Author Description

Letters Home: A Paratrooper's Story is an account of a combat paratrooper, Harland "Bud" Curtis. Bud joined the paratroopers in April 1943, and found himself assigned to the famed "517th Parachute Infantry Regiment," later to become a Parachute Regimental Combat Team, "The Battling Buzzards" (which was the only parachute regimental combat team in the European Theater of war). From 1943-45, Bud wrote over 130 letters home to his mother, detailing his experiences from initial training to the eventual combat fighting in Italy, France, Belgium, and finally Germany. Bud's mother kept these letters throughout her life, and they were discovered when she passed away. Included in this third edition are more historic pictures along with pictures of the weapons used by the 517th PRCT. There are quotes from General Seitz, Colonel Boyle, Major Fraser, Merle Traver, and John Anderson from the 517th reunion in Washington, D.C., 2007. Many historical facts from the beginning to the end are included with much information cited from Paratrooper Odyssey, Battling Buzzards, and many other references. This book is not an account of what Bud remembered, rather letters written on a specific day with documented facts of what happened on that day between 1943-45. These letters are often poignant with sincere thoughts and feelings of a combat paratrooper in the middle of the most horrific battles of World War II.