Members of the 1264th Combat Engineers Co. B.

[Walt's Daughter]

Some good news Dwight. Here's what I have and will send you an email (via your friend Ruth at the library) with their private contact information. This is what I have copied from my GMail Contact List:

 

John Payne:

My dad was in the 1264th Engineer Combat Battalion so I grew up on stories of his war experiences. He died in 1999 so now I am honoring his memory by researching the history behind those stories. I recently found his copy of the Report on Construction of Dual Carriage-way Bailey Barge Bridge Across the Rhine River at Bad Godesberg, Germany which details the construction of the Hodges Bridge.

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Sam Wilson:

My name is Sam Wilson, my father was a CE in WWII. I have his class A uniform, and thought I had him traced to the 100th ID, 325 CE. However, after talking to my oldest brother earlier today, I found a man living less than two blocks from me that served with my father in the 1264th ECB. I found your site on a google search, and found a lot of info in just a few minutes. However, none of it seems to be directly related to my fathers war experience. I guess I still have thousands of more pages to read, and I think I will find something that will help.

 

Thanks for the opportunity to join. My 26 year old son and 10 year old daughter want to learn more about their grandfather who passed away in 2004.

 

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Scott Wells:

Hello Marion,

 

My Father, who will be 87 on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day, served in the 1264th Combat Engineer Battalion. He was wounded in the Rhineland Campaign and spent 14 months in the hospital. I am 39 so there is quite and age gap. When I was growing up I would often get up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water and I would see a cigerrette burning in the dark. I would turn on the light and get my drink and my Dad would be sitting at the table smoking and not even look up. I would turn off the light and leave him in the dark as I found him. I later in life found out from my Mom that he would wake up with nightmares and sit in the dark. He must have seen hell on Earth to wake up with nightmares still to this day almost 65 years after the fact.

He never has spoken of it, not even to my Mother. He is great man who went to war, spent 14 months in the hospital after he almost lost his life, came home and raised a family and was great to his kids and our Mother. I could live to be 100 yrs old and not be half the man my Father is.

I have a book written by men in his unit in 1945. I read the forward and cried because I finally understood my Dad. These men said that they "were not writing this book for them because they will spend a life time trying to forget what they saw." "They were writing it to the future children of these men who will inevetably ask," "Pop what did you do in the big war?" They went on to say that "Your Dad will never speak of what he saw" so the book was writtten to me and my sisters.

I want to know more about this great man who never speaks of his experience and since I have the book, which chronicals and list all the men from basic in Tx till the end of the war.

 

Thank you for doing this.

 

Proud Son

 

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Floyd Smith (Smitty):

Thanks, Marion, for the quick response. I've been in Orlando FL almost three years, but I was in Southwest Missouri (Joplin) nearly all of my 68 years. I was with Joplin White Trucks, later known as Joplin Freightliner Sales for nearly 40 years as a sales-engineer for custom-built heavy-duty trucks (18 wheelers) and had a personal friend who represented Springfield Brake Co. for many years, Rex Pierce (92 years old), who is mentioned in the Forum as a nearby neighbor [within 6 blocks] of "Sam" who served in the 1264th Engineer Combat Battalion:

 

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/engforum/index.php?showtopic=5939

 

Rex Pierce was a terrific marksman and shooting exhibitionist who I very much admired, and I'd like to be able to contact "Sam" about getting me a way to contact my old friend, Rex Pierce. I was active as a gun safety trainer for youth in the Jaycees back the 1960s and 70s and coached the first International BB Gun Champions at the Grand American Trapshooting Grounds in Vandalia OH in 1966. I have two sons who were each on ensuing championship teams in 1973, 1975, and 1976. Joplin hosted the world championship matches in 1979.

 

I'd appreciate an email address or contact info for "Sam" at the above link if you choose not to allow me to post here. I have a twin brother who served in the Corps of Engineers in the 1965-69 and was in Thailand a year during that time, but I already had two young sons, was employed in an industry with local customers engaged in transporting munitions and was not eligible for the draft when Vietnam broke out.

 

Thanks,

Floyd Smith (Smitty)

 

Then a later letter in March of this year...

 

Yea, I got it fixed. And better yet, M1, I heard from Sam Wilson on the telephone, and I tried to call Rex Pierce, but no answer. Later, about 5 pm here, he phoned me and called me by my first name which I didn't even know he knew. He remembered it from all those years ago. He sounds so young and vibrant at 92. His voice is strong and he's sharp as a tack. He had to go shoot pool or something, so we're going to talk more later. Thank you so much. He says the SPRINGFIELD NEWS-LEADER newspaper had a big write-up recently about his trick shooting and marksmanship skills. I can't wait to find it and read it.

 

I so appreciate what you do, which has enabled me to talk to an old friend I haven't seen in maybe 40 years, that I've known since I was under 20 years old.

 

Thanks again and be blessed,

Floyd Smith (Smitty) "Plain Talker"