info on 363rd and 369th Engineers

[Walt's Daughter]

Oh, good answer, good answer! I should have known. We have the same city veins running through us. Watch out world, we're taking over the forum... :pdt40:

[Custermen]

I'm from and still live in Detroit!

Cool. During the recent reunion that I attended, I learned that the DI pin for the 339th Infantry Regiment contained the flag/or/shield for Le Sieur Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, the French founder of Detroit. The 339th Regiment was organized at Camp Custer, MI, and went off to WW1 as "Detroit's Own" but returned with the name of "The Polar Bears".

In the upper LH corner of the DI is a small square with 3 "merletts" on a field of yellow; two birds over a horizontal black bar and one below it.

 

Just thought you would like to know.

Steve

[Walt's Daughter]

This is the history of the 369th Engineer Regiment

369th Engineer Regiment.pdf

[Walt's Daughter]

I received this today and was able to supply her with the document in the above post! YEAH!

 

Marion-

Greetings from central Nebraska. I am working on an article for our local newspaper in Sutherland for a tribute for Veterans Day…One of my vets served with the 369th Engineer Battalion..he was killed in action 29 Apr 1945 and is buried at Lorraine Cemetary at St Avold..I am unable to locate what Division the 369th was with..I keep getting directed to the 369th Regiment, which is not correct…he was fighting in France at the time of his death…Could you possibly offer me any guidance or suggestions on alternative routes to find this information…Our local Veterans Service Officer does not have any documention on this soldier that would offer me this info either…thank you so much for dedicating your self to the maintenance of this history…it is truly a gift and greatly appreciated! You can email me at ...

 

Kelli Kaps

[SonofaMP]

I think the unit Kelli is looking for is the 369th Engineer Combat Battalion. not much online on this unit but i did find this on the lineage of the 369th Engineer Boat & Shore Regiment:

 

369th ENGINEER BOAT AND SHORE REGIMENT Constituted 19 October 1944 in the Army of the United States as the 369th Engineer Combat Battalion and organized 31 December 1944 from personnel of the 215th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion at Marignone, France. The unit was at Oberhausen, Germany at the end of World War II (15 August 1945 location). Served in the Army of Occupation of Germany from 2 May-29 September 1945. Returned to the United States via the New York Port of Embarkation on 14 November 1945. Inactivated 16 November 1945 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. Redesignated 369th Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment (less 2d Battalion) and allotted to the Organzied Reserves on 26 October 1946; concurrently, 158th Engineer Combat Battalion redesignated 2d Battalion. CAMPAIGN PARTICIPATION CREDIT World War II: Rhineland Central Europe DECORATIONS None

 

The records for the 215th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion & the 369th Engineer Combat Battalion are available at the Eisenhower library.

 

http://www.eisenhower.utexas.edu/Research/finding_aids/pdf/US_Army_Unit_Records_Index.pdf

[SonofaMP]

I found an obit for Edward Rhoades Badger; "Mr. Badger served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army 369th Engineer Combat Battalion, in Europe during World War II, in General Patton's Third Army Group."

 

The 369th Engineer Combat Battalion Constituted 19 October 1944 in the Army of the United States as the 369th Engineer Combat Battalion and organized 31 December 1944 from personnel of the 215th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion at Marignone, France.

 

215th AAA Gun Bn organized 20 Jan 1943, parent unit & location unknown.

215th was part of the 31st AAA Brigade, date & location unit joined the 31st unknown.

Activities of the 31st AAA Brigade can be found at:

http://www.airdefenseartillery.com/online/2010/Coast%20Artillery%20Journal/Extract/CA%201948/Jan-Feb%201948.pdf

31st AAA Brigade arrived Oran, North Africa 13 May 1943, assigned to 5th Army, moved to Constantine, Algeria 1 June 43, moved to Hammamet, Tunisia 9 -14 July 43,btwn 31 Oct & 19 Nov 43 moved to Sardinia & Corsica. Landed at St. Tropaz, Southern France on D+7 (August 22, 44) relieved the 105th AAA Group in control of the beach defences. Moved to Marseilles set up defences of Marseilles, Toulon, & Port de Bouc.

 

No locations for the 215th AAA Gun Bn are mentioned in the 31st Brigade accounts.

The 215th`s only campaign credit for Rome-Arno shows they were on Sardinia/Corsica but no credit for Southern France tells me they probably stayed on Sardinia/Corsica & were later moved to France to be converted to the 369th ECB.

 

The 215th AAA Gun Battalion was disbanded on 31 Dec 1944 and reorganized as the 369th Engineer Combat Battalion on 31 Dec 1944 at Marignone, France.

Apparently the 369th ECB was assigned to Third Army according to Mr Badgers obit.

 

Being a converted unit, the 369th was most likey placed in an Engineer Group under Army control, or possibly assigned to a Corps, but not under any infantry division except temporarily for possibly in support of a river crossing.

 

The 369th ECB has campiagn credits for Central Europe & Rhineland & Occupation duty Germany 2 May - 29 Sept 1945. The unit was at Oberhausen, Germany at the end of World War II (15 August 1945 location).

[SonofaMP]

I found some info on the 363rd Engineers, the lack of information on this unit is due to the fact they served in a forgotten theater of the war...Iran.

The proper designation for them is the 363rd Engineer Special Service Regiment.

In Iran they were under The Persian Gulf Command which operated the vital supply route for Lend-Lease war materials going to Russia.

The 363rd Engineer Special Service Regiment duties took in supervision of pipelines, water filtration and sewer systems, and maintenance of supplies for utilities.

 

Also in Iran under the Persian Gulf Command was the 334th Engineer Special Service Regiment who worked on & maintained the roads & railroad.

 

Some other units in the command were Railway Operating Battalions, Ordinace Heavy maintainance Companies, several Quartermaster Truck Companies, & the 19th Station Hospital.

 

There were only about 7 Engineer Special Service Regiments formed in WWII. They were Staffed with highly skilled construction men & were well equipt to handle large infrastructure projects. Most regiments were activated at Camp Claiborne, La.

 

The other Engineer Special Service Regiments i found:

 

333rd Engineer Special Service Regiment, has campaign credits for Normandy & Northern France. They were assigned to Southern Base Engineer Group 2 which was formed in the European Theater of Operations United States Army on 1

August 1943.

 

361st Special Services Engineer Regiment has Campaign Credit for Rhineland.

 

369th Engineer Special Service Regiment, history .pdf posted in prior post.

the regiment went to Guadalcanal and soon after were re-designated as the

1394th Engineer Construction Battalion.

 

1007th Engineer Special Service Battalion (Barge Contruction) served in India/ Burma

 

330th Engineer Special Service Regiment, activated as a Special Service Regiment, Redsignated a General Service Regiment during training at Camp Claiborne.

 

332nd Engineer Special Service Regiment, activated as a Special Service Regiment, Redsignated a General Service Regiment during training at Camp Claiborne.

 

393rd Engineer Special Service Regiment, no info.

[pdfenzel]

I found an obit for Edward Rhoades Badger; "Mr. Badger served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army 369th Engineer Combat Battalion, in Europe during World War II, in General Patton's Third Army Group."

 

The 369th Engineer Combat Battalion Constituted 19 October 1944 in the Army of the United States as the 369th Engineer Combat Battalion and organized 31 December 1944 from personnel of the 215th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion at Marignone, France.

 

215th AAA Gun Bn organized 20 Jan 1943, parent unit & location unknown.

215th was part of the 31st AAA Brigade, date & location unit joined the 31st unknown.

Activities of the 31st AAA Brigade can be found at:

http://www.airdefens...an-Feb 1948.pdf

31st AAA Brigade arrived Oran, North Africa 13 May 1943, assigned to 5th Army, moved to Constantine, Algeria 1 June 43, moved to Hammamet, Tunisia 9 -14 July 43,btwn 31 Oct & 19 Nov 43 moved to Sardinia & Corsica. Landed at St. Tropaz, Southern France on D+7 (August 22, 44) relieved the 105th AAA Group in control of the beach defences. Moved to Marseilles set up defences of Marseilles, Toulon, & Port de Bouc.

 

No locations for the 215th AAA Gun Bn are mentioned in the 31st Brigade accounts.

The 215th`s only campaign credit for Rome-Arno shows they were on Sardinia/Corsica but no credit for Southern France tells me they probably stayed on Sardinia/Corsica & were later moved to France to be converted to the 369th ECB.

 

The 215th AAA Gun Battalion was disbanded on 31 Dec 1944 and reorganized as the 369th Engineer Combat Battalion on 31 Dec 1944 at Marignone, France.

Apparently the 369th ECB was assigned to Third Army according to Mr Badgers obit.

 

Being a converted unit, the 369th was most likey placed in an Engineer Group under Army control, or possibly assigned to a Corps, but not under any infantry division except temporarily for possibly in support of a river crossing.

 

The 369th ECB has campiagn credits for Central Europe & Rhineland & Occupation duty Germany 2 May - 29 Sept 1945. The unit was at Oberhausen, Germany at the end of World War II (15 August 1945 location).

My father, Alfred Fenzel, was a 1st Lt. in the 215th AAA when they shipped out to North Africa in 1943. They arrived safely in Casablanca, but the ship carrying their guns was torpedoed by a U-Boat. They had to wait a few weeks before new AAA guns arrived. After North Africa the 215th landed in Sicily at Porto Empedocle just south of Agrigento. One reason he was able to land his guns so quickly is that the transport's Captain went to the same high school in Brooklyn, St. Michael's Prep. They quickly moved north through Agrigento, so quickly that the batallion commander was chewed out by Gen. Patton for getting on the road ahead of Patton's 7th Army, which landed east of Agrigento and had to march west before heading north. One comical event occurred during the advance to Palermo. Three guys from th 215th encountered a pretty young mother who was in tears. She wept because her freedom loving husband, who loved Roosevelt and America, was held in the Carbinieri's jail nearby. Well those three knuckleheads believed her, and staged an armed jailbreak, releasing the freedom loving citizen, who turned out to be the head of the local black market. The town mayor and Chief of Police wrote a formal complaint to my father who commanded the nearest company of the 215th. (My father kept the letter and I read it a few weeks ago.) They demanded the arrest of the perpetrators of the jailbreak. Dad had his First Sgt. bring the three culprits to him to hear their tale, and later told the Carbinieri and the Mayor to come back the next day. The next morning the entire company was lined up in full battle dress with helmets, packs, and weapons. Dad said to the mayor, "Pick 'em out." which they obviously could not do, so they left very unhappily but without any recourse. The three knuckleheads were assigned latrine duty for a week.

[Walt's Daughter]

Great stories there. Really enjoyed reading your post today, especially the jail break out escapade! Ah, sounds like American GI's!

 

Welcome to the forum.

[CaptO]

That does sound like American GIs! Funny story!