Just received this letter tonight. Oh happy day!

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JAN 6,06

HI MARION MY NAME IS GERALD WHITE JR. MY FATHER WAS A PROUD MEMBER OF THE 540TH.

MY FAMILY AND I HAVE ENJOYED READING ABOUT THE GUYS AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR EFFORTS. DAD WAS A TEC5 I BELIEVE IN THE MOTOR POOL.

HE KEPT IN CONTACT IN HIS LATER YEARS WITH A MAN NAMED BULLARD FROM MISS. ALSO WITH ONE WHOSE FIRST NAME OF AUBREY BUT I DON'T REMEMBER HIS LAST.

MY DAD PASSED AWAY IN 1989.

PLEASE KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

LOOKING FORWARD TO HEAR FROM YOU.

Extracted from Vol. III "Engineer History, Mediterranean Theater, Fifth Army"

540th Engineer Combat Regiment: The 54oth Engineer Shore Regiment was aactivated at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, on 11 September 1942. During training, the 540th worked with the 36th Combat Regiment in ampibious exercises at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. At Camp Bradford, virginia, and ont eh Chesapeake Bay. The 1st and 2nd Battalions were attached to the 60th and 47th Infantry Regiments of the 9th Division. This attachment was made for the purpose of coordinating infantry missions with those of shore engineers, and to create regimetal combat teams capable of forcing a landing and maintaining a beachead on hostile shores. On 19 October, the 2nd Battalion left the continental limits of hte United States folowed by the 1st Battalion on 23 October. The regiment was changed from a Shore Regiment to a Combat Regiment on 25 October. The convoy zig-zagged its way across the Atlantic, first toward England, the Bermuda, Dakar, the Canary Islands, and finally French Norht Africa. Both abattalions landed 8 November--D Day.They did various jobs including beach, port, and depotwork until assigned to Fifth Army on 15March 1943. Thereafter they trained with te I Armored Corps at Rabat and under the First Engineer Ampnibian Brigade at Port-aux-Poules. Modern equipment was issued to the regiment, and the men given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the new amphibious truck called the "DUWK".

Oops! hit the return button too fast! The Regiment landed in Sicily on D Day, 10 July, the 2nd Battalion acting as shore engineers for the 3rd Infantry Division, the remainder of the regimeht as shore engineers for the 2nd Armred Division. After operating the landing beaches of Gela and Licata, the regiment opened and operated the Port of Palermo on 25 July and Termini Imerese on 5 August. two landings made by the men of the 2nd Battalion on the north shore of Sicily towards Messina helped bring the campaign to a speedy conclusion. After the fall of sicily on 17 August 1943, the regiment was relieved from assignment to the Seventh Army, assigned to the Fifth Army and attached to the 45th Division.

Extracted from "VOL I. Engineer History, Mediterranean Theater, Fifth Army"

540th Engineer Combat Regiment.

On 9 September, the ships carrying the troops of the 540th Engineer Combat Regiment, commanded by Colonel George W. Marvin, sailed into the Gulf of Salerno for the invasion. As the regiment formed the landing party for the 45th Division, which was in reserve, it did not land until D plus 1. There, it devarked and assisted in the landing of the initial troops and equipment, organized Red and Blue Beaches (near Paestrum) and operated them until the end of September. All the necessary engineer work essential to an amphibious operation was accomplished with dispatch. The beaches were heavily mined, and at the mouth of the Sele River, on a 1400 yard frontage, 2,200 Tellermines and improvised wooden box mines were lifted. Although approximately six per cent of them were booby-trapped, the regiment suffered no casualties.

During the initial phase of the operation, the 540th was under heavy artillery fire, in addition to almost hourly bombing and strafing attacks by enemy aircraft. On 12 September, Company "F" of the 2nd Battalion participated in a special mission with the Rangers under the command of Colonel Darby. The landing took place at Maiori, Italy, a few miles from the town of Salerno, and Company "F" operated the small port and beaches, unloaded huge quantities of supplies and equipment and aided in establishing a firm foothold.

On 13 September 1943, the unit was released from attachment to the 45th Division and attached to VI Corps. On 2 October, the day after Naples was taken, the regiment entered the city and bivouacked in the Villa Aquario, a city park located on the waterfront, overlooking the Bay of Naples. Colonel Marvin Reported to the Commanding General, 6665th Base Group, and the regiment was assigned the task of clearing the harbor of Naples.

The port had not only been bombed by allied planes, but the enemy, in its retreat, had demolished nearly all of the remaining port facilities. With dynamite, bulldozer, crane and shovel, the regiment filled craters, hacked roads through debris, cleared the docks and levelled the buildings for storage space. Within twenty-four hours, ships were being unloaded in the harbor, and the Port of Naples once again came to life. The normal pre-war tonnage for the harbor was 8,000 tons. Twelve days after Nables was captured, its facilities had been restored to the extent that its capacity was 3,500 daily.

By October, the 60 feet of destroyed aqueduct had been repaired. The railway tunnel near Bagnoli was cleared, and many buildings were checked and deloused for booby traps. On the beaches of Bagnoli, a suburb of Naples, approximately 500 Tellermines were lifted. This particular minefield contained two mines for every yard of frontage, and also contained 29 "S" mines. This was considered by the regiment as the most difficult minefield it ever encountered, because of the great number of booby traps. But the minefield was cleared in record time with only one minor casualty. The 540th remained in Naples until its work was accomplished and Base Section troops took over the remaining engineer projects.

Extracted from "VOL I Engineer History, Mediterranean Theater, Fifh Army"

As soon as work in Naples of the 540th Engineer Combat Regiment, commanded by Colonel George W. Marvin was accomplished, Base Section troops took over the remaining engineer projects and the regimeht moved up in support of the Fifth Army to perform as Army Engineers. Company "E" remained in Naples for a longer period of time, continuing to haul steel from the Ilva Steel Mill in Bagnoli to the Fifth Army Engineer Depot. The principal duties and assignments of the regiment were to construct bypasses, improve roads , clear minefields; erect, maintain, and dismantle Bailey bridges and construct fixed brides to replace the removed Baileys. A minefield was cleared at Mondragone Beach, where 1050 Tellermines were removed.

The inclement weather and the swollen rivers and streams made construction and maintenance of the vrious bridges in this sector a matter of vital importance. Nevertheless, all the roads and bridges were kept open to traffic at all times.

Immediately after New Year's Day the regimet was notified that it would serve as Shore Engineers for another amphibious assault, and was attached to the 3rd Division for the operation at Anzio. A portion of th regiment's S-3 section went to Caserta, and there worked closely with the Special Planning Section of the 3rd Division at Fifth Army Headquarters. Prime prupose of this arrangement was the coordination of tactical planning for the forthcoming operation.

On 3 January 1944, the regimehnt moved to Cuma, and after the addition of numbers of specialized units, and Ordnance, Engineer, Signal Corps, and Navy personnel, the landing party totalled approximately 7,200.

The regiment then made several practice amphibious landings. Considerable time was also spent in thoroughly re-equipping for the anticipated move. Comprehensive study was given to maps and photo layouts of the Anzio beach area in order that location of exit roads, traffic circulation and dump sites might be determined.