I am looking for information on the 694th Engineer Base Equipment Company. I have a copy of the discharge paperwork for my grandad. It shows that he was in Normandy, Northern France and Rhineland. I have done a lot of research and I can't find anything about this unit. I have no idea what battalion he was assigned to. He was drafted in Maryland and entered into service in Baltimore.

Any help that anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Shannon

Hmmm ... digging for a while. Found the 694th Howiters, the 694th Recon, the 694th IG,the 694th Araments, 694th Truck company, and then.....

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US port Units..

http://www.519thportbn.com/search?q=694th+

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5th Army

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plus Name: Ron Sanders

E-mail address: PapawRon@aol.com

Requests/Comments/Answers: I am looking for any information on the 694th Engineer Base Equipment Company. It was the unit my Brother in Law was in during WWII. He said their unit shipped out in 1944 from a Camp Clayborn located in Louisiana. He said they arrived in England, then to France, Antwerp and to Belgium. He thought his Company Commander was a Captain Schaad or Schad. Later the C.O. was a Peterson. Would appreciate hearing anything at all about this Unit. Thank You, MSG Ronald Sanders, USA Retired.

Wednesday, June 8th 2005 - 10:14:39 PM

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So the information is out there. Keep digging.

and from here.....Base Equipment Company

5 officers, 168 enlisted men

This unit, usually located at or near an engineer depot, made various types of heavy construction equipment available to engineer units on a loan basis. Skilled operators were sometimes sent with the equipment.

Thanks a lot for the help. There's just so little information about them. My grandad never talked about being over there. When I joined the military the only words of advice he had for me was that it'd slim me up That was my grandad. I wish I had talked to him more about being over there, but it just didn't seem right. I'm very proud of his service.

Two years ago, I was right where you are. A LOT of digging, A LOT and I'm getting there. May I suggest a call to the historian at Ft Leonard Wood. It's a start.

I'll definitely do that. Thank you so much for your help.

I am looking for information on the 694th Engineer Base Equipment Company. I have a copy of the discharge paperwork for my grandad. It shows that he was in Normandy, Northern France and Rhineland. I have done a lot of research and I can't find anything about this unit. I have no idea what battalion he was assigned to. He was drafted in Maryland and entered into service in Baltimore.

 

Any help that anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

Shannon

Hi Shannon and welcome.

First off his engineer company was on "their own". They were not part of division, regiment or battalion. Many of the engineer units during WWII were independent or "bastard" units and went where they were needed. They worked in conjunction with other units and were often attached to larger-sized units such as divisions, regiments or battalions.

Each division had their own engineers, but many times other independent engineers would assist, if warranted. Hope that answers that question.

Here's a list I compiled which includes the different kind of engineer units in WWII

Which is why it is SO darned impossible to find information on them. (so was the 280th) They came into being for wwii alone and vanished just as quickly. I can't even find much of a mention, besides the aid given in the air assault, for their existance. The after actions HAVE to be out there somewhere ! Sounds like it's time to pen to paper and make a formal written request for them.

Years ago I gave advice to a Mr. L, and strongly suggested he contact NARA. Well to make a long story short; he didn't. And this week I received a forwarded email from another friend of mine with an WWII engineer site. Evidently my buddy wrote to him asking for information and the gentlemen with the website gave him the same advice and also referred him back to me, not knowing we've already been in contact. Ah, vicious circle!

Anywhooo.... Mr L wrote back to me yesterday and said, I should have listened to you years ago and...

Well, better late than never. I gave him the contact info for NARA in Maryland and a list of researchers to assist.

LOL!