Hello Clementine, welcome to the forum and a Thank You to your dad for his service.

A typical Engineer Light Equipment Company consisted of 4 officers. 114 enlisted men.

They furnished supplementary equipment with operators to engineer combat battalions and operated as a replacement pool for construction equipment. Light equipment companies were attached to corps or army.

AmericanDivisions.com lists the 608th Engineer Light Equipment Co. under Army Engineer Troops for the Normandy invasion attached to the 1128th Engineer Combat Group along with the 1278th Engineer Combat Battalion.

The operation plans state that the 1109th and 1128th ECGroups will do general engineer work in the Carentan Peninsula area.

Later records of the 1128th Group do not list the 608th as being attached to them, so they probably went to Patton`s 3rd Army when it was activated in August `44.

I`ll try to find some record of them under 3rd Army later.

The 608thLECo has campaign credits for Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes- Alsace, Central Europe, Rhineland, and Occupation Duty, 2 May - 4 July 1945, Germany.

Welcome Clementine. Larry, thank you for getting him off to a good start. Let's see what we can come up with.

Larry,

Thanks so much for the information....It is very much appreciated.

And I will tell my father. I am so very blessed to have him with me still. He will celebrate his 90th birthday in March.

He's great on the larger aspects of his war experiences - for example, he tells of finding a chimpanzee and taking it along with him and some of the trouble the monkey would get into (they called the monkey Adolph), my father wanted to bring him home with him, but could not, of course - but some of the finer details he can't remember. But I am wondering now if it isn't just as much the nomadic nature of being part of a light equipment company, being sent here and there amongst the different units.

Look forward to seeing you around the site.

Thanks again. And thank you for the welcome, Marion!

Clementine

Marion -

I stumbled on some information on another site that helps me wrap my head around some of this - and it just happens to have been written by you.

It is on the Daughters of D-Day site and the specific piece I got excited about was:

"All along I assumed that each unit fell under a division, but I soon discovered that many engineer units were known in army lingo as "bastard" units; they were individualized engineer regiments or battalions that went where and when they were needed. Sometimes under an Army, sometimes under a Corps, and often times attached to other divisional units."

The descriptions of an engineering unit I had been given said they were attached to an army or a corps, and I think that was probably implied in that description, but I just wasn't sure if that meant they were directly attached or if they still belonged to a division or what. I needed it spelled out. And I couldn't understand why my father couldn't remember what division he was with, yet he remembered he was with the 608th. But this makes sense to me if he was part of one of the "bastard" units.

Wow...It probably seems like such a little thing, but I think you will understand how excited that makes me.

And - I love the photo of you and your father. It's priceless.

Clementine

(I noticed you have this article at this site as well - I just hadn't gotten to it yet.)

Clementine:

I can share your enthusiasm. Oh yes!

Well I'm glad you stumbled upon my article, and certainly delighted it helped to clear up a lot of the confusion surrounding your father's service with an engineering company.

This is certainly why your father couldn't remember what division he was in, because he never was! These engineer units simply went where they were needed, and oft times attached to regiments/divisions for a short period of time. So yes, his unit was a "bastard" unit.

I'm here to assist you and your father, and now after all this time, you can finally start to put those puzzle pieces together.

A big hello to your father, from a very proud daughter. Engineer's rock!

They do, indeed! They rock!

And so do you!

And from one proud daughter to another, I will tell my father hello for you!

Clem

Hi Clemetine, You probly already know this, but here is a great article on your father being honored recently at the IL House of Representatives. It gives an account of his service.

Area vets recognized in Ill. House

http://jg-tc.com/news/article_f4e1fe76-033d-11e0-9d91-001cc4c03286.html

GREAT! Nice to have that here. Good job Larry, as usual!

Found this short bio of Mr Cloyd`s career in the Air Force missle program on a Google Books preview of the book :

"Air Force Missileers By Turner Publishing Company" page 84.

Air Force Missileers By Turner Publishing Company

Thanks, Larry. I am so appreciative!

I actually supplied the info for both of those bios. If you read the article about my father being honored in front ot the IL House, I am the daughter mentioned. Clementine is just a nickname.

(I left out the most important part of his AF bio because it doesn't mention the fact I was born while he was stationed at Fairchild AFB! Just kidding...)

I know my father was an engineer with the 608th - now I am trying to find out more about the unit's history and even just how engineer units functioned. My father is still pretty good at relating his personal experiences but was really never too detailed about the unit history. Since coming here I have a better understanding why that is. Now I have a better understanding of how the men in a unit such as my father's were shifted around and filled in everywhere and the history of the unit is really the personal histories of each of them.

I am happy to be here and so thankful for helpful people like you.

Clem

My dad was in the 608th Engineers LE Company. His name was Olin K. (Casey) Thies. He passed in 1984 and I am interested in finding out more about his wartime experiences and the people he served with and his friends. I have about 15 pictures of his friends with their names written on the backs of the photos. Is anyone interested in these photos? Would relatives of other members of his unit have pictures of him? Is there a roster?

Donna

Daughter of Casey Thies

608th Engineers LE Company

Would love to see the photos. Can you email them to me and/or post them here? I would love to add them to our engineer photo gallery. Thanks!

Clementine,

I do not have too much to offer, but in reading through the After Action Reports for the 157th Engineer C Battalion, the 608th Le Co. is mentioned on February 27th, 1945. At this point the 157th is somewhere in the area of Domfessel, France and they are working on and operating a rock crusher. The report says that the "shovel that was attached (to the 157th) from the 608th Le Co and used at coord. Q557285 for loading rock had to be returned to bivouac for repair and maintenance work."

It does not sound like the 157th and 608th were working together (just sharing equipment), but the 608th must have been close by.

Clementine,

I was looking through my photographs and I realized I did have a little more to add for the 608 Le Co. In my post here https://ww2combatengineers.comengforum/index.php?showtopic=7758#entry36235 you will see in the last photograph on the third post, there is a sign on the Pascal Bridge that says

"Pascal Bridge

Built by

157 ENGR C BN

2nd PLTN. 608 LEco"

So it looks like our outfits may have been closer than I thought!

Brian