I think you are spot on about the ID. If that isn't Demello then it's a twin brother! I don't see him on the original list of enlisted men transferred to the unit from other units when it was formed in November of 1943, but that is not unusual since at least 400 men were transferred early in Feb of 1944. Let me do a little digging to see what I can find. Randy, since you are so good at these types of things please feel free to chime in here.
As for where they were after Germany's surrender... they built POW camps, etc at this time and some one else posted something about this place stating that it was written on the back of their photo, also.
Time to scour some documents!
Gary
Here is Leopold DeMello from the NARA enlistment records.
His enlistment date of 13 January 1944 is very close to my grandfather's 9 January 1944 enlistment. My grandfather's discharge paper states he entered active service on 27 January 1944. After completing basic training (possibly Camp Crowder), I estimate he probably joined the 292nd sometime in March 1944 (darn that 1973 fire!). I would think Leopold DeMello probably joined the unit at around this same time frame.
Thanks for posting Gary. I think there are some different names here we can add to the Company A roster.
Randy
Definitely, Randy! Hopefully we can get more folks doing what Lisa did so that we can do some more comparisons done and IDs made. Add to this additional research and we should be able to ID more of the A Company guys. I've identified a solider from C Company and will be posting the info soon. Maybe you can use what I post and compare it to the C Company photo that you have to see if he is on it?
Talk to you soon, good buddy!
Gary
Gary L. Gates
Proud Grandson of Randall Gates
Mechanic, A and H&S Companies, 292nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 1149th Engineer Combat Group
Here's the guy I spoke of from C Company. Just curious as to whether you can find him in your C Company photo?
Gary
Nice job Gary! I'll check it out and see if I can spot him in the Company C panoramic. I hope to in the near future find out if the Company C photo can be safely removed from it's frame and copied like we had discussed. I would really like to share that with any and all who maybe interested. I never did for certain find Ken's (Tony's Boy) grandfather in the Company A photo, did you ever take a stab at that? Keep up the great work Gary, talk to you soon buddy.
Nice job Gary! I'll check it out and see if I can spot him in the Company C panoramic. I hope to in the near future find out if the Company C photo can be safely removed from it's frame and copied like we had discussed. I would really like to share that with any and all who maybe interested. I never did for certain find Ken's (Tony's Boy) grandfather in the Company A photo, did you ever take a stab at that? Keep up the great work Gary, talk to you soon buddy.
Randy
Agreed, Randy, about the C Company photo. If it can be removed from it's frame then maybe we can enlist Lisa and have it taken to Hampton House for scanning just like the A Company photo? They did such a great job in scanning and duplication that they came to mind. As for Ken's grandfather, I have a few possibilities that I have attached. Many of the faces start to look similar after looking at them for awhile.
Let me know what you think and hopefully Ken will log on and chime in.
Gary
Gary L. Gates
Proud Grandson of Randall Gates
Mechanic, A and H&S Companies, 292nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 1149th Engineer Combat Group
Here's an updated A Company photo with Company Commander Captain Daniel Simpson Leasure identified! Incidentally, there was a question about when this photo was taken. According to unit documentation, Leasure's promotion to captain was announced May 16, 1944. Since he is wearing captain's bars we can be pretty sure it was after this. The C Company photo that Randy has is marked with a date of May 19th, 1944. I'd say we can speculate with decent certainty that the A Company photo was taken at that time, also. Just me thought on this.
Gary L. Gates
Proud Grandson of Randall Gates
Mechanic, A and H&S Companies, 292nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 1149th Engineer Combat Group
I went to the Camp Butner Society museum yesterday. They have next to nothing on the engineers and were pleased to get the Company A photo. Maybe we can get them a Company C eventually. Gary, can you give me a list of the guys you've identified so far? They'd like to have the names to go with the photo.
Right now they have a lot in storage, with a few display items being in a small room. They're raising money to expand. They are collecting items specifically about Butner. However, they do have one campaign map for the 78th Infantry that lists the 303rd Engineers. I didn't take a photo of that. I do have a photo of one little mystery on a hand-made "pillowcase" (new term to me). The "Build - Fight - Destroy" motto sounds like a combat engineers unit, but I think I've found online that the 35th was an infantry division. I don't know how divisions were made up, but it seemed an odd motto for an entire division.
Another pillowcase is for engineers, but no battalion number.
I'll also took some photos of the blueprints for Camp Butner, if anyone is interested. They are not particularly clear, so I won't post them here. The entire place was built in 90 days by a private contractor. There was also a POW camp nearby.
At any rate, the museum is not currently worth going out of your way for, but it should be eventually.
Thanks so much for posting about your trip. Sounds like a work in progress that will eventually be great! Randy and I have talked and he is in the process of determining whether the framed C Company photo that he bought on Ebay can be removed from it's frame without damaging it. If so, I made a suggestion that maybe we could get it to you so that you can get it to Hampton House to do to it what they did with the A Company photo? They did such a great job I thought this would allow the folks with relatives in C Company to get a treasure for their family just as we did. What do you think concerning this, Lisa?
Let me type up a list of who we've Identified thus far and will post it soon so that you can get it to the Camp Butner folks. Lisa, thanks so much for all you've done and for your participation in our discussions. Your participation has enriched what we are trying to do here.
Gary
Gary L. Gates
Proud Grandson of Randall Gates
Mechanic, A and H&S Companies, 292nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 1149th Engineer Combat Group
I don't see him on the original list of enlisted men transferred to the unit from other units when it was formed in November of 1943, but that is not unusual since at least 400 men were transferred early in Feb of 1944. Let me do a little digging to see what I can find. Randy, since you are so good at these types of things please feel free to chime in here.
