Hi Terry, welcome to the forum.

A book, The Safekeepers: Memoir of the Arts at the End of World War II by former Capt. Walter I. Farmer has a brief account in Chapter Two, pages 17 & 18 of the 373rd GS Reg. from when they arrived in England and where they were.

"In mid-January, `44, one of the two battalions of the 373rd went to Sully Camp on the Bristol Channel east of Barry, Wales, where the troops would construct a shipping depot. they built open storage facilities, railroads, access roads, and a winter tented camp for 250."

The book is still in copyright but you might find it in a local library

Google Books has a preview of the book you can read:

http://books.google.com/books?id=kcPL-nDoowQC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=373rd+Engineer+General+Service+Regiment,+Barry,&source=bl&ots=ukQZQc1mQd&sig=SVQcNuARsnOAxr7M1J4qsJJ4X5I&hl=en&ei=fwn3TNIVhPuXB-qyqOEF&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=373rd%20Engineer%20General%20Service%20Regiment%2C%20Barry%2C&f=false

The Safekeepers: Memoir of the Arts at the End of World War II by former Capt. Walter I. Farmer of the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II, chronicles the recovery of and restitution of discovered hidden loot of the Nazi plunder, that were stolen from museums, private collections and libraries and individual Jewish emigrants and death camp prisoners.

Thanks for the lead - I am chasing this up, but its not a common title !.

I have also submitted a request to USAMHI Research Centre (December 2010) for photocopies of any relevant pages from the work "The 373rd Engineer General Service Regiment in World War II", which is listed as being in their collection. I am told that there is a piece on building of G-40 with photographs (but whether the photographs relate to G-40 (Sully) remains to be seen - if I am lucky that is). If anyone has a lead - or better still a copy - of this work, perhaps they could get in touch so that I can confirm my presumption.

Much of the land occupied by G-40 and its associated tented camp remains undeveloped, and any buildings that may have existed have been removed. A group of us in Barry intend to have a "poke around" this Summer, if we can get permission.

I would be delighted to hear from anyone who has any connection to G-40 as I am trying to put a history together as there is no recognition of the presence that the American Armed Forces made to the town between 1942 and 1944 - although a fair number of Barry "girls" became "GI brides" - my Aunt being one of that number.

Attached is the Barry Depot section of the official history of the 373rd.

My father, PFC Roger J. Patzer, was in the thiord platoon of 'D' Company; he served with the 373rd from Camp Claiborne until 3/1/45.

Sorry, not seeing any attachments...

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A few days later...

He couldn't upload as attachment, for the document exceeded the maximum. So, he sent the doc to me via email and I uploaded it to the server. Here's the link:

Barry Street doc

That was great - many thanks indeed for the extract !.

Later this year (Summer 2011) I will try and take some "then and now" comparison shots, although most of the locations shown in the photographs (quality not too good) have been redeveloped or obscured by vegitation. The tented camp site is now a field and so a comparison shot should be possible. I understand that there were a number of similar "G" sites created in Great Britain during 1943 and would imagine that the construction drawings for buildings should be pretty much standard. It may be a while before I can update you on progress, but be assured that I will give you feedback.

Regards and thanks. Terry

Some early feedback ..

The attached photograph, taken 20th Sept 1943 is of area in which 373rd constructed the Operation BOLERO storage facility. I have highlighted the Main Gate (to the Camp) - I presume that there were many construction access gates - and the Winter "Tented" Camp Site. The "Streets" and railroad sidings are fanned out on the middle and upper right half of the image, although I don't yet knew the naming order of the streets, A thro' M or the sidings - presumably a construction plan may exist somewhere ?.

The collective site was known as G-40, but this included the parts of an existing storage depot and camps "Hayes Lane Camp", "Ridge Camp" and "Farm Camp". All very very interesting ...

If you wish to see an aerial photograph of the area today, you can zoom directly to it using this WikiMaps link ..

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=51.4055775&lon=-3.2311821&z=16&l=0&m=s

Hi Sully, I can see the map, but there is no photo attachment...

Thought I had, sorry !.
-- attachment is not available --

There we go. Thanks!

Father was Joseph Hardy, he was in the 373rd General Services Regiment, Company E. Time frame was from formation (circa 1943 to 1946)

 

Looking to find, share any info with others

My father was in the same company "E" he spoke often of Col. Bell. I will upload the pictures I have, once I have figured out this website. Father is Robert G. Frey.

We look forward to seeing your pics.

We have a great help section on the forum, in case you are unsure how to do so.

Marion

It is with great sadness that I must report the passing of my father Spec/4 Robert Gustave Frey E Company 373 rd Engineers.

My father passed to his glory this morning (January 28, 2012)in Alexandria, LA. Less than 25 miles from Camp Claiborne.

He was my Hero.

Oh my, how very sad. So sorry to hear of his passing. My thoughts are with you this day.

Yes, my dad was my hero too, so I know how much his passing hurts.

My condolences to you and your family.

Hi All,

My Wife's Dad was Pvt. Olen Holland, Company D of the 373rd Engineers. He died when my wife was six, so I'm looking for anyone who might have known him during the war and who would be willing to share some stories about him.

He did tell some stories to my mother-in-law when he got back home. One is that he received several promotions during the war, but each time he got promoted he would get into a fight and get busted back down to private. He did come home with a Good Conduct medal. I'm not sure how that worked. Another is that he was in a truck convoy that was attacked by German aircraft. A bomb hit one of the trucks and didn't explode. He was ordered to defuse the bomb, which he did. When he finished, he turned around and saw that the truck he was in was on fire, at which point he passed out. The last story we have is that he caught pneumonia so bad that they thought he was going to die. They put him in a body bag, zipped up but with his face exposed so that he could breathe, and left him in the morgue tent. Apparently the body bag helped him to sweat out the infection, so that he regained consciousness after three days. When he woke up, he saw where he was, thought he was dead, and started screaming. He was apparently never quite the same after that, and who can blame him? At some point he also drove an ambulance to get wounded back from the front.

Also, he was awarded three Bronze Stars. We don't know why. Perhaps defusing the bomb was one of them.

That's about all I know, except that most of his buddies didn't make it back from Europe. I have attached a couple of photos. Olen is on the left in the first photo. Can anyone identify the man on the right in this photo?

Also, does anyone know how his unit earned the Meritorious Unit Award?

Thanks.

Ken

Wow, those are some stories including the one about the body bag. Good grief!

Those bronze stars are not what you think. Those are for campaigns that he participated in and get attached to a ribbon bar. It's confusing because for some reason the army uses the same name - one for campaigns and the other for being wounded in battle.

https://ww2combatengineers.comengforum/index.php?showtopic=8378

BTW, welcome to the forum! 🙂