Hi Erwin, good to have you back.

Do you know the Eng unit he landed with on Omaha? it may help trace the movements.

I`m on the road this week & dont have all my research links on this laptop but i did find a few things on the 981st EMC,

They were an element of the 9th US ARMY from 5 Sept `44 - 5 May 45

9th Army TO

The 981 EMC has campaign credits for Ardennes- Alsace, Central Europe, Rhineland no excact dates.

And for Occupation -Germany 2 May - 4 July `45.

I believe the 42nd " Rainbow" Div had occupation duty in Austria after the war, i`ll have to check that. I`ll see what else i can dig up for ya, may take a week or so.

Hi and thanks for the information you gave me already.

It's good to be back too.

As for my friend's Engineer unit ..... no idea.

He trained stateside with the 185th Engineer Combat Battalion, but then there is a gap.

He was sent to the 981st after he got wounded in France and stayed with the till he got the order that he was to be transferred to 26th Division where he became a BAR gunner.

I have his original transfer order from 981st Eng. Maint. Co. to 26th Division dated 15.12.1944.

And documents from his training with the 185th Eng. Combat Bn stateside.

The 42nd did have occupational duty; inactivated: 29 June 1946 in Europe.

Jim went home in April 1945.

I'll write him and ask if he really can't remember or if he can find a document with his unit mentioned in it. He's on the road a lot with his RV, enjoying retirement to the fullest.

Thanks again and I look forward to any other piece of information.

Erwin

Hi Erwin

It looks like 981st EMC was part of XII Corps, 3rd Army. It came a shore around July-27-44. Eng. Maint. Co.'s were classified as non-divisonal units and were assigned to

Engineer Combat Groups within the Corps area of operation. Also the 26th Inf. Div. was part of XII Corps and so was the 83rd. Also the 981st was more likely picked up after the war for occupational duty my father's company was transfered to 7th Army from 9th Army. The composition goes as H.Q. platoon, Contact platoon, 1st & 2nd platoons. Captain, (4) Lt.'s around 170 men NCO's & enlisted.

Hope this helps PJW

Thank you for your reply, PJW

So, it is possible that he was sent to this company to recover from his wounds?

Maybe - due to his wounds - he was sent to "light duty" untill recovered enough to go back to the frontline units?

He was with assault engineers or special engineer brigade on D-Day.

But somewhere in France, he got shot up pretty bad (back, arm, leg) due to a grenade or mortar shell or something exploding nearby.

It wasn't so bad that he needed to be transferred to the US as he ended up in the 981st till December 15 when he was transfered to 26th Division (328th Regiment) as a BAR gunner.

I'll ask him if he got documents mentioning his unit at the time of D-Day.

Maybe he has them still ..... or they're on their way over to me as he sent me a postcard telling me he's going to send "a box of goodies".

I have his engraved Purple Heart and Bronze Star which mean more to me than the the rest of my collection together.

Erwin

"So, it is possible that he was sent to this company to recover from his wounds?

Maybe - due to his wounds - he was sent to "light duty" untill recovered enough to go back to the frontline units?"

Thats very possible Erwin, my thoughts would be by mid december, most of the infantry divisions were desparate for replacements in the rifle companies and the brass would comb through rear echelon units for qualified personal. Your friend being trained as a combat engineer with battle experience fit the bill.

At the time, the 26th ID was resting & regrouping at Metz.

From 26th combat chronicles:

"On 8 November the Division went on the offensive, took Dieuze, 20 November, advanced across the Saar River to Saar Union, and captured it, 2 December, after house-to-house fighting. Reaching Maginot fortifications, 5 December, it regrouped, entering Saareguemines 8 December. Rest at Metz was interrupted by the Von Rundstedt offensive. The Division moved north to Luxembourg, 19-21 December, to take part in the battle of the Ardennes break-through. It attacked at Rambrouch and Grosbous, 22 December, beat off strong German counterattacks, captured Arsdorf on Christmas Day after heavy fighting, attacked toward the Wiltz River, but was forced to withdraw in the face of determined enemy resistance; after regrouping, 5-8 January 1945, it attacked again, reached the Wiltz River, and finally crossed it, 20 January."

I made a slight error earlier; Jim didn't go home April 1945 but 1946

Rambrouch is one of the villages Jim remembers.

In Rambrouch and Kaundorf there are monuments to the 26th Division.

Erwin

Was wondering about something ..... could it be possible that my friend was sent to the 112th Combat Engineers as extra manpower for D-Day?

They were attached to 29th Infantry and I believe they were overstrength specifically for this mission.

That would make my friend's service timeline complete.

Thanks.

Erwin

I made a slight error earlier; Jim didn't go home April 1945 but 1946

 

Rambrouch is one of the villages Jim remembers.

In Rambrouch and Kaundorf there are monuments to the 26th Division.

 

Erwin

Hi Erwin,

I've planned to visit all those Monuments and places relative to WWII in my Area now that it starts to be warmer again and Rambruch and Kaundorf are on my list to, so if you need something from there just ring the bell

Hi,

Yeah, it would be great if you could take photos of those monuments as they look now .... and any other monuments to the 26th Division.

My friend (and I) will be very grateful.

Thank you.

Erwin

Was wondering about something ..... could it be possible that my friend was sent to the 112th Combat Engineers as extra manpower for D-Day?

They were attached to 29th Infantry and I believe they were overstrength specifically for this mission.

 

That would make my friend's service timeline complete.

Thanks.

 

Erwin

Hi Jeeper704

Yes, he could have been assigned to them here is why. The 112th began loading on ships June 1st (Was he already aboard a ship when reassigned?) Before D-Day the commanding officer of 112th Battalion, Lt Col John O'Neill had left the Battalion temporarily to command a special army/navy team formed with the task of clearing anti-landing craft obstacles on Omaha Beach in advance of the invading troops.

The team led by Lt Col O'Neill suffered heavy casualties in carrying out its mission.

( This team more than likely included troopers from the 112th ECB and would have needed replacements for the landings. This unit had it's own special mission after the landings. They and the 254th ECB were trained extenively in beach landing operations)

His executive officer Major William A Richards assumed command of 112th Battalion for the D-Day landings.

Assault units of the battalion landed on Omaha Beach.

The assault forces organised briefly on the beaches and courageously went over the top in the face of a seemingly hopeless situation through the minefields and obstacles.

Major Richards was among 37 men of the 112th Battalion who were killed or missing. A further 45 members of the battalion were wounded, 34 of them seriously.

Despite these casualties and the extremely fierce enemy opposition, 112th Battalion succeeded in their D-Day mission and their heroism was recognised by the award of a Presidential Unit Citation and a number of individual decorations for gallantry. Hope this helps. I have a couple of questions 1. what unit did he train with in the states and did he ship to England with them? 2. What duties was he assigned when he was with the 981st EMC?

Best regards

PJW

Hi, thanks for the information, I really appreciate it.

To answer your questions:

1. what unit did he train with in the states and did he ship to England with them?

Well, he speaks of the 185th Engineer Combat Battalion.

This unit is also marked on his field manuals and such.

Since this unit was in 5th Army which served in the MTO, I don't believe he went overseas with it.

My guess is that he went as reinforcement to England, to be put in one of the Engineer outfits destined for Operation Overlord (112th?).

He speaks of his unit being attached to 29th Division, so I guess it rules out the Special Engineer Brigade (?).

2. What duties was he assigned when he was with the 981st EMC?

I think he had light duties there as he was recovering from combat injuries.

He got shot up pretty bad in arm, leg, and back while in France.

This explains him being transferred to the 26th Division as a BAR-gunner.

Here is a quote from his letters to me:

I had just turned 18 in October 1943 when I was drafted and went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina (this is close to Charlotte) and was with 981 Combat Engineers. Took basic training there and then went to Camp Ellis, Illinois (by Maxton) for specialized training in destroying pillboxes, barb wire set ups and all types of explosives etc.

Was sent to Camp Carson, Colorado for the final bit of training and then over to Europe (England) where we landed at Bournemouth and had some more special training.

We were attached to 29th Infantry Division and were 3rd wave on D-Day. Our job was insane; we were to clear the way through the minefields and pillboxes and obstacles so the infantry could advance. We finally made it but lost a lot of guys in the process.

Went all through the war, the breakout at St. Lô and all the way across France. The hedgerows of France really cost us a lot of casualties.

Our outfit was in the area close to the town of Nancy, France, when it was broken up; this was around December 10 or 12 and I was sent to 26th Division (328th Infantry Regiment, A Company), others to 29th Division and 90th.

The towns of Rambrouch, Grosbois, Bavignie and Wiltz, Fischbach are the general area I was in in the Bulge.

Around the middle of January we were sent to Saarlauteren, Germany to break through an important town in the Siegfried Line and after that the race across Germany.

When the war ended we were in the town of Oberheid, Czechoslovakia and guarded some SS-prisoners for a while, then Division was sent home. I didn’t have enough points of service in months to go home and had to stay and finally returned to the US April 1946.

The weapons I used in the Bulge were the 30 cal BAR which I carried all over Belgium and Luxembourg and it was heavy 17 ½ lbs plus 1 ½ lbs per 20 round clip. I carried 15 clips plus all the other stuff.

I used the bazooka, satchel charges of explosives, hand grenades and plastic composition C explosives, personnel mines and AT mines.

Erwin

Hi all,

Sorry Erwin that it took so long for the Photos ,I shot some in Rambrouch, in Kaundorf I couldn't find the monument because of roadworks 2 roads were barred for traffic.

Close too the monument in Rambrouch (50meters) is a cemetery where a British Halifax crew is buried I added some photos of their grave'stoo.

Martin

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No problem, Martin, thank you for these great photos.

When I was there, several years ago, the monument to the 8th USAAF guy wasn't there.

Erwin

Received this email and wanted to share with you.

 

 

Mrs. Chard,

 

Hello, I am trying to research my great uncle's military career, but I can find next to nothing about his unit. Here is what I do know. I have his "serviceman's address book", and by using that resource I found that he was with the 981st engineer company attached to Patton's 3rd Army. By the looks of some of the comments in the address book, he was in Regensburg, Germany. The address book contains the names, addresses and ranks of 32 different men. It's a tremendous piece that I will treasure for many years. I also have in my possession, several of my great uncles military related items. For example, his dress jacket (which I had framed in a shadowbox), a military issue duffel-bag filled with several items(canteens, leg warmers(?) and smaller bags) And I also have about a dozen pictures(one of which is a German plane that "they shot down"). At any rate, I have reached a stand still, any help that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Josh Friend