 conference was staged at the Fairfield Inn at Lawton on Friday
afternoon. Several veterans
were there: Jack Womer, Jack
Agnew and Jake McNiece, of
H&H DEMO, 506th PIR are survivors of the famous ‘Filthy 13’.
Gene Gilbreath belonged to the
unauthorized bazooka platoon
of HQ Co 2/506th. Ralph Manley served with H&H DEMO and
G/501 PIR. Ray Nagel served in
‘B’ Battery 321st GFAB. Bobby
Hunter was in Dog Co. of the
mighty Geronimo regiment-the
501 PIR.
Several days after returning from
Oklahoma, Mark Bando flew
south again-this time to Orlando, to attend the annual Snowbird 101st reunion in Kissimmee,
FL. Over 20 WWII vintage 101st
troopers were in attendance.
On Weds, 16 January, the Michigan 101st lunch bunch saw so
many turn-out, that every available seat was filled and more
chairs and tables had to be setup. About 20 WWII vets were in
attendance, including ten (10)
101st Airborne representatives
of the Greatest Generation. After lunch, C/326th AEB trooper
Bob Likam followed Mark Bando to his house to buy a couple
copies of his 4th book. He also
took a brief tour of his collection.
Mark Bando was finally able to
show Bob a 8 foot section of
white parachute canopy which
was
2 signed by all members of
his company after Normandy
and presented to Captain Francis Liberatori when he was hospitalized in England. Bob didn’t
remember seeing or signing this
thing, but somebody stitched
over each name and hometown
in various colors of thread. Liberatori was paralyzed when a
German bullet hit his spine near
Carentan. Two of his uniforms,
his medals, photos, dogtags
and this unique signed piece
of parachute are in the webmaster’s collection-provided by
Liberatori’s niece in 2001. Drew
Cook introduced Mark Bando
to the husband of Libby’s niece
(Drew’s personal physician) in
the Cincinatti area...small world.
Mark Bando has been trying to
show this item to Mr Likam since
2001, but each time he was not
in attendance there.
Mark Bando informs us about
the Passing of Kramer Alderman
HQ/1 501 PIR.
His friend Kramer Alderman of
the HQ/1 501 81mm mortar platoon, died on 14 January, 2008.
He joined the 501 at Toccoa.
Kramer made all the missions
and after the 501 was inactivated in July, 1945, spent a brief
period with the HQ/1 mortar platoon of the 327th GIR. He was
a December, 1944 graduate of
the 101st divisional Pathfinder
School in England.
There is a D-day cricket story
3
about
Kramer & Bebout in my
‘Avenging Eagles’ book. (“It’s
ME! It’s ME!!!”)
Kramer was a low-key personality but his presence at the 501st
reunions will be missed.
Another great trooper has made
his final jump.
Textes et pictures : copyright
Mark Bando. For info, this part
is translated in our French language Newsletter.
Mark Bando’s website: http://
www.101airborneww2.com/. Do
not forget to visit it on a regular
basis, along with his forum.
As4 we told previously, our association support Mark Bando and
recognize his extraordinary research work.
Pictures :
1 & 2 Brussels 1945-2007
3 & 4 Pfc Don Ginter
5 2nd Lt Raymond Oehler
6 Veterans at the 2.5 TT Convention at Lawton (from left to
right) : Jack Womer, Jack Agnew,
Gene Gilbreath, Jake McNiece,
Ralph Manley, Ray Nagel et
Bobby Hunter
7 Veterans at the Snowbird Reunion (from left to right) : George
Koskimaki (Signal Company),
Werner Meier (IPW Team #9,
501 PIR – IPW Team = Interrogator of prisoners of war team)
and Eddie Hallo (Operation Sergeant of A/501 PIR)
8 Bob Likam displaying the section which bears his signature,
with “Saginaw Mich” stitched below in lavendar thread.
9 Kramer Alderman is shown at
Camp Toccoa in late 1942 in the
photo, standing at left, next to
Paul Bebout, another Ohio guy
10 The more recent picture of
Kramer Alderman
was taken
in PA in August of 2001. The
‘Fuhrerhauptquartier’ cuff title was worn by German Army
personnel assigned as guards
at Hitler’s HQ. This shortened
5
specimen was actually removed
from a uniform-one of only 2 tunic-removed examples of that title I’ve ever seen. (the 101st discovered a trunkfull of unissued
Fuhrerhauptquartier cuffbands at
the Obersalzberg in 1945. Thus,
most examples seen in their effects are in mint, unissued condition.) This one resides in Mark
Bando’s collection.
9
11 This British-made wing was
awarded to Kramer in December, 1944, when he completed
training at the 101st Pathfinder
school. Anyone who completed
the school was eligible to wear
the wing on their left sleeve-regardless of whether they ever
made a combat jump AS a Pathfinder. This is also in the Bando
collection.
10
6
7
8
11
Calendar
Monthly meetings are usually taking place every fourth
Friday at 20h00 at the meeting office at Fosses-la-Ville.
In case of change, it will be
indicated in the next newsletter. Next meetings:
22 February
28 March
25 April
23 May
27 June
25 July
22 August
26 September
24 October
28 November
26 December
Wavre militaria: Every first
Saturday of the month.
Next dates:
1 March
5 April
3 May
7 June
5 July
2 August
6 September
4 October
1 November
6 December.
Ciney militaria:
27 April
26 October.
Arlon militaria:
6 April
25 May
27 July
28 September
23 November.
14-15-16 March.
Liberation of Habay.
Event organized by the ABC.
Contacts:
http://users.skynet.be/abc
oli.bastognard@skynet.be
+32.478.42.08.37.
19-20 April.
Inauguration monument
B17 ‘Mission 111’.
Event organized by the
A.R.G. Duffel
Contacts:
argd@skynet.be
19 April.
Les Fous du Volant.
All collections and all eras
vehicles meeting organized
by the ABC.
Contacts:
http://users.skynet.be/abc
oli.bastognard@skynet.be
+32.478.42.08.37.
1-2-3-4 May.
Celles.
WW2 event organized by the
101st AB 326E.
Contacts:
www.101airborne.be
2-3-4 May.
Blaregnies-Quevy.
WW2 event organized by the
377th Field Artillery
at Blaregnies.
Contacts:
Edouard Geisler
+32.497.28.04.60.
31 May - 1 June.
European Trigger Time
Convention 2.
Eerde - Netherlands.
Infos:
www.101airborneww2.com
4-5-6 July.
The Historical US ARMED
FORCES Days.
A historical & educational
presentation of
the U.S. Armed Forces
from the 18th Century
through the year 1991
organized by
‘Je me souviens’
at Saint-Hubert.
Contacts:
us2008@jemesouviens.fr
www.us2008.jemesouviens.fr
1-2-3 August.
Supply Point.
WW2 event organized by the
H.W.W.
Contacts:
www.hww.be
12-13-14 September.
Pajot Camp.
Camp organized by the White
Star Division at Galmaarden.
Contacts:
www.wsd-vvk.be/
jj.vandenneucker@versatelad
sl.be
In this edition we present you a new
cartoon: ‘Winnie the WAC’. She’s
born in 1945 from the hand and
mind of Vic Herman, a corporal of
the army at this time. Vic Herman,
born in 1919, became a famous cartoonist.
During the war, the US Army asked
him to draw cartoons for the ‘don’t
spread rumours’ campaign. When
he created ‘Winnie the WAC’, he
was stationed at Aberdeen Provid-
ing Grounds - Maryland, where a
significant contingent of WACs was
located. Vic Herman created cartoons for the base’s magazine, the
Flaming Post. Winnie became very
fast one of the most famous cartoons character. She appeared in
lots of magazines: Stars and Stripes,
Yank, Life, Saturday Evening Post
and Colliers. He made a book of it
and sold more than 50.000 copies.
Vic created Winnie by observing the
WACs he saw in Aberdeen Providing Grounds. To the question ‘How
can you describe women so well’
he did answer: ‘I was lucky. I was
one of the few men to be allowed
to enter their quarters’. One of the
WAC, the Pfc. Althea Semanchik,
became the model to portray Winnie. She applied for the Women’s
Army Corps on 9th March 1943.
After 5 weeks of training at Fort
Oglethorpe, she served first as re-
Winnie the WAC – Basic Training
ceptionist at Aberdeen Providing
Grounds. After 3 months, she was
sent to Pennsylvania’s University to
follow a special 4 month course in
mathematic. She returned to Aberdeen Providing Grounds where she
served during two years to compute
firing tables. She was discharged in
the beginning of the year 1946.
Winnie was also discharged after
the war, but Vic Herman made her
go back in duty for the Korea and
Vietnam wars. Vic Herman died in
1999. Winnie will stay forever the
WACs’s heroine ‘who made us
laugh at ourselves because she did
what we did and she saw the world
as we did and she was our hero’
said Lita Bowman, member of the
WACs from 1945 till 1946.