Hello Ms. Chard,

 

I am trying to locate records of my father's units with the Engineering Corps during WWII, especially in Europe, later Phillipines.Anything you can tell me is more than I know.

 

He is Leo Walter Zimmer, 36 895 965, 1-20-1943-12/22/1945. US Corps of Engineers. Pvt to t/5.

 

I am hoping you can give me info on the applicable forestry units that my father served with in WWII. I have only snippets of his units, although his over-riding role was with a forestry company in France. He drove heavy truck for 12months and was a carpenter for 9 months per service record. Here is what I know of the units for which I seek info:

796th Engineering Forestry Battalion. He was with them when he made t/5. I think in France.

1391st Engineering Forestry Division at one point. I think in France.

1063D Engineering Forestry Division at discharge. He was in the Phillipines with some (this?) unit after VE Day.

At discharge per DD-214 he wore 3rd Army patch on right shoulder; 6th Army patch on left shoulder.

 

Locations/timing I know of:

Jan 24, 1944 with the 1532nd S.U., Fort Sheridan, Ill.

May 1, 1944 - end of basic, early June. Camp Clairborne, LA per photo.

June - July 3/4 1944 Camp White on Rogue River, Medford or Ashland, Oregon per photos.

July 20, 1944 in England. Worked on pontoons for D-Day follow-up. Do not know when he got to England, but sometime in July, after the 4th.Per letter home.

Early August 1944 went to Cherborg, France.His first night in France was in Cherborg.Per letter home.

Sept 1944 wrote home from France.

October 1944 per a local radio announcement, "Zimmer is with the sawdust commandoos in France, under CO 1st LT Morris C. Reeve CE of Edwardsport, Indiana". It was labeled "Black boots deliver logs to Engineers to build."

October 23, 1944 in France with a Sgt Zumwalt per photo

December 1944 in Nancy, going up to Bastogne-area attached to Patton's 3rd Army per Dad.

Spent two months in Belguim, with Engineers staying/based at a monestary per Dad. Not sure if this was in 1944 (pre Nancy) or early 1945 after Bastogne.

Medals per DD-214 and letter from 1st LT James D. Barclay CE dtd 11Nov1945: Legion of Merit; Unit Meritorious Service Plaque; American Campaign w/star; Asia/Pacific Campaign; European/Africa Campaign w/4 battle stars (Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland, Central Germany); Phillipine Occupation Medal w/star.

No idea whatsoever about Legion of Merit but it was a well-worn ribbon so think it came from Europe, not Phillipines where he was training to clear mines on Japan's beaches.

If you can fill in any blanks it would be more than I know now. His units must have been small enough that they don't pop-up on searches for them. I do think they wee TAD to other units.

 

Thank you,

Bob Zimmer

Like my father, a proud combat veteran,

Mobile Riverine Force Vietnam, USN

as XO, USS Mercer (APB-39)

Dear Robert:

It was wonderful receiving your letter this week. I will be more than pleased to see what I can come up with. I also forwarded your information to dear friends; both are historians - one working in Alexandria at the Army Corps of Engineers' Office of History - the other works at Fort Leonard Wood. Between the three of us, we should be able to shed some light on your request.

I will also post this on my forum; this way I can put out more feelers among my members and readers.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. It's balmy here in Michigan for this time of year; 62 degrees and sunny. Loving it!

Warmly,

Marion

From the info Robert gives, it appears he was mostly with the 796th Engineer Forestry Battalion. The other 2 units were Engineer Forestry Companies. I havent found anything of the 1063rd or 1391st going to the pacific.

796th Engineer Forestry Battalion

Campaign Credits:

(13) Leyte, Companies A & C only

(15) New Guinea, Companies A, B & C only

25 Ardennse-Alsace

26 Central Europe

34 Rhineland

Occupation Germany, 2 May - 4 July 45

Meritorius Unit Commendation, 1 Nov 44 - 1 June 45, GO 219, Hqs TSFET, dtd 29 Aug 45.

(note: TSFET was the Theater Services Forces, European Theater, Formerly the services command, COMZ.)

1391st Engineer Forestry Company

Campaign Credits:

26 Central Europe

32 Northern France

34 Rhineland

Occupation Germany, 2 May - 14 Aug 45

1063rd Engineer Forestry Company

Campaign Credits:

26 Central Europe

Occupation Germany, 2 May - 4 June 45

There is a copy of the unit history of the 796th available at the Eisenhowr Library;

Box 668

796th Engineer Forestry Battalion

http://www.eisenhower.utexas.edu/Research/finding_aids/pdf/US_Army_Unit_Records_Index.pdf

Records for the 1063rd & 1391st would be in the National Archives in College Park, MD.

There is a newspaper article on the 796th`s training in Oregon at:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1842&dat=19450310&id=HfsrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ILoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=772,2549271

There appears to be a typo in the article were it mentions units attached to the 796th during this training, the article lists the 1931st Eng Forestry Co., but there was no such unit so it was most likely the 1391st Forestry Co.

Related information links:

ENGINEER FIELD MANUAL FM5-5

ENGINEER TROOPS

11 October, 1943

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/FM/PDFs/FM5-5.PDF

http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/Awards/legion_of_merit.aspx

Found a brief outline of the 796th`s history at All Experts.com - Military History. I cannot verify the information given at this time, but the source does seem reasonably good. You will have to get the actual unit records to verify this.

Military History/798th ENGR FORESTRY CO

Expert: LTC Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard - 1/9/2008

Question

QUESTION: My stepfather served in the Army from 22 Mar 1943 - 4 Dec 1945. His name was Paul O. Haney, Army Serial #:39 329 291, Rank:TEC 3, Military Occup.Specialty:Millwright 464. According to his discharge papers, he served with the 798th ENGR FORESTRY CO. Can you give me any info on the company and where he was stationed? He has a Asiatic Pacific Service Medal. I'm building a shadow box and am looking for a company badge or patch he might have worn, along with dogtags for that time period.

ANSWER: Dear Krystal,

I apologize for not getting back to you sooner but myself and a friend (he is an eminent military historian) checked the National Archives located in Suitland, Maryland and came up with the following information:

The U.S. Army had no 798th Engineer Forestry Company but it did have a 796th Engineer Forestry Battalion. It's war record is as follows-

Camp Claiborne, La. Activated 6-25-1943 to 4-25-1944

Camp White, Oregon 5-30-1944 to 7-15-1944

Camp Kilmer, N.J. Staging 7-20-1944 to 7-26-1944

Ship 6926-U.S.S.Gen. William Mitchell New York Port of

Embarkation 7-26-1944 to 8-06-1944

England 8-06-1944 to 8-20-1944

France 8-25-1944 to 11-07-1944

Belgium 11-07-1944 to 12-26-1944

France 12-26-1944 to 3-26-1945

Germany 3-26-1945 to 7-17-1945

Le Havre, France Ship 10897 7-17-1945 to 8-14-1945

Boston Port of Embarkation 8-27-1945 to 8-29-1945

Fort Lewis, Washington 9-05-1945 to 10-20-1945 Inactivated

Military Campaign Participations:

Ardennes-Alsace 12-16-1944 to 1-25-1945

Central Europe 3-22-1945 to 5-11-1945

Rhineland 9-15-1944 to 3-21-1945

I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any more questions. May God Bless-Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard

Mucho gratias!!!

Here's more:

Marion and Michael,

 

I am drawing a blank on "Forestry Divisions."

 

However, am attaching the Unit Data Card for the 796th. This is the only

materials that we have.

 

Marion, you can feel free to forward this to your friend and/or mount on

your web page. ;-)

 

Best,

 

Dave

796th unit data card.pdf

Dear Mr. Zimmer:

 

Attached is a Lineage and Honors statement for the 796th Engineer Forestry

Battalion, and here is the information on this unit that was found in a

volume entitled Order of Battle, US Army, World War II:

 

Formed 25 June 1943, Camp Claiborne, Louisiana; left the New York

Port of Embarkation 26 July 1944; England 6 August 1944; France and the

European Theater of Operations 25 August 1944; was destined to go to the

Pacific as Shipment #10897 from Le Havre, France, but with the end of the war

it was directed to the Boston Port of Embarkation, where it landed 27 August

1945; inactivated 20 October 1945 at Fort Lewis, Washington. Credited with

participation in the Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe, and Rhineland

campaigns. This information seems consistent with what you have already

learned.

 

The units 1391st and 1063 would not be "divisions." They were probably

companies because most of the forestry units were companies. The 796th is

the only forestry battalion that I've found. In any case we do not have any

information on them. You can try the National Archives for all of these

units; its Modern Military Records staff can be reached at inquire@nara.gov

 

Best of luck.

 

Sincerely,

 

Michael J. Brodhead, Ph.D.

Historian

Office of History

U. S. Army Corps of Engineers

7701 Telegraph Road

Alexandria, Virginia 22315-3865

(703) 428-6559

796th - document2011-11-08-114355.pdf

Thank you very much for the info. I sure hope my siblings and I can thread our way to more info but you have given us the only thing we've seen of any specificity to date.

Thanks again to all of you.

 

Bob Zimmer

Very facinating research in studying and analyzing the data on this unit, it has more twists & turns than a cold war spy novel.

This would make a perfect example to use for a presentation or article on the difficulties of researching a WWII veteran.

Here we have a Battalion activated with 3 line companies, A,B,& C. The 3 companies ship out to the pacific before the battalion goes to Oregon for unit training keeping their designation as companies of the 796th for a year, hence showing campaign credit listings both with the battalion and under their new designated numbers.

So only the Battalion Hq, Hq & Srvc Co, & Med Det go to Oregon and have 5 other companies attached to them for unit training, ( per the newspaper article) the

1388th Engineer Forestry Company

1389th Engineer Forestry Company

1390th Engineer Forestry Company

1391st Engineer Forestry Company

1392nd Engineer Forestry Company

Then Battalion Hq, Hq & Srvc Co, & Med Det ships out to England & on to France with no mention of any companies going with them. So who are their line companies in France? We dont know. Possibly 3 or 4 of the companies attacthed to the battalion for unit traing? The 1388th served in India - Buma but the other 4 have similar campaign credits EXCEPT the 1391st which does NOT have credit for Ardennes.

The unit history might provide this information.

So where does Mr Zimmer fit in? Comparing the info Robert gives us, it`s still unclear what unit he was in.

"May 1, 1944 - end of basic, early June. Camp Clairborne, LA per photo."

25 Apr 44, Hq, Hq & Srvc Co, Med Det departed Cp Claiborne for Cp White, OR.

30 Apr 44, Hq, Hq & Srvc Co, Med Det arrived Cp White, OR.

Mr Zimmer is still at Cp Claiborne after the 796th arrives in Oregon?

"July 20, 1944 in England. Worked on pontoons for D-Day follow-up. Do not know when he got to England, but sometime in July, after the 4th.Per letter home."

15 July 44, Hq, Hq & Srvc Co, Med Det departed Cp White, OR.

20 July 44, Hq, Hq & Srvc Co, Med Det arrived Cp Kilmer, NJ.

26 July 44, Hq, Hq & Srvc Co, Med Det departed NYPE

05 Aug 44, Hq, Hq & Srvc Co, Med Det arrived England

Mr Zimmer writes home from England before the 796th leaves the US.

Robert will have to compare the travel dates in box 36 of the discharge docmument to the dates of the 796ths movement to England. The dates given should be within 2 days of his units movement.

"Early August 1944 went to Cherborg, France. His first night in France was in Cherborg.Per letter home."

20 Aug 44, Hq, Hq & Srvc Co, Med Det departed England

25 Aug 44, Hq, Hq & Srvc Co, Med Det arrived France

It appears Mr Zimmer was in France before the 796th?

"1391st Engineering Forestry Division at one point. I think in France"

One problem i see with Mr Zimmer being in the 1391st EFCo is that he has campaign credit for Ardennes but the 1391st does not, while the 1389th, 1390th & 1392 does.

Now we need to figure out the next step. What records need to be found first?

Okay, you make me dizzy miss lizzy...

Now that's enough to scare off a whole horde of wild boars!!!

Another great job, Larry. Many thanks for all your hard work.

The orginazation of an Engineer Forestry Battlion & Company.

From Appendix B of the Corps of Engineers, The War Against Japan. pg 687

Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Forestry Battalion consisted of 8 officers, 2 warrant officers, 82 enlisted men. The Headquarters and Headquarters Company supervised 3 or more forestry companies.

For organization details, see FM5-5, paragraph 420, page 185.

Figure 370001.pdf

Organizational charts of a forestry company are found in a Thesis by Ralph Gordon De Moisy, titled: "A Plan For Equipping United States Army Engineer Forestry Companies", found at: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/20042

The company is commanded by a Captain, and a 1st LT as administrative officer, and a 2nd LT as supply officer commandind the service section.The maufaturing & logging platoons are commanded by 1st LT`s assisited by a Technical Sgt.

Figures 5,6 & 7 indicate the distribution of personel within the company.

Figure 40001.pdf

Figure 50001.pdf

Figure 60001.pdf

Figure 70001.pdf

Figure 100001.pdf