My father-in-law is deceased and while alive did not talk much of his time served during WWII. I have been trying to piece together his life while in the Army.
I do know that they were demolition specialist and he said their focus was on blowing up bridges.
His name was Steve Szalko Jr. He entered service at Ft. Sheridan on March 28, 1944 and was honorably discharged at Ft. Sheridan on June 11, 1946. He was a demolition specialist and did serve in the European Theater. He was with the 1260th Engineers, Company B, Platoon 2.
I do have his Discharge papers and many of the photos that he took while serving. On some of the unit photos he has complete lists of those that are in the photo with him. I was hoping to find a place to share them with the families of those who had served with him but don't know if there are any web sites out there specific to the unit.
My main interest right now is learning the history of his unit - dates and route traveled and what they did along the way. If anyone could help in any way it would be greatly appreciated.
I was going to upload a couple of photos but apparently can't. I have some photos - one of a full company and then some of smaller units and platoons. He put every single person's name on the back of each photo.
My father-in-law is deceased and while alive did not talk much of his time served during WWII. I have been trying to piece together his life while in the Army.
I do know that they were demolition specialist and he said their focus was on blowing up bridges.
His name was Steve Szalko Jr. He entered service at Ft. Sheridan on March 28, 1944 and was honorably discharged at Ft. Sheridan on June 11, 1946. He was a demolition specialist and did serve in the European Theater. He was with the 1260th Engineers, Company B, Platoon 2.
I do have his Discharge papers and many of the photos that he took while serving. On some of the unit photos he has complete lists of those that are in the photo with him. I was hoping to find a place to share them with the families of those who had served with him but don't know if there are any web sites out there specific to the unit.
My main interest right now is learning the history of his unit - dates and route traveled and what they did along the way. If anyone could help in any way it would be greatly appreciated.
Stanton's World War II Order of Battle tells us this about the 1260th Engineer Combat Battalion:
Activated on 10 FEB 1944 at Camp Pickett Virginia
Departed US on 3 NOV 1944
Arrived in France (ETO) on 13 NOV 1944
Campaigns: Ardennes, Central Europe, Rhineland
August 1945 location: Dungelbeck Germany
Arrived back in New York 3 APR 1946
Deactivated on 4 APR 1946 at Camp Kilmer New Jersey
I know this is not a lot of information but it is a start.
Randy
Here is an example of one of the photos that I have from him. The back side has a list of everyone in the photo.
I'm afraid your photo did not get posted but please try again we would love to see it. If you need help posting photos let us know.
Randy
Yes, welcome to the forum. I will try and post more in the very near future, however right now I am down with a really bad cold and am spending most of my time in bed or on the couch.
Your photo did not post. If you are having problems, please see our HELP section, or simply ask.
I have tried posting the photos numerous times on two different computers and they wont come through. I even sized them to less than the 2MB restriction so I don't know why they wont upload. I have many photos so I will try some more later.
Thank you for your posts.
I tried to contact the Mr. Sherman Harris that is listed. Emails come back as undeliverable.
I sent an email to the NARA in College Park and am waiting to hear from them to see if they can help.
Marion - do you have a way for me to contact the person, Rick, who has the book on this unit? I would love to see if I can get a copy of the records. I think that would answer all of my questions.
I have tried posting the photos numerous times on two different computers and they wont come through. I even sized them to less than the 2MB restriction so I don't know why they wont upload. I have many photos so I will try some more later.
Thank you for your posts.
I am also having trouble posting photos in my two recent posts. The attachments show up in "Preview Post" but do not appear in the final text. Marion, we may have an issue!
Please delete - I didn't realize it was posting! It just kept giving me the loading blocks.