Hi, thanks for the information, I really appreciate it.
To answer your questions:
1. what unit did he train with in the states and did he ship to England with them?
Well, he speaks of the 185th Engineer Combat Battalion.
This unit is also marked on his field manuals and such.
Since this unit was in 5th Army which served in the MTO, I don't believe he went overseas with it.
My guess is that he went as reinforcement to England, to be put in one of the Engineer outfits destined for Operation Overlord (112th?).
He speaks of his unit being attached to 29th Division, so I guess it rules out the Special Engineer Brigade (?).
2. What duties was he assigned when he was with the 981st EMC?
I think he had light duties there as he was recovering from combat injuries.
He got shot up pretty bad in arm, leg, and back while in France.
This explains him being transferred to the 26th Division as a BAR-gunner.
Here is a quote from his letters to me:
I had just turned 18 in October 1943 when I was drafted and went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina (this is close to Charlotte) and was with 981 Combat Engineers. Took basic training there and then went to Camp Ellis, Illinois (by Maxton) for specialized training in destroying pillboxes, barb wire set ups and all types of explosives etc.Was sent to Camp Carson, Colorado for the final bit of training and then over to Europe (England) where we landed at Bournemouth and had some more special training.
We were attached to 29th Infantry Division and were 3rd wave on D-Day. Our job was insane; we were to clear the way through the minefields and pillboxes and obstacles so the infantry could advance. We finally made it but lost a lot of guys in the process.
Went all through the war, the breakout at St. Lô and all the way across France. The hedgerows of France really cost us a lot of casualties.
Our outfit was in the area close to the town of Nancy, France, when it was broken up; this was around December 10 or 12 and I was sent to 26th Division (328th Infantry Regiment, A Company), others to 29th Division and 90th.
The towns of Rambrouch, Grosbois, Bavignie and Wiltz, Fischbach are the general area I was in in the Bulge.
Around the middle of January we were sent to Saarlauteren, Germany to break through an important town in the Siegfried Line and after that the race across Germany.
When the war ended we were in the town of Oberheid, Czechoslovakia and guarded some SS-prisoners for a while, then Division was sent home. I didn’t have enough points of service in months to go home and had to stay and finally returned to the US April 1946.
The weapons I used in the Bulge were the 30 cal BAR which I carried all over Belgium and Luxembourg and it was heavy 17 ½ lbs plus 1 ½ lbs per 20 round clip. I carried 15 clips plus all the other stuff.
I used the bazooka, satchel charges of explosives, hand grenades and plastic composition C explosives, personnel mines and AT mines.
Erwin