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Hello, my name is Loïc Jankowiak, I live in the south of France, I'm 18 years old

I just congratulate you on your site, I am very interested in the 36th Engineers Combat Battalion ! The photos are beautiful, thank you to rennaitre this memory unit is known ...

I do research for my girlfriend on the 234Th Engineers Combat Battalion, his father is sponsoring a grave in the cemetery of Collevile one of his men, I can only find information about it, and the unit n 'is not listed on your site, can you send me a summary of this unit? Thank you in advance.

 

Loïc

I wrote back and told him I would start a new topic. Some of these links are from our forum. Others from around the web.

http://www.american-divisions.com/unit.asp?unitid=181

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/engforum/index.php?showtopic=5285

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/engforum/index.php?showtopic=4048

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/engforum/index.php?showtopic=3404

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/engforum/index.php?showtopic=1352

http://www.82ndengineer.net/id43.html

http://www.107thengineers.org/History/CombatEngineer/WorldWarII.html

http://lct376.org/us295th/Rhineland.pdf

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Victory-Untold-Story-Express/dp/0446667684/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1308581698&sr=1-3

http://www.xixcorps.nl/XIX_Corps_Engineers_Bridges.htm

http://www.oldhickory30th.com/RoerRiverCrossingpart2.pdf

http://www.dday-overlord.com/eng/american_forces_2.htm

That should get you started. Happy to assist!

I will write to my history buddies and get some more detailed info for you (hopefully). I'll post whatever I discover from the History Offices at Fort Leonard Wood and Alexandria, VA.

Here's a response from Professor Dave Ulbrich at Fort Leonard Wood. Thanks Dave!

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Caveats: NONE

 

Marion,

 

Our archives does not have anything on the 234th. However, the Clarke

Library on post does have two books on it in the rare book room.

 

“BRIDGE REPORT; BRIDGING OPERATION ON THE RHINE AT MEHRUM, BY THE 234TH

ENGINEER COMBAT BATTALION” -- ENGINEER SCHOOL LIBRARY, CR 355.31 234TH EN

CBT BN, 1939-45

 

“HISTORY OF THE 234TH ENGINEER COMBAT BATTALION, FROM 4 SEPTEMBER 1943 TO 1

NOVEMBER 1944” -- ENGINEER SCHOOL LIBRARY, CR 355.31 234TH EN CBT BN,

1939-45

 

My suggestion is to (either or the French person) contact the Clarke

Library. Contact Claretta Crawford there. He or his staff may be able to

photocopy or scan sections of the books without damaging them. I believe that you met Claretta on your visit

during ENFORCE. You might remind her who you are.

 

Sorry we don't have more in our archive, but hope the Clark Library can be

of some help.

 

Best,

 

Dave

Loic,

Michael Brodhead found a few items at the Office of History in Alexandria, and will share the information as soon as possible. Many thanks to Michael!

I will post it here when it becomes available.

Just got Michael's reply:

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Caveats: NONE

 

Dear Marion,

 

Attached are pages from Alfred Beck, et al., with information on the 234th

Engineer Combat Battalion.

 

The Order of Battle volume had this:

 

The battalion was activated 7 April 1943 at Camp Rucker, Alabama (formed out

of the 2nd Battalion of the 336th Engineer Regiment); sailed from the New

York Port of Embarkation 21 August 1943; landed in England 4 September 1943;

landed in France 7 June 1944; participated in the Central Europe, Normandy,

Northern France, and Rhineland campaigns; at Sommesous, France at the end of

the war (August 1945); landed at the New York Port of Embarkation 26 November

1945; inactivated 26 November 1945 at Camp Shanks, New York.

 

I wish I could have found more information. The James T. Controvich

bibliography of unit histories lists a History of the 234th Engineer Combat

Battalion, by Thomas V. Duggan, a copy of which is at the Military History

Institute.

 

It's good to know that people in Europe are honoring our soldiers. Today I

sent copies of general orders to a Dutch organization that reenacts the WWII

exploits of the 17th Armored Engineer Battalion. I've been in correspondence

with them for the past few years. The general orders awarded distinguished

unit citations to the 17th.

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Michael.J.Brodhead

Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 3:59 PM

To: Brodhead, Michael J HQ02

Subject: Scanned Document

 

Please see the attached document.

234th history001.pdf

Loic:

In response to your email today...The attached PDF has some history of the unit within the pages. It is not complete, but has some helpful info. The pages were copied from a great history of many engineer units in Europe. Unfortunately that is all the offices have within their archives.

For a more comprehensive history, you would have to contact NARA (National Archives) in Maryland, or as Michael suggested:

I wish I could have found more information. The James T. Controvich

bibliography of unit histories lists a History of the 234th Engineer Combat

Battalion, by Thomas V. Duggan, a copy of which is at the Military History

Institute.

Or as Dave suggested:

“BRIDGE REPORT; BRIDGING OPERATION ON THE RHINE AT MEHRUM, BY THE 234TH

ENGINEER COMBAT BATTALION” -- ENGINEER SCHOOL LIBRARY, CR 355.31 234TH EN

CBT BN, 1939-45

“HISTORY OF THE 234TH ENGINEER COMBAT BATTALION, FROM 4 SEPTEMBER 1943 TO 1

NOVEMBER 1944” -- ENGINEER SCHOOL LIBRARY, CR 355.31 234TH EN CBT BN,

1939-45

My suggestion is to (either or the French person) contact the Clarke

Library. Contact Claretta Crawford there. He or his staff may be able to

photocopy or scan sections of the books without damaging them.

claretta.crawford@us.army.mil I believe that you met Claretta on your visit

during ENFORCE. You might remind her who you are.

Let me know if you need help with this.

Loic, I will write to Claretta for you, and will let you know what I find out. How about that?

I can tell you all about the 234th Engineer Combat Battalion. My father was in Company "C" of this unit and is still alive and well. We have been putting together information about the unit and have obtained a copy of 234th Unit History by Thomas Duggan. My father would probably be very interested in your project since his best friend was killed in action. Please contact me for additonal information.

Jay Theriault

Marion's note: Jay, have removed your email from the post. We strongly discourage posting your personal info, for it can be used and abused by bots, scammers, and spammers. All forum members can reach each other via personal messengers, so we will let Loic you directly via our forum. You can also contact him the same way by clicking on his member name, any time you are logged in.

All my best to you and your father.

One of our friends wanted to know more about Operation Neptune. Here's the skinny!

http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/100-11/ch1.htm

http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/comnaveu/comnaveu_index.htm

http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/d_day/1944_06_06_to_08_82nd_Airborne.pdf

http://www.mcdoa.org.uk/Operation_Neptune_Minesweeping.htm