I do appreciate your insight and comments about the pin. Perhaps you could enlighten me on some other questions.
In talking to my Mom about her brother George she told me that after Pearl Harbor a friend of his was going to "take the Engineers test" because that was what he thought he wanted to do. So my Uncle decided he would too and Mom (who was in high school) loaned him her math books so he could bone up before taking the test. As it turned out my Uncle was accepted and his friend was not. I suppose his basic and school was done at Ft. Leonard Wood Mo. As I understand it after school he was a part of the 341st Engineers Gen Serv. Regiment.
These questions are for the enlisted engineers:
1. Do you know of any special test for Engineer Candidates or was it just a standard Army entrance exam that determined if they were a candidate for Engineer School or just how did that work?
2. Your page made reference to a technical / mechanical pin. I understand that was probably for the Officer Corps. But were the enlisted given general engineering or were they given any speciality training such as heavy equipment/bridge building/mechanics etc. while at Ft. Leonard Wood?
Any light you could shed will be of a big help in me understanding more about my Uncle. My Mom tries but she doesn't really know.
Thanks, Parker