Jim, my father was a member of the 876th Airborne Engineers. He passed away back in 1975 and I had very little information about his war days. He told me stories during my growing up years, but I'm sure that I don't remember all of them. He always talked of his buddies and how he would like to see them, especially his best friend. That never happened in his lifetime. About five years ago I tried to find out any information about his service years. I inquired through the proper channels, but never heard a word. All I had was a photo of him with his airborne cap patch, a pair of wooden shoes from Holland, and his discharge. I used the information from the discharge to search the internet. On the discharge paper it said that he was in the 816th. I found a contact for the 816th and thought I had finally found them. Alas, when I mentioned the airborne cap patch, the gentleman stopped me only to tell me that the 816th wasn't airborne. I thought at that moment that I would never succeed, but my father taught me never to give up. Several months later I decided to call the local VA office to see if they might have any other information. The lady from the VA said that all that was in the file was a copy of Dad's discharge. Then she noticed that there was a correction made to the number, the one became a seven. I went back to the internet and found the contact to be Mr. Fahrenholtz. I immediately made a phone call. Mr. Fahrenholtz didn't remember Dad, but said that he would look in the archives for any information. He said that Company A was the only company to go to Holland and that he would contact some of the men in that company to see if they knew Dad. The next morning I received an e-mail from my Dad's best friend. They invited my family and I to the reunion in Saint Augustine, FL in May of 2003. I can not tell you how wonderful it was to meet these men that were with my Dad in WWII. In 2004 I met with them again in Columbus, Georgia. In May of this year I had a commitment that kept me from making the whole reunion, but I drove all night to get to Pigeon Forge to see them again. At first they talked about not having another reunion, but they did vote to have another one in May 2006 in Saint Augustine. I respect these men more that words can ever say and I truly believe that my Dad would be proud that I didn't give up trying to find them. They are not many in number, but they have a wealth of knowledge to share.
Sincerely,
Jan Mueller
daughter of Ezra E. Allred
876th Airborne Engineers