Well from what I have surmised this afternoon...

There are two detailed chapters in this book. One is called, Effects of Aerial Photography on Mapping and Camoflage. The other is called, An Old Mission Expands: Mapping and Engineer Strategic Intelligence.

Starts with pre-WWII and how things were handled and goes into great detail about how they joined forces with the Airforce, etc. Tells about the initial engineer units and how they gathered info and formed new practices for use during WWII. I only skimmed over the two chapters, but it looks like something you might want to add to your collection. I would copy the pages, but they number quite a few.

Alibris has copies right now that start out at $19.95. Here's the link:

The Corps of Engineers - Troops and Equipment

It's from the collection- US Army in World War II - The Technical Series

Thanks for the link to the used books. I've never been to that site.

I may search around for more US Army History books. I've always wanted to get a few of the Technical series or the ones that deal with Logistics and other general areas of WW2. I'm sure some of them will have some good facts about units that relate to the training & organization in the States.

In case anyone is interested, a local antique store here has one of the US Army series about Hospitals. It has facts and statistics about the general hospitals in USA and in UK and elsewhere. I would have bought it if it had anything about the field hospitals.

So, if you find anyone who has an interest in this area and this book, tell them to email me and I can get it shipped to them.

I passed on this book and bought the one about the Normandy Landings.

Steve

Alibris is one of my MAIN sources for books now and I frequent the site a lot. I just added a bunch of books and videos that I want for my birthday this year. I have an ongoing wish list at Amazon and also forwarded my private list of WWII books and videos to my hubby and step-daughter etc. Hint, hint to the family!

Now how many women do you know that want WWII videos for their birthdays?

Right now I'm going after videos on the engineering units of VI Corps and also the units that the 540th were attached to or in direct support of, such as the 82nd Airborne, the 34th Inf Div, etc. I have a great list and most of the videos can be found for around $19.95.

I had found a video regarding the 540th in Italy and damned if I can't find it again. I don't know why I didn't bookmark the thing. I'll find it again. Me, I don't give up!

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions as always.

More on the 344th for eveyone including this woman who just wrote to me today:

Hello,

I am trying to find out about my fathers service in WWII. His name is Clem W. Ritter Jr. He has been deceased for over 10 years now and I am trying to gather information so that when my mother passes I can have them buried in VA cemetery here in Minnesota. I have been in contact with the VA in St. Louis and here in Minnesota and was informed that most of his records were destroyed in a fire. Because I cannot obtain his records due to the fire they will only allow his lowest rank to be engraved on the headstone. I know that my father reached the rank of 1st lieutenant and I want to honor him by having that rank be displayed on his headstone. The VA told me that if I can find out more info on his service that they might have more to go on in the search.

I know that he was in the 344th Corp. Of Engineers and served from 1941-1943 and then in 1945. I was told that if I could find a photo of him in uniform with his rank status on his uniform that it would work for them to confirm his highest rank so I'm currently going through many old photo's.

I'm hoping that you can tell me how to research his service more in depth. I went to the US army web site and printed out the lists of symbols and insignia's as well as service medals in hopes that I can find out more info. I have a photo with a insignia which appears on his left shoulder but I cannot find that insignia anywhere. I am told that this was his unit patch. I figured that if I could find out his unit then that would help.

Do you have any suggestions??

(Email Address left off for privacy)

Thank you for your time,

Lisa C. Ritter

------------------------------------------------

Dear Lisa:

Here is a book that you might be interested in:

http://www.ebookstand.com/books.grp/GE1181.html

Other links:

http://www.tshaonline.org//handbook/online...s/CC/fcabh.html

November 8, 2009

Marion's note: Found several of these links were no longer available. What a shame when history is lost this way...

Lisa has found more info in the interim:

------------

Hello,

I wrote to you sometime ago trying to find out information about my fathers service in the corp. of engineers. You were very helpful but I was unable to provide you with any good viable information so I had to do some more digging through paperwork and request my fathers full file from the VA. Armed with my new info I have some more questions I'm hoping you can help me with.

My father paperwork say's that he was in the 344th Engineer Regiment, his captain in 1942 was a James Goodson. He received his discharge signed by a Colonel Ralph Cammeron.

My father's service medals were the National Defense Medal and Service Ribbon, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and Service Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal, and Service Ribbon. In a box I found a blue round patch with a white numeral 6 in the middle. I found another patch that has a red background with a blue castle looking thing in it and a large letter A with the number 5 underneath it. He has these blue triangles with a yellow step ladder like thing and a red triangle in the middle of that. He then has patches that were sewn on to his uniform which have 5 gold braided stripes. I cannot find out anything on these patches to help me figure out any of the things you know regarding divisions and regiments etc.

I've searched the US Army web site and all I can figure out is what his ribbons stand for and what his rank was from his pin which was 2 LT. What I want to be able to figure out is what division he was with and what battalion then at least I can know what to read to find out about the battles he was in and why he had such a hard time in Italy. Something happened to him in Italy that deeply effected him and he would not speak about it but he did not come back from the war the same man that left and he suffered from post traumatic stress related issues all his life. I want to know where he was in Italy and why the battles there were so horrific so I can better understand what he went through.

I want to honor my father's service to our country by having his ashes buried with the rank he attained on his headstone not the one that the VA has listed on his paperwork. Just because they had a fire that destroyed their records is not my problem and if I have to write the president about it I will. I can prove my dad was a 2nd LT. not warrant officer and he should be able to have that on his headstone.

OK I have rambled on enough, thanks for reading my ranting. I hope you can help guide me to some answers, I really am grateful for all of your help!

Sincerely,

Lisa Ritter

Dear Lisa:

Glad to hear from you and happy that you've found out more information in the interim.

First off your father's unit was an independent unit like my father's and therefore was not part of a division. So you can stop driving yourself crazy looking for further information regarding this. These independent units were often referred to as "bastard" units. Some times they were attached to corps, divisions, or other regiments, etc.,

The patch with the 6 was VI Corps, the patch with steps was 7th Army, the patch with the number 5 beneath it was 5th Army. So it looks like your dad's unit pretty much followed the basic footsteps that my dad's unit took through Europe. My father's unit, the 540th were pretty much always a part of VI Corps. They were 7th Army in Sicily, 5th Army in Italy and with the 7th Army again for France and until the end of the war.

Do not feel discouraged by his discharge papers. Errors were a common occurrence and my father's were no exception. Errors can be corrected, but be prepared for a long haul.

However, let's take care of first things first. You need to contact the Army Corps of Engineer's and request his unit's records. This really varies from unit to unit and there is no telling how much information their is on the 344th, but it's worth a try. For instance I was able to acquire a lot of information on my dad, along with a complete history, photos, rosters of commendation, roster of casualties, etc. It was quite a gold mine for me.

Next you need to get in touch with NARA in College Park, Maryland. There will be fees for materials requested here, unlike the Army Corps of Engineers. You will need to provide them with your dad's unit number. Tell them you are requested any documentation that they have on the 344th General Service. It's generally better if you can give them as much as possible, so also tell them he served in the European Theatre of Operations and was of VI Corps, the 5th and 7th Armies. They will look through their records and if all goes well, will provide you with a list of the pertaining docs. I will give you the link so you can see all that is involved.

http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/college-p...park/index.html

When I received the 540th list of docs from NARA, there were too many for them to copy for me. There is a limit on how much they are able to copy themselves, therefore my two choices were; go there myself and copy them, or hire a private researcher or research student from one of the universities to do it for me. I finally got in touch with a private researcher and gave her the list of records. She is working this week to give me an estimate of cost.

You can contact NARA in St Louis. They keep morning and unit reports there. These were not burned in the fire, only service records were, so they are available for perusal. I still have to send away for these yet myself. Ah, one thing at a time. Here is the page for this.

http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-...it-rosters.html

If you contact all three of these, then you should be sitting on a quite a stack of info on your dad's unit. Let me know if you have anymore questions regarding any of my suggestions.

I am also giving you the link to the Research Section on my forum. This will give you other resources at your disposal.

Research

Have you contacted this man yet?

344th Engr Regt, H &S Co

Mr. Robert Gilch 919-968-3335

740 Williams Cir

Chapel Hill, NC 27516-1526

NRR '96

I hope I covered most of your questions. If I missed something I apologize and will be happy to go over anything with you in your follow-up email.

Warmest regards,

Marion

Thank you very much for the information. I will start tracking the links that you have given. I appreciate all of the work that you have done, and all of the labor that you have put into this journey. My grandfathers name was Jerry Clayton Runions, and he was also in the VI Corps, 5th and 7th Armies. His ribbons were;

E.A.ME. Theater ribbon with 5 bronze stars per WDGO#33/45 with one bronze service arrowhead. Good conduct ribbon/H.Q. 344th Engineers/45. The American campaign ribbon and the W.W.II Victory medal. I have enjoyed this site and look forward to adding more as I can. I WAS IN THE 844TH combat engineer battalion (hvy vehc. det) but was medicaly discharged. Oh Well.

Glad that you are a member of our little community. I can't wait to hear more about your grandfather and his service as an engineer. I'd also like to hear more about you.

We do have a section on the forum dedicated to engineers after WWII. Feel free to contribute your story and feelings about the subject. I see that engineering genes run in your family.

Thank you for your comments. You're very welcome. We're all here to help each other. Hey we have just about enough members for a "company" now.

My uncle Morris "Murray" Magnes served in either the 334th or 344th Combat Engineers Brigade (my records on him from the USA vary and are inconsistent) from 1943 through 1945, in Naples, Foggio, Rome, Arno, Po Valley, Rhineland and Central Europe. I have had no luck in tracking down any Web sites with information on either 334 or 344 and would appreciate any help that some one could give about either/or both units.

 

Thanks!

 

Josh

Hi Josh,

My dad, Nicholas Joseph Mastrangelo was in A Company 344th engr. regt and I have a photo of 190 men at Camp Claiborne. Lousiana in 1942. I did not find your uncles name, but I looked up his info on NARA

http://aad.archives.gov/aad/fielded-search...=WR26&bc=sl and saw he enlisted from Boston on 4/14/42. I have just started researching army info, so I am guessing that he may have been at Claiborne, as most of the men in my dad's photo have the same enlistment timing.

If I can help further, (email removed by Marion for sake of privacy). You can reach Janet by Forum Personal Messenger or Forum Email by clicking on her underlined User Name.

Janet

Just happened to run across this entry while doing research for something else for the month of December 1944. This is an excerpt from the daily journal report, 540th Combat Engineer Regiment:

1 December 1944 -

...GE-7 one squad was furnished to the 344th Engineers Dump at Vinsey where they stacked 14,000 board feet of 1" lumber...

2 December 1944 -

...Hauling of lumber from Contrexeville to Vincey for 344th Engineers: - stacked 9,000 linear feet of 1" lumber in the Dump at Vincey....

3 December 1944 -

...Co "B": - Bayon, France: - GE7 3-6 ton trucks, 3-20 ton trailers, 2-4 ton trucks, and 2-8 ton trailers were used to haul assorted lumber from Contrexeville to 344th Engineer Regiment Dump at Vincey. Project 100% complete...

Here is a contact for the 344th, but please note that it says, Headquarters and Service Co, but I'm sure he'd be able to assist you.

-----------------------------------------------

344th Engr Regt, H&S Co

 

Mr. Robert Gilch 919-968-3335

740 Williams Cir

Chapel Hill, NC 27516-1526

 

---------------------------------------

Marion,

I called Mr. Gilch at 919-968-3335 and it was a wrong number. Did a reverse look up for 740 Williams Circle and it comes up with no listed phone number and a different individual. Could you check your info to see if you have a different number for Mr. Gilch, would he live with family?

Thanks,

Janet

Dang! I was afraid of that. When they give out their phone numbers, and something happens such as they move, they pass away, etc., many times no one takes over the position for them. That's a real shame. Sorry about that. But I will keep my eyes open for anything else, okay.

M

Just wanted everyone to know that Janet and I created a page for her father, today

https://ww2combatengineers.comNic...Mastrangelo.htm

Also, we have lost contact with Lisa Ritter. Please get in touch with us again, if it's possible. I no longer have an email address or any other contact information for you.

Thanks,

Marion