292nd Engineers/1149th Combat Grp

[Walt's Daughter]

292nd Engineers

[rwrich51]

My Dad was in A co. in the 292nd. The 292nd is just one of the many co engr. units that will someday be completly forgotten because there is very little written history to be found about them. And worse of all the men who served in them will also be also gone. My dad died in 2004 and with him went the answers of the many questions I never asked

[Walt's Daughter]

The 292nd was one of the battalions that belonged to the 1149th Engineer Combat Group.

 

I have some initial information for them that covers the time period of the Roer River Crossing and the Remagen Bridge in Germany in April 1945. I am scanning it to a PDF file which you can download and save to your hard drive and then print it.

 

I'll keep you posted on anything I find. Good luck!

292nd1149th.pdf

[rwrich51]

Thank you very much.

[Walt's Daughter]

Here is a contact name. Try giving him a buzz.

 

292nd Engr (Combat) Bn

 

Mr. Vernon Gansebom

RR 1, Box 156

Osmond NE 68765-9633

 

ph: 402-748-3864

 

Also try looking at the PINNED topics in my RESEARCH section for other helpful hints. Let me know what else I can do for you.

[Walt's Daughter]

Ah, looks like the story continues after a few years. Love when this happens:

 

Received this email from our latest member:

Hello,

 

My father was a WWII purple heart receipient. I have copies of some paperwork he received while in the Army. I would like to find some information on his unit which was part of the 1149th Engineer Combat Group. My three sons are particularly interested in this information since they were all born after his death and this may help them understand a little better who he was. He was wounded near Waldniel, Germany on March 3, 1945. It appears after his recovery he may have been assigned to a different unit refered to as the 491st Engineer Base Equipment Company. I also have a Letter of Commendation from A.H. Bolling and A.C. Gillem, both Major Generals, and Albert Boehm, Colonel, mentioning the 171st and 292nd Engineer Combat Battalions as well as the 74th Engineer Light Pontoon Company and the 989th Engineer Treadway Bridge Company. I would like to find any available information on my fathers service since many different units are mentioned. I recall as a child him mentioning building bridges and also recall him mentioning the Ruhr River. Both of these are mentioned in the Letter of Commendation. I greatly appreciate any information you can supply.

 

Thanks,

Jeff Blair

 

I directed him to this post, and have found some additional info which I will post shortly...

[Walt's Daughter]

Here's a document which mentions the non-divisional units attached to the 9th Army:

 

http://www.oldhickory30th.com/9th%20Army%2...Div%20Units.pdf

 

Looks like these few pages are taken from a book called

 

Conquer: The Story of the Ninth Army

[Walt's Daughter]

Here's another. It's an after-action report from the 5th Armored Division from March 1945. It mentions the 1149th Engineers:

 

http://www.5ad.org/03_45.html

 

[Walt's Daughter]

Here's a daughter who was looking for info on her dad. Just spotted this. Always worth including, for you never know. Don't know if here email addy is still valid, for this was posted back in 2004.

 

http://66.43.28.32/wwii/messages/13612.html

 

It does list more info for the unit, so even if you can't get in touch with her...

[Walt's Daughter]

Huh, well this is interesting. This is a REFERENCE guide (Operation OVERLORD) which points to documentation for various units, including the 1149th. The document is called:

 

Armed Forces Oral History - World War II Combat Interviews

 

Look at page 46 of this PDF file. It points to the following documents:

 

CI-370 through CI-372

 

According to this reference guide, these materials are located at:

 

Washington National Records Center - Operated by the National Archives (NARA) in Suitland Maryland.

 

If you can get your hands on this docs....well that would really rock!

 

The CI stands for Combat Interviews, but as the user guide points out, the documentation includes narrative histories, operation reports, official journals, etc.

 

I am going to post this reference guide in my RESEARCH section too, since it encompasses a vast number of units. Can't believe I hadn't found this until now. But that is what research is all about. You start out looking for one thing and...