James C. Graham, 93, of Waynesburg, died at 3:45 p.m. Sunday, August 28, 2011, in his home.

He was born Wednesday, July 17, 1918, in Nineveh, a son of the late Ora and Carrie Breese Graham.

Mr. Graham was a member of Claughton Chapel United Methodist Church.

He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, having served during World War II with Company A 1275th Engineers Combat Battalion. He was a member of Disabled American Veterans 123, James Farrell American Legion Post 330 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4793, all of Waynesburg.

Mr. Graham always enjoyed farming.

Surviving is his wife, Wilma Henderson Graham, whom he married November 26, 1994.

Also surviving is a daughter, Janice (Butch) Brunell of Waynesburg; two sons, James Graham of Charles Town, W.Va., and Carl (Kathy) Graham of Waynesburg; a stepson, Roger Hayes of Waynesburg; a grandson; two granddaughters; a great-grandson; and several nieces and nephews.

Deceased are a sister, Helen Detwiler, and a brother, Donald Graham.

Ah, just found a proud son who posted this on a website. We may wish to join this site in order to talk with him. It might be worthwhile!

http://www.racerhub.com/forum/showthread.php?22737-Thank-you-veterans

Here's what he posted:

THIS GOES OUT TO ALL OUR VETS WHO GAVE YEARS OF THIER LIFE SO THAT WE CAN BE FREE. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO WALK UP TO A VETERAN LET THEM KNOW THAT WE CARE SHAKE THIER HAND AND MOST OF ALL SAY THANK YOU. MY DAD WAS A WWII VET WE ARE LOSING THEM FAST FOLKS (10,000 A MONTH) ITS NOT ALOT TO LET THEM KNOW HOW WE FEEL. THIER ARE MANY SERVICES GOING ON IN YOUR TOWN STOP AT YOUR LOCAL VFW,LEGION,ELKS OR AMVETS. THEY NEED TO KNOW THEY MADE A DIFFERANCE IN OUR LIVES WITH OUT THEM THIER WOULD NOT BE US. MY DAD GAVE 5 YEARS OF HIS LIFE TO FRIGHT FOR WHAT HE THOUHT WAS RIGHT. SO PLEASE FLY OUR FLAG NOT YOUR FOOTBALL TEAM OR ANYTHING ELSE FLY OUR FLAG. YOU MIGHT HAVE A NIEGHBOR WHOSE A VET BUT HAS KNOW FAMILY LEFT DONT LET THEM FEEL LEFT OUT KNOCK ON THAT DOOR SAY THANK YOU AND A HAND SHAKE YOU WILL BE SURPRISED HOW YOU WILL FEEL. THANKS TO ALL OUR VETERANS

 

HARRY ALLEN 32 TECHICIAN FIFTH GRADE 1275TH ENGINER COMBAT BATTALION

[LEAVING FORT DIX}

RICH IN THE SUNSHINE STATE THANK YOU

I have an email addy for this one. Am going to send her a note right now to see if she knows any details about this unit.

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:1993738&id=I174

Everett Johnson

Later....

Tried the email address, but it's no longer valid. Sigh!

When I can login to my Ancestry.com account, I will try from the site itself. I am locked out right now, for I couldn't remember my login. Waiting to get an email with my sign-in info...

Here's a page from Michael Brodhead from the Army Corps of Engineers Office of History. Thanks Michael!

This document talks about some of their accomplishments in the Pacific, namely bridge building and deconstruction.

Talks about their activation at Camp Gruber on April 20th,1944. They landed in France at Le Havre on April 12th, 1945.

The document is light, so may be a bit difficult to read.

document2012-04-03-114923.pdf

As always we strongly suggest you contact NARA in Maryland to obtain any documentation in their archives.

http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/college-park/researcher-info.html

Contact the Textual Records unit at: The National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001, by telephone at 301-837-3510

Received another letter this week, from the daughter of a 1275th'er. They are looking for any living members...

Is there any way to know if any of those guys are still around? My dad thinks he is the only one left of his high school & college buddies. He may be right but I thought if there was someone who still had a mind as sharp as his, it’d be FUN to connect them!

 

My dad lives in Kerrville, TX which is kind of close to the center of Texas.

 

Linda Pate