Recently I told you guys about friends I met here in Alger who are trying to start up a mid-Michigan 82nd Airborne Chapter here in Alger. I got this letter from them this evening and I posted it on Mark Bando's forum a few minutes ago. Instead of repeating the whole thing, I copied my post to Mark on his site.
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Received this letter from a local friend here in Alger, MI. Let me give you a bit of background so this all makes sense...
Everyone here in town knows I'm a big WWII "nut" and knows about my site and the book I am currently writing, so if anyone comes into town and is a vet, well my friends introduce me to them.
A few weeks back one of our local bartenders calls up and says, "Hey do you want to talk to this guy who is here right now? He's a member of the 82nd?"
So I wound up talking to him on the phone and about a week later he and his wife came down to our store to meet me. Long story short; we hit it off great and became friends. He and his wife are trying to start up a mid-Michigan chapter for the 82nd, so I have been trying to help them out.
I received an email from them tonight and am including it below. Notice that your name is mentioned below!
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Merilee, thought you might enjoy this, especially the letter. Howard Huebner is a friend of ours in the Florida Airborne chapter. BTW, Jesse has been getting a few calls here and there. Every little bit helps. Hope you two are staying warm!
Ellen
Dear Mr Huebner
Thank you so much for taking the time to write me an email. You gave me your card when we said our goodbyes at the Amfreville memorial last year and I’ve been trying to get some photos out to you but for some reason my mails kept bouncing back. This is why I asked Tom Colones who recently mentioned on Mark Bando’s Trigger Time forum that he knows you, if maybe he could put me in touch with you. But this lovely lady beat him to it. I’ve just sent her a big thanks for doing that.
I’m including some pictures of our meeting at La Fière and in Amfreville in this mail and will be sending you more in separate mails in the coming days. The resolution is too big to send them all in one mail.
and no doubt your favorite
One thing has been on my mind since I met you in June. If my memory serves me right, and I believe it does, you mentioned that you landed in POUPPEVILLE. In Mike De Trez’ At The Point Of No Return, on page 11, the page with the DZs, there is indeed a red dot signifying an 82nd stick to the right of Pouppeville and dangerously close to the Channel. If this is indeed your stick, that puts you right near Exit 1 and somewhere in between dropzones C and D of the 101st.
Now, I know from Phil Nordyke’s epic book on the history of your division, that you played a major role in the big battle that took place at La Fière and that ten days later you would again be engaged in a heavy battle at Vindefontaine, but my first question is: How did you go from Pouppeville to La Fière? How did you cross enemy territory where the 506th and 501st were engaged in heavy hedgerow fighting to fight at La Fière and did everybody in your stick make it that day?
Again, maybe I’m just seeing things that aren’t there and you mentioned a different town and I completely misheard, but this has been bugging me for some time now.
If you don’t mind, I’ll be asking you some more questions over the next few weeks. I’m re-reading Phil Nordyke’s book and have put in some question marks left and right.
In the meantime, any specific information regarding locations, events you would be willing to share about your personal Normandy campaign would be greatly appreciated. I’m going back to Normandy in June, and it would be great to “walk in your footsteps†so to speak. I know you feature in a DVD called D Day - Down to Earth - Return of the 507 but I doubt very much whether I’ll be able to get my hands on a copy that I can play here in Belgium . Has to do with the Region numbers, I believe, but I’ll keep looking.
I tried to send you my best wishes for X-mas and the New Year, but I’m afraid that mail bounced back as well, so I’ll take this opportunity to wish you, your wife and all your loved ones all the best for 2007. You told me in Amfreville that your knee was still giving you some trouble, even after I believe 4 operations, but I hope you are still going strong and look forward to meeting you on another occasion.
I signed up for jump school in Oklahoma , but I’ll tell you a bit more on that in my next mail.
Bye for now
Peter
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