bellasilva Posted April 11, 2015 Share #1 Posted April 11, 2015 I got these in a trade from a forum member (thanks Connor) a few days ago and I'm ecstatic to own them. First up is a well documented dog tag to a rifleman/squad leader, Mark D. Callahan, who was wounded by enemy grenade shrapnel while on a 6 man recon patrol in Vietnam on Feb 28th, 1969. He served with 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 11th Infantry Brigade and earned the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medal. Attached is an email sent by him to another person regarding his tag which was recovered in Vietnam, where he served from May 1968-May 1969 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raylemere Posted April 11, 2015 Share #2 Posted April 11, 2015 nice grab! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellasilva Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share #3 Posted April 11, 2015 And here's the other tag, love this one. Harvey Bensink served with the 817th Tank Destroyer Battalion in WWII. There are a good number of pictures of him available online. The 817th landed on Utah Beach in Normandy in August 1944 and entered into combat in the Hurtgen forest in December 1944. They then went to the Ardennes in January 1945 and crossed the bridge at Remagen in March 1945. In April 1945 they saw combat in the Harz Mountains. They then helped capture Halle and advanced to the Mulde river. Quite a storied history with this one. Attached are pictured of Harvey Bensink while serving in the ETO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattsmilitary Posted April 11, 2015 Share #4 Posted April 11, 2015 Awesome tags man!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellasilva Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share #5 Posted April 11, 2015 More of Tec 4 Bensink Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USdog Posted April 11, 2015 Share #6 Posted April 11, 2015 Nice write ups Phil! Again, glad you like them. I see you remembered to blur the SSN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timberwolf Posted April 11, 2015 Share #7 Posted April 11, 2015 Really like the 817th one! The 817th was attached to the 104th ID, so I'm definitely diggin that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellasilva Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share #8 Posted April 11, 2015 Nice write ups Phil! Again, glad you like them. I see you remembered to blur the SSN Thanks man! Did you get your tags yet? I had a huge brain fart with the Callahan tag and forgot to blur anything, but Bob Hudson was kind enough to edit it for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellasilva Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share #9 Posted April 11, 2015 Really like the 817th one! The 817th was attached to the 104th ID, so I'm definitely diggin that one!Thanks for the comments gents! Timberwolf, it definitely is a neat one! I see you have a special interest in 104th items Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USdog Posted April 11, 2015 Share #10 Posted April 11, 2015 Thanks man! Did you get your tags yet? I had a huge brain fart with the Callahan tag and forgot to blur anything, but Bob Hudson was kind enough to edit it for me! Ha, I didn't see that. I probably would have forgot too. I can't see if I got the tags yet as I am driving back from vacation at the moment. I'll let you know if it's there when I get back on Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Posted April 11, 2015 Share #11 Posted April 11, 2015 Phil those are some nice additions. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellasilva Posted April 11, 2015 Author Share #12 Posted April 11, 2015 Thanks Mark! I'm very happy with these two Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeper704 Posted April 13, 2015 Share #13 Posted April 13, 2015 817TD dogtags, really nice and even better with photos and story. I have a grouping with lots of photos from another 817er. Erwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellasilva Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share #14 Posted April 16, 2015 Erwin- Thanks! I'd love to see yours. There are some great 817th resources online with individual members being well documented Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeper704 Posted April 16, 2015 Share #15 Posted April 16, 2015 I hope I'm not hijacking your topic, but here is a photo of part of that grouping (there are many more photos which are in a binder, and some documents). As a promise to his relative, I blocked out the name of the soldier. Erwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellasilva Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share #16 Posted April 20, 2015 What a great display! That's a killer yardlong. I wonder if Bensink is somewhere in there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellasilva Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share #17 Posted April 20, 2015 I thought I'd add a couple more photos of Bensink I found. Here he is standing next to a Jeep somewhere in France, and in the 2nd picture he is standing to the left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellasilva Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share #18 Posted April 20, 2015 And here is a shot, presumably taken by Bensink as the photo was provided by his daughter, of the famous Siegfried Line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeper704 Posted April 21, 2015 Share #19 Posted April 21, 2015 Was he in HQ Company? Because that's the yardlong I have. Erwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellasilva Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share #20 Posted April 21, 2015 Was he in HQ Company? Because that's the yardlong I have. Erwin He sure was. I've been trying to post a nice studio type portrait of him towards the end of the war but the image is way too small and enlarging it would only distorte his face. He does have an easily recognizable fave though based on all of his pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
268th C.A. Posted April 22, 2015 Share #21 Posted April 22, 2015 I love the M-18 Hell cat "Alleghany Avenger" that really cool! Ole Virginia boy here.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellasilva Posted May 6, 2015 Author Share #22 Posted May 6, 2015 I really love that photo too, there are some great shots of him available online Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellasilva Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share #23 Posted May 27, 2015 I'm pretty excited! After viewing another forum member's 817th yard long, and then referencing the 817th TD website, I found a list of everyone's name in the yard long. I was able to pinpoint Bensink in the photo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David D Posted May 27, 2015 Share #24 Posted May 27, 2015 Nice detective work, Phil! The history for that TD tag is great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeper704 Posted May 27, 2015 Share #25 Posted May 27, 2015 What he said. Erwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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