We Stand Together – Then, Now, and Always !
Welcome to the CURRAHEE website! This site is dedicated to the Veterans and Active Duty members of the famous 506th Infantry Regiment and attached units from its creation during World War II to the present. The website is here to provide current and historical information about the regiment and those who served as well as to provide a central point of contact to connect all past and present Currahees.
NOTE: This website is in transition. Most historical documents and photographs are on our old, first website, which can be accessed by clicking on the link near the bottom of this page or typing: http://old.506infantry.org/index.html
Effective Immediately: The official mailing address of the association will be:
506th Airborne Infantry Regiment Association
2067 Bandera Drive
Clarksville, TN 37042-1669
506th Airborne Infantry Regiment Association Reunion
Biannual Membership Meeting
The 13th biannual membership meeting was held on the afternoon of 24 May. You may read the Minutes of the meeting by clicking on "Minutes", download, open and read the file.
506th Airborne Infantry Regiment Association Scholarship Winners for 2022
Fred May, Chairman of the Association's Scholarship Committee has announced the committee's choices for the five scholarships available for this year. The winners are:
Ciara McKinney is the winner of the $2,500 John and Marcia Lally Service Award Scholarship. Ciara is the granddaughter of Dale Perry, who served in the Army, 101st Airborne, 506th Infantry in the Vietnam War. She will be attending Belmont University in the fall.
Carson Seiber is the winner of the $2,000 NAVILLUS Foundation Award. He is the son of Heather and Retired Colonel Patrick Seiber. His dad served with in the 4th Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, 506th Infantry Regiment from October 2007 to June 2009. Carson will become a member of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University in the fall.
Jordan Harper has been awarded the $1,500 Currahee Scholarship. She is the daughter of retired Major Darin Harper who served with the 506th at Fort Campbell, KY. Jordan will attend the University of Nebraska at Lincoln this fall.
Dustin Simmons is the winner of our $1,000 SPC Edwin Roodhouse Memorial Scholarship Award. Dustin enlisted in the US Army at seventeen years old. He served with the 506th Airborne Infantry Regiment at Fort Campbell from the uncasing of the colors in 2005 until the completion of his contract in 2009. He deployed to Iraq in 05-06 and Afghanistan in 08-09. He earned his bachelor degree in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is working towards a master's degree in health and human performance from the University of the Cumberlands.
Aaron Eads receives the $1,000 Gene Overton Memorial Scholarship. He is the son of Lieutenant Colonel (retired) James and Rhonda Eads. Colonel Eads served with the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment at Camp Greaves, South Korea. He was a SGT and served from 1990-1991 as a sniper squad leader in the scout platoon. Aaron will attend Indiana University at Bloomington in the Fall 2022.
More information will following the next few days.
Election of the Officers and Directors for 2022 – 2024
With the exception of the treasurer, the entire slate consists of current board members. It is:
Craig Oglesby (GWOT) Chairman 2nd Term
Jim Daigle (GWOT) President Moved up from director’s position
Open Secretary (Note 1)
Chris Donavant (GWOT) Treasurer New Member (GWOT) (Note 2)
Fred May (RVN) Director, Charitable Funds
Joel Hamby (GWOT) Director
Dave Schulz (GWOT) Director
Wesley Bass (GWOT) Director
Bob Leibecke (RVN) Director
Jimmy Summer (GWOT) Director
Joe Johnson (RVN) Director
Note 1. Tina Daigle who is a volunteer currently handling our quartermaster store has agreed to learn our new website program and handle many of the administrative duties previously performed by our Association Administrator, Kelli Loar. We will pay Tina to assume these duties at a yet to be determined hourly rate. Joe will assist Tina with the secretarial duties unless another member steps forward offering to assist.
Note 2. SGM(R) Chris Donavant has agreed to perform the treasurer duties. Chris is a retired sergeant major who served as Craig Oglesby’s 1st sergeant in Fox Company, 2-506. Chris owns his own company in Virginia.
Pins, Patches & Decals - We have received our order for 11 items to replenish the supply in our Quartermaster Store managed by Tina Daigle. Come and get 'um!
Currahees In the News
New Books from LTC(R) Joel Hamby
America's longest set of conflicts produced another crop of advisors culled from the ranks of ordinary regular soldiers. The military never gathered their stories and wasn't interested in learning from what we experienced. Yet, if you know anyone who served in Iraq or Afghanistan during the Global War on Terror, they either were an advisor to Iraqi or Afghan forces, worked with an advisor team or they knew others who were advisors. We were everywhere and arguably the "war winning " strategy in a set of wars that seemed to have no end. As they told us often, we were the Tip of the Spear. The title of both volumes tell you how that felt. It will take you from selection and training all the way through to end of our tours as we lived with and advised our counterparts through tedium, innumerable cups of chai, and violent combat. This was our war. With personal interviews the author conducted and more than 150 others, this details advisors in lonely company’s fighting in high mountains or sewage filled streets to the highest level of those foreign military organizations and every level in-between. They were supposedly the war winning strategy but found themselves alone and unafraid, under supplied and under-appreciated making it up as they went along. They balanced their safety by staying close to their Iraqi and Afghan brothers and felt the nearer they were to those we advised, the safer they were. They were the underdogs. They did their jobs and this is their story. Available on kindle and paperback through Amazon. Volume I was released on 19 March 2021 and Volume II is set to release on 5 July 2021. Pre-order is available now.
The Author: J.E. Hamby is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel with over 27 years of military experience including three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He volunteered twice to lead Advisor Teams in both theaters for a total of 19 months in combat as an advisor.
New Book from Christopher Adams,
Co A, 3-506th, 1967-1968
Echoes from Vietnam ... Whispers of the Disposable Soldiers
is a 568-page, actual account by the disposable soldiers who served in war-torn Vietnam. This authoritative biography shares their stories in their own words. Raw and real, the horrors of the Vietnam War of the 60s are revealed in an unembellished prose that will enable the reader to grasp the reality of these disposable soldiers and the hell they survived . . . or didn’t. (Includes maps and photos.)
Endorsed by Mike Krawczyk, 3rd Battalion Veteran and Distinguished Member of the Regiment and Retired Colonel Joe Alexander, Past President and Chairman of the 101st Association
Available from Amazon
Uncommon Devotion
2013 --------------------------------------------------------------------2020
Marcel Jungbauer and his children have visited the American cemetery in Hamm/Luxemburg for many years – particularly to tend to the grave of Sgt. Gordon E. Mather, Company F, 506th Parachute Infantry who was KIA outside Bastogne, December 20, 1944. The 506th Airborne Infantry Association is proud and thankful for the Jungbauer family and privileged to call them friends. Marcel Jungbauer was awarded the title of Honorary Member of the Regiment in 2013 because of his families history of caring for our military KIA.
The Officers and Directors of the Association for the period of May, 2020 to May, 2022 are:
Chairman: Craig Oglesby (GWOT) President: MAJ(R) Tom Duckett (Vietnam)
Secretary: COL(R) Joe Johnson (Vietnam) Treasurer: SGM(R) Chris Donavant (GWOT)
Director: Fred May (Vietnam) Director: LTC(R) Joel Hamby (GWOT)
Director: LTC Dave Schulz (GWOT) Director: Wesley Bass (GWOT)
Director: SFC(R) Jim Daigle (GWOT) Director: Bob Leibecke (Vietnam)
Director: Jimmy Summer (GWOT) Director: Richard Keiser (Vietnam)
Chaplain: Dave Canter (Vietnam) Quartermaster Sales: Tina Daigle
This represents a changing of the guard. This is the first time that the predominance of the board is comprised of members from the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) era.
The Alpha 1-506 Men Donate New Benches
at their Ft Campbell KIA Memorial
A fund raiser, lead by Fred May, was successful in raising enough funds to remove the original, deteriorating concrete benches and replace them with brand new granite benches. The benches are located on either side of the reproduction of the memorial to the Alpha KIA's which sat outside the Alpha Company orderly room on Camp Evans, Vietnam.
UPDATE: 482 Pavers SOLD to date!
Currahee Memorial Paver Project
Order Your Paver Online at: WWW.ThatsMyBrick.com
Currently files are being transferred to the new website.
You can look for information on the old 506infantry website. Click here
The Association is recognized as a Tax Exempt Veterans Organization under IRS Code Section 501(c) (19). The Association offers a variety of services and programs in support of its members, including its Charitable Programs as outlined under Programs and Giving. For giving purposes, our FEIN is 91-2088108. We invite you to participate in supporting Association programs through your tax deductible contributions.
The website, the Association Facebook page and newsletter connect all Currahees as well as their families, friends, and supporters.
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