12 hours ago, Tom Bryant said:
My name is Tom Bryant, my father Pvt John Franklin Brant was in the 258th Combat Engineers during WWII. The unit trained in Hattiesburg, MS before going to Europe. I have a picture of the outfit. I remember dad talking about the day they crossed the Rhine but I cannot remember where he crossed. I am looking for anyone that might have information on that. My dad was born in 1912 and passed away five years ago. If anyone has any suggestions how I can get more information on my dad or his outfit crossing the Rhine I would really appreciate that.
Hello Tom, and warmest welcome to you here on the forum. I'll try and help you out a little bit here with the Rhine River crossing. The 258th Engineer Combat Battalion was assigned to XVI Corps which was supporting the 30th Infantry Division in the Rhine River assault which began at 0100 hours on 24 March 1945. This was apart of what was code named "Operation Plunder".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plunder
They crossed in the area north of Rheinberg with the regiments of the 30 Infantry Division as soon here on this map.
Here is a link to a 258th ECB After Action Report for the Month of March 1945 giving more detail of their Rhine River crossing.
http://www.oldhickory30th.com/RhineCrossing258Eng.pdf
Hope this has helped you out some Tom, we are certainly glad to have you here with us. We would love to see any photos or info that you might want to share with us.
Have a good one,
Randy