By Jim Conley
El Paso Times
More than 500 former members of one of the most famous U.S. Army
paratrooper units of World War II are gathering in El Paso this weekend
for a reunion.
Bob Chisolm, organizer of the reunion of the 508th Parachute Infantry
Regiment Association, said, 'They're from all over the U.S. and even
some from the Netherlands.
"We're here to renew old friendships forged in the heat of battle,"
Chisolm said. "But we're also here to remember our comrades who didn't
make it or who have died. They will be remembered at our memorial
breakfast" at 9 a.m. Sunday at the Marriott Hotel, reunion headquarters.
Chisolm said the regiment, whose well-known shoulder patch shows a red
devil descending by parachute and carrying a grenade and a rifle,
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was attached to the 82nd Airborne Division in England.
They then participated in the invasion of France, through Normandy, on
D-Day, June 6, 1944.
Three months later, they jumped into Holland, fought in the Battle of
the Bulge that winter, and on into Central Europe. After the war, the
508th was chosen by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower as his honor guard for his
headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, Chisolm said.
He said registration continues at the Marriott from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
today. A welcoming luncheon will be at the hotel at 11:30 a.m.
Chisolm said officials from El Paso and Juarez, as well as
representatives from the tourist bureaus of Mexico, Chihuahua and
Juarez, would welcome the convention members to the city at the
luncheon.
Activities end Sunday night with a dinner. |
