363rd Engineers group photo:

My Grandfather Cpl. Orval Covert Herbert was in the 363rd Engineers and was stationed in Iran during WWII. After his death, his daughter (my mother) inherited his belongings. Among them were souvenirs of his tour, a photo collection of random shots here and there in Iran, and a group photo of the entire 363rd Engineers unit. I have since inherited these items and have scanned the group photo into a very large high resolution jpg file. I have sent it to Marion, for her to eventually post on this site, but in the mean time, I will offer it to anyone else who comes across this blog and desires to see the image. You will have to send me a request via email, and you should expect the reply message to take considerably longer to download than your standard email message.

Regards,

David Baker (civilian)

Hello David!

How wonderful that your Mom saved these treasured items!

Because I do not know anyone in the 363rd unit, I will wait to get the photo from Marion and really appreciate your sharing it with us!

I would love to see more of the photos that you have! And wonder if you are thinking of putting those on this site. I know it is a lot of work but it would be fascinating to see WW2 photos from that part of the world!

So happy you joined this site - it is incredible what discoveries have been made here and the information shared - and all Thanks to Marion!

Jean

Here it is. I can also send the four separate smaller scans, but that might be redundant. The best thing for someone to do when they find a family member in this photo is for them to open it up in Photoshop or some other image handling software, crop the section of the photo they want, and re-save it as a new photo. Example: I'm attaching my Grandfather's cropped picture. His name was Orval Covert Herbert and he is in the fourth row back 11th from the right. I also have a collection of his photos from Persia (now Iran), some letters from there, and some souvenirs that he bought while stationed there. An old muzzle loading pistol, some brass belt buckles for a belt that goes around a burka, and a lot of vintage coins, and knick knacks.

Regards, David

 

Here ya go. Sorry for the wait, but I have a huge list of uploads to complete...

Group shot in a lower res. The original was too large for the forum. I divided the panoramic shot into two.

Great Job! and Great Photo! How wonderful that David B. shared it with all of us!

Jean

My Grandfather Orval Covert Herbert is the only person I know in this large group photo. The only way we will ever know who anyone else is by name, is to track down a roster that goes with this photo (if one even exists), or by individual family identification (which could take forever).

Glad you all liked it.

David

P.S. Jean, I will try to scan and post some additional photos when I get some free time.

regards

David: Well we certainly hope that anyone searching for info on this unit, will stumble across this post and be able to help us fill in the blanks (and there are a lot of them). But we seem to be blessed with info and I wouldn't doubt that someone will be able to assist you in your quest.

I received this today and was able to supply her with the document in the above post! YEAH!

Hi Marion and All! I'm Pete Fenzel, son of Capt. Alfred J. Fenzel, who at war's end was the battalion commander of the 369th Engineer Combat Battalion, ex the 215th AAA Gun Bn. Dad is still alive at age 99 and a half. His mind is sharp as a tack and his war recollections are vivid. Of course, we in the family have heard the stories a few hundred times, but that never lessens their significance.

Dad enlisted in the US Army Reserve right after the Munich Conference, in which Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement gave the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovalkia to the Nazis without firing a shot. Dad figured that weakness invites war so he decided to get in early and get some rank. He was activated at

Camp Upton few weeks after Pearl Harbor in the 508th Coast Artillery, which became the 215th AAA Gun Bn (semimobile), 7th Army, on January 20, 1943. The 215th AAA Gun Bn was disbanded on December 31, 1944 and its personnel formed the new 369th Engineer Combat Bn at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day outside Marseilles.

One of Dad's recollections is of Easter Sunday, April 1,1945. The 369th had crossed the Rhine near Mannheim that day and towards evening they pulled into a village east of the river. (I'll get the village name.) Around 3pm Dad had his sergeant go find the local priest to provide an Easter service for the men. The local priest turned out to be a Jesuit, whom the Nazi's had neglected to murder. He spoke perfect English and was ordered to conduct a service at 5pm and to see that there was no fraternization with German civilians in church. About 35 men of the 369th took the opportunity to attend. When the Americans, dirty and discheveled, carrying their weapons, entered the little church it was ablaze with every candle lit and a boys choir signing hymns in Latin. For Dad it was a very spiritual moment, where a bit of heaven was found in Nazi Germany. He still finds awe in that moment to this day.

I just loved your dad's story. Even in the midst of hell, a little bit of heaven shown through. Touching!

So glad you joined and are willing and able to share this with us. Can't wait to hear more.

Thank you for the story. I'm Catholic and can imagine the scene - very nice.