Just would like to publicly thank my friend Peter, who runs the beautifully-done site, In Honored Glory. Peter was able to send out his first newsletter today and I was HONORED to see my name. Thanks Peter, it was a pleasure helping you. Continued success with your site!
This is the first official In-Honored-Glory Newsletter that is sent out by the webmaster of the In-Honored-Glory website. As I assured each and everyone of you, I won't be sending too many messages because I don't want your inboxes to explode. In-Honored-Glory will only send Newsletters when important changes to the website have been made, when some important announcement has to be made or when something happened which I want to share with you. I can already prepare you for the second Newsletter which will arrive within a week from the first one, after that it will be quiet on "the Western Front", at least for a while. I hope you will enjoy this Newsletter. If you have any remarks, suggestions or idea's, please contact me via the website. If you no longer want to receive this newsletter, then please unsubscribe at the bottom of this page.
10.000 visitors In-Honored-Glory website
I'm proud to announce that the In-Honored-Glory website welcomed it's 10.000th visitor on Wednesday April 19, 2006. Since Maury Johnson put the website online on 23 September 2005, the website experienced more the 675.000 hits. Most of us probably have no clue what it means, but it sure sounds massive ! The fact that we had 10.000 visitors means that In-Honored-Glory attracts an average of 1.400 visitors per month, about 45 visitors each day, which is more than I dared to hope for. Especially the acceptance of the website by the Henri-Chapelle Staff (David Atkinson and Caroline Oliver) was a big surprise and helped to give the website it's status.
New Guestbook In-Honored-Glory
Some of you probably noticed that there were some problems with the guestbook of the website ... to be exact it was spammed out of existence. I have no clue why these "people" spam guestbooks, but it's sad to see that even websites like In-Honored-Glory are not safe from these actions. For a few months I have been trying to find a new decent guestbook and help came from highly valued friend and colleague-webmaster Marion Chard, who runs the website of the VI Corps Combat Engineers, dedicated to her father Walter Poniedzialek. Since a few days now, the new Guestbook is online and so far it's working just fine. All old entries were saved and entered in the new Guestbook by me, so the good news is that nothing was lost in the end.
Website Background Music
Since April 2, 2006 the In-Honored-Glory website has background music. The music is from the movie "Saving Private Ryan". I didn't plan to put any background music on the website, because most of the time I think it's annoying, however the name and of course the music convinced me that this was exactly what I was looking for ... "Hymn to the Fallen" ... I chose to give visitors the choice to stop the background music if they want, simply because they maybe don't want to hear it. Another reason is that one of the stories (subsection Crews/Units/Platoon, "324th Infantry Regiment by Roddy Rademacher") gives visitors the opportunity to listen to the English version of Lili Marleen by Marlene Dietrich. Hearing Marlene Dietrich sing "Hymn to the Fallen" might have it's charm, but I guess if you hear the two pieces of music together at the same time, it's more an unwanted result like "Hymn to Lili Marleen" and we don't want that to happen ! Anyway I hope you all can appreciate the choice of music.
Memorial Day 2006
Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. Over the years Memorial Day grew to be a national Holiday in the United States of America. This year is no different :
Actual Memorial Day: May 30 Tuesday
Memorial Day Observed: May 29 Monday
Memorial Day Ceremony at Henri-Chapelle: May 27 Saturday
I ask your attention for the following words and invitation to the ceremony of Memorial Day by the Henri-Chapelle superintendent David Atkinson:
"The entire Staff of the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Cordially invites you to attend the 2006 American Memorial Day Ceremony on Saturday 27 May at 16:00 hours at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Hombourg, Belgium.
Since many Officials will attend, you are encouraged to arrive and find a seat prior to 15:30 hours. Please fill in all unoccupied seats as close as possible to the front."
David Atkinson
Superintendent
In Memoriam ... Jim Doyle, MD
In June 2005 a sad message arrived ... Jim Doyle, MD had passed away. Jim was a highly regarded member of the 87th Infantry Division Association. He was a veteran of the 345th Infantry Regiment and operated on the ETO during WWII. I was privileged to know Jim and during that short period we exchanged a few emails. In one of them he mentioned that at the end of, or shortly after the war they were stationed in Munich and they took over a house. Afterwards he learned that the owner was the founder of the sportsbrand ADIDAS. Jim was willing and happy to add his story to the website and I'm sure he could have told me much more ... Sadly he never got the chance as Jim joined the ranks of the Lord on a very special date ... June 6, 2005 ... God bless you, Jim.
Thank you all ...
At the end of this first In-Honored-Glory Newsletter I want to thank each and everyone of you for helping me creating and maintaining the website. People who help me almost every week like Dorothy Colwell who is my living "SpellCheck", Maury & Mark Johnson who helped me with the Honor Roll, Marion Chard and of course David Atkinson and Caroline Oliver from the Henri-Chapelle Staff. But not only these people are worth mentioning here ... Each and everyone of you deserves a place in this Newsletter, however I guess most of you like to spent their Christmas doing something else then reading names. I know it's still eight months until Christmas, but the list of names is massive ... The most important reason for not mentioning everyone is simply because I would feel bad if I forget to mention one of you ... So once again, thank you all for helping me turning a dream into reality ...
For more information on the 45th Infantry Division, please see Al Panebianco's great site. I am supplying the information from his site. Thanks Al, dear friend.
Is there someone from your days in the military that you haven’t seen in years?
You’ll never know unless you attend the . . .
157TH INFANTRY 2006 REUNION
Chicago, IL ~ October 4th-9th, 2006
Chicago, known as the “Windy City†offers more to do and see than any city in North America. You will be awed by the gleaming skyscrapers, the beautiful lakefront, breathtaking architecture, wonderful museums, theater, restaurants and world-class shopping along the Magnificent Mile. You will have the opportunity to experience some of the city’s top attractions.
Reunion events include a spectacular sightseeing tour, a visit to the Navy Pier with plenty of time to browse the museums and waterfront area. You will enjoy a cruise which will provide a spectacular view of the city skyline, and special day trip to Cantigny Park to visit The First Division Museum which is dedicated to the history of the Big Red One. Of course, there will be many opportunities to spend time with shipmates, friends and family.
The reunion officially runs from Wednesday, October 4th until Monday, October 9th. There are a limited number of rooms available before and after the reunion at the same rate. You will be staying at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield located at 1800 East Golf Road, Schaumburg, Illinois 60173. The website for informational purposes only is www.woodfield.hyatt.com . The Hyatt Regency Woodfield is located close to many of Chicago’s most popular attractions.
This full service hotel offers many amenities including a fitness center, 2 pools, 2
on-site restaurants, a coffee bar, as well as room service. For those of you driving, the reunion hotel offers plenty of free parking. The closest airport to the hotel is Chicago O’Hare (ORD). For those of you arriving at the Chicago O’Hare Airport, transportation to the hotel is available with All Star Cab. The rate is approximately $21 each way per cab. Please contact All Star Cab directly to confirm transportation rates and times. The contact phone number is 847-531-5900.
The room rate is just $99.00 plus tax per night. Please make your hotel reservations TODAY by calling the hotel directly at 847-605-1234 between 9-4 pm CST and ask for in-house reservations. Mention that you are with the 157th Infantry Reunion to assure you are associated with your group. You may request specific room types when you call to make your reservations (handicap accessible room, etc.). The hotel check-in time is 3:00pm. Please, don’t expect to get
into your room before then.
Make your hotel reservations NOW! You may cancel your hotel room later and not be charged. Due to the popularity of this city the hotel will sell out fast – additional rooms will be at a higher rate - so don’t get left out by waiting too long. Our special rate is good until the rooms sell out or August 25th – whichever comes first.
Reunion reservation forms and a roster of reunion attendees will be available on
line at www.MilitaryReunionPlanners.com/157th. If you have questions about the reunion please call Military Reunion Planners at 817.251.3551or email:
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio, April 20, 2006 - Eighty silver goblets commemorating each man who flew in the "Doolittle Raid" over Japan were added to the collection of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force here yesterday.
"We are honored in the trust you place in us. We will honor and respect that trust." retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles D. Metcalf, director of the museum, told the eight raiders attending a reunion here this week on the 64th anniversary of the famous raid.
The "Doolittle Tokyo Raiders" were volunteer airmen from the U.S. Army Air Forces, the predecessor of the U.S Air Force, who on April 18, 1942, flew 16 B-25 Mitchell airplanes in an attack against Japan during World War II. Army Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle led the raid.
Dont quite know if this is the correct spot for this post BUT--- Need some input on where to donate a very good condition A-2 WW2 leather flight jacket. It was given to me years ago with some other things from a lifelong friend who served as a Air Force gunner on a B-24 in the 15th Air Force prior to his death. I know the damn things are worth big bucks but cant feel right in just selling it. I want it to go to some organization that would put it to good historical use. Any ideas??? Pics enclosed,. He served in Italy
as a Sgt. (B-25 gunner) and also was in on the bombing of the Ploesti Oil refineries. He
returned safely at wars end and was one of my best friends from school days tio the time he passed on.
