38th Engineer General Service Regiment

[Walt's Daughter]

Larry sent this to me recently...

 

Amphibian Engineers – Special Brigade

 

 

Mr. Parker:

 

Yes, yes, yes! It very well could have been my Father who your Uncle was referring to about the film developing. My Father and his family lived in Bellingham, Washington – the extreme Northwest corner of the state. My father’s parents were Norwegian immigrants who originally homesteaded a farm in Halstad, MN. then later moved to Washington. It was well after the move to Washington when my Father was drafted into service.

 

At what point during his military career he became separated from the 341ST Engineers is unclear to me, but I would think it would have obviously been shortly after the AlCan Highway. He was definitely in Company F, 38TH Amphibious Engineers – Special Brigade who landed on Utah beach, Normandy, France because that’s what his discharge papers say. He described to me that his unit went ashore during the first wave and was heavily involved in very severe combat fighting. Actually, he was in heavy fighting throughout his entire stay in Europe including “The Bulgeâ€. I am almost for certain that I’m not misrepresenting the facts here.

 

If you’ll notice the insigne for the Amphibian Engineers at the top of the page (see below please) , it was the identical patch worn on my Father’s uniform. Whether or not they were “Combat Engineers†is still not completely clear to me – if they weren’t, they were closely associated with them I’m sure. There’s a monument on the beach at Normandy with this same insigne along with another one on the bottom of it which has a red “Seahorse†in it that was dedicated to those units. One of the things my Father told me is that he was specifically trained in demolitions using “Composition C and Bangalore torpedoesâ€. If you ever get the chance to find some of the old Compton’s Encyclopedias, you’ll notice under WWII insigne that the patch my father wore was considered “Special Units or Forcesâ€. They were categorized along with the Rangers and others of specialty.

 

Although there were many who were involved with the AlCan Highway, my hope is that our folks knew each other during this monumental time in history. Mr. Parker, you have my word that I will do my best in the upcoming weeks to find, scan and send you any pictures that I think would have the remotest possibility of having anything to do with your Uncle. I would also appreciate it if you could burn the disc you were referring to earlier and send it to me along with any costs you have spent. I will also gladly pay you for your time associated with these efforts. This means so much to me in finding you and discovering that our folks might have had a connection at some time in history. Thank you so very much for your response and e-mails. If you know or learn anything about the Engineers my Father was associated with, please don’t hesitate to let me know. What would be nice is if I could ever find an official diary or log about Co. F, 38TH Engineers. I suppose I’m wishing for too much. Thank you again and I’ll be sending you some scans from time to time.

 

Sincerely,

Russell H. Kvistad

2432 Madison Drive

Tifton, GA 31793

 

Marion's note: Yes, the image is a patch of the Amphibious Engineers. It is used to denote any amphibious engineer and therefore associated with many units during the war.