On 10/15/2009 at 12:36 PM, Proud Son said:
Hello
My Father was also in the 1264th Combat Engineer Battalion. He also went through Fort Hood Tx. his name is William Edward Wells. We are so fortunate that he is still with us and in great health, despite what the Germans did to him. He will be 87 on Dec 7th of this year. He was originally in the Army Specialist Corp which sent 200 men to the University of Dayton to study engineering for the rebuilding of Europe after the war. Once things escalated he was transferred into the 1264th. He was wounded in the Rhineland campaign and spent 14 months in the hospital. He was out before the bridge at Remagen. He does not speak of it at all with the exception of an occasional funny story. He still has nightmares but is the best example of a good man I have ever known. I'm sure the same thing can be said for your Father. Those men were cut from a better cloth. Our Father's served together and might have known each other. If you would like I will ask him. I also bought a book that was written by men in that unit and was printed in Germany in 1945. I found it in an antique bookstore in FLA. I read the forward and cried. They said " We are not writing this for us because we would like to forget what we saw here." We are writing to the future children of these men who will inevetibly ask, Pop what did you do in the big war?" They went on to say that" ..."And he will never speak of it." They wrote that book to me and you. I gave it to my Dad and the only thing he said is." Whoever said time heals all wounds never saw this stuff, cause some just don't heal. If you want any info from the book I would be happy to get it for anyone. I would love to hear more about your dad.
Hi, I am very interested in the book you mention. Would you be willing to sell or send a copy of it? My dad was a T Sargent in the 1264th and I have very little information besides a few remembered stories. Trying to identify his path through Europe and maybe match a couple photos we have.