So true.

Hi Everyone! Been gone from this site for quite a while now. I kept hitting dead -ends on finding information concerning my father, Walter N.P. Curlock who was with the 1058th PC & R Group in Europe .It has been discouraging as many of you can attest to, therefore I have decided to hire a research assistant to help me in seeking information on where my father went to boot camp, what towns and villages he traveled through during the war and any other pertinent information available concerning him or his group.

If anyone could help me out in this, I really would appreciate it!

Curlock

You can find some excellent researchers via NARA in Maryland. I don't know if you have been to their site yet, but they list a number of people and include their specialities. Let me know.

My Father in Law was in the 1053rd Port Construction and repair group as a marine diver. T/Sgt Carmen DeLucia. He enlisted in Nov 1942. Trained in NY Navy Salvage 12 weeks and at Ft Screven GA. 12 weeks Marine Diving 1943. Was deployed Dec 1943 and arrived in England Jan 1944. Army Engineer Divers were placed in Port Construction and repair groups. There were 17 officers and 235 enlisted men in these groups. Their sole purpose was port restoration. The 1053rd was ADSEC and deployed in late June or July of 1944 to Cherbourg France. They were then moved to clear ports of St Malo and Brest in Brittany in August/September 1944. The efforts in St Malo and southern ports were ended in late Sept, as they could not produce the tonnage needed for supplies. Focus was put on Cherbourg, LeHarve other larger ports. The 1053rd was in Cherbourg from Oct 44 to Jan 45. We have a commendation naming all in the 1053rd for the meritorious and brave work in 90 ft of water installing charges and cutting metal under water to make connections to raise sunken boats and cranes etc. Carmen was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his work. He was moved to Reims France in Dec 44/Jan 45 due to the Battle of the Bulge. He never spoke much of the war and only said it was cold as hell that winter and those boys were being cut to ribbons upfront, so they were moved up closer to the front lines. He always said the real heroes never came home. He was then moved to Liege Belgium, when we are not sure. After the Battle of the Bulge the push was on to crossing the Rhine. Many bridges were built to cross the Rhine these units supported the Corps of Engineers efforts. In March/April ,the 1053rd and the 1058th Port Construction and Repair groups were detached to the 1146th Engineer Combat group to build a fixed timber highway bridge at the Rhine 1,813 ft and Lippe rivers, 411 ft.at Wesel. The 1053rd and 1058th built the Rhine portion of the bridge. Work began March 31 and open to truck traffic April 18, 1945. The spam was named the Roosevelt Bridge. Carmen was then deployed from Le Harve France on June 16,1945, and arrived in NJ and taken by train right thru his home town of East Liberty section of Pittsburgh, (after being in ETO for 18 months he said his family did not know if he was dead or alive at that time and he so much wanted to jump off the train that day) to San Diego placed on a troop ship to Luzon Philippines arrived July 20 1945 where he helped clear and salvage the port of Luzon. He returned home in late Nov 1945.

Thank you for the info on your father-in-law. It's great to have some details!

Some info I found today...

The goals set for the Brittany ports were never realized and at most of them the engineer effort was considered "utterly wasted."28 Despite the heavy emphasis on those ports in July, the breakout from the bridgehead and the headlong drive across northern France moved the action far from Brittany by September. This development caused logistical planners at SHAEF to regard Antwerp as the major prize; engineers nevertheless expended considerable effort in Brittany before the tactical situation changed so drastically. The 1053d Port Construction and Repair Group and the 360th Engineer General Service Regiment worked on St. Malo, Cancale, and St. Brieuc before moving into captured Brest. The St. Malo project halted just as it neared completion, primarily because the task of reopening waterways south and inland from St. Malo did not appear worth the effort required. Some port-operating personnel went to Cancale, but tidal conditions there proved so difficult that the port was never used. St. Brieuc opened in mid-September but operated for only a month, averaging 317 tons a day, mostly coal for local generating plants and railroads. St. Michel-en-Greve did somewhat better, averaging 745 tons a day; but it closed down on 1 September, never contributing more than a small amount of port capacity and reverting to French control in mid-December. The only ports in Brittany that delivered more than token tonnages were Granville and Morlaix.

http://www.usarmydeepseadivers.com/history.html

http://www.usarmydeepseadivers.com/RobertRayback.htm

Note for clarification, this unit was the size of a WWII company. 🙂

Some info I found today...

 

The goals set for the Brittany ports were never realized and at most of them the engineer effort was considered "utterly wasted."28 Despite the heavy emphasis on those ports in July, the breakout from the bridgehead and the headlong drive across northern France moved the action far from Brittany by September. This development caused logistical planners at SHAEF to regard Antwerp as the major prize; engineers nevertheless expended considerable effort in Brittany before the tactical situation changed so drastically. The 1053d Port Construction and Repair Group and the 360th Engineer General Service Regiment worked on St. Malo, Cancale, and St. Brieuc before moving into captured Brest. The St. Malo project halted just as it neared completion, primarily because the task of reopening waterways south and inland from St. Malo did not appear worth the effort required. Some port-operating personnel went to Cancale, but tidal conditions there proved so difficult that the port was never used. St. Brieuc opened in mid-September but operated for only a month, averaging 317 tons a day, mostly coal for local generating plants and railroads. St. Michel-en-Greve did somewhat better, averaging 745 tons a day; but it closed down on 1 September, never contributing more than a small amount of port capacity and reverting to French control in mid-December. The only ports in Brittany that delivered more than token tonnages were Granville and Morlaix.

 

 

http://www.usarmydeepseadivers.com/history.html

 

 

http://www.usarmydeepseadivers.com/RobertRayback.htm

Thanks!

This adds some clarity on the Brittany ports timing of the 1053rd. in St Malo ,Breast and Cherbourg.

Thanks for the history links. We already have them. My father in law is in many of the pictures provided in the Robert Rayback historical posting.

He is kneeling is from of Robert Rayback in the group picture of the divers graduation at Ft. Screven GA. in Nov 43. We only discovered these on the internet in 2013 to our surprise.

My father was a diver for the 1053rd. Did the the ETO and wound up in the Philippians at war's end.

Second from left, bottom row, Mike Sokoloff.

Now that had to be a scary job. I would have to pass on that one!  Lot of brave guys there! Thanks for posting this wonderful photograph!

On 11/12/2017 at 11:37 PM, drwstr123 said:

My father was a diver for the 1053rd. Did the the ETO and wound up in the Philippians at war's end.

Second from left, bottom row, Mike Sokoloff.

 

Thanks for sharing, my father in law in in the graduation picture in Robert Raysback posting and your father is standing behind him to the right. My father in law also did ETO and the Philippines

they obviously knew each other. Any information that you have about the 1053rd would be appreciated. 

19 hours ago, Walt's Daughter said:

Now that had to be a scary job. I would have to pass on that one!  Lot of brave guys there! Thanks for posting this wonderful photograph!

This is a document citing the railroad bridge over the Rhine River in May, 1945 constructed by the 1053rd...

So cool. Thank you for posting that great letter of commendation.

This link may be helpful.

It goes  to Sgt.Robert Raybck's 1053rd page.

http://www.usarmydeepseadivers.com/documents/1053rdDivingunit1943.pdf

Just had a chance to go through it. Loved being able to see the photos and read the accompanying documentation.