Hey Gary, glad to see you back! Ralph had asked me on the phone yesterday if I had heard anymore from you. I told him no I hadn't, but lo and behold here you are. Sorry that I have not sent the 292nd papers to you yet, I haven't forgotten about it. I will do my best to get that task completed soon. Forward indeed Gary, forward we march!
Randy
Randy,
No problem, my friend. I assure you that I will never disappear from those that I have made contact with here. I look forward to anything you can provide in the way of documentation and will reiterate that as someone who owns a photography company and deals with media every day, I would love to get copies of any and all documentition and photos that ANYONE has to provide, welcoming the opportunity to scan this information with the very high quality scanner that the company has to distribute for any and all. We need to get this information out so that this one of many little documented units does not fade into history.
Randy, here's the image, most likely a company photo, that I spoke of earlier. My family believes that my grandfather started as a mechanic in "A" company and then later was moved to "H&S" due to a shortage of mechanics and then may have moved back to "A" company later. I imagine that this photo was taken before deployment in the Fall/Winter of 1944, but cannot be sure whether it is "A" company or "H&S" company. Clearly, it has some issued having an old burn hole that destroyed the faces of two members along with some fold creases. My grandfather is fourth from the left in the back row. Maybe any and all can take a look to see if you see your relative and this would in turn allow us to determine which company this was for sure. This photo is relatively small compared to the original scan. Here is a link to 4x size version of the image so that you may better zoom into faces:
www.photozealots.com/tempalbums/19440000_292dCombatEngineers_large.jpg
Keep in mind that the file is quite large at 5.5 megabytes. I actually have a version that is 4.5x larger that this one, but at 57 megabytes figured it would be more than what folks needed.
Thanks to all for there time in posting here. We an and should band together so that this unit and these men do not fade into depths of history.
Proud Grandson of Randall Gates
Mechanic, A and H&S Companies, 292nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 1149th Engineer Combat Group