Hellcat News (Garnet Valley, Pa.), Vol. 65, No. 11, Ed. 1, July 2012 Page: 3 of 32
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July 2012
HELLCAT NEWS
Page 3
17TH ARMORED INFANTRY
BATTALION
William "Bill" Funke
1312 Alford Street Ft. Collins, CO 80524
970-482-0255 fwilliam46@msn.com
2012 MEETINGS
The Council reminds all “that no activity shall be authorized which
would conflict with the annual reunion date.”
Whether or not you choose to believe that it is now
July and just a few weeks away from the Abilene reunion
is your choice, but rest assured, believe it or not it is the
truth and the window of opportunity for action on the fact
is becoming mighty narrow. Therefore; your orders are to
move off dead center and get cracking. No-no-no, it is not
too late to join with the crowd. The active and efficient
reunion committee accepts ‘walk ons\
Phone calls to 970-482-0255 are always great (not enough
of them) but one this past month stood out and that one was
from Bill Logan [HQ] in Onalaska, WA. Why was it so
special? First, Bill is the son of Major Bill Logan, the 17th
Bn Commander until Herrlisheim, and second, because he
and his brother are coming to the reunion in Abilene. There
is a story about Major Logan and your rep that some of you
have heard before and may hear again before this article is
written. Bill called once and said he had some of his dad’s
things and was going to “box ‘em up” and send it to the
museum, but it was suggested he “box ‘em up” and bring
them to Abilene. Guess the hint paid off.
As long as we are on the subject of WWII material going
to the museum, here are a few sketches from a wonderful
letter sent by Ed Waszak [A]. Ed was the 12th historian
for a long time and did a marvelous job of research and
disseminating material. “All the material that I collected
for the Division history and the EXPOW group, was stored
in my basement, a collection of about 20 years. Recently,
I sent four large boxes to the museum in Abilene. In 2010,
I took about 95 WWII history books to the reunion in
Indianapolis. A lot of the material was used by me when
lecturing to school children or some other groups.” It seems
that even after he retired from the job as historian, Ed still
was working for the association. For this and all his work
he gets a big HHO.
Infantry Battalion ready for attack. Unknown battalion in Ger-
many 1945. Picture from Frank Barndollar [A/56]
66th ANNUAL NATIONAL REUNION
Wednesday-Sunday, August 1-5, 2012
MCM Elegante Suites
4250 Ridgemont Dr.
Abilene, TX 79606
Reservations: 888-897-9644
Phone: 325-698-1234
Fax: 325-698-2771
vwvw.mcmelegantesuites.com
Dale Cartee, chr.
325-669-8855
Julie McCarty, co-chr.
29716 Saddleback Cir.
Fair Oaks Ranch, TX 78015
210-326-4942
He continued, “The first box contained many letters
that I received from members of the Division telling their
experiences in training and overseas. Also included were
pamphlets and documents that should be added to the
records in the museum. One very large box contained
military memorabilia, mess kits, entrenching shovel,
photos of GIs in combat, and stalags. The last package
contained a collection of old front pages of newspaper that
covered some important dates starting on September 1,
1939, when Germany attacked Poland.” Ed also mentions
in his letter that “one of our Hellcats was honored as a Hero
in a ‘Tribute to the Greatest Generation by the Life Care
Centers of America. William Houston of Company B, 43rd
Tank Battalion’ was featured in an article, ‘A Profile of a
Prisoner of War.’” We are sorry Ed and Therese will not be
with us in Abilene, but mobility problems and the problems
of distance in airports make the trip not advisable. We will
miss this dedicated Hellcat.
The picture in this issue of getting ready for an attack is
a postcard sent to me by Ed along with a dozen more. They
were given to him by Frank Barndollar, former editor of
the Hellcat News. In case you can’t read the caption, here
it is. “A 12th Armored Division armored infantry battalion
ready to start on an attack mission in Germany, 1945.” No
indication where it was.
Help! Help! Chuck Larrabee would like information
about his father’s time in service. Orval Larrabee was in
B Company of the 17th and was in the army from July 1944
- February 1946. He was born in Menominee, WI. Judging
by the dates of his service, he must have been a replacement.
His son Chuck’s email address is gordon3time@gmail.
com. Chuck didn’t send an address or a phone number, but
if you remember anything about Orval, contact Chuck. If
these relatives think it is important enough to ask about
someone, we must consider it important enough to reply if
we have any information.
If you love a mystery, here is one for you. In the April
issue a piece about Louis and Betty Karras appeared and
shortly after a great letter from ‘someone’ came, telling
Upcoming Pages
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Twelfth Armored Division Association (U.S.). Hellcat News (Garnet Valley, Pa.), Vol. 65, No. 11, Ed. 1, July 2012, newspaper, July 2012; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth597661/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum.