Hi Lisa,

 

We will definitely make sure that the Camp Butner Society receives a copy of the Company C photo. It is probably gonna take a couple of weeks to see the finished results. This shop is a chain that is headquartered in St. Louis and that is where the photo is being sent to their lab. They send it by personal courier, not postal service, and I have been assured that upmost care will be taken to insure that it is not damaged. They specialize in restorations and are gonna give me an estimate to restore this one to a true black and white. It really does not have any blemishes but of course has yellowed with age and will have them restore to true black and white if not too expensive. I feel the photo is in capable hands and that we will get good results from them. Definitely will inform everyone once the process is completed.

 

Gary maybe right about the gentlemen in white being the Medical Detachment in the Company A photo. Ralph and I have theorized that these men may have been scheduled for kitchen duty (KP) that day and stayed in that uniform instead of changing to their khakis. I do not know for certain but I would think that the Medical Detachment would have been assigned to the Headquarters & Supply Company.

 

Ran across this list of units that served and trained at Camp Butner recently, hope it maybe helpful.

 

IMG_0002_NEW.jpg

 

Have a great day Lisa!

 

Randy

KP... an interesting idea that I never thought of. Definitely an alternative as the logic of the medical detachment being with H&S Company would make sense. Keep, thinking folks... that's what we need here... many, many opinions from many, many people on many, many subjects.

Gary

Gary,

 

Nice job! Here is a picture of Stephen Long that Ralph had sent me sometime ago. I know you don't see much of his face because of the pistol. I was thinking Ralph had another picture of him, maybe Ralph will post that if he does.

 

IMG.jpg

 

Good observations about the address book. I looked through some old emails and found a couple of scans Ralph had sent me, showing some names and addresses his father had. As you can see there are some of the same names and the same handwriting.

 

1-7-2013 6;29;36 PM.jpg1-7-2013 6;26;50 PM.jpg

 

Have a good one Gary.

 

Randy

Thanks for the post, my friend! Anything that Ralph or others have would be helpful and if there is labeling then include that, also. Those additional pages give us still more names to add to the other sources. Thanks, Randy, and to Ralph, also. You guys are the best!

Gary

Gary,

 

Sorry you missed it buddy but this was mentioned earlier in the thread right after we had received our Company A photos.Ralph had called me and brought to my attention, I hadn't noticed it at first either. He did not know the name of this soldier, but his dad told him that this guy somehow always managed to come up with a dog anywhere they went. Ralph has several pictures of this guy and he his holding a dog in everyone. Here is one of those, maybe Ralph will post more.

 

IMG_0001_NEW.jpg

 

Take care Gary!

 

Randy

Whoa, asleep at the wheel! Thanks for the post. We definitely have to figure out who the "dog whisperer" is! Any additional images of him would be helpful.

Gary

Gary,

 

Again I think this is very close match.

 

Randy

I would say this guy is a match between Lisa being a yes and you being a very close yes.

Thanks for chiming in on this, Lisa. Many of the guys start to look the same after looking at the picture and faces as much as I have done recently. Getting a copy for the Camp Butner Society is a wonderful idea! Let us know if we can assist in any way with this. Did they end up with an A Company photo?

 

The 292nd had a Medical Detachment and I have to believe these guys were members of it. The original roster of guys transferred from the 165th Engineer Combat Battalion on November 5, 1943 showed three to the 292nd Medical Detachment: S/Sgt Richard D. Wardlaw SN 14 016 538, Tec3 Merwin E. Ferber SN 14 020 213 and Tec5 Ralph C. Thompson SN 34 640 345. As with the others on the unit photo, now we must attempt to identify them.

 

Onward and Upward!

 

Gary

Gary,

Here is another item Ralph had shared with me awhile back (that Ralph is good people!). It is an article written by Medical Detachment member SSGT Richard Wardlaw detailing his experiences with the 292nd. Think you will enjoy this.

Keep up the great work, my friend

Randy

Here's one more, folks. I found a photo of Sylvester A. Stuiber SN 36 807 983 from the Kaukauna High School in Wisconsin from 1942 along with a fellow from the unit photo that I think may be him. Take a look. The eyebrows are distinctive and the same in both. The creases on both sides of the nose look the same, also, as well as the flatness at the bridge of the nose. The left ear is very similar. The shadowing and the fact he is trying to avoid looking in the sun from the company photo makes it a bit challenging, but that is my case for the ID.

Gary,

 

Here is another item Ralph had shared with me awhile back (that Ralph is good people!). It is an article written by Medical Detachment member SSGT Richard Wardlaw detailing his experiences with the 292nd. Think you will enjoy this.

 

IMG_0003.jpgIMG_0004.jpgIMG_0005.jpg

 

Keep up the great work, my friend

 

Randy

Randy,

Thanks for the post, my friend! It just so happens that Pete sent me a copy of this when he sent me the Engineer Group documents. I agree, though... thanks to Ralph and also to Pete for their work in contributing to our discussions here. Here's a little info on him including his entry into the Army in 1940, reenlistment in 1943 and his grave marker. Tragically for him he never knew his father. His mother was about six weeks pregnant with him in Jan 1919 when his father passed away of "pneumonia fever" at the age of 31 leaving his mother with four kids and Richard on the way. It's clear from the above article that you posted that despite these early circumstances that he was still able build a life of service to his country and one that was very productive and fulfilling.

Until next time,

Gary

Gary,

I think you've got a very strong match with Steiber.

I don't think I'm with y'all on the KP theory. Everyone else is dressed for the photo. If the KP guys stayed in their whites, you'd think everyone else would be in fatigues. When you say "medical detachment," are you talking about medics? They'd be with the unit, but I don't think they'd be in white, would they? And why would they be placed so prominently? It's definitely an interesting little problem. Too bad we can't see insignia on more of these guys.

I did give a copy of the Company A photo to the Camp Butner Society. I definitely want to get them some names, but you're adding so many names every day that I think I'll wait a while. Right now, they don't have a place to display it anyway. The museum is just a small room currently, and they told me they have quite a bit in storage. Based on what I've seen on their Facebook page versus what was in the museum, I'd have to confirm that.

Randy,

The original Company A photo is also lightly brown, almost sepia. It's too even to be aging, in my opinion, so I think the light brown is original. Looks good with the khaki in the uniforms. Just my opinion.

Lisa

Gary,

I think you've got a very strong match with Steiber.

 

I don't think I'm with y'all on the KP theory. Everyone else is dressed for the photo. If the KP guys stayed in their whites, you'd think everyone else would be in fatigues. When you say "medical detachment," are you talking about medics? They'd be with the unit, but I don't think they'd be in white, would they? And why would they be placed so prominently? It's definitely an interesting little problem. Too bad we can't see insignia on more of these guys.

 

I did give a copy of the Company A photo to the Camp Butner Society. I definitely want to get them some names, but you're adding so many names every day that I think I'll wait a while. Right now, they don't have a place to display it anyway. The museum is just a small room currently, and they told me they have quite a bit in storage. Based on what I've seen on their Facebook page versus what was in the museum, I'd have to confirm that.

 

Randy,

The original Company A photo is also lightly brown, almost sepia. It's too even to be aging, in my opinion, so I think the light brown is original. Looks good with the khaki in the uniforms. Just my opinion.

 

Lisa

Lisa,

Randy has a point that you'd think that maybe these guys would be attached to H&S Company? It's possible that maybe the white "lab coats" are the uniforms that would coincide with the the uniform that the other soldiers are wearing? We'll have to keep working on this. Lisa, take a look at the pages that Randy posted above and you will see that Wardlaw mentions that he was transferred to the 292nd in Nov of 1943 to "organize and train the members of the medical detachment, which consisted of one dentist, one doctor, one staff sergeant and fourteen medical specialists of different ranks". I do agree with you that sepia tone of the photo is really fantastic with the subjects and composition of the photo. We love our framed ones!

More comparisons coming soon so keep watching!

Gary

Here's an updated A Company image with a few more guys identified... 12 so far and hopefully more to come! Incidentally, C Company folks, once Randy has done his thing with your company photo then we will begin to identify as many of those guys as well.

Gary

Alright, here's the next comparison. This is Harry J. Tischbein, Jr SN 35 674 622 in the 1940 Withrow High School (Cincinnati) yearbook, the 1942 Dennison University (Ohio) yearbook along with a guy I think may be him from the A Company photo. Opinions?

Here's an updated A Company image with a few more guys identified... 12 so far and hopefully more to come! Incidentally, C Company folks, once Randy has done his thing with your company photo then we will begin to identify as many of those guys as well.

 

 

Gary

Hey Gary,

The photo shop contacted me earlier today and informed me that no major restoration work was necessary on the Company C panoramic(didn't figure there would be). They gave me the price and they are proceeding with what had been discussed. This included restoring it to a true black and white, I'm sorry if this is going to make it stand out a lot different from the Company A photo. Had I read your posts before they called I might have canceled that. Will see what we got when they are done.

Randy

Alright, here's the next comparison. This is Harry J. Tischbein, Jr SN 35 674 622 in the 1940 Withrow High School (Cincinnati) yearbook, the 1942 Dennison University (Ohio) yearbook along with a guy I think may be him from the A Company photo. Opinions?

Folks, Gary is real good at this isn't he? I'd say that's a definite match

Randy

Recently, Randy posted the ship's name that the 292nd had shipped home on, the SS Hampden Sydney Victory. I ran across some manifest documents from that trip which began on Feb 21, 1946 in Le Havre, France and ended in New York Harbor on March 2, 1946. Unfortunately, there were no unit documents with passengers from the units that came home on that trip (some ships had unit lists like this). These are all the documents that I have found from the trip.

Gary

Hey Gary,

 

The photo shop contacted me earlier today and informed me that no major restoration work was necessary on the Company C panoramic(didn't figure there would be). They gave me the price and they are proceeding with what had been discussed. This included restoring it to a true black and white, I'm sorry if this is going to make it stand out a lot different from the Company A photo. Had I read your posts before they called I might have canceled that. Will see what we got when they are done.

 

Randy

Don't be sorry, my friend. We all appreciate the time and effort you are putting into this. Let's see what they come up with and if there are major differences then we can make decisions from there. You may want to message me if the price is high and I'd be more that willing to kick in a portion if that is the case. Anything for the cause, folks!

Gary