WW2 Combat Engineers Forum - Recent Topics

CO B, 401st ENGRS. (C) Battalion WW2

gberthenson — Tue, 26 May 2026 01:08:42 +0000

Looking for anyone who may have any information about my father, Robert (Bob) Henson. He fought in the North African Campaign and the Italian Campaign (Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno, Northern Apennines, and Po Valley). Many thanks, George Henson

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The Story of Q - my tween trilogy

Walts Daughter — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 17:35:34 +0000

To get a feel for my tween sci-fi trilogy, please view my intro on YouTube

The Story of Q - intro

You can visit The Story of Q site for more information and/or to purchase the books

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects in 1944 in France, near where I live.

Claude — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 13:28:29 +0000

Hello,
My website recounts a forgotten battle that took place in 1944 between the villages of Peyrolles and Meyrargues in southern France, in which the 180th Regiment of the U.S. 45th Infantry Division took part.

http://pastroptops.free.fr/

It mentions the railway viaduct in Aix-en-Provence and the railway bridge over the Durance River near Pertuis, repaired by the 343rd Engineer Regiment, the pontoon bridge deployed across this river by the 120th Engineer Battalion upstream from Mirabeau, as well as the railway viaduct over the Buëch repaired by the 40th Engineer Regiment near Sisteron.
I would be interested in seeing period photos of these repairs and this battle. Thank you.

Adding 540th NARA files

Walts Daughter — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 23:52:13 +0000

While most of the 540th files from the National Archives were uploaded to the main site, several months were missing, due in part to the vast amount of work it takes to organize thousands of pages of documentation, then scan and upload them. However, I'm pleased to announce that I am making great strides in accomplishing that task.

This month I have already added the months of Dec 44, Jan, Feb, and April of 45. This evening I compiled May of 45 and am hoping to upload it within the next few days.

The amount of information is incredible. What a daunting task it must have been to type and submit all those required documents to the Army. And of course, this was before the age of computers! No way to save. Hey, we need that in triplicate. Pass me the carbon sheets. You guys deserve medals for that!!

So, the last files to complete the set are May through November of 1945. The last few will be easy, for there's very little to share after the mid-summer months during the occupation of Germany.

591st Amphibious Engineers

Walts Daughter — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 12:23:05 +0000

Hi Marion.

Please keep me on the list. My Dad was in 591st Amphibious Engineers. Good to have somebody like you to carry this information for those WW2 troops that have passed on. The picture of my Dad is in North Africa.

Regards, Dan OBrien

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Joe Esposito - 293rd Engineer Bn

Walts Daughter — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 12:13:50 +0000

Received this email:

Hello Marion,

Going through my late Uncle Joe Esposito's possessions, we found some documents he still had from his time in the service. He was in Company C of the 293rd Engineer Battalion during World War II. I know he fought in France and Germany and finished his tour in Norway. Attached is a certificate of appreciation from the country of Norway that was given to him.

I hope you find this useful.

Ed Garcia

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Jeanette Guyot - part of the resistance

Walts Daughter — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 20:32:53 +0000

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When 97-year-old widow Jeannette Guyot passed away on April 10, 2016, in Chalon-sur-Saône, a town of 50,000 in eastern France, few neighbors knew of the heroic life the unassuming old woman had led 75 years earlier.

Guyot was a chevalier of the Légion d’honneur and a recipient of her nation’s Croix de guerre. Britain had presented her a George Medal for “acts of great bravery.” She was also one of only two women awarded the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross for “extraordinary heroism” during World War II.

Indeed, Guyot was among the most decorated Allied agents to have operated in German-occupied France. Early in the war, she’d been arrested, imprisoned and withstood three months of interrogation. Yet after her release, the fearless young patriot insisted on returning to France to resume the fight.

Guyot was born in Chalon-sur-Saône on Feb. 26, 1919. Her father, Jean-Marie, was a timber merchant who, when the Nazis invaded, joined the underground Forces françaises combattantes (FFC). Arrested in 1943, Jean-Marie was deported to Germany in early 1944 and died in Bavaria. Jeannette did not learn of his death until after the August 1944 liberation of Paris. Her mother, Jeanne, also an FFC member, was arrested 10 days after her husband. Deported to Germany’s Ravensbrück concentration camp, she survived the war to be reunited with her daughter.

At the outset of the occupation, the 22-year-old Jeannette, then living with her parents, also joined the Resistance. Her hometown, 70 miles north of Lyon, was near the demarcation border between occupied France and the “free zone” of Vichy. Guyot held a German-issued identity card (Ausweis) that allowed her to travel freely. She initially worked as a courier-guide, conveying covert messages and escorting refugees and intelligence agents across the Saône River into Vichy.

In August 1941, Guyot joined the Paris-based Confrérie Notre-Dame network, led by Gilbert Renault, alias Colonel Rémy. There she continued her courier work and served as Rémy’s liaison officer. In February 1942 she was arrested. Though subjected to three months of interrogation by the Gestapo, Guyot maintained her cover story and was ultimately released. Though stripped of her Ausweis, she remained a courier until the network was betrayed.

Fleeing to Lyon, Guyot continued working for the Resistance until the November 1942 German occupation of Vichy. On the night of May 13, 1943, a Westland Lysander of the Royal Air Force’s No. 161 (Special Duties) Squadron glided down to land in a pasture in central France, and Guyot and two comrades hurriedly climbed aboard.

On landing in Britain, Guyot joined the Free French Forces. Reunited with her former network chief, she worked for Rémy in London for the latter half of 1943. Yet she resolved to return to France as an agent and in preparation earned her jump wings and received further intelligence training. On the night of Feb. 8–9, 1944, she parachuted into France from an RAF bomber.

Guyot had returned home as part of Operation Sussex, whose four-member teams were dropped behind German lines to conduct intelligence missions ahead of D-Day.

In Paris, Guyot installed the team’s radio operator in a room above the Café de l’Electricité, owned by her cousin and next door to a Gestapo office. (The eatery, at 8 Rue Tournefort, remains in business as Café des Sussex.) Operating across northern France, she spent eight months behind German lines, setting up drop zones and safe houses, until the Allied advance overran the team’s area in October 1944.

Guyot ended all connections with the military and intelligence services shortly after the war. Her only remaining tie with her wartime past was her husband, Marcel Gaucher, a fellow former Sussex agent. MH

This article appeared in the September 2020 issue of Military History magazine.

Charles Felt of the 174th Engineer Combat Battalion

Deb Kidwell — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 16:25:02 +0000

Hello all,

I posted this in the forum for the 174th but went up a level to be sure all could see my request. I'm sorry if this is redundant.

I’m a retired Air Force historian and adjunct history professor at American Public University. I also taught at US Army Command and Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth from 2004-2009.

I’m conducting research for an article I’m writing and also private research looking for information about my grandfather, who served in the 174 Engineering Battalion from 1943-1946 in the Pacific Theater. I sent in a request for his service records in St Louis and of course they burned in the 1973 fire. I know AF historians write an annual unit history (I had to retire when I thought I could not possibly write another one, lol.) but am unfamiliar with how the army records their history or where they keep them. The Air Force keeps all unit histories at the AF Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, AL.

I have his medals and discharge papers, but would really like to find anything else out that I could about his unit and their activities and possibly the medal citations. I know you don’t do this kind of personal research, but if you could point me in a direction to obtain the unit histories, orders of battle, and any other places I might look for more information of a general nature I’d be grateful. Here is the gist of the information I have:

Charles S. Felt of Wichita, KS, inducted at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, 27 August 1943

Served as Tec 4, 174 Engineers Battalion, until 2 Jan 1946, Service number 37 540 639, Separated at Ft Logan, CO

Served in Southern Philippines and Ryukyus, He told me he spent time in Korea as well

Bronze Service Arrowhead, Pacific Theater Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, Philippine Liberation Ribbon with two Bronze Service Stars, WWII Victory Medal, Good Conduct Medal

The discharge also says “Lapel button issued ASR Score (2 Sep 45) - 62

4 months Pvt Infantry Basic Training, 6 months Pvt Rifleman, 16 months Tec 4 Automotive Mechanic Second Echelon

I have a photo of him with an infantry flag that says RTC 88A, which I assume is his basic infantry training class.

Interestingly enough, he enlisted in 1941, but was classified as 4F due to colorblindness, then was drafted in 1943. In the meantime, he took Sheet Metal training at Swallow Aircraft School in Wichita, KS. I have pay stubs from Beechcraft.

Anywhere you can point me to look for more is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Deborah Kidwell, PhD, University of Kansas

987 Boynton Valley Rd

Manchester, TN 37344

913-306-4977

174th Engineer Combat Battalion history for Charles S. Felt

Deb Kidwell — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 16:18:27 +0000