Son of a 393d Engineer S.S. vet

[Walt's Daughter]

The 393rd would have been an independent or "bastard" unit, as they called them in WWII. Simply put, the unit acted on its own and was NOT part of a division. There were many units like this during the war, including my dad's, 540th Engineer Combat Regiment. They were often assigned to other units, such as the 3rd, 36th, and 45th Inf Divs. Sometimes they were simply under the COMMAND of VI Corps or the 5th or 7th Armies.

 

Other engineer units were permanently part a division or ORGANIC to that unit. To give you an example, the 10th Engineers were organic to the 3rd Infantry Division.

 

As with my dad, he had other patches due to the fact they were attached to infantry, tank or airborne units. Hope that helps.