Fantastic! Can't wait to read the entire thing. This is something which should be posted on the main site. I will have to convert all of these to one PFD file and upload it very soon.

Thank you and thank Chet for sending these our way. I just love discovering these little gems.

Warmly,

M1

Excellent acquisition there Janis, i just love historical operation reports.

Of interest in this is that a LT. Col. Rufus Wesson was, at one point, in command of the 1108th Engr C Grp. Lt Col Wesson was related to the Wesson family of Smith & Wesson fame.

I've been searching the web for info on him, but no luck thus far. Perhaps one of the officers had written something on the 1108th.

I successfully converted all the files to a single PDF document. This should make it easier for people to read, plus you can download, save it to your hard drive and print it.

I am going to send this file to my 1108th buddies too.

337th Engineers May June 1945

Thanks so very much Marion. Now the 337th Engineer Combat Battalion, and what they did, will live on in the pages of history.

I found this photo of my dad this morning. I'm guessing it's circa 1943, since that's when he was inducted.

I wonder if those are Coast AAA pins on his lapels. He began military life as a replacement assigned to a S/L Battery in the 209th.

He, like all the rest of them, was so young.

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I know, don't they look like babes? Hell, they were. Oh to throw away the innocence of life away, so early! Life would never be the same again for them. So many left the states never leaving the cities they were born in. In no time they toured Europe and the Pacific, but it was no holiday. They left one way; returned another...

Hello Janis,

You are correct regarding your father's collar disc. They are for the coastal artillery. Thanks for sharing your father's photograph.

Thanks for the confirmation Roy.

Now all I have to do is find out what search light battery of the 209th he was in.

I have this document which, I believe, indicates that the 337th Engr C Bn was formed from the 335th AAA S/L Bn. I have yet to find anything on this S/L Bn

-Janis

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I just found something else in my files that was given to me by a gentleman named Pat Skelly and it goes like this:

209th Coast Artillery Rigiment (Antiaircraft) (Semimobile)

Campaign credits: Tunisia, Naples - Foggia, Rome - Arno

10 FEB 41 Inducted into Federal Service from the New York National Guard

21 FEB 41 Moved to Camp Stewart, GA

23 APR 42 Staged for overseas movement at Ft Dix, NJ

11 MAY 42 Departed New York Port of Embarkation

18 MAY 42 Arrived Northern Ireland

12 DEC 42 Arrived England

03 JAN 43 Landed in North Africa

28 OCT 43 Landed in Italy, where attached to Fifth Army

14 MAR 44 Redesignated thus:

~Headquarters & Headquarters Battery (HHB) > HHB 209th Antiaircraft Artillery Group at Arpaia Italy

~1st Battalion > 72nd Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion at Anzio, Italy

~2nd Battalion > 898th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion at Montesarcchio, Italy

~3rd Battalion > 335th Antiaircraft Artillery Searchlight Battalion at Bari, Italy

335th Antiaircraft Artillery Searchlight Battalion

Campaign credits: Rome - Arno

01 MAY 44 Activated at Bari, Italy

07 DEC 44 Redesignated as 337th Engineer Combat Battalion at Malpensa, Italy

337th Engineer Combat Battalion

Campaign credits: North Apennines, Po Valley

07 DEC 44 Activated at Malpensa, Italy

30 JUL 45 Departed Italy for Southwest Pacific Area

01 AUG 45 Landed in Philippines

25 JAN 46 Inactivated in Philippines

Pat Skelly is the historian for the 34th Divn. Assoc. He attends

our reunions in Sept. He is a wealth of info. Roque,(Rocky)

Yes, indeed. Pat was one of the first people I met through the internet. Glad you found him!

The following files are from ENGINEER HISTORY - FIFTH ARMY - MEDITERANEAN THEATER . This is a really nice 3 volume set. Presented here for folks who don't have access to this set. The files deal with the 1108th Engr C Grp and the battalions assigned to the group.

Vol. 3, Appendix H, page 4

Vol. 2, Section VI, page 183

Vol.2, Section VI, page 184

Vol 2, Section VII, page 243

Vol. 2, Section VII, back side of page 243

Vol. 2, Section VII, page 244

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I made this as a surprise for my dad after I had secretly gotten his medals for him. He cried when I presented it to him. I think that Appenines is misspelled and should be "Apennines". After he died my mom gave it back to me.

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