My name is Tom Duke, my grandfather was Major Grady E. Duke. Grady Duke was an NCO during WWII, becoming 1st Sgt of A Co. 540th Engineers. I have recently been given a good many pictures and some paperwork from his tour in WWII. It appears that he served the entire time from North Africa to Anzio to Paris to Germany. I will begin posting these pics and paperwork in the near future, as I am still sorting through them. Major Duke went on to fight in the Korean War and was wounded at the battle of Kuni-Ri.
A Veterans Day salute to you and your father. As you can imagine, am so excited about hearing from another 540th family member. Ya-hooo!
A warm welcome to you, and am eager to hear and see all you have.
With kind regard,
Marion, more commonly known 'round these parts as M1
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
Welcome aboard, Tom. My grandfather was the CO of the 2832nd. Which Bn was your grandfather in? I tried to find him in my "Overseas with the 540th" book but could find anything identifying his unit. I did see that he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal on October 10-19th of '43 (as S/Sgt Grady E. Duke) and the Soldiers Medal on November 24th, 1944. There may be pictures of him there, but I didn't have time to scour the book.
What did you do in Desert Storm? I was a little young for it (Graduated high school in May 1990) and I didn't join up until 1995 anyway. I went to OCS in 1999 and since then have done lots of exercises and have been to Iraq twice.
He was Co A, so that would translate to the 2832nd.
Co's A, B and C became the 2832nd
While Co's D, E and F became the 2833rd
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
I have a picture of my Grandfather standing in a doorway with a CP ACO 540th sign over the door. He is wearing E-6 stripes at the time. I also have an itinerary listing him in A Co, but no specific BN is given.
As for me, I was 31V communications in 3/7 INF BN (MECHANIZED), 24th ID out of Ft. Stewart. I am starting to scan the pics and docs I have and I am going to my Aunts to get MORE!
Tom Duke
Dallas, GA
Grandson of Major Grady E. Duke (NCO/Enlisted WWII)
How cool is this. I love being able to put a face to a name and vice-versa.
There were only two bns in the 540th, though they began with three. The third bn went to the 36th Engineers, their sister bn, during initial training and before they shipped to N Africa.
Co's A, B and C - 1st bn
Co's D, E, F - 2nd bn
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
I'm in Comm, too. As a communications officer (at least in the Marines) you aren't pigeon holed into a certain comm field - at least by MOS. As a lieutenant they try to move you around from Satcom to data to radio, but you sometimes do get stuck as "the data guy" if you know it well. I lat-moved from artillery, so I never had to deal with being a dumb comm Lt. I was a dumb Arty Lt. As you get higher in rank, all you generally do data anyway, because that what happens primarily at higher echelons. I currently work in Albany, GA overseeing the care and feeding of several logistics programs. What care and feeding do you need to do on programs you say? You need to keep the accredited (ensuring they are vulnerability free so they can be put on or kept on the network), you need to coordinate the efforts of Field Support Representatives (civilian contractors who work with the Marines to train them, trouble shoot problems, and ensure the servers are set up properly), and work on improvements to the system.
Dallas, GA
I saw "Dallas" and was about to say, "oh, cool" (I grew up in Dallas - in Texas) then I noticed the "GA". So I said, "Good to go - wonder where that is". Found out it's north west of Atlanta and pretty far from Albany.
Attached is a picture of Headquarters Platoon (I assume A CO) taken in Feudenheim, Germany. 1SGT Grady E. Duke is second row, 2nd man reading right to left.
