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125th Engineers WWII - Cousin Joe - 02-28-2012
In an internet search, I found a thread started by Kate in 2007, who knew this unit started in North Africa and also fought in Italy before being transferred to the 14th Armored Division in France. My uncle, Tech 4 Norman M. Allport, joined the 125th in North Africa. He was not allowed to enlist, but finally drafted because he was born in Canada. Fast forward to 7 April 1945 and he was KIA in Neustadt, Germany. I found the men riding with him that day from the 14th Armored history book. All his friends had passed away, but I interviewed the replacement seargent. In retrospect, I am very glad not to have troubled his buddies who knew him well.
Anyway, the point of this post is that I did not succeed in finding anyone who knew Uncle Norman. The seargent did not know anything about the unit's activity in France, only a little about Germany, and nothing about North Africa and Italy. Does anyone reading this post know any stories about the 125th? I have his bracelet, that includes the names of the North Africa Campaign and the Italy battles (e.g Palermo, Rhome, etc.). They must have experienced an extraordinary amount of combat, even for seasoned veterans.
I do not have much information other than the history book that begins in France, but I have a letter from Uncle Norman. He wrote to my father and mentioned nothing about combat, but said that he preferred the mud in Italy to the snow in France. He was interred in a military cemetery in France with 1,100 other Americans, but in 1947, the French asked for these men to be removed so they could plant a vinyard. My grandparents elected to have his body transfered to the Golden Gate National Cemetery.
125th Engineers WWII - Walt's Daughter - 03-03-2012
Sorry my reply is so late, but have been busy as usual.
Thank you for joining our forum.
Can you post all the info you have on him, here? That would be helpful.
Let's see what we can find out.
125th Engineers WWII - Walt's Daughter - 03-03-2012
125th Engineers WWII - Cousin Joe - 03-03-2012
Sorry my reply is so late, but have been busy as usual.
Thank you for joining our forum.
Can you post all the info you have on him, here? That would be helpful.
Let's see what we can find out.
125th Engineers WWII - Cousin Joe - 03-03-2012
Thank you Marion. Norman Allport's father was a Kiwi and his mother was a Canadian. They immigrated from Canada to CA in 1919, but Norman's mother traveled back to Canada to give birth--then came home to CA. The family thought they had been naturalized, but found out otherwise when Norman tried to enlist in the Army after Pearl Harbor. He tried to enlist in the Marines and the Army again, but was always turned down. Meanwhile, his younger brother enlisted in the Navy, in June 1942. Later in the year, Norman was drafted (he told my father he knew it would happen) and the Army did not discover the mistake until he was shipped to North Africa. The Pentagon arranged to have Congress grant him citizenship, so he remained in the 125th Engineer Battalion.
I learned not to ask my father about Norman's military career because Dad was too upset about his death. In 2002, I inherited a history book about the 14th Armored Division and found the battle report with some details about his death---mentioned above. None of the men listed in the account who knew Norman were still alive, but I did interview Sgt. Charles F. McClure. He was a replacement sergeant who joined Company C just a couple of days before that battle in Neustadt. The 14th was leading the American forces and Norman was manning the 50 caliber machine gun in his platoon's half track. The seargent makes the assignments and usually takes the machine gun, but since Norman had been the interim seargent, he was told to take the gun out of respect.
There was a tower straddling the road into town and a German sniper shot the machine gunners in the first two half tracks. Norman was able to fire just one round, but the gun jammed because it had been fitted with airplane ammo. Sgt. McClure told me the airplane ammo was loaded to fire clockwise (or counterclockwise)which was opposite of the ground machine guns. So, the gun jammed and Norman was shot in the head. The rest of the crew jumped out of the half track into ditches on either side of the road. A wounded corporal, Lawrenc, called out to Sgt. McClure to toss his BAR to him. Lawrence shot the sniper. Then the tower was blown up by tank fire.
My mother told me their CO felt very bad about Norman's death so late in the war and that he wrote several letters to my grandparents. Thereafter, he sent them Christmas cards for several years. So, I know the beginning and the end, but nothing particular about Norman's life in the army. Nothing about his friends or what they thought about him.
One of my sister's hired an artist to make a shadow box with memorabilia of Norman's and his brother's WWII service. It contains his dog tag and a bracelet listing 7 battles or campaigns: North Africa, Rome, Naples, Sicily, Cassino, Anzio, and Casserta. The Naples tag is larger than the others and has an inscription, "Do Not Forget Me". Norman had fiance named Pat.
Joe