Hi Art:

Thanks so much for your link to Charles Benning's profile. You Bennie and Jonas are lucky to know such wonderful military men. It seems as if Yellow Springs and its neighboring communities in Ohio were a magnet for talent. Our family friend Elmer Spyglass though not a soldier, served as an interpreter shortly after Patton crossed the Rhine and at the IG Farben War Crimes Trials. Wow what a group of Ohio men!

I'm delighted that the French government is underwriting the veterans' trip to France. I wish that I had known sooner because a colleague who's the Paris Bureau Chief for an international news agency would have enjoyed interviewing them. She's met several veterans of the 761st and understands the courage of African American soldiers in spite of the racism they experienced on two fronts in WWII.

Bless Charles Benning and his fellow veterans for their service to our country. Without them Europe might still be under the heel of the evil Nazi's.

Thanks for the information on Jonas Bender. I didn't know that he was a member of the legendary Montfort Point Marines...Hmmm there must be a story there for the Writers Forum.

K Wyer Lane