First off I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart, I was getting down right frustrated by seemingly hopeless search. I have not tried to contact the Army Corps History Office, can they help? Here is what i have done:

- spent countless hours on the internet, searching, looking, waiting

- Contacted the NARA and recieved replacement medals and discharge papers

- Contacted Modern Militay records and ordered copies of the general orders of the 334th and the 762d.

- I also have a list, written by Grandfather during WWII, of all of the men in his unit, from this list I have written letters to each of the men, with no response.

- The one thing that I have in quanity is his letter from his time overseas. From these I can tell he spent alot of time in Iran, but his children(my mom) swear up and down that he was injured in the Battle of the Bulge and the memories of Dachau haunted him his entire life. My question to you is: am I going about this all wrong? and is there anything that I could be overlooking, like a number on his discharge papers or a on the letters?

thank you so much! you have no idea how much this means to me

Brian

Dear Brian:

I can relate to you my friend. First off I tried for years to find something out. Mind you in the beginning it was pretty much an occasional search on the internet (several years back) and I could find NOTHING then. So I pretty much put that aside and thought, oh well. Sigh! But I had tried contacting NARA and the first time I waited months and got no response. I was bummed. I tried again and this time they said I would have to fill out the paper work again for some reason. Well I did that and still nothing. More sighing.

When I moved up north in Michigan from Detroit, I thought well, one last try. I DID get a response, but it wasn't what I was expecting. They told me his paperwork had burned in a fire. You can imagine how heartbroken I was. I was in tears. After all this time and then this.

Well a few months after that, I thought, I am not giving up and started searching Internet again. At first it was almost fruitless, but I kept at it and pretty soon I had a couple of names and some info. It kept me going. Then one day I received a hand-written letter from one of the guys I wrote to. It was about a month after I had mailed it to him. It was from a guy in my dad's unit. They didn't serve in the same company, but he was a member of the 540th. Oh man I was dancing.

Things started coming together slowly after that, but it was really happening. My head is still spinning.

Well onto the Army Corps of Engineers. They were my main source of information. I contacted the head historian there and within a couple of weeks, he called me on the phone. I was so impressed. Said they were sending me a big envelope with all kinds of documents. I was just thrilled.

So please DO contact them. They have folders on virtually every unit. Some are more comprehensive than others. The 540th were "popular", so I was lucky. Other units may just have a few sheets of documentation, but it's worthwhile my friend.

If you go to my RESEARCH section here, you will find out more. Included there are all the contact numbers for The Army Corps History Office too. Let me know what you find out. I am more than happy to help.

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/eng...hp?showtopic=23

Wow, were you ever right! I contacted the Office of History and within a week I had about 10 pages on the history of the 334th Engineers Special Service Regiment. I also recieved oversized maps/ blueprints of the 334th plan to build a railway bridge over the river Rhine. THANK YOU SO MUCH This has definately refreshed my determination to reconstruct my Grandfather military career during WWII

Brian

Brian:

What can I say but, "AWESOME!" You made my day too. Hey, I am here to help you, as were all the folks who helped me with my search on my dad. So I say, you're welcome and I'm so very glad I could be of assistance.

Now you can share what you've learned and we keep the ball in play.

Essayons,

M

Does the 334th infantry regiment of the 84th Division have anything in common with the 334th Enginners?

Not a dumb question. I created a quick reference table for each Infantry Division and their associated infantry regiments, engineer battalion and other attached units. It explains how the numbering system worked for units that were part of a division.

Table of Divisions and Regiments

Note the column on the far RIGHT has the number of each engineer unit that was a part of an infantry division. The 334th is not in this column. Apparently the 334th Engineers were an independent unit.

Keep this table handy. And please let me know if you find any mistakes in it. The Airborne Divisions moved and reassigned some regiments so that could be in error.

Steve

Yeah your right I'm pretty sure that the 334th was an independent regiment. Here is what I do know: the 334th Engineers Special Service Regiment was activated on 20 May 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisana and shipped out aboard the U.S Westpoint on 1 Novemeber 1942. Shortly after a thanksgiving dinner aboard the Westpoint, soldiers were thrown from their bunks as the ship accelerated to max speed to avoid "a torpedo that missed the ship by a mere six feet". Later that day the ships loud speaker broke silence. Tokyo Rose began to announce that the US Westpoint had been sunk..... What a crock On 4 December 1942 the Regiment arrived in Iran. They worked under the Persian Gulf Command, mainly as a construction regiment that helped maintain and construct supply roads, vital to the Russian Front. The Regiment left Iran in January of 1945 and was assigned to the Continental Advance Sector from 1 March 1945 to 10 June 1945. During which time the Regiment recieved battle credit for the Rhineland and Central Europe Campaign. Following these battles the Regiment built a combination railroad / highway bridge over the the Rhine at Mannheim and Ludwigshafen..... thats what I have so far But it's a good start,

Brian

I see that your grandfather's unit has a very interesting history and I'm glad you were able to find some facts about his unit. I sure hope we can turn up even more. Continued success!

Contacted Modern Militay records and ordered copies of the general orders of the 334th and the 762d.

Hey Brian, can you tell me more about Modern Military records. Thanks!

Gilles saw this on Ebay today. Someone is selling a bunch of 333rd photos:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=&_osacat=13977&_fln=1&_catref=1&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313&_nkw=333rd&_sacat=13977&_from=R40