Dear Ms. Chard:

My father was a member of the 172nd Combat Engineer Battalion, attached to the 9th Army, during WWII. He is no longer with us, but I am trying to locate some of the members of his battalion, and hopefully, attend some of their reunions. I am a war correspondent for The Associated Press; the first radio-tv correspondent to cross into Iraq on the night of March 20, 2003. I have covered all of America's military adventures since the Invasion of Panama in 1989, including the Gulf War, Somalia and Haiti prior to the Invasion of Iraq.

Sincerely yours,

Ross W. Simpson

Welcome. We've spoken via email, and I'm providing the information I've discovered in the interim.

http://www.1142combatengineers.com/documents.htm

http://www.xixcorps.nl/XIX_Corps_Units_(ND)_ENGR.htm

You may want to contact this museum. See first post regarding:

Barquest, Glenn D. and Lucille Barquest. Life of a Draftee in World War II: September 16, 1940 to April 1, 1951.

Eau Claire, WI: G. Barquest, 2001. 97 p.

Barquest, an Anson, Wisconsin native, served with the 172nd Engineering Combat Battalion, 23rd Armored Engineers during World War II. His account includes induction, basic training at Camp Polk (Louisiana), gunnery school at Fort Knox (Kentucky), officer candidate school, and trips overseas. Barquest also includes an account of service in France, Germany, Holland, and the Battle of the Bulge. Also discussed are recreation activities, occupation duty, and service in the Reserves.

http://museum.dva.state.wi.us/Res_WWII.asp

See this interesting page:

http://books.google.com/books?id=vM4Fwx0B7...t&resnum=10

Here's a pdf file on the 278th Engineers. It discusses how they were attached to the 172nd Engs:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancest...thengineers.pdf

Grand Blanc veteran recalls role in Holland cemetery for film crew

http://viewnewspapers.net/moxie2/living/gr...ran-recal.shtml

James Satterfield & Wayne Combs

Received - 8/29/00

* Wayne Combs received the items from James Satterfield at a reunion. Combs then gave them to the Marshall Foundation. Both men merely wanted to find a good place for the items.

* A large cartoon-style drawing of the History of the 172nd Combat Engineer Battalion, and a large typed Battalion History of the 172nd Combat Engineer Battalion from activation to D-E Day.

This info can be gathered from the George Marshall Memories Project

http://www.marshallfoundation.org/library/...ries_2001b.html

The Siegfried Line, 1944 - 45 Battles on the German Frontier - By Steve Zaloga

There is a photo of the 172nd -

http://books.google.com/books?id=r0HExqmXd...lt&resnum=6

As I tell all my viewers and members, please see our research section for further ideas on how to gather information on WWII units. Please let me know if I be can of further assistance, but this should get you started.

Some recent info. This was sent to me via email...

Quote

 

Marion,

I stumbled across this site at I was looking up information on my grandfather who passed away yesterday 1/22/18.  Glenn D. Barquest, member of the 172 Engineer Combat Battalion.  I have heard some stories about him and his men.  I was seeing if their was any public information about what his Battalion had encountered.  Some of the early stories I heard were of entering liberated towns and games of baseball.  It wasn't until later that I heard stories of why my grandpa didn't want to attend his Army reunion as he thought the men would hate him for how demanding he was.  Eventually he started attending the events in Asheville  NC and I started hearing stories of his time in WWII.  I am just looking for some more information.  I know he had several books that he authored but didn't know what I would stumble upon.

Regards,

Chad Stanek