Received this letter today and sent back the info below to them.
My grandfather, William J. Dutton Sr., served in WWII in the USACE 147 Combat Battalion 2nd Engineer Specical Brigade. He has requested that I locate a timeline that shows his units path across Europe. He would like to know (and have help remembering) each of the places they were at. I need your assistance locating websites, publications, or government agencies that I might be able to contact to assist him with that information. I appreciate your assistance and really enjoyed your website, your father would be proud!!
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Hi:
So far everything I have found on the 2nd Engineer Special Brigade tells me they only served in the Pacific. So I believe that there has been some sort of mix up regarding terminology.
147th Engineer Combat Battalion was indeed a part of the Normandy D-Day Invasion.
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/reference/normandy/UnitList.htm
The 147th was also attached to the 1142nd for a period of time:
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/reference/normandy/UnitList.htm
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Here was a post for someone from the 147th:
T/5 Clarence J. Gerber--147th Combat Engineers
Ken Stuart is looking for any information or anyone that knew his grandfather, T/5 Clarence J. Gerber, who died on D-Day at Omaha Beach near Vierville Sur-Mer. He apparently died aboard a navy landing craft.
Please contact Ken if you can help in any way.
hightone64@msn.com
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http://www.sproe.com/o/omaha-beach.html
http://www.uscg.mil/history/Vyn_Article.html
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Another post:
T/4 Joseph E. Tomberlin--Co. B, 147th Engineer Combat Battalion
Joseph A. Tomberlin is seeking anyone who might have known his father, T/4 Joseph E. Tomberlin, of Co. B, 147th Engineer Combat Battalion. If you can help in any way, please email Joseph at:
lcarter@valdosta.edu
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A PDF file regarding the Normandy landings:
http://www.usace.army.mil/publications/eng...-1-42/c-7-3.pdf
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You can also contact the Office of History at the Army Corps of Engineers. Please ask for Michael Broadhead and tell him that I sent you. This office has folders of data on MOST engineer units. This is where I got my BIG start over three years ago.
http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/history/contact_us.htm
You can also contact Richard Horrell, another friend of mine, who does private research. He has over 5000 WWII books and publications in his library.
http://www.ww2connections.com/
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Here's two contact names:
147th Engrs Vet;'s Assn
Mr. Robert Norwood 317-787-5113
4415 Blackstone Dr
Indianapolis IN 46237-2433
AmerL 7-04
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147th Engineer Veterans Association
LTC George A. Itzel, USA, Retired
439 Greenlow Road
Baltimore, MD 21228
(Bulletin)
(410) 747-0291
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This should get you off to a very good start. You may also want to contact NARA in College Park, Maryland and inquire about finding all their records regarding his unit. I wrote to them, determined what they had, and then hired a private researcher to copy over 2000 pages of docs and maps for me. It was expensive, but well worth it. Take a look at this site. If you are interested, let me know and I can give you some guidelines.
http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/college-park/index.html
I am going to place ALL the info above on my forum this afternoon. Let's see if we get any hits for info regarding the 147th!
My best to you,
Marion
