ok, My name is Dwayne, Im new to this site. I have spent alot of time searching my Grandfather, and came uup with some possibilities but cannot confirm anything. I have his discharge paper however the last Unit assigned to is not the Unit he served with during his time overseas. The last none organization he belonged to was the 434 AAF Base Unit, cant find anything on that. I do know he was in the Engineers, for on his disharge paper states contstruction Machine operator -359. I have a welcome home book of a bunch of Veterans that gives a little Bio of them even though its not official Document but im sure it still holds some Value of history. In the Book it says assigned to the 21st Engineers Bn Construction (seperate). He did go to Iceland Jan 1942. What I learned is that the 21st was an Aviation engineer Unit in Iceland and later changed to the 824th EAB. Id like to find a Roster confirming this, however Im sure there were other Engineer units in Iceland as well. I have no evidence of this but a part of me thinks he was with a General service Engineer Unit as well.
He stayed in Iceland till 30 May1944 arrived in England 2 June 1944, then left England 30 June 1944 enrout to France and arrived 1 July 1944 then left to go back to the States in Dec 1944, than was stationed at Hamilton field (434 Base Unit) California released 22 June 1945. Im looking for some help Confirming as to what Unit he may have belonged with during time in France. I do have pics with him and two other Soldiers, maybe someone here can Identify others. Anyhow, his name is Hamilton C Snell, SN 33012264, He was a Sgt when He got out. We do not have any other official Record of him, he died in 1963 and the State took alot of his belongings and due to the fire in 1973 I am SOL. Can I get this guy in a Unit so he could fit in? The Guy sitting is my Granpa, the Guy behind him his name is Regis J Mrosek from Pittsburg Pa area. He to is deceased! The one with him and a lady, she is a woman from France, I think Paris.
Wow, so many new faces this month. It's great. Pleasure meeting you here.
Love the photos and may have some info for you. Am going to send you over to David Little who runs a great Aviation engineer website. I hope he can help you. While he doesn't have the 824th listed, he still my be able to offer some assistance. The web is:
I have his discharge paper however the last Unit assigned to is not the Unit he served with during his time overseas. The last none organization he belonged to was the 434 AAF Base Unit, cant find anything on that.
Many times the men were discharged with another unit who was shipping out. That happened many times, especially with the smaller units. Kind of aggravating, the way it works. You think the army would list the unit he actually served with. Frustrating isn't it?
I'm also going to put you in touch with Michael Brodhead and Professor David Ulbrich. I will send you their email addys in a few minutes. Michael works at the Army Corps of Engineer's Office of History. David works at Fort Leonard Wood. Let's see what happens.
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
ok, My name is Dwayne, Im new to this site. I have spent alot of time searching my Grandfather, and came uup with some possibilities but cannot confirm anything. I have his discharge paper however the last Unit assigned to is not the Unit he served with during his time overseas. The last none organization he belonged to was the 434 AAF Base Unit, cant find anything on that. I do know he was in the Engineers, for on his disharge paper states contstruction Machine operator -359. I have a welcome home book of a bunch of Veterans that gives a little Bio of them even though its not official Document but im sure it still holds some Value of history. In the Book it says assigned to the 21st Engineers Bn Construction (seperate). He did go to Iceland Jan 1942. What I learned is that the 21st was an Aviation engineer Unit in Iceland and later changed to the 824th EAB. Id like to find a Roster confirming this, however Im sure there were other Engineer units in Iceland as well. I have no evidence of this but a part of me thinks he was with a General service Engineer Unit as well.
He stayed in Iceland till 30 May1944 arrived in England 2 June 1944, then left England 30 June 1944 enrout to France and arrived 1 July 1944 then left to go back to the States in Dec 1944, than was stationed at Hamilton field (434 Base Unit) California released 22 June 1945. Im looking for some help Confirming as to what Unit he may have belonged with during time in France. I do have pics with him and two other Soldiers, maybe someone here can Identify others. Anyhow, his name is Hamilton C Snell, SN 33012264, He was a Sgt when He got out. We do not have any other official Record of him, he died in 1963 and the State took alot of his belongings and due to the fire in 1973 I am SOL. Can I get this guy in a Unit so he could fit in? The Guy sitting is my Granpa, the Guy behind him his name is Regis J Mrosek from Pittsburg Pa area. He to is deceased! The one with him and a lady, she is a woman from France, I think Paris.
Thanks for the quick responce. I have looked in Mr Little's site. Its an awesome site I might add. If I had to guess which EAB I would bet the 818th EAB or the 925th EAR. I picked them based off the dates they went into France. As I said My Grandfather left England 30 June 1944 arrived in France 1 July 1944. I understand there are errors on the discharge papers so Im basing in approximate time. I read that 818th Arrived 30th June but a group of that Unit was delayed and landed on the 2nd July 1944. The 925th arrived on the date as stated. I looked on their Rosters and pictures and could not find My granpas name. I consider that its possible he got transferred to any of these Units late and perhaps thats why I dnt see anything. Im sure there are so many Rosters and the ones he posted could be early Rosters. Anyhow, I thank you for the assistance and this site is really awesome as well, I look forward to chatting with you all
Our pleasure. We are here to assist. Brings me lots of joy!!!
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
What an exceptionally handsome man your grandfather was! I enjoyed the photos, especially the one with the woman because it looks like he has such joy on his face and as if he was caught in a moment of laughter....
Sometimes you see a photo that captures your imagination, and that photo does that for me.
I second that. Your grandfather was a real catch! Would have caught my eye back then.
Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
Hi Dwayne, welcome to the forum. We`ll sure try to help you solve your research puzzle. It may take awhile so stick with us, you have a lot of good clues and there will tons of sources & records to check.
A couple of things i would suggest is go to a local Library & search newspapers of the time frame, newspapers usualy had some mention of the local boys in WWII.
Another is to contact the local VA Hospital, they may have a copy of his records.
I dont have much time to do a lot of research at the moment, but i found a few things that will help.
The 434th AAF Base Unit was located in Santa Rosa, California, & i think Hamilton Field was close to there.
I wondered why a 23 yr old would be sent back to the States in Dec of `44 unless he was a casualty, but in a Nov `44 report of the 818th EAB there appears to have been a normal rotation back to the States of men that had served in Iceland.
The 21st Engineers was a full regiment in `41, The Reg went from the US direct to the Invasion of North Africa in Nov `42 & serve in NoAf, & Italy for the war.
2 Companies of this Regiment did go to Iceland in `41
I find nothing on a 21st Eng Const BN (separate).
Now for Iceland:
On & July `41, 2 Companies of the 21st Eng Aviation Regiment landed at Rykjavik, Iceland with the first group of Task Force 4 of the 33 Pursuit Squadron.
These 2 Companies were soon redesignated as the 824th EAB.
The second group of Task Force 4 landed 16 Sept `41 and include 2 Battalions of the 5th Eng Combat Regiment.
The 7th Eng Combat Battalion, organic to the 5th Infantry Div. landed in May `42.
Any part of the above units could have landed in Jan when your granddad did.
for now, here is a website for the IX Engineer Command that has a tremendous amount of information on Eng Aviation units including monthly operation reports & histories:
Hi Dwayne, welcome to the forum. We`ll sure try to help you solve your research puzzle. It may take awhile so stick with us, you have a lot of good clues and there will tons of sources & records to check.
A couple of things i would suggest is go to a local Library & search newspapers of the time frame, newspapers usualy had some mention of the local boys in WWII.
Another is to contact the local VA Hospital, they may have a copy of his records.
I dont have much time to do a lot of research at the moment, but i found a few things that will help.
The 434th AAF Base Unit was located in Santa Rosa, California, & i think Hamilton Field was close to there.
I wondered why a 23 yr old would be sent back to the States in Dec of `44 unless he was a casualty, but in a Nov `44 report of the 818th EAB there appears to have been a normal rotation back to the States of men that had served in Iceland.
The 21st Engineers was a full regiment in `41, The Reg went from the US direct to the Invasion of North Africa in Nov `42 & serve in NoAf, & Italy for the war.
2 Companies of this Regiment did go to Iceland in `41
I find nothing on a 21st Eng Const BN (separate).
Now for Iceland:
On & July `41, 2 Companies of the 21st Eng Aviation Regiment landed at Rykjavik, Iceland with the first group of Task Force 4 of the 33 Pursuit Squadron.
These 2 Companies were soon redesignated as the 824th EAB.
The second group of Task Force 4 landed 16 Sept `41 and include 2 Battalions of the 5th Eng Combat Regiment.
The 7th Eng Combat Battalion, organic to the 5th Infantry Div. landed in May `42.
Any part of the above units could have landed in Jan when your granddad did.
for now, here is a website for the IX Engineer Command that has a tremendous amount of information on Eng Aviation units including monthly operation reports & histories:
Thanks Larry, You have a lot of good ideas, Ill have to look into the Library one. Everything you explained I have read as for the 21st, but you made more sense out of it. Thanks to this site, I learned what the name of the ship he was on during 15th Jan 1942, I looked on a site and typed in dates from Ny to Icleand and the USS Delta (Cargo) ship and the USS borinquen (troops) ship both went on a Convoy to Iceland and beside them it says 10.1, Im assuming it was Ten days and maybe an hour or two total of time. I didnt see no manifest but hey, Now I know what ship I think he was on. I did look on the site you mentioned above, in fact I looked closely at all the EAB's and their Reports. Some didnt have any or it seems some reports may be missing and some just arent complete yet. You mentioned 818th the clue you mentioned I have seen and Ive been holding on to that possibility thats why I hold on to them. I like to mention on that site, there was a picture of 4 Soldiers doing KP 2 kneeling and 2 standingand holding a trey, I took the one pic of my grandpa standing in Iceland and compared to one of the four soldiers and they look alot alike. It had me scracting my head, they were from the 834th EAB. One thing is my grandfather had a Mole on his forehead that helps identify him in hopes to find some pics online to match. Anyway to explain him coming home early I do know he was collecting a pension from the Government from an Article of him going to court back in the day. It would be awesome to have some of these morning reports I here about. Too bad they dont post them online. I believe I emailed this guy Dave and never got a responce. I do want to say thanks to all of you to the Ladies complitmenting my grandpa, thank you. Ill take that with pride and joy
He stayed in Iceland till 30 May1944 arrived in England 2 June 1944, then left England 30 June 1944 enrout to France and arrived 1 July 1944 then left to go back to the States in Dec 1944, than was stationed at Hamilton field (434 Base Unit) California released 22 June 1945. Im looking for some help Confirming as to what Unit he may have belonged with during time in France. I do have pics with him and two other Soldiers, maybe someone here can Identify others. Anyhow, his name is Hamilton C Snell, SN 33012264, He was a Sgt when He got out. We do not have any other official Record of him, he died in 1963 and the State took alot of his belongings and due to the fire in 1973 I am SOL. Can I get this guy in a Unit so he could fit in? The Guy sitting is my Granpa, the Guy behind him his name is Regis J Mrosek from Pittsburg Pa area. He to is deceased! The one with him and a lady, she is a woman from France, I think Paris.
