Got the dreaded notification the other day. It's the one you know is coming, but never quite prepared for, nonetheless.
It is with heavy heart that I tell you that Captain John Fallon is in critical condition in the hospital and not expected to pull through. I spoke with his son, John Jr, the other night and he kindly asked if I would inform everyone on my list. Certainly.
So many things that I would like to write, but know this, John was my first introduction to the 36th Engineers of WWII. At that point, I wasn't sure if my father was with the 36th or 540th, and John helped me sort through a lot of confusing data. Even though we discovered that my dad was in the 540th (the sister battalion to the 36th), he insisted that I come out to a reunion, and well, the rest is history. I wound up not only meeting a ton of wonderful people, but became the official historian of this unit. Lucky girl - I got adopted.
To me, attending the reunions every year, was even better than Christmas in my book. Everyone became my extended family and it brought me even closer to my dad (he passed when I was twelve). I so looked forward to every fall, and seeing the gang once again. It was such a joy and real learning experience. I've never met a nicer group of men and women.
As many of you know, we've lost the majority of men in the last few years, and John is the last. So difficult to write these words. Breaks my heart and I'm sure that everyone who had the pleasure of meeting John, will feel the same way.
I could go on and on, but suffice to say that John holds a special place in my heart, and always will.
(photo attached was taken by yours truly in 2006 - my first reunion)
Years ago when I paid a private researcher to obtain copies of the archived records for the 540th, I also wound up with a couple hundred duplicate copies which are laying around the house. So... if anyone is interested, I would be happy to mail these to you under one condition - you pay for the postage. These are various records that you would have to recompile (sort), but I'm most happy to share. Please let me know. First come, first serve.
Excited. Presents were left on my porch this morning from my buddy John Priest, and member of the 1277th Engineers of WWII. He made me a full-sized map, gave me a book called Retracing the Steps of the 1277th, which chronicles his return to Europe to retrace his army steps, and finally a book on the unit, itself. So much to peruse. I will take pics later to share. And oh ya, brought me some homemade honey. How sweet! Love ya John.
Here's the link to the blog regarding John's revisit to trace his steps during the war.
My Grandfather had an old picture of this unit that we found after he passed. On the bottom of the picture are the names of the soldiers in the unit. Unfortunately, there's no date or mention of what unit this is. His discharge lists, "H & S Co. 257th Engr Combat Bn" as the last unit he was in. According to him, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, then was transferred to the infantry, then transferred to the combat engineers. I'm assuming it was taken after basic training, but cannot confirm.
Maybe someone will recognize one of the names in here and have more context!
