Here`s what i found so far Bill.
The Ordnance Evacuation Companies were designed to transport tanks forward to the combat zone and to evacuate unserviceable tanks from the combat zone to repair shops.
They were also used to haul ammunition and clear disabled vehicles from supply roads.
The 974th might have been under the 224th Ordnance Base Group for the Normandy landings.
By the end of July there were three new group headquarters-the 51st, 71st, and 72d. The 51st relieved the 224th. I`ll try and verify this info as soon as i can.
Here`s a .pdf file about the organization and Requirement for Ordnance Recovery Company"
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/eto/eto-096.pdf
More reading here:
Normandy - The Technical Services: Ordnance
it includes this paragraph:
The crews of the forward collecting companies, known as the "Diesel Boys" from their diesel-powered M-19 tank transporters, operated close to the front, often under fire, employing road patrols with wreckers to clear broken-down tanks and vehicles from main routes of advance under severe enemy bombardment. Ernie Pyle, who accompanied crewmen from the 974th Evacuation Company (Collecting) when they retrieved a German tank on the Carentan front one night in July, was impressed by their bravery and skill. He also noted their ability to make themselves comfortable back in the bivouac area, in tents strung out along the hedgerows. One driver even had a feather bed that he had got from a French family. "The average soldier couldn't carry a feather bed around with him, " commented Ernie, "but the driver of an M-19 could carry ten thousand feather beds and never know the difference."
VII Corps Armored Units
3d Armored Group
6th Armored Group
9th Armored Group
10th Armored Group
70th Tank Battalion
705th Tank Battalion
709th Tank Battalion
737th Tank Battalion
738th Tank Battalion
740th Tank Battalion
741st Tank Battalion
743d Tank Battalion
744th Tank Battalion (Light)
745th Tank Battalion
746th Tank Battalion
750th Tank Battalion
759th Tank Battalion (Light)
771st Tank Battalion
774th Tank Battalion
777th Tank Battalion
786th Tank Battalion