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285th Engineers

Walts Daughter · 2010-04-17T12:12:56Z

During the past year or so, Darrell Pace who runs this site: Has sent a few folks my way to try and discover any information regarding the 285th Engineers. The 285th were attached to the 1142nd Engineer Combat Group, and that is why people are writing to him for info. Unfortunately Darrell doesn't have anything he can share, so together we are trying to help. The following people have written to me for assistance. Here are their letters: My name is Robert Arbogast I served in the US Navy 1961-1965. I am trying to do some research on my Father who served in the US Army WW2. My Father passed away years ago. I have contacted various organizations with no help. They said some of the records in that time frame were destroyed in a fire. My Father- Willard D. Arbogast His Unit----285th Combat Engineer Bat. Company B -( Europe) Was hoping maybe someone would be able to help me with some information about the 285th Co. B Any information would be appreciated very much. Thank You Robert Arbogast Hello, I am the grandson of the now deceased Wallace Homer Allen (service no. 38568385) and I have recently been interested in his WWII experience. He was assigned to the 285th Engineer Combat Battalion which I believe was attached to the 1142nd Combat Engineer Group during the war. Would you happen to recall any information about him? I have sketchy information but what I do have showed he entered service from Oklahoma in 1943 and was discharged from Texas in 1948. He was an uneducated American Indian at the age of 29 with five kids at the time he was inducted. He was apparently in the hospital at Brooke Army Hospital for sometime before his discharge that I can only assume was related to his mental health at the time. To my knowledge, confusion on the part of my grandfather and the Army led him to a other than honorable discharge due to unaccounted time (AWOL) that he fought the Army and VA for 40 years before his death and which was eventually upgraded to Honorable by the Army Discharge Review Board in 1982. I would greatly appreciate any information regarding my grandfather that you may have. Thank you. Sincerely, Anthony Waldroup, MD, MPH Lt Col, USAF, MC, SFS Hello My Name is Shawn Promin, My Grandfather is Edward Louis Promin, He was attached to 285th Army engineer Corp, A bailey bridge unit attached to Patton 44-45. My Grandfather is still alive and is 87 years old. If you could help me to plot his trek across Europe. I am also retired NAVY I am 40 years old. And a major WWII history follower. I know his unit was disbanded when they got somewhere in Europe and he was the last in the unit before Decom, I also know he worked at HQ for Patton's officers and he was Patton's driver on many occasions. I want to understand more of this before he dies he is getting old and frail but he still has the twinkle of mischief and sorrow in his eye when he talks about the war. If you could get back to me I would appreciate it. Thank you in advance for your time. Shawn Promin NOTE: Shawn if you come across this post, please re-send your email. I tried emailing you in April 2010 and your address now bounces! The latest letter is from: Marion, Darrell It is quite humbling to reach out to strangers and to receive so much help and information so quickly. Tomorrow I will be out of my office but will begin to follow up with the contacts below. I had contacted some government organization about five years ago. My dad’s records, along with many others were lost in a fire. We moved to Wyoming 2 years ago and in the process I misplaced what little information they could provide. I found more photos of my dad. The attached was in France Aug 21 1945 and Austria 1945. The group photo is with the Battalion Commander. The faces are very clear and I assume I should be able to locate the name of the Lt Col. who was the Battalion Commander. Another was dad and his buddies Cohen and Eddie. Thanks again. Joe Gulino, P.E. Joe sent along two photos also. Am attaching the two pdfs. Of course we have given them all the typical research suggestions to explore, and have put them in contact with each other. If anyone has anything they can share about the 285th, please contact us via this post or write to me personally. Thanks, M1 Joe_L_Gulino_right_of_center_Austria_1945_going_to_church_services_Battalion_Comander_Lt_Col_in_center_1.pdf Joseph__Joe__L_Gulino_France_Aug_20_1945.pdf

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Walts Daughter

(@marionjchardgmail-com)

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Topic starter November 14, 2014 8:52 am

I may have seen his picture before. Totally possible.

Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter 'Monday' Poniedzialek
540th Combat Engineer - H&S Company

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mikel

(@mikel)

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Posts: 104

November 14, 2014 2:48 pm

If you do some "googling" on the 285th his photo does show up so that might be where you've seen it!

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mikel

(@mikel)

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September 7, 2015 2:57 pm

Just an FYI that I have brought http://285thcombatengineers.com on line! I'm waiting for some more information from some of the veterans of the unit but it does have some documents and photos.

PS - It may take a day or so for DNS to get to everyone!

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Walts Daughter

(@marionjchardgmail-com)

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Joined: 2 years ago

Posts: 12626

Topic starter September 7, 2015 4:45 pm

YEAH! Great thing to celebrate. Will add the link to the main site today. Congrats on all your hard work. :waving:

Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter 'Monday' Poniedzialek
540th Combat Engineer - H&S Company

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Walts Daughter

(@marionjchardgmail-com)

Illustrious Member Admin

Joined: 2 years ago

Posts: 12626

Topic starter September 7, 2015 4:49 pm

Okay, you're now an official part of my main site. You can find the link here:

https://ww2combatengineers.comlinksEngineers.htm

Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter 'Monday' Poniedzialek
540th Combat Engineer - H&S Company

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mikel

(@mikel)

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Joined: 13 years ago

Posts: 104

September 8, 2015 8:26 am

Great! Thanks!!

Okay, you're now an official part of my main site. You can find the link here:

https://ww2combatengineers.comlinksEngineers.htm

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Walts Daughter

(@marionjchardgmail-com)

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Joined: 2 years ago

Posts: 12626

Topic starter November 17, 2017 10:34 am

Received this email a while back...

Rob Gottschalk said:

Hi, my grandpa was the battalion commander, John Gottschalk.

37th Combat Engineers and 285th Combat Engineers. He was a LTC.

Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter 'Monday' Poniedzialek
540th Combat Engineer - H&S Company

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mikel

(@mikel)

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Joined: 13 years ago

Posts: 104

November 18, 2017 5:34 am

I know the only (as far as I know) living soldier of the battalion, he has a speech by LTC Gottschalk that he was going to let me borrow. Once I have a digital copy of it I'll be posting it to the 285th's website.

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