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Static Line - Three Winds of Death

April 1992
When you celebrate the 50th anniversary of some event sometimes you can just wait until that day rolls around. And sometimes you can't! You have to make preparations in advance. A 50th anniversary trip to Australia is in the planning stage or more realistically is past the planning stage for the people putting the trip together. It is now up to you, and you have to be doing something about it now. Unlike 50 years ago, you now need a passport and a visa to get Into Australia. If you don't have either and want to go on the trip you had better rattle your bones and shape up if you want to ship out. The tour will leave from Los Angeles on 1 Oct. 92 and arrive in Auckland, NZ. On Friday, Oct. 9 there will be an early evening flight to Melbourne, AUS and on Tuesday, Oct. 13, through Saturday, Oct. 17 the group will be In Cairns. Return to the USA will be on Sunday, Oct. 18. The tour is open to guests as well as to 503rd people. The main message I am trying to deliver to you is that if you are planning to go start now. For Information call Kal Henriksen (904) 245-4666 or write him at 9701 SE C-25 No. 175. Belleview, FL 32620. 

Received a letter a while back from Hugh Breslin. I'm always bugging him for material for this column. He writes "Some time ago I met a neighbor in Bowie. MD. named Clarence "Clancy" Baux — Clancy and I became good friends. 

While talking at a party we found out we'd both been In the Pacific during WW II and that our outfits had been together several times. Clancy served In the LCI Flotilla 24, a part of which was Group 72 and, finally LCI 652, which was Clancy's ship. Flotilla 24 operated in the Philippines and paticipated In the Mindoro landing, where Clancy's 652 put elements of the 503rd ashore. Later the 652 took elements of the 503rd off Corregidor and returned them to Mindoro. Clancy says the 652 took elements of the 503rd into Negros and at the end of the war, off of Negros.
 
Troopers of the 503rd would visit the 652 on the beach at Mindoro since the LCI Group staged from the beach at Mindoro. Clancy said troopers used to visit the 652 for dinner and the 503rd became the favorite of the 652, so much so that the sailors of the 652 named their ship "The Rock." I've enclosed copies of photos that Clancy made available to me. One photo was taken as the 652 entered San Francisco Bay in May 1946 upon return from the Pacific for decommissioning. Just below the top of the bridge is the ship's name though it isn’t legible, so I've enclosed the second photo that clearly shows the name "The Rock." Note the signalman's platform on the port side of the bridge. Clancy was the signalman on the platform when the picture was taken, doing semaphore signaling. Clancy said the 652 carried the 503rd troopers more than any other troop unit during the war. There are a couple of troopers that Clancy remembers, maybe through your column we can identify them. There was a trooper that laid wire lines (strung communications), was from New Jersey, whose name began with the letter "S." There was another trooper nicknamed "Moose." who wore a red bandanna around his head. There was another trooper who was from Australia, who gave the 652 sailors his address in Australia that they wrote to later but never received an answer. Clancy says that the 503rd is always a topic of discussion at their annual reunions. The 652 reunion this year is to be held in Columbus, Ohio, probably the week after Memorial Day. Maybe Joe Koren and some of the 503rd guys from this area could visit them! Clancy will keep me posted on the dates and I'll let you know as soon as I can. 

Well. John, that's the data on LCI 652 — I think it would be great if some of our guys should establish contact with our good supporters on the LCI. I'm sending a copy of this letter and the data to Bob Flynn as the historian of the Association. Sincerely. Hugh. 
Once again we have the communication time lag problem when announcing get-togethers. The next column will not be in print until May and that will probably be too late for anyone wishing to get together with the LCI 652 guys. If you are interested I suggest you call Hugh Breslin at (301) 262-7576 and then he can communicate directly with you by phone. 

And now Is the time to be making your plans to attend the 503rd annual reunion In Rapid City, South Dakota from 9 July through 12 July. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the formation of the 503rd Parachute Regiment, the first regiment to be formed. For those of you who missed the 50th Airborne reunion In Washington In 1990 you now have a second chance. For those of you who are going to make both, it is like "icing on the cake 

May you always see a canopy above your head! 

John D. Reynolds
"D" Co. 503rd PRCT 
718 Towne Center Drive, Joppa, MD 21085 
PH (410) 679-8979

LCT — 652 — The Rock. 

(Picture not included)
Static Line - Three Winds of Death

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