You go Girlfriend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you SO much Jiggs. That means a lot to me. I talked (through PM) to Larry Alexander the other night before I left for my trip. I was thrilled that he took a moment to answer my letter to him. He said that he gave me a lot of credit to take on a book of this scale. Basically said it was hard enough writing about one man's experiences (for those of you who don't know, it's Dick Winters of the 101st Airborne - Easy Co - you know Band of Brothers). I know that you two are friends, so if you talk to him, please tell him how much I appreciated getting his response.

Well here goes...

PS. I got your message in PA, and thanks for calling. I too had so much going on, that I probably wouldn't have gotten a chance to get away either. Hey we tried my friend. Anyway, I WILL be back next year and will be taking more time too. Let's hope we can meet in 2006. I would it!

Good Luck

Thanks. Who knows, it sounds as if your grandfather was with one of these units, so he could very well wind up in this book.

Just got off the phone with Steve Casey this afternoon. Steve's father was in the 540th. Unfortunately Hurricane Rita put a damper on his plans and he was unable to attend.

We talked for about a half hour and I told him all about the reunion and the amount of memorabilia that was available, including all the stuff I brought. Said he has all kinds of things to share with me too, but I told him not to despair; the group is planning on meeting again next year!

Steve has his own printing company and we talked at length about creating items of interest for sale regarding the VI Corps Engineers. Told him I would definitely be interested in something like this in the near future. He also said he would love to jump in and help with the publishing of the book. Told him that that was very fantastic news, since publishing can be a tricky deal. I said that if I couldn't get a publisher right away, then I would have to self-publish and as we all know, it can get expensive. He said that as long as it wasn't a hardcover edition, then we could design something nice and work together. Ah, music to my ears. At least now I know I have my foot in the door and will initially be able to get the books out to the vets and their family members. I feel very inspired! Things are starting to fall into place.

Well must run, but wanted to share the good news with everyone. This really gives me even more incentive.

VERY glad to hear that Marion! I see why events like these are great motivators. Keep it up. I would be very interested in the fruits of all your labor! I know not many of them saw action in teh Netherlands, but if tehr eis anything I can do, let me know.

STevin

Stevin, while it IS true that these units did not have action in the Netherlands, which is your area of research, having a friend like you who always backs me up and lends me support, is a number one incentive all to itself. It's nice just to be able to chat with you and get some of that motivation that is running through your blood. So in that manner you are a tremendous help.

Also you ARE very helpful to me and to many that visit this site because you always seem to have a point of interest to share with my readers and we wind up having more in common that we would have imagined.

A big hi to your gorgeous wife. Hope all is well on your end. BTW, your site is coming along so nicely. It is something to be very proud of!

Thanks Marion. The same goed for you. In a short while we have become very friendly an able to help eachother. We will keep up the good work. Again, if there is anything I can do.....You know where to reach me....

and indeed;

So I hope that I will have your support, my dear friends, and that you will understand where my heart and goals lead me at this point in my life. So while I continue to try and lend my aid and assistance to all my WWII friends, I must place my focus on accomplishing this goal. Thank you for your continuing support and friendship. If you have anything that might assist me in completing this project, please don't hesitate to contact me. This includes any men from the 3rd, 34th, 36th and 45th Infantry Divisions, or anyone else who fought along with the 5th or 7th Armies or VI Corps. Many of the above mentioned units fought alongside with MY engineers and your info may be integral to my book.

Anyone??

Was sitting out on our big ol' country porch tonight talking to my Lee about my aspirations for my book, etc. I always look to him for guidance and advice for many reasons. One: he is very brilliant. Two: he is very well read. Three: he is very well read in WWII history. Four he is a good writer. Five: I always value his opinion because he is unbiased and will always give me the truth. Some people only tell you what you want to hear. He tells me like it is and I value that. So if I write something he won't say, "Gee hun that was great." He won't if it's not the truth.

Well as we were sitting and sharing the sunshine of an unusually gorgeous warm Michigan November day, and he said, I have an idea that I'd like to share with you. Oh yes, do tell. He then went in to fetch a copy of WWII magazine. I think you should do this he exclaimed and turned to a well known feature of the mag. If any of you are regular readers of WWII, then you know about the sections they feature up front, namely Commands, One Man's War, etc.

He suggested that I submit a concise synopsis of the 540th for inclusion in the magazine. He reminded me that they are always hungry for submissions and he thought it would be a great way for me to bring my thoughts together in a neatly summed up one page article. Kind of a basis with tight paragraphs that would lead me to expand on each as I write my book.

Great idea I exclaimed. Thank you for your thoughts. He has me "geeked" now and I am going to start writing this weekend. Wish me luck "me mates". It would be a perfect avenue to try out my wares. WWII mag, here I come!

I sent this email to the editor of WWII mag last night and this morning I received a reply.

--------------

Dear WWII Magazine:

I am interested in submitting a brief history of my father's unit, the 540th Combat Engineers, to your magazine and am requesting some guidelines as far as length, etc. I have a rough idea after looking over such sections as Command, but need to need to know if you have any other requirements.

Thank you for your time,

Marion J Chard

Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek

VI Corps, 540th Combat Engineer WWII

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com

Essayons!

Dear Ms. Chard,

Thank you for your letter to World War II. I would be very happy to see something on the 540th and I think that "Commands" would be just the place to run it. I have attached a copy of our editorial guidelines for your review. You should try to keep the story to around 1,500 words as it will need to fit on one page. Thank you for your interest and I look forward to seeing your submission.

Regards,

Chris Anderson

Editor

-----------------

As you can well imagine, this has inspired me even more and as of this afternoon, I have already covered the time period to Jan 1945.

Lee is going to proof-read my article and I also plan on sending a copy to my friend, Michael at the Army Corps of Engineers. I trust both to give me their unbiased and professional opinions before wisking this out in an envelope to the editor.

Well, back to the family room. If I'm sitting here writing, then guess what I'm NOT doing?

I know, I know, I'm geeked. I just finished my first draft and will now hand my manuscript over to my beloved husband. Gulp! We'll see.

At first it was terribly difficult to keep a watch on the words flowing from my fingertips. I had a 1500 word count to work within. Trying to compile 3 years into 1500 words is not an easy task. What do you include? What do you exclude?

I think I have succeeded, but my editors will be the judge of that, not me!

I do feel a real sense of accomplishment as this is the first step in my set of goals for the 540th and for VI Corps. It's always important to get past that initial step. It breaks the ice and gets the old blood going. Okay world, try and stop me now.

It's done. I mailed the submission today! I am nervous, excited, apprehensive, elated, thrilled, proud... Lots of adjectives thrown in there. It will be a thrill for the 540th to "see their name in lights". (if it happens...)

Essayons!

Here ya go my friends. You can read my original. This is a PDF. As with all PDF files, it may take a while to download.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12-4-05 There was an error regarding a date that Stan Dziuban caught. I therefore changed it and have placed the revised document below. Thank you Stan. You're the only one who caught the mistake.

The_540th_Engineer_Combat_Regiment.pdf

Hail to our chief;

Well Mare; where will it end. I hear you have now written a history piece on the 540th, and submitted it to a magazine. Congratulations kiddo. I still say you are a pint sized dynamo. For those of you who haven't heard, I copied this for you.

Oh did you read about my submission to WWII mag? Here ya go....

Upon the urging and suggestion from Lee, I began writing a brief history and sent an email to the editor of the magazine on Sunday. Monday morning I received the following reply:

-------------------------------------

Dear Ms. Chard,

Thank you for your letter to World War II. I would be very happy to see something on the 540th and I think that "Commands" would be just the place to run it. I have attached a copy of our editorial guidelines for your review. You should try to keep the story to around 1,500 words as it will need to fit on one page. Thank you for your interest and I look forward to seeing your submission.

Regards,

Chris Anderson

Editor

-------------------------------------------------------

Marion's note: Please be advised I have moved this post and attached it to the already ongoing discussion here. Thanks!