You then blocked me on FB which I found rather odd. You sent me a copy of your mother’s Paratroop Pamphlet with no return address which is a strange thing to do as you address and cell phone number is all over the internet. You are the one who posted that information online here https://talesalongtheway.com/2014/07/29/a-paratroopers-faith-and-a-legacy-of-love\

That you refused to speak with me is sad as I have interviewed many Co G men who knew your uncle. You are only the second 507th family member that didn’t want the information about their relative. I have spoken with over 150 507th men over the years and also their families. Ms. Van Maanen has no interest in the 507th but does in treating relatives of veterans like a trinket.

I read parts of your book about your uncle on Amazon and you being a school teaching should have done your due diligence in regards to Normandy. You have the term Overlord for the paratroop name but that is wrong, it is Neptune. Overlord is for the whole part of the Normandy invasion. Neptune is the paratroop part.

You should be very careful about dealing with the ABMC. Attached is an example of what the ABMC does. They have lied over the years and have done it again in regard to your uncle’s headstone. You will see that Mr. Shatzer lied stated that they hadn’t decided in a March 2017 letter but in reality had done that in October of last year.

You have gone back and forth with Nosal and he is the biggest liar of all at the ABMC. He has repeatedly lied about WWII men buried in Europe. He said to you that only the Army can change a headstone (which is true) but changed a headstone himself with no authority in August of last year and desecrated a headstone in Normandy.

My information is from documentation, where someone like Ms. Van Maanen in this case is made up of in fantasy. She thinks that she “owns” you and no one else should ever contact you or your family. There are a lot of Europeans who think like that for some reason.

Ms. Van Maanen is an odd duck to say the least. When I asked her to forward the documents I have on your uncle she lost it. She then for some reason sent a screen shot that she took of you talking with her by message. Why she sent this to me I still don’t know. It did prove that the ABMC had already decided to change the headstone this year.

As mentioned above in the email are documents showing the fraud committed by the ABMC. Be careful about Nosal as if he you cross him he will have a headstone ripped down on his say so and have it replaced. He has done it before. Here is the link showing that. http://www.airborneinnormandy.com/ray_file.htm 

For someone who was a teacher you should really verify your sources and you haven’t done that in relation to Nosal. He lies on a regular basis for the ABMC. Don’t take my word on that, here is a link with the documentation showing some of his lies. http://www.airborneinnormandy.com/fraud_soldiers.htm near the bottom of the page. Here is another link showing Nosal almost complete lack of understanding about WWII. http://www.airborneinnormandy.com/abmcpoor.htm

The ABMC in letters/emails back and forth with you said that the headstone can’t say the 82nd Abn Div. There is a problem with what he has said about that in the letter to you in October of 2016. The 507th and the 508th were technically only attached to the 82nd Abn Div as well as the 501st that was attached to the 101st Abn Div.

The only problem with the ABMC saying they could only put the 507th and not the 82nd is that all of the headstones at the Normandy American Cemetery have the 101st Abn Div on it for the 501st. This means that either the 501st ones are wrong or your uncles are wrong by leaving off the 82nd Abn Div on the headstones.

Nosal in his emails back and forth with you said that the 507th wasn’t part of the Order of Battle for the 82nd Abn Din in Normandy. Once again that isn’t true. Attached is the After Action 82nd Report and it shows clearly they were part of the order of battle for the 507th. By letting the ABMC to change your uncle’s headstone and not put the 82nd on it is an insult to you and your family and all of the 507th & 508th men buried without the 82nd Abn Div for the men killed in Normandy.

This means that all of the headstones in Europe for the 501st men would have to be changed to 501st Prcht Inf Regt, not 501st Prcht Inf 101st Abn Div or all of the 507th, 508th and 401st 2nd Bn men’s headstones have to be changed to reflect that information.

I have been trying for years to get your uncle’s headstone changed from the 17th Abn Div to the 82nd Abn Div. You and I even spoke about this back in 2005/06 time period about this. I have other headstones corrected over the years. The ABMC back then refused to change that information about your uncle. And they still will leave it incomplete by leaving off the 82nd Abn Div part. Attached are the 101st ones that do have their Division listed while the 82nd ones (507th and 508th along with the 2nd Bn of the 401st) do not.

Why the ABMC has dishonored the 82nd from those three units is unknown but this issue started in the early 1950s when the headstones were put up.

I look forward to your response. I could have shown you via phone about this and explained it in 10 minutes as opposed to 3 hours writing this letter to you.


Brian Siddall
May 13, 2017