292nd Engineer Combat Battalion (New Member)

[kstuiber]

 

 

Kent your pictures are great, thanks for sharing them with us. I find it interesting in the first picture the soldier in the middle is wearing an Army Air Forces patch on his left sleeve. Have a good one!

 

Randy

 

 

 

 

Randy,

 

That is interesting. Perhaps the picture is from a local watering-hole where soldiers would socialize ?

 

Kent

[kstuiber]

 

Nice catch there Ralph, I missed that one! I don't think there is any doubt about that being a 44th Infantry Division patch on Kent's father's uniform. I looked at my Stanton's book this evening and it shows the 63rd ECB and the 104th ECB belonging to the 44th ID, maybe he was originally attached to one of these units before being assigned to the 292nd. Perhaps Kent might be able to shed some light on it.

 

Randy

 

Hello Randy,Ralph,

 

I noticed that too. That could be the case since he joined in March 1943 and the 292nd was formed in November of 1943.

Perhaps the picture is from boot camp graduation before he joined the 292nd ?

 

I just found the national archives webpage for requesting veterans records: http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/index.html

 

I'm going to see if I can get a copy of his personnel file. Maybe that will give me a better picture of how he came to be in the 292nd.

 

Kent

[buk2112]

 

Randy,

 

That is interesting. Perhaps the picture is from a local watering-hole where soldiers would socialize ?

 

Kent

 

Kent,

 

I would say you are correct about it being a local watering hole. I don't recognize the labels on the bottles as being domestic, perhaps this from his time in England?

 

Randy

[buk2112]

 

Hello Randy,Ralph,

 

I noticed that too. That could be the case since he joined in March 1943 and the 292nd was formed in November of 1943.

Perhaps the picture is from boot camp graduation before he joined the 292nd ?

 

I just found the national archives webpage for requesting veterans records: http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/index.html

 

I'm going to see if I can get a copy of his personnel file. Maybe that will give me a better picture of how he came to be in the 292nd.

 

Kent

 

Kent,

 

If the NPRC still has your father's complete personnel file, it will most certainly answer any questions you may have about his service. Don't know if you have read on the website about the infamous fire of July 1973 that occurred there. Roughly 85% of all the Army and Army Air Forces personnel files stored there at the time were destroyed. Not to discourage you, just be prepared that they may not have anything left of your father's file. You definitely should try though,some files survived intact and pieces of some files were recovered. The only thing they had on my grandfather's file was a copy of his final pay voucher, it wasn't much but was still pretty cool to have.

 

Randy

[Tony's Boy]

Folks,

 

Thanks to Ken (aka Tony's Boy) the scan of one of the platoons of A Company using the photo that his family has and is in much better shape then the one my family has is complete (see attached image). Here is a link to a much higher res version (7000 x 2838):

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ghnJbeN7Qkem1LTmxaM2F4NTA/view?usp=sharing

 

Anyone interested in an even larger version can message me and I'll make it available. Just a heads up, this ultra high res version is 30000 x 12164 resolution and is around 50 megs.

 

Later, Friends,

 

Gary

Gary,

Thanks for doing this teamwork has paid off on this one. I hope everyone can enjoy a version of this if they had been seeking this out.

 

Warm wishes,

 

Ken

[Sir Gator]

Gary,

Thanks for doing this teamwork has paid off on this one. I hope everyone can enjoy a version of this if they had been seeking this out.

 

Warm wishes,

 

Ken

Ken,

 

Teamwork is the name of the game, my friend! I look forward to seeing you again to return your family treasure.

 

Gary

[Sir Gator]

It was a pleasure collaborating with Ken this week. He took a leap of faith in allowing me to borrow his family treasure for scanning and I thank him so much. I look forward to more collaboration with Ken and any and all others interested in our common interests.

 

Gary

[Walt's Daughter]

 

Kent,

 

If the NPRC still has your father's complete personnel file, it will most certainly answer any questions you may have about his service. Don't know if you have read on the website about the infamous fire of July 1973 that occurred there. Roughly 85% of all the Army and Army Air Forces personnel files stored there at the time were destroyed. Not to discourage you, just be prepared that they may not have anything left of your father's file. You definitely should try though,some files survived intact and pieces of some files were recovered. The only thing they had on my grandfather's file was a copy of his final pay voucher, it wasn't much but was still pretty cool to have.

 

Randy

Ah remember, there are other places that can provide the info that NARA in St Louis had.

 

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/engforum/index.php?showtopic=23

 

Just want to make sure that peeps know they have other options.

[Sir Gator]

Ah remember, there are other places that can provide the info that NARA in St Louis had.

 

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/engforum/index.php?showtopic=23

 

Just want to make sure that peeps know they have other options.

Absolutely! There are a ton of resources and information provided by Marion on this site, folks!

 

Gary

[rwrich51]

It's definitely an interesting dilemma. When it comes to the medical detachment, I can find no information on the members having any kind of white uniform and it would seem that they wore was pretty much what other members of the unit wore. Here's an informative page about WW2 Hospitals and medical personnel:

 

http://www.mtaofnj.org/content/WWII%20Combat%20Medic%20-%20Dave%20Steinert/wwii_medical_department.htm

 

The jackets that they wear seem more like lab or work coats and they are not wearing ties as all others are. The trousers seem to be white (although that could be from over exposure due to the white shirts) and the headgear seems to be the same as the other soldiers. It seems as though they are wearing some kind of work uniform so could this be a KP uniform or maybe an Orderly uniform for a hospital? Questions, questions...

 

Gary

I read on Wikipedia today that WW2 army companies all had 1 mess sergeant and 4 cooks so that might explain our 5 men dressed in white......Ralph