Has sent a few folks my way to try and discover any information regarding the 285th Engineers. The 285th were attached to the 1142nd Engineer Combat Group, and that is why people are writing to him for info. Unfortunately Darrell doesn't have anything he can share, so together we are trying to help.
The following people have written to me for assistance. Here are their letters:
My name is Robert Arbogast I served in the US Navy 1961-1965. I am trying to do some research on my Father who served in the US Army WW2. My Father passed away years ago. I have contacted various organizations with no help. They said some of the records in that time frame were destroyed in a fire.
My Father- Willard D. Arbogast
His Unit----285th Combat Engineer Bat. Company B -( Europe)
Was hoping maybe someone would be able to help me with some information about the 285th Co. B Any information would be appreciated very much.
Thank You
Robert Arbogast
Hello,
I am the grandson of the now deceased Wallace Homer Allen (service no. 38568385) and I have recently been interested in his WWII experience. He was assigned to the 285th Engineer Combat Battalion which I believe was attached to the 1142nd Combat Engineer Group during the war. Would you happen to recall any information about him?
I have sketchy information but what I do have showed he entered service from Oklahoma in 1943 and was discharged from Texas in 1948. He was an uneducated American Indian at the age of 29 with five kids at the time he was inducted. He was apparently in the hospital at Brooke Army Hospital for sometime before his discharge that I can only assume was related to his mental health at the time. To my knowledge, confusion on the part of my grandfather and the Army led him to a other than honorable discharge due to unaccounted time (AWOL) that he fought the Army and VA for 40 years before his death and which was eventually upgraded to Honorable by the Army Discharge Review Board in 1982.
I would greatly appreciate any information regarding my grandfather that you may have. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Anthony Waldroup, MD, MPH
Lt Col, USAF, MC, SFS
Hello My Name is Shawn Promin,
My Grandfather is Edward Louis Promin, He was attached to 285th Army engineer Corp, A bailey bridge unit attached to Patton 44-45. My Grandfather is still alive and is 87 years old. If you could help me to plot his trek across Europe. I am also retired NAVY I am 40 years old. And a major WWII history follower. I know his unit was disbanded when they got somewhere in Europe and he was the last in the unit before Decom, I also know he worked at HQ for Patton's officers and he was Patton's driver on many occasions. I want to understand more of this before he dies he is getting old and frail but he still has the twinkle of mischief and sorrow in his eye when he talks about the war. If you could get back to me I would appreciate it. Thank you in advance for your time.
Shawn Promin
NOTE: Shawn if you come across this post, please re-send your email. I tried emailing you in April 2010 and your address now bounces!
The latest letter is from:
Marion, Darrell
It is quite humbling to reach out to strangers and to receive so much help and information so quickly.
Tomorrow I will be out of my office but will begin to follow up with the contacts below. I had contacted some government organization about five years ago. My dad’s records, along with many others were lost in a fire. We moved to Wyoming 2 years ago and in the process I misplaced what little information they could provide.
I found more photos of my dad. The attached was in France Aug 21 1945 and Austria 1945. The group photo is with the Battalion Commander. The faces are very clear and I assume I should be able to locate the name of the Lt Col. who was the Battalion Commander. Another was dad and his buddies Cohen and Eddie.
Thanks again.
Joe Gulino, P.E.
Joe sent along two photos also. Am attaching the two pdfs.
Of course we have given them all the typical research suggestions to explore, and have put them in contact with each other.
If anyone has anything they can share about the 285th, please contact us via this post or write to me personally. Thanks, M1
I recently started renting the "Shootout" series of DVDs from netflix and watching each episode carefully, instead of watching only the episodes dealing with WWII as I have done in the past (only because WWII has been a lifelong interest). The first episode I watched was about the battle for Fallujah. It really reinforced to me the fact that only the uniforms and the enemy have changed, and that today's soldiers have become today's "Greatest Generation." It doesn't matter if it's Iwo Jima, Sicily, Belgium, Saigon or Fallujah. They are all cut from the same cloth.. I also feel confident that if today's enemies all wore uniforms that identify them as combatants instead of hiding behind civilian clothing the current "War on Terror" would have been won many years ago.
