253rd Engineer Combat Battalion

[Walt's Daughter]

Dear Mrs. Chard:

 

I happened to come across your fine web site tonight while searching for

information on the 253rd Combat Engineers. Unfortunately, I can't find this

unit listed anywhere. I'd like to find some vets from that BN because I have

a 30 minute 8mm film of their tour of duty. The film was shot by one of the

vets during his time with the BN. I bought the film on ebay last year and

have transferred it to video and would like to give free copies to anyone

from that unit that I can locate.

 

Dr. Michael Brodhead at the USA CofE Office of History looked the unit up

and sent me the following information:

> The only information I could find on the 253rd Engineer Combat Battalion is

> from a reference work entitled Order of Battle, U. S. Army, World War II, by

> Shelby L. Stanton, p. 574; The battalion was formed 15 October 1943 at Camp

> Crowder, Missouri; sailed from the New York Port of Embarkation 31 October

> 1944, arriving in England 8 November 1944; arrived in France 26 December 1944;

> participated in the Alsace-Ardennes, Central Europe, and Rhineland campaigns;

> was at Ulm, Germany in August 1945; arrived in the U. S. at the New York Port

> of Embarkation 9 April 1946 and was inactivated there the following day.

 

The film begins with scenes at the camp where these men went through basic

training and then follows them on weekend passes at (I believe)

Hopkinsville, KY. It then shows camp scenes but I don't know which camp. If

the town was indeed, Hopkinsville, KY, then Camp Campbell, KY would make

sense.

 

Then, the film shows the men in Europe. Some scenes are at Ulm, Germany and

that fits with the description above. Other locations include the Danube

River, Heidelburg, and Paris, where the unit was getting ready to come home.

There are scenes of guarding German POW's, a crashed airplane, traveling in

convoys, and several small towns where they stopped for chow, etc. It's

actually one man's film of his buddies and their travels in WWII.

 

The seller I bought it from on ebay had no idea as to the original

photographer so the trail was cold right from the start. This isn't an

academy award winner but I'm sure any living vets of the 253rd Combat

Engineers would love to have a copy.

 

Any assistance you can provide about that unit would be a great help.

If you can find any information, I'll send you a copy.

 

Thanks for your consideration.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jim Herron

Email: hrvideo@mindspring.com

Address: 2016 N. Village Ave., Tampa, FL 33612

Phone: 813 932-3887