BATTLING BUZZRDS 517 PRCT PARACHUTE COMBAT TEAM Cpl Floyd R. Perry, 21 Jan 1921 - 1 Jul 1961 I was not quite 3 years old when my brother was born, 1 month after our father died in the Indianapolis, Indiana VA Hospital of a staph infection in 1961. The last surgery followed back surgery for 15 year old wounds received January 1945 in Belgium while serving with the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team attached to the 82nd Airborne Division. My new step-dad did not encourage talk about old dad and after the original copies of his records were lost, we were told that his official Army records had perished in the 1973 fire at the St Louis Records depository. About 50 years after his death in 2010 a veteran told my brother to search the Indiana State Library archive and there we found a microfiche copy of his WD AGO 53-55 Honorable Discharge Service Record. After studying and following the few leads provided on that document, I have been able to reconstruct a new DD-214 detailing his service and have completed 5 sets of his 9 medals and military insignia in shadowbox memorials for my brother and each of our sons. The top center pocket patch is Battling Buzzards 517 PRCT parachute regimental combat team, a bastard regiment with no division and was ordered attached to whatever Division that was at the front! After posting these same photos on findagrave as a memorial to our father, we were contacted with a FB friend request December 2014 from the daughter of our older brother David, Shelly Perry, who died just months after returning from Vietnam 1973. She was an infant then and we had not had contact with her for 40 years! Now we are sharing her grandfathers WWII service with her and her daughters and helping her to reconstruct her fathers Vietnam service record because he was considered AWOL at the time of his death and during September 2014, we received a pardon from President Obama and a Honorable Discharge certificate 40 years after he died! Shelly Perry created this photo tribute to her father David R. Perry, a Vietnam Veteran and Grandfather Floyd R. Perry, a WWII Veteran. Today I am following his units daily activities, as he would have experienced the Battle of the Bulge day by day as it happened 70 years ago. ~ Dannie Perry and Jim Perry proud sons of WWII Veteran Comes A Soldiers Whisper is deeply grateful to Dannie for sharing his story and photographs and invite you to share your family photos &/or stories of those who served, so we may feature and honor them on our page. God Bless all who serve and keep us safe. FOLLOW US: https://facebook/ComesASoldierswhisper ComesASoldiersWhisper VietnamAndBeyond @Jennylas on Twitter PHOTOS/STORY SOURCE: Dannie Perry and Shelly Perry
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 10:15:00 +0000
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