A Veterans Day salute to you and your father. As you can imagine, am so excited about hearing from another 540th family member. Ya-hooo!

A warm welcome to you, and am eager to hear and see all you have.

With kind regard,

Marion, more commonly known 'round these parts as M1

It seems like there is still a lot of Sons Daughters and grandkids out there. And it's great that they find their way here.

Welcome aboard, Tom. My grandfather was the CO of the 2832nd. Which Bn was your grandfather in? I tried to find him in my "Overseas with the 540th" book but could find anything identifying his unit. I did see that he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal on October 10-19th of '43 (as S/Sgt Grady E. Duke) and the Soldiers Medal on November 24th, 1944. There may be pictures of him there, but I didn't have time to scour the book.

What did you do in Desert Storm? I was a little young for it (Graduated high school in May 1990) and I didn't join up until 1995 anyway. I went to OCS in 1999 and since then have done lots of exercises and have been to Iraq twice.

Good to hear from you.

Capt:

He was Co A, so that would translate to the 2832nd.

Co's A, B and C became the 2832nd

While Co's D, E and F became the 2833rd

I have a picture of my Grandfather standing in a doorway with a CP ACO 540th sign over the door. He is wearing E-6 stripes at the time. I also have an itinerary listing him in A Co, but no specific BN is given.

As for me, I was 31V communications in 3/7 INF BN (MECHANIZED), 24th ID out of Ft. Stewart. I am starting to scan the pics and docs I have and I am going to my Aunts to get MORE!

Tom Duke

Dallas, GA

Grandson of Major Grady E. Duke (NCO/Enlisted WWII)

SEE ATTACHED IMAGES.

scan0004.pdf

-- attachment is not available --

Grady Duke is the man on the right.

How cool is this. I love being able to put a face to a name and vice-versa.

There were only two bns in the 540th, though they began with three. The third bn went to the 36th Engineers, their sister bn, during initial training and before they shipped to N Africa.

Co's A, B and C - 1st bn

Co's D, E, F - 2nd bn

I was 31V communications

I'm in Comm, too. As a communications officer (at least in the Marines) you aren't pigeon holed into a certain comm field - at least by MOS. As a lieutenant they try to move you around from Satcom to data to radio, but you sometimes do get stuck as "the data guy" if you know it well. I lat-moved from artillery, so I never had to deal with being a dumb comm Lt. I was a dumb Arty Lt. As you get higher in rank, all you generally do data anyway, because that what happens primarily at higher echelons. I currently work in Albany, GA overseeing the care and feeding of several logistics programs. What care and feeding do you need to do on programs you say? You need to keep the accredited (ensuring they are vulnerability free so they can be put on or kept on the network), you need to coordinate the efforts of Field Support Representatives (civilian contractors who work with the Marines to train them, trouble shoot problems, and ensure the servers are set up properly), and work on improvements to the system.

Dallas, GA

I saw "Dallas" and was about to say, "oh, cool" (I grew up in Dallas - in Texas) then I noticed the "GA". So I said, "Good to go - wonder where that is". Found out it's north west of Atlanta and pretty far from Albany.

Attached is a picture of Headquarters Platoon (I assume A CO) taken in Feudenheim, Germany. 1SGT Grady E. Duke is second row, 2nd man reading right to left.

Tom Duke

-- attachment is not available --

I'm in Comm, too. As a communications officer (at least in the Marines) you aren't pigeon holed into a certain comm field - at least by MOS. As a lieutenant they try to move you around from Satcom to data to radio, but you sometimes do get stuck as "the data guy" if you know it well. I lat-moved from artillery, so I never had to deal with being a dumb comm Lt. I was a dumb Arty Lt. As you get higher in rank, all you generally do data anyway, because that what happens primarily at higher echelons. I currently work in Albany, GA overseeing the care and feeding of several logistics programs. What care and feeding do you need to do on programs you say? You need to keep the accredited (ensuring they are vulnerability free so they can be put on or kept on the network), you need to coordinate the efforts of Field Support Representatives (civilian contractors who work with the Marines to train them, trouble shoot problems, and ensure the servers are set up properly), and work on improvements to the system.

 

 

I saw "Dallas" and was about to say, "oh, cool" (I grew up in Dallas - in Texas) then I noticed the "GA". So I said, "Good to go - wonder where that is". Found out it's north west of Atlanta and pretty far from Albany.

Sounds like you have a good job that will transfer into civilian life when you retire! I had planned on making the Army a career but the quality of my NCOs was so frustrating that I couldn't wait to get away from that life! Also, after Desert Storm, I felt I had done my duty. Thanks to you for serving! I am always amazed at the amount of men and women who are willing to make the sacrifice, especially under today's stresses of military life.

Dallas, GA is pretty far from Albany!

It appears that your Grandfather and my Grandfather must have been in the same BN. Did your grandfather stay in the Army after the war? Mine went to OCS and was wounded (lost a leg) in Korea as a 1st LT. He retired from the Army in 1968, as a Major (P).

I downloaded the file and was thrilled to see further info for my files. Thanks. That's a real treasure.

Oh, you wrote to me earlier and said you were having problems with a file. Was it that one, or is there another?

If so, please send again, for I am in the middle of switching from a YAHOO account to Horde mail on my own server. So think I may have lost a few of today's mail. It's a bit of a pain, but will be worth the hassle in a few days when everything is transferred and running smoothly.

I downloaded the file and was thrilled to see further info for my files. Thanks. That's a real treasure.

 

Oh, you wrote to me earlier and said you were having problems with a file. Was it that one, or is there another?

 

If so, please send again, for I am in the middle of switching from a YAHOO account to Horde mail on my own server. So think I may have lost a few of today's mail. It's a bit of a pain, but will be worth the hassle in a few days when everything is transferred and running smoothly.

I was trying to post the manifest on the message board, that I sent you via email. You received the manifest? Will you post it? Once I get my photos scanned how should I go about getting them on the site?

No I don't. Lost several emails yesterday during the transition to Horde Mail.

When you get your photos scanned, you can send them to me via attachments, or place them all on a disk and mail them to me. I will then upload them to our Engineer's Photo Gallery, and he will have his own folder.

Added them to the main site just now. Please visit this page to see both files. It's at near bottom.

https://ww2combatengineers.com540th.htm