Nothing 

But Prais

A History of the 1321st E

General Service Regi

By Aldo H. Bagnulo 

Edited by Michael J. Brodhea

Nothing But Praise: A History of the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment EP 870-1-69
Nothing But Praise:

A History of the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment

By Aldo H. Bagnulo

Edited by Michael J. Brodhead
Contents

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Bagnulo Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editorial Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The History of the 1321st Engineers . . . . . . . . Beginnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Training in the Carolinas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Training in Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Return to North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preparing to Deploy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From Boston to Britain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Across the Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eastern France. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . German Advances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Work Near Epinal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spring Offensive into Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leaving France. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To the Pacifi c . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Okinawa, Korea, and the Last Days of the 1321st . . . The Diary of Col. Aldo H. Bagnulo . . . . . . . . . Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

U.S. GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL EDITION NOTICE

Use Of ISBNThis is the Offi cial U.S, Government edition of this publication and is herein identifi ed to certify its authenticity. Use of the ISBN 978-0-16-083672-5 is for the 

U. S. Government Printing Offi ce Offi cial Editions only. The Superintendent of 

Documents of the U.S. Government Printing Offi ce requests that any reprinted edition be labeled clearly as a copy of the authentic work with a new ISBN.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataBagnulo, Aldo H., 1914-2004.

Nothing but praise : a history of the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment / by Aldo H. Bagnulo ; edited by Michael J. Brodhead.

 p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-16-083672-51. United States. Army. Engineer General Service Regiment, 1321st. 2. World War, 1939-1945—Regimental histories—United States. 3. World War, 1939-1945—Campaigns—Western Front. 4. World War, 1939-1945—Campaigns—Pacifi c Area. 5. World War, 1939-1945—Engineering and construction. 6. World War, 1939-1945—Participation, African American. 7. United States. Army.—African American troops—History—20th century. 8. African American soldiers—History—20th century. 9. African American engineers—History—20th century. 10. Military engineers—United States—History—20th century. I. Brodhead, Michael J. II. Title. D769.3351321st .B346 2009 940.54’1273—dc22 2009032420

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Offi ceInternet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free 866-512-1800; DC area 202-512-1800; Fax: 202-512-2104Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402-0001
Foreword

 Over the course of World War II, the U.S. Arm325,000 engineers to the European Theater of Operatithe units that saw action in Europe were fi fty-four enservice regiments. These heavily equipped units, whiattached to fi eld armies or corps headquarters, perforconstruction, road maintenance, or bridge work on thcommunication. During the war, the Army establishesuch regiments, and in keeping with the policy at the were segregated into predominantly white or African units. Twenty-nine of the regiments were composed esoldiers, while the remaining fi fty were African Ame1321st Engineer General Service Regiment was one oAmerican units. Nothing But Praise: A History of the 1321st EngiService Regiment chronicles the training and battlefi e

of one unit that served in Europe during World War Iways, the experiences of the 1321st mirrored those of units—both black and white—that served during the wtraining followed by prolonged deployments overseassaid that Army engineers labored in the shadows of hwhite general service regiments received little attentiAmerican regiments often toiled in obscurity. This puonly fi lls some of the gaps in engineer history, it attesrole engineers played in the Allied victory in Europe. The offi cers and men of the 1321st Engineers lprofession in the piney woods of the Carolinas and Tecompleting basic training, they learned how to becomacquiring the specialized skills that they would put to Europe. The 1321st compiled an enviable record of acduring World War II. In support of the Allied drive acinto Germany, the 1321st repaired bridges and cleared when spring thaws and disintegrating roads threaten
ii

the desperately needed fl ow of supplies to the front, the regiment repaired and maintained hundreds of miles of roads, highways, and bridges. The regiment’s well-trained carpenters, electricians, welders, machinists, and heavy equipment operators also renovated buildings, constructed hospitals, and built sprawling supply depots. At the end of the war, the Army transferred the 1321st to Korea where it served with distinction until 1946. Although this history of the 1321st Engineers is largely the work of the unit’s commander, Col. Aldo H. Bagnulo, and therefore refl ects his perspective and interpretation of events, the regiment’s record speaks for itself. This history of an accomplished unit also sheds new light on the role of African American engineers during World War II and in the process enriches the history of the entire Engineer Regiment.R. L. VAN ANTWERPLieutenant General, U.S. ArmyChief of EngineersR. L. VAN ANTWERP
Preface

 Army engineers were an integral part of the wThey were among the fi rst ashore at Normandy, and ihard fi ghting that followed they played a pivotal role the Allied advance into Germany. Many engineers serengineer battalions assigned to infantry or armored dcombat engineers constructed fi eld fortifi cations, builconducted river crossings, and built and maintained rdirect support of combat forces and sometimes under Other Army engineers served in units that performed tasks—usually, but not always, behind the front lines. units were the engineer general service regiments. Thof general service regiments was to perform “general work—particularly that requiring most skilled labor—the army service area and communications zone of a operations.” The specifi c duties of a general service re“general construction work and work on roads and br“ports, bases, depots, airdromes, and of the constructirailroads at these points.”1 A general service regiment consisted of a headheadquarters and service company, a medical detachmbattalions of three companies each (A, B, C and D, E, service regiment received more types of special equipkinds of engineer units. Its mechanical equipment incauger, air compressors, bulldozers, road graders, and Other equipment consisted of portable water supply ssets, and basic drafting equipment. The authorized wM–1 rifl es, carbines, bayonets, pistols, rifl e grenades, 

.50-caliber machine guns.2

 Although the authorized strength of a general regiment varied throughout the war, in general it was warrant offi cers, and 1,221 enlisted men. It had a largorganization and a greater number of specialists than engineer units.3 It was the Army’s intention that the soldiers of service regiments would have a skill level greater tha1 U.S. War Department, FM 5-5 Engineer Field Manual, Engineer Troops

(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Offi ce, 1943), 149, 152–53.

2 Ibid., 149–50.3 Karl C. Dod, The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Japan (Washing

Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1966), 687.

vi 

PREFACE 

the labor battalions of the First World War.4 Accordingly, the Army 

provided training in specialties such as electrical wiring, welding, and the operation of heavy equipment. Also, the table of organization and equipment for a general service regiment authorized a variety of military occupation specialties and equipment that required a degree of technical profi ciency.5

 Many of the Army’s engineer units were composed of African American soldiers. The United States Army maintained a policy of segregation of white and African American troops until 1948. From the late nineteenth century until World War II, the Regular Army had but four regiments of black soldiers, two of infantry and two of cavalry. These units had mostly white offi cers. Several black regiments served in the volunteer forces during the Spanish-American War, and many African Americans enlisted or were drafted into the armed forces in 4 Blanche D. Coll, Jean E. Keith, and Herbert H. Rosenthal, The Corps of Engineers: Troops 

and Equipment (Washington, D.C.: Offi ce of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1958), 

576–77.

5 Table of Organization No. 5-21, Engineer General Service Regiment, 1 April 1942. Tables 

of Organization and Equipment, Box 1, Folder 2, Offi ce of History, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alexandria, Va. (hereafter cited as CEHO).

World War I. Some served in the combat arms, but moengineer and quartermaster labor battalions. The assignment of most black troops to non-conon-technical units continued into the World War II pbecause most of the black soldiers came from the ruralittle or no education and many lacking experience wAlthough some African Americans saw action in the AForces as infantry, artillery, armor, and engineer combelief of Army leadership was that they would perform the battle lines in support of the fi ghting forces. AccorArmy once again assigned most blacks to quartermasunits. Black engineer troops (and many whites as wellight ponton companies, heavy ponton battalions, and companies. However, many African American troops more technical engineer aviation battalions (which burelated structures) and engineer general service regim42 percent of all engineer units were African AmericaArmy’s manpower was only 8.6 percent African Amer

In most cases, a white offi cer commanded the black uand black offi cers were his subordinates. All of the enincluding noncommissioned offi cers, were African AmJune 1945 there were seventy-nine general service regwhich were made up of black soldiers.7

 In the spring and summer of 1943 the War Depseveral new African American general service regimethem the 1321st. For most of its existence, Lt. Col. (lateHector Bagnulo commanded the regiment. Born of Itaparents on 4 April 1914 in Revere, Massachusetts, Bagfriends and associates) graduated from the Massachuof Technology in 1936 with a degree in sanitary engin

year he accepted a reserve commission in the Coast Aand went on active duty. In the following year he tranthe Corps of Engineers after passing a competitive exUntil 1939 he was with the 1st Engineer Regiment staDuPont, Delaware, where he performed the usual dutgrade offi cer and the special duty of supervising Work

6 Coll, Keith, and Rosenthal, Troops and Equipment, 118, 237; Ulysses 

Negro Troops (Washington, D.C.: Offi ce of the Chief of Military Hist

128.

7 Coll, Keith, and Rosenthal, Troops and Equipment, 238, 311–12.

8 Biographical information on Bagnulo and his career is found in “Bi

Colonel Aldo H. Bagnulo, CE,” 24 February 1953, Aldo H. Bagnulo Paand “Résumé,” March 1967, Box 7, Folder 2, CEHO (hereafter cited aand the Offi cial Army Register, Volume 1 (Washington, D.C.: Governm1946), 1:30.

Soldiers of the 1321st operating an arc welder in France, 26 March 1945.



viii 

preface 

Administration projects at the fort. From 1939 to 1943 Bagnulo oversaw the construction of Army cantonments and airbases in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the British possession of Antigua. Promotions to fi rst lieutenant and captain came in 1940. He became a major in 1942. He concluded his Caribbean duties in the position of 

Department Engineer, Puerto Rican Department. For his work in the West Indies the Army awarded him the Legion of Merit. Bagnulo completed the Engineer Field Offi cers Course at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in 1943. In the fall of that year he served on the Engineer Board, also at Fort Belvoir. At his duty station on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, he conducted experiments to test the feasibility of laying pipelines under the English Channel for delivering petroleum products 

for the impending invasion of the European mainland. On 21 November 1943, 

Bagnulo, a lieutenant colonel since February, took command of the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment, the African American unit whose history he later chronicled. As the history he wrote will show, the regiment trained primarily at Camp Sutton, North Carolina, and at the Tennessee Maneuver Area. The 1321st sailed from Boston on 7 October 1944 and arrived in England eight days later.9 The regiment moved to France on 6 

December and began providing engineer support for the Seventh Army in the Alsace-Lorraine region. There it maintained roads, repaired bridges, laid pipe, erected prefabricated structures, supplied lumber, and built hospitals, engineer depots, and other facilities. Bagnulo recorded the regiment’s strength at approximately 55 offi cers and 1,200 enlisted men. Other units attached to the 1321st, including equipment detachments and companies of German prisoners of war, increased the unit’s strength by an estimated one thousand.10

9 Shelby L. Stanton, Order of Battle, U.S. Army, World War II (Novato, Calif.: Presidio Press, 

1984), 563.

10 “Résumé,” Bagnulo Papers.

 Soon after the regiment entered Germany, the came to an end. Rather than being discharged, the mefound themselves on transports bound for the Far Eaof Japan’s surrender during a stopover at Pearl Harbothey reached Okinawa and concluded their service in For the construction efforts in Korea, Bagnulo receiveCommendation Ribbon.11 Throughout it all, the regimental commander, promoted to colonel (temporary) in June 1945, saw to ireceived the necessary equipment and the proper traiand varied skills required of a general service unit. Bthem hard but showed them the respect that black troalways receive from white offi cers. His confi dence in 

off in a commendable record in which he and they cou Soon before he and his regiment sailed to Engmarried Helen Montesinos of Baltimore on 13 Septemcouple was to have fi ve sons.12

 Bagnulo’s postwar years followed a pattern typengineer offi cers, with military assignments alternatinworks duties. With the Tactical Air Command, at LangVirginia, he served as chief of the Construction Divisi

11 The Army Commendation Ribbon, created in 1945, was to be award

ed for meritorious achievement or service on or after 7 December 1became the Army Commendation Medal. Philip K. Robles, United Stand Ribbons (Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1971), 160.

12 Michael Bagnulo, personal communication, 16 September 2008.

Aldo H. Bagnulo as a young engineer offi cer.

Regimental staff in France, 13 March 1945.



x 

preface 

engineer, 1946–47. He returned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1947 and earned a master’s degree in civil engineering the following year. From 1948 to 1952, at the Offi ce of the Chief of Engineers, Washington, D.C., he was assistant chief of the Construction and Operations Division of the Military Construction Offi ce. As district engineer of the Corps’ St. Paul District, 1952–54, Bagnulo oversaw projects throughout a 170,000-square-mile area that covered much of the upper Midwest. These projects included fl ood control, improvements in navigation, water conservation, and the operation and maintenance of locks and dams. He also represented the United States on a joint committee concerned with the control of bodies of water shared with Canada. From 1954 to 1958 Bagnulo served in the Corps of Engineers’ Eastern Ocean District, headquartered in New York, as assistant district engineer and later as district engineer, as well as area engineer for Iceland. In 1958–59 he was assistant director of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Laboratory at Fort Belvoir. Next he attended the U.S. Army Air Defense School at Fort Bliss, Texas, where he took the Atomic Weapons Orientation Course, and the U.S. Cold Weather and Mountain Training School, Fort Greely, Alaska, where he completed the Winter Orientation Course. His military education culminated with the regular course at the U.S. Army War College. Bagnulo’s cold weather training prepared him for duty as chief engineer, assistant chief of staff for logistics, and chief of staff at the Army’s headquarters in Alaska, 1960–63. His last years with the Army were with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). At NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida, he served fi rst as chief of facilities engineering and construction; next as assistant director for engineering and development; fi nally as deputy director, design engineering. In recognition of his “exceptionally meritorious service” from June 1955 to June 1965, the Army awarded him a second Legion of Merit for “consistently demonstrat[ing] decisive leadership, professional skill, resourcefulness, and mature judgment.”13 Bagnulo retired from the Army in July 1965. Retirement, however, brought little change because he remained at the Kennedy Space Center in the same capacity—deputy director of design engineering—but as a civil servant. He retired from NASA in 1967.  Aldo and Helen Bagnulo spent the last seventeen years of his life in northern Virginia, at the Fairfax Retirement Community outside of Fort Belvoir.14 He continued to be active in his profession, 

performing environmental engineering work for Pope, Evans and 

13 Legion of Merit citation provided by Michael Bagnulo, 16 September 2008.14 Michael Bagnulo, personal communication, 16 September 2008.

Robbins, Inc., of Fairfax County, and the Bechtel Corp

retained membership in the American Society of Civiand the Society of American Military Engineers. In adactively involved in church and community affairs. Colonel Bagnulo died 21 February 2004 at age buried with full military honors at Arlington Nationalife’s work had begun with routine garrison duty in thWar II Army and concluded with important leadershiAmerica’s space program. It was a career rich in accomsoldier and an engineer. Yet he was no martinet or soThe written record he left behind reveals a man of intcompassion and with a sense of humor. Lt. Gen. John of Engineers, 1976–80, remembered him as “just one oyou’ll ever meet.”16

 The title of this work comes from the 15 May 1Bagnulo’s diary, in which he writes that the regiment “nothing but praise for our performance in connection on the autobahn.”15 “Aldo Hector Bagnulo: Army Colonel,” Washington Post, 11 March 20016 Engineer Memoirs: Lieutenant General John W. Morris (Alexandria, Va

Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2000), 37.

Colonel Bagnulo at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in front of the Assembly Building under construction, 17 February 1965.



xii 

The Bagnulo Donations Editoria

The Bagnulo Donations

 In 2007 Michael and Marcella Bagnulo, son and daughter-inlaw of Aldo H. Bagnulo, donated his father’s papers to the Offi ce of History, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alexandria, Virginia. The collection well documents Colonel Bagnulo’s long and productive career as an engineer offi cer. Shortly after the donation of the Bagnulo papers, another son, John Bagnulo, gave his father’s World War II diary to the Offi ce of History. Included in the fi rst donation was Colonel Bagnulo’s typescript history of the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment. It consists of thirty-seven double-spaced pages, with a disproportionally large part of it devoted to the unit’s training in the United States. The narrative is straightforward, gracefully written, and with occasional touches of humor. Oddly, Bagnulo never explicitly indicates that the 1321st was an African American unit. Bagnulo the author refers to Bagnulo the commander but a few times, and then only in the third person. It will be obvious to the reader that he is proud of what the 1321st achieved, yet nowhere does he give himself the credit for the success of the regiment; its accomplishments were those of the offi cers and men under him. Whereas the history covers the story of the regiment from its beginnings in North Carolina until its inactivation in Korea, the diary entries span only the months spent in Europe. The diary is, of course, more personal in nature. Although Bagnulo could feel freer to express emotions and opinions, he exercises restraint and rarely comments negatively about anyone. Unlike the history, the diary contains a few references to black offi cers and to racial issues. He confesses to a feeling of uneasiness when he watched black offi cers dancing with white French women, but adds that he was trying to overcome such reactions. In fact, he appears remarkably free of the prejudice and condescending attitudes one might have expected in the era. Somewhat unusual for a diary, it is typewritten. Physically, it is bound by detachable front and back covers and consists of sheets of 7 1⁄4 x 4 1⁄4 inches. Some of the sheets are lined; others are unlined onionskin. Usually there are intervals of a few to several days between entries. Included in the Bagnulo donation were hundreds of photographs of the personnel and activities of the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment in the United States, Europe, and the Far East. A number of the photographs were probably taken by one of the regiment’s dental offi cers, Capt. Robert E. Harris, who also served as regimental photographer.17 Other photographs in the collection were 

taken by the Army’s Signal Corps.

17 1321st Dispatch [regimental newsletter], 4 March 1945, Bagnulo Papers, Box 1, Folder 25; 

Harris to Bagnulo, 4 October 1946, Bagnulo Papers, Box 4, Folder 5.

WEDNESDAY, 6 December 1944, 1830 hourAboard MT338, Nicholas HERKIMER anchoff LE HAVRE, FranceFor some time I’ve wanted to start a dihave finally started today since time ireadily available than is the case normand the events of the last few days havparticularly interesting.

 Perhaps the most challenging part of preparinfor publication was knitting together three related elethe Bagnulo collection—the history of the 1321st EngiService Regiment, the colonel’s diary, and dozens of pa cohesive narrative. Readers will note that Bagnulo’s 1321st comprises the fi rst two-thirds of the book, whiconsists of the colonel’s diary. Also, the editor embeddfrom the diary into the preface and history section in mirrors that of the original diary. The images in this ponly illustrate the story of the regiment, they offer reainto the lives and experiences of the men who served 

Editorial Procedures

 Histories of black engineer units are uncommoof the quality of the Bagnulo manuscript. AccordinglyHistory made a decision to edit, annotate, and publish and diary soon after receiving the donations. Colonel explored the possibility of publishing the manuscriptwrote while in Korea.18 Although nothing came of his 

had written the manuscript with publication in mind, smooth piece of prose. Nevertheless, the Offi ce of Hissome annotation and other editorial attention to the dmanuscript were necessary. The footnotes supplied bmostly identify persons, places, events, military unitsconstruction terms. Identifi cations made in the notes are not repeated in the notes for the diary. Some of th

18 Robert B. Reed, Newsphoto Publishing Company, to Bagnulo, 31 De

to Reed, 14 January 1946, Bagnulo Papers, Box 1, Folder 21.

Col. Aldo H. Bagnulo’s fi rst diary entry, 6 Decembe



xiv 

Editorial Procedures Ack

upon the author’s information. The editor has identifi ed the persons mentioned wherever possible, but many persons proved diffi cult if not impossible to identify. Most of the photographs carry extremely scant written identifi cation, and some none at all, which will explain the often general captions given them in this publication. Many of the images taken in Europe include dates, however, allowing the editor to assume the general location depicted based on where the regiment or its companies were operating on that day. Almost none of the people portrayed in the images are identifi ed by name. Some of the footnotes at the bottom of the pages are offset with images of unidentifi ed soldiers and offi cers of the 1321st. All photographs in this publication come from the Bagnulo Personal Papers at the Offi ce of History unless otherwise indicated. Although the history received a light edit, every effort was made to retain as much of the author’s original prose as possible. The editor found it occasionally necessary to correct silently a few misspellings and obvious typographical errors, such as transposed letters or the hitting of a wrong key. Here and there needed punctuation has been inserted, also silently. The editor sometimes updated the treatment of dates, abbreviations, proper nouns, and the like for the sake of consistency and to refl ect current style conventions. Where appropriate, italics and accent marks have been added in the history, but not the diary. The same procedures have generally been followed in the editing of the diary. Here, however, the editor has supplied most corrections in brackets, such as missing words and conjectural readings. Typographical errors and misspellings of French and German words and place names have been corrected. For the sake of readability, the layout of the diary portion of the publication does not duplicate the irregular formatting and erratic spacing in the original diary entries, much of which may well have been the result of a malfunctioning typewriter. The editor has adjusted some of the diary entry headings to refl ect a consistent style and arrangement but has not altered Bagnulo’s prose or his use of abbreviations, capitalization, numbering, and underlining. Among the more useful materials the editor consulted to prepare the annotations were items in the Aldo H. Bagnulo Personal Papers, Offi ce of History, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, such as lists of the offi cers of the 1321st, regimental newsletters, and biographical data about Bagnulo. Copies of newsletters from Camp Sutton are in the Offi ce of History’s military fi les in the research collections. A small but valuable collection of the regiment’s records was found in RG 407, Records of the Adjutant General, Box 19697, National Archives, College Park, Maryland. The most helpful published sources were The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany, by Alfred M. Beck, Abe Bortz, 

Charles W. Lynch, Lida Mayo, and Ralph F. Weld (WaD.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1988) and Engineers: Troops and Equipment, by Blanche D. Coll, and Herbert H. Rosenthal (Washington, D.C.: Offi ce oMilitary History, U.S. Army, 1958). Also rewarding weof the Chief Engineer, European Theater of Operations, (n.p., n.d.); FM 5-5 Engineer Field Manual, Engineer Tr1943 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Offi ce, 

Army Register, Volume 1 (Washington, D.C.: GovernmeOffi ce, 1946); and Dictionary of American Naval Fightin

Moody, editor, 8 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Navy Depart

the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval History Division

Acknowledgments

 Our greatest debt is to Michael and Marcella BRoswell, Georgia, and John E. Bagnulo, of Annandalethoughtful and generous gifts that made this publicatfor answering numerous questions about Colonel Bag William A. Dobak and Frank R. Shirer, both of of Military History, supplied helpful information; so tD. Roberts, Command Historian, U.S. Army Engineer Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Davis Elliott of the NavLibrary. Thanks also to the Modern Military Records National Archives, College Park, Maryland, for makinrecords of the 1321st Engineer General Service RegimHartigan, of the University of Nevada, Reno, gave the expertise in French history. Debbie Cox, Metro ArchiTennessee, identifi ed an elusive place name. MeschelDirector of the Stokely Memorial Library, Newport, Tprovided a newspaper account of the “Tennessee FireKeller, HECSA Library, U.S. Army Corps of EngineersVirginia, obtained needed volumes through interlibraM. Arnold of Sam Houston State University provided Ulithi Atoll and the islet of Mog Mog. Thanks to ProfePolt, a collector of typewriters, for the image that illusopening page of the diary section. Special thanks go to Marion Chard, founder anof a website devoted to the history of VI Corps CombaWWII. Although the 1321st was not a component of VChard knows where to fi nd information about almost unit participating in the war. She put the editor in touR. Wall of the Department of Special Collections, J. D. Library, University of Mississippi, who supplied a cophistory transcript of C. C. Pinson, a veteran of the 132sent out a call through her extensive network. Answewas Michael Kirby of Sandpoint, Idaho, who located M
xVI

Acknowledgments

The History o

the 1321st Engin

Oxford, Mississippi, and in many other ways materially assisted the editor. Telephone conversations with Mr. Pinson provided helpful recollections of life in the regiment and confi rmed and reinforced much of the information found in Colonel Bagnulo’s history and diary. Also responding was Jack Clay of Monroe, North Carolina, who freely gave of his considerable knowledge of Camp Sutton, North Carolina, and donated copies of a run of the camp’s newsletter, The Carryall, and 

the notebook of a 1321st soldier. All of the staff members of the Offi ce of History lent time and talent to the production of this book. Paul K. Walker, former chief of the offi ce, approved the project and gave every encouragement. His successor, John C. Lonnquest, energetically supported this effort. He headed a project delivery team whose other members were James T. Garber, Douglas J. Wilson, and the editor. The team scanned photographs, wrote captions, and made recommendations and decisions regarding layout, illustrations, editorial procedures, and stylistic matters. Michelle S. Tyler assisted the team in many ways and did most of the work of indexing. Eric A. Reinert freely shared his extensive knowledge of military equipment. Matthew T. Pearcy kindly volunteered to transcribe the Bagnulo history manuscript. Anna Punchak and Patricia K. Paquette (Corporate Information, HQUSACE) helped us navigate through new funding and printing procedures. John T. Punchak processed the many photographs that came with the Bagnulo donation. Former staff member William C. Baldwin supplied information on French history, geography, and language. Four volunteers provided valuable assistance with processing the Bagnulo Personal Papers, scanning the Bagnulo photograph collection, organizing image captions, and reviewing the manuscript: Joseph Liddle, Anne Musella, Marie Pfefferle, and Justin D. Wood. Everyone’s support and hard work are greatly appreciated. Gwynn Fuchs of the Creative Services Department at the Government Printing Offi ce used her considerable talent to design the publication. Gordon Clark, also of GPO, assisted with the publication process along the way. A fi nal thanks goes to the author, Col. Aldo H. Bagnulo, for having written the history of the 1321st and for having kept a diary during his time in Europe. Both texts are over sixty years old, but they remain historically valuable as a refl ection of one man’s experiences during World War II and as an account of the activities and efforts of one of the less-well-documented engineer regiments of the era as told by the man who commanded it for most of its existence. Bagnulo attributed the regiment’s successes not to himself but to the offi cers and men who served in it. Nevertheless, his history of the unit is a highly personal, subjective view (and his diary, of course, even more so) and apparently based largely on his own recollections. 
2 

Beginnings

Engineers of the 1321st working in a mobile machine shop.

Beginnings The Thirteen Twenty-First Engineer General Regiment was activated at Camp Sutton, North Caroli1943.1 Our fi rst commanding offi cer was Lt. Col. Paul J

To say that our fi rst days were trying days would be etoo mildly. They were hectic days. There were a great which contributed to a bad start. First of all, we did nocomplement of offi cers, and among those we had therwho lacked the experience with troops so necessary dinitial days. Our cadre was furnished by the 1310th EService Regiment of Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, and they lacked the necessary experience. Among them wones. We knew that the 1310th had not sent us all of thunits do not operate that way, at least not to the extenweaken their own outfi ts. Our fi llers, too, which came in three different not of the caliber that would make a crack outfi t immecame from practically every other branch of the servideactivated units that were no longer considered essehad had any previous engineer experience. The fi rst garrived on 16 August 1943, came from the 533d QuartBattalion of Camp Gordon, Georgia, and from various battalions of Camp Rucker, Alabama, and Camp ButnCarolina.2 There were approximately six hundred in t

which, despite its lack of engineer experience, producbest soldiers in the regiment, such as Technical SergeHeadquarters and Service (H & S) Company, First SerCompany E, and Staff Sergeant Bufford of Company F

group, like the fi rst, was made up of men from variouthe service. By 1 September we received the last groufour hundred, which made the regiment 15 percent ovWe were not proud of that last group. In an all-out eff

1 Located near Monroe in Union Count

established 7 March 1942 as an enginThe War Dept. declared the reservati1 October 1945. Robert B. Roberts, EnForts: The Military, Pioneer, and TradiStates (New York: Macmillan Publish

2 “Unit History, 1321st Engineer Gener

Box 19697, Records of the Adjutant GNational Archives, College Park, Md. “Unit History,” National Archives).

3 S. Sgt. Clarence Bufford of Calvert, T

Bronze Star Medal on 13 May 1945. Bdisplay of leadership and willingness long as any of the men in his platoon to accomplish a remarkable amount oenemy material threatened to be reca“Unit History,” National Archives.

4 

Training in the Carolinas

the men we needed, Fourth Service Command had emptied many of its stockades and hospitals.4 Our efforts to develop them into good 

engineer soldiers were not to be successful. So much of the offi cers’ 

and noncommissioned offi cers’ time was occupied with matters of discipline and administration in connection with these men that the training program suffered. Our foster parents, the Engineer Unit Training Center (EUTC), did little to pour oil on our troubled waters. Indeed, they also were inexperienced and refused stubbornly to understand our problems, and with this background they wielded a big stick that saddled the units in training with additional diffi culties.

Training in the Carolinas Despite the problems of the fi rst days, basic training got under way on 3 September 1943. The period from 3 September to 3 October was spent on basic fundamentals such as close-order drill, care and cleaning of equipment, military courtesy, and discipline. We found it necessary to conduct night schools for offi cers and noncommissioned offi cers who lacked the experience required to conduct the training properly. Because of the shortage of offi cers, it was often necessary for one offi cer to conduct the training of a company of 200 to 250 men. It was really a sad story when we began our rifl e marksmanship training. Only seven M–1 rifl es were available for the entire regiment, and it was not until 2 October, the day before we began our march to the fi ring range, that we received our full complement of rifl es. At approximately 1730 hours, 3 October, we started our trip to the rifl e range, which was adjacent to Pageland, South Carolina, and was approximately seventeen miles from Camp Sutton.5 The move, a tactical march, was part of our basic training. 

After about three hours of marching, we went into a tactical bivouac with outposts and all of the trimmings. We did not get much sleep, for by the time we had our bivouac in shape, it was time to break camp and be on our way. We arrived at the Pageland Range at about 1100 hours, 4 October. After getting ourselves as comfortably situated as we could with the existing facilities, we settled down to earning marksmanship medals for ourselves. Our two-week stay was pretty routine, highlighted only by long hours of work, fi ring and cleaning our 

4 Service Commands were the fi eld agencies of the Army Service Forces. Blanche D. Coll, 

Jean E. Keith, and Herbert H. Rosenthal, The Corps of Engineers: Troops and Equipment 

(Washington, D.C.: Offi ce of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1958), 219. Maj. Gen. Edward H. Brooks directed the Fourth Service Command.

5 The Pageland Combat Training Area was situated west of the town of Pageland, 

Chesterfi eld County, and consisted of 6,904 acres. Real Estate Records, Box 10, Folder 5, Offi ce of History, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alexandria, Va. (hereafter cited as CEHO).



Training in 

weapons, night classes for offi cers and noncommissio

inspections by members of the training center staff. Twas a forced march, also under tactical conditions. Wat 1600 hours on 17 October 1943. As part of the trainitanks simulated strafi ng our columns. We used the trreceived and deployed off the road to take cover. Six alater, those of us who could stand the pace were back  Immediately after our return to Camp Sutton, wtraining. According to the time schedule of Military T5-1, we required only one more week to complete basidecided, however, to add another week to correct defi cbegan the second phase of our training, that phase kn

Faces of the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment.
6 

training, to make us, fi nally, into engineering soldiers. We began to learn about bridge building, demolitions, construction of roads, mines and mine fi elds—in fact, just about all of those things that an engineer soldier has to know in order to keep up his end of the battle. During this period Lt. Col. (later Col.) Aldo H. Bagnulo took over the regiment as commanding offi cer. He assumed command on 21 November 1943. On 28 November we left Camp Sutton again, this time for Van Wyck, South Carolina, on the Catawba River, for training in fl oating bridges.6 We found we were to get more training like we received 

going to and from Pageland—this time longer and tougher marches. To reach the fl oating bridge area required a 28-mile motor march. The move down was uneventful except that we wondered many times whether our vehicles would continue to carry us with all the equipment we had piled on them. Upon arrival we assumed a tactical situation, bivouacked in pup tents, and immediately began to play like the enemy were just on the other side of the river. Our tents had to be camoufl aged 

6 Floating bridges included ponton, treadway, and footbridges.

ALABAMA

e s e

GEORGIA

Asheville

Greenville

Spartanburg

Van Wyck

SOUTH CAROLINA

Sal

u

d a

Asheville

NORTH CAROL

F r e n c h Br o a

d B r o a d

C a t a w b a

Ya d k i n

Chattanooga

Lebanon

Knoxville

Gladeville

Newport

Lohman’s Store

Nashville TENNESSEE

D

E

S

C

C l i n c h

Ho l s t o n

H i wa s s e e

u c k

l k

Huntsville

d n

l a r e b mu

i h

e

ct a

u q

e

0

0

50 km

50 miles



Activated on 16 August 1943, the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment began basic training at Camp Sutton, North Carolina. There and in the surrounding areas they learned how to be both soldiers and Army engineers. In early 1944 their training took them to Nashville, where they repaired roads 1321st Engineer Training

Learning to operate a rock crusher, soldiers of the 1321st road repairs.

and bridges damaged during war games in the Tennessee Mathe end of summer 1944, the 1321st was a well-trained engindeployment to Europe.
An engineer learning to operate a bulldozer, which would become one of their most effective tools in Europe.Soldiers training on dragline power shovels, used primarily by the 1321st for quarrying and excavation.

TRAINING IN 

perfectly, no lights of any kind were allowed at night, were foolproof. A man could go to sleep with the assurJapanese or German was going to slip up and put a knwhile he was sleeping—and besides, it was South Caroa lot at Van Wyck. For the next six days we put up footfl oating bridges of all types, constructed barges, and aa crossing of the river under conditions that we thoughencounter if and when we were to start playing the ga Our return trip was one of the highlights of thperiod—another tactical foot march. We broke camp tdawn in a downpour of rain, rolled our packs in the mthe fi rst hour sloshed through sticky mud slightly modeep. If the Carolinas had any bad roads, we certainly fi nding them. Our spirits were not high when we starthe morning the weather cleared, and with the thoughwe would be sleeping again in dry beds and enjoying showers at the end of the jaunt, our bodies held out. Wtwenty-eight miles in six hours and forty-fi ve minutebe proud of that record. After our return to Camp Sutton on 5 Decembour technical training. The training proceeded withouuntil the day before Christmas when we received the demoralizing news we had yet received. We were ordto the Pageland Range to undertake some rush work. bad from several viewpoints, but mainly because we hfurloughs or, at least, passes at Christmas time. All Chprepared for the move—that is, those of us who were men on their own accord decided to take Christmas Dthe several days following. On the morning of the 26th the unit started oumission. The move to the range was made by using thvehicles and shuttling them until the move was compdid not have to hike this time. Upon arrival we bivouatents, except for a few who found shelter in nearby oldbuildings. The weather was extremely cold with occaand under these conditions we were miserable and unmost of the time. The work consisted of constructing (sixty-six structures) and logging operations.7 The 1st 7 In March 1944, the Camp Sutton newspaper reported on the regime

“The handiwork of the 1321st is seen in the ‘Combat’ village at Pagebuilt houses, churches, sheds, barns, wells and a graveyard with wlage, which took a fortnight to build, is used for training purposes. fi rst construction experience in this type of work and their unoffi ci

the favorite job of their training.” The Carryall [Camp Sutton newspMilitary Files V-23A-2, CEHO.

10 

TRAINING IN TENNESSEE

then commanded by Maj. W. T. “Bill” Myers, constructed the combat village; the 2d Battalion, then commanded by Maj. G. W. “Bull of the Woods” Trindal, engaged in the logging operations.8 Skills heretofore 

unknown were discovered and we began to realize that, regardless of what we had done in civilian life, we could contribute to the Army as engineers. We worked long and hard hours. Up before dawn, we were on the job by daylight, and we were eating supper long after the sun had gone to rest. This job, which had been started by the 1316th Engineer General Service Regiment, was completed by us in good time. We returned to Camp Sutton on 5 January in a new year, 1944.

Tout de suite (a phrase we picked up in France, which means 

“right away”) we started school again. This time a number of the men attended schools conducted by the training center for the purpose of developing specialists and technicians, those men who hold the key positions in any engineer unit. Men who were formerly barbers, tailors, general handymen, and students were to become bulldozer operators, shovel operators, truck drivers, demolition experts, bridge carpenters, and a score of other specialized workers. Schooling did not last long, just a week to be exact, for orders were received to move the regiment to the Tennessee Maneuver Area.9

Training in Tennessee On 12 January, after only a few hours’ notice, an advance party consisting of Maj. William Jaques, Capt. Don Nichols, and Lt. Cloyce Campbell, commanding a platoon of Company B, started for the Tennessee Maneuver Area.10 During a confused three-day period and by a process known only to Houdini, approximately fi fty trucks were assembled from Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and Camp Sutton. Some of the vehicles hit on three cylinders, some fared better, but all were 

8 Glen W. Trindal served in the Army during World War I 

and with the National Guard, Army Reserve, and Regular Army in the interwar years. He retired from active duty in 1955 as a lieutenant colonel and died in 1980. “Glen W. Trindal, 85, Dies, Offi cer in Army Engineers,” Washington 

Post, 5 December 1980.

9 From September 1942 to March 1944 nearly one million soldiers participated in large-scale war games in the Nashville 

vicinity in preparation for combat in Europe. Frank Burns, “Second Army (Tennessee) Maneuvers,” The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, Tennessee Historical Society, http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=S015.

10 William H. Jaques, Akron, Ohio, regimental S–3 (Operations 

Section); Don L. Nichols, Mandan, N.Dak., 2d Battalion adjutant; Cloyce Campbell, commander 2d Platoon, Company B. Unless otherwise indicated, information about personnel mentioned in the text was found in “1321st EGS Regt. List of Offi cers, with civilian addresses, 1945” and “Offi cers of the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment While in Europe,” Aldo H. Bagnulo Papers, Box 1, Folders 26 and 27, CEHO (hereafter cited as Bagnulo Papers).



held together by baling wire. Two offi cers and a few mwith the organization’s equipment loaded in the vehicout on a trip that turned out to be far from pleasant. Uconditions, with vehicles in good mechanical conditiobeen diffi cult to travel over the steep, winding mountto the maneuver area, but additional hazards were imsleet that formed on the roads as the rain fell and frozbody of approximately eight hundred offi cers and memaneuver area by rail. Our mission in the Tennessee Maneuver Area wdamage done by maneuvering troops—mainly repair oroads, and fences. It was here that we received our fi rstroops in action. Tactical convoys, driving blackout, usthat we were maintaining. At times they got in our way whichever the case may be. Their guards were always asking for the password. The 1st Battalion set up west between Highway 70 and the Cumberland River and thbetween Highway 10 and the maneuver boundary soutThe things we remembered most clearly about our stay were the fairly warm days and cold nights, the incessannormally knee deep, Lohman’s Store, and Nashville.11 T

the stickiest we had ever seen, unless it was the mud wlater on Okinawa. We lived in pyramidal tents, which hstoves—this part of our stay was not bad. Major Trinda

11 Lohman’s Store was formerly a populated community in Wilson Co

called because it was the site of a family business established by LoMerrit, ed., The History of Wilson County (Lebanon, Tenn.: County Cand Tennessee Historical Commission, 1961), 234–35.



Soldiers of the 2d Battalion preparing hogs for the “Collis P
12 

TRAINING IN TENNESSEE

road into the 2d Battalion’s camp. It was reverently referred to as “Trindal Boulevard.” Rock was hauled onto this road throughout most of our stay, and at the end it was still found better to detour it if we could. We operated two quarries, one at Gladeville and the other at Lebanon. One of the highlights for the 2d Battalion was what was referred to afterwards as the “Collis Pig Fry.” Lt. (later Capt.) L. F. “Spike” Collis, then company commander of H & S Company, procured some well-fed 250-pound hogs and proceeded to produce for us a real old-fashioned barbecue.12

The men went into Nashville on Saturday nights via company convoys. Invariably it was necessary for the offi cers to make more trips than the men, for they would have to go in on Sunday morning to bring back a few who had declared some sort of war on the local police. We received some offi cer replacements, some of whom remained with the regiment to the bitter end—Lieutenants Samuel Benzing, Douglas Gunter, Gerald Trail, and James Bramlet.13 It was good to 

begin receiving a suffi cient number of offi cers to occupy the positions. Then, when February was almost over and almost as abruptly as we had departed from Camp Sutton, we began the long trip back to North Carolina. That trip is a story in itself, because during our return occurred the famous “Tennessee Fire.” The night before we departed for Camp Sutton was one of those wild, messed up affairs further dampened by a heavy rain. At midnight—we were to leave in the morning—we still did not have suffi cient trucks to carry all of our personnel and equipment. Shortly after midnight some boxcars were obtained and much of our equipment was hurriedly loaded on them. At 0500 hours, with all personnel loaded on trucks, we were ready for the fi rst leg of the two-day trip. What had been a bad day at the beginning turned out to be a lovely one. During the day the weather was the best that we had had during our whole time in Tennessee. The convoy proceeded along 

12 L. F. Collis, later commander of Company C.13 Samuel G. Benzing, Grand Rapids, Mich., commander 2d Platoon, Company C; Douglas L.

Gunter, Santa Ana, Calif., heavy equipment offi cer, H & S Company; Gerald T. Trail, Oakland, Calif., commander 3d Platoon, Company A; James B. Bramlet, Harrisburg, Ill., commander 3d Platoon, Company B.



without interruption, except for the few vehicles that ran out of gas, and arrived at Newport on schedule. Tarrived at 1600 hours and the last at 1730 hours.14 Our bivouac site at the completion of the fi rst letrip was the Municipal Park, Newport, Tennessee. Vehparked on both sides of the race track, a circular road leaving a lane for traffi c through the center. H & S Comwere in the lead; Company F vehicles were in the rearset up, and the men found sleeping accommodations i14 “Serial” is the military term for a subdivision of a military force in m

marching, by air, or over water.

Smoldering remnants of Army vehicles following the fi re in 

Although vehicles sustained extensive damage, the 1321sinjuries during the “Tennessee Fire.”

14 

tents or in the grandstand. Some of the men were granted permission to go into town. Arrangements had been made previously to have a commercial tank truck refuel the vehicles by proceeding along the lane of parked vehicles. While this was being done, all hell broke loose. It was diffi cult to discover defi nitely what happened, but a very thorough 

investigation by Major Trindal indicated that it started when one of the civilian employees of the oil company lit his cigarette and threw the still lighted match on some gasoline that had spilled onto the road. The gasoline burst into fl ames. The driver of the tank truck became alarmed and jumped into his truck to drive away from the danger. In his haste he failed to turn off the gasoline then fl owing into the tank of an Army vehicle. When he drove forward, the nozzle was jerked out of the tank and the stream of gasoline also caught fi re. The tank truck proceeded down the line of vehicles, pouring fl aming gasoline under the remaining vehicles of H & S Company—indeed, a very effi cient way to spread fi re, for the trucks quickly became consumed by fl ames that shot up forty to fi fty feet. The entire sky assumed a frightening red color. To the confusion of moving the unharmed trucks away and the attempts by the local fi re departments to put out the fi re was added the din of exploding tanks and tires. Twenty trucks and trailers were completely burned, along with a great deal of equipment and valuable records. At fi rst it was thought that all of the service records were lost, an irreparable blow to any unit, but fortunately they had been loaded on a truck that had developed engine trouble and had straggled into the bivouac area too late to take part in the “Tennessee Fire.”15

15 Exercising wartime self-censorship, the Newport Plain Talk and Tribune of 28 February 

1944 gave a brief account of the incident but did not mention the name of the regiment and its route. The story does note that local fi remen were able to do little to extinguish the blaze because of low water pressure. The newspaper estimated the damage at nearly $50,000 and reported that some members of the regiment remained in town “for a few days to salvage whatever was possible of the vehicles.”



Training on road graders, which the 1321st would put to heavy use on muddy European roads.

RETURN TO N

 After the fi re was under control, the offi cers asappraise the extent of the damage. We reorganized anthe vehicles, and the regiment turned in for the nightnot all that happened that night. Some of the men whinto town expended their excess energy by breaking i“joint” that apparently had attempted some unfair praCapt.) William Pahl stayed behind with forty men of Cclear the park of the debris.16 Major Trindal and Capt. 

remained to conduct the investigation into the demolireport on which constituted a volume worthy of any vCongressional Library.17

Return to North Carolina On 28 February 1944 we were back at Camp Suthree weeks we continued with the technical phase of Then on 20 March the regiment was reorganized and r1321st Engineer Construction Battalion.18 We spent 20, 

reorganizing troops and rearranging the area. This rethe number of companies from seven to four and gave of about three hundred personnel, which provided the to rid ourselves of most of the “undesirables” whom we able to convert and who were the source of most of our turning point for the unit. For the next nine weeks we devote our entire time to the technical training of persimprovement of discipline and esprit de corps within tbegan to take shape. Capable noncommissioned offi cer discovered, and the offi cers were beginning to see the labors, so when we were again reorganized into a generegiment on 25 May, we had a good nucleus on which t

16 William C. Pahl, La Porte, Ind., comm17 Percy L. Guthrie, Birmingham, Ala., 18 According to Camp Sutton’s post com

Construction Battalion, although reduequipped with more and heavier engiAs a result, the percentage of specialially increased. In fact, the number of the company has been reduced to aboCarryall, 24 March 1944, Military File

The decision to convert general servistruction battalions aroused much coService Forces memorandum of Januthat “the construction battalion was cengineer aviation battalion in earth-mto the Seabees [naval construction baand grades for skilled personnel.” Thof Engineers strongly disputed this rethat the general service regiments haat a higher skill level than the Seabeetalions. A few months later the constrredesignated general service regimenRosenthal, Troops and Equipment, 236

Bridge 

Construand RepDuring their training soldiers of the 1321snumerous bridges in South Carolina, and examples of their br(clockwise from leftmasonry abutment; stringers to simulatbridge; and a complbridge. Engineers offor bridge constructreadily available frocould be harvested ofrom nearby buildin
18 

Basic Combat TrainingThe primary mission of the 1321st Engineer General Service construction, but in accordance with the Engineer Field Maalso needed to be trained and equipped to “fi ght as rifl emenAccordingly, in October 1944, the regiment underwent Basic in Pageland, South Carolina. Their training included (clockcrawling through the infi ltration course; qualifying at the rilearning how to fi re a rocket launcher, commonly called a “
20 

Return to North Carolina

 Soon after our reorganization, on 1 June, training tests were given to all men. By this time we were beginning to know the answers and we did pretty well on the tests. On 3 June we received 260 recruits as fi llers to bring us back to regimental strength. These men had received no previous military training, and 42 percent of them could neither read nor write, but they turned out to be the backbone of the regiment. We proceeded to give them their basic training, which was very successful, for they were hindered by no bad habits or distorted ideas acquired in previous units. They were ours to mold into good soldiers, and we undertook the task with a full realization of our responsibility. While the recruits were getting on with their basic training, we started a review of basic training for the “old timers.” On 6 June a one-week school started for all company motor offi cers and sergeants. On 12 June we began fi eld training for the unit, less the recruits who 

Soldiers of the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment.

RETURN TO N

were engaged in basic training. The 1st Battalion, now by Maj. Stewart Worley, moved out into bivouac to rebleading into Euto.19 The 2d Battalion, then commande

Lee, moved out by companies.20 Company D moved to 

Range to do some construction and to provide messinour recruits who were fi ring there. Company E moved 

bridge area on the Catawba River for the purpose of dmoving all of the equipment back to Camp Sutton. Coto Jefferson, South Carolina, to rebuild a stretch of roIn performance of these tasks, previous training begaevident. While the 1st Battalion bivouacked on the Euwere inspected by a team from the Offi ce of the Chief (OCE). They found our men building bridges and opepans, shovels, and graders. They claimed that the watby Technical Sergeant Williams and his men could be an example for any unit to follow.21 They found all of tareas in excellent shape, but especially the bivouac of which they declared was the best one they had ever steam inspected the other regiments stationed at Camp their fi nal report rated us the best trained and preparoverseas, which was good news. In just a few months pulled itself out of the cellar position to fi rst place. While we were engaged in fi eld training, a numwere assigned to the regiment to bring it closer to full Franklin Mohler joined us and was assigned the comm2d Battalion.22 Capt. Glenn Pickrel took command of C

From the EUTC came Capt. George Rogers, Lt. Horace (later Capt.) “Pop” Cross, who assumed command of Cand H & S respectively.24 Lt. (later Capt.) Norman Kell

from the 1315th Engineers.25 Also from the Camp Sut

Lt. Robert Cowie, who was assigned as regimental sup

19 Stewart E. Worley, Forest Hill, La. Eu

of a community in northeast Union CNew Salem. William S. Powell, The N(Chapel Hill: The University of North 350.

20 Harold D. Lee, later regimental S–2 (I21 Probably Johnnie Williams, H & S Co

It [regimental newsletter], 14 January Box 1, Folder 25.

22 Franklin C. Mohler, Des Moines, Iow

Battalion.

23 Glenn E. Pickrel, Nelson, Nebr., comm24 George H. Rogers, Elm Grove, W.Va.; 

Heddrick, Okla.; and probably Robert diary entry for 25 January 1945 refers 

25 Norman P. Kellogg, Adams Center, N

offi cer, later commander of H & S Com

22

Return to North Carolina

Lieutenants John Bayliss, Charles Hurme, and Daniel Geller, who were assigned to various companies as platoon leaders.26 Several men, exclusive of the recruits, had not fulfi lled all of the preparation for overseas movement (POM) requirements in fi ring. Accordingly, the regiment assembled once again at the Pageland Range on 1 July. Firing was completed and we returned to Camp Sutton on 8 July. The next few weeks were spent in review of all the training we had ever had. On 20, 24, 25, and 26 July we took training tests conducted by the EUTC. Meanwhile, the rumor became persistent that the unit would soon be moving overseas. With that in mind, we took our fi nal leaves and furloughs. On 17 July the fi llers 

started their technical training. We strove earnestly to train them to fi ll the table of organization shortages, for by this time training had become a bore and we were all anxious to eliminate any defi ciencies that might prevent our being sent overseas and that would require our remaining at Camp Sutton, the latter being our chief concern. On 7 August we started a heavy equipment school for the offi cers and motor sergeants, which provided them with the basic fundamentals in operation and maintenance of engineer heavy equipment. On 18 August a school started for company mess offi cers in the H & S Company kitchen. This school was conducted by Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Wetzel, who had joined the regiment two weeks previously as executive offi cer. In the school, which lasted a week, the offi cers actually performed the various functions of mess personnel, down through KP duties.27 Although they could not be considered 

expert cooks, they learned, by actual experience, the problems confronting a mess sergeant.28 At the same time, Fourth Service 

Command conducted a school of one-week duration for company motor offi cers. EUTC gave us another training test on 19 August, and 

26 Robert A. Cowie, Pasadena, Calif., later regimental S–1 

(Personnel Section); John R. Bayliss, Charlotte, N.C., administrative offi cer, Company B; Charles H. Hurme, Brooklyn, N.Y., commander 1st Platoon, Company B; Daniel Geller, Long Beach, N.Y., regimental S–4 (Supply Section).

27 Kitchen Police, a practice in which enlisted men were detailed to assist the cooks of a mess.

28 The next month, Camp Sutton’s newspaper reported on the 

KP experience: “To familiarize the Company Mess Offi cers 

of the Regiment with the various duties, means and methods of preparing meals, they took over the job of cooks and K.P.s in the H & S Company Mess Hall. On one of these days they prepared and served dehydrated foods. Some valuable information was gathered on how the meals are prepared and served in a Company Mess. “The offi cers learned that close supervision in every respect is necessary to keep the organization running smoothly and successfully. They learned some of the causes of wastage and shortage of servings. Some of the offi cers, at the end of the day, emerged with dishwasher hands.” The Carryall, 2 September 1944, Military Files V-23A-3, CEHO.



Offi cers of the 1321st in camp during fi eld training.Engineers of the 1321st during a vehicle inspection. 
Engineers of the 1321st parading at Camp Sutton before deployment to Europe. During off-duty hours, sports like baseball helped soldiers of the 1321st pass the time.

RETURN TO N

the results were thtime, indicating twour training had band effective; secocorps had developtroops which madmake the regimen On 3 Septemstarted a hike that ordered by camp has a conditioning mintended to last ten endurance march of physical traininunparalleled. The hot—typical Carolifor that season wittraveled mainly on roads. The dust, it only on us but insithree days were thfi rst half-day every

in good shape, but by afternoon some began to fall out. was leading at the start, and by mid-afternoon it was raAt one time we found 1st Sgt. Albert Pettis of Company Company D.30 He claimed to be gathering up some strag

a hard time convincing us. Blisters developed on our feas though everyone had from one to a dozen scattered fAfter a night in pup tents and a hardy breakfast, we woon feet that felt like they were made of raw beefsteak. Twas cut short, and we returned to Camp Sutton on 11 Seight days. We were never so glad to see anything as wBeds and showers are the greatest medicine in the wor We did not have much time to rest up, howeveSeptember the Fourth Service Command gave us somWe certainly were not in any condition for them, eitheor mentally, but we passed apparently, for the next dapreparations for movement overseas.

29 In addition to their rigorous training, the men of the 1321st attende

parties and participated in baseball games, track and fi eld competitwar bond drives, and musical affairs. Company C sponsored a pin-uCarryall, 1 April, 29 April, 6 May, 1 July, 22 July, 19 August, 26 AuguMilitary Files V-23A-2 and V-23A-3, CEHO.

30 Albert A. Pettis, First Sergeant, Company A. You Name It, 28 Januar

Papers, Box 1, Folder 25.

Road Maintenance and Repair

Road maintenance and repair constituted a large part of the regiment’s training in the United States. Using earthmoving equipment and hand tools, the engineers improved local roads and repaired the damage caused by military training exercises. The bottom image depicts engineers using a bulldozer and scraper to grade a road. The photographs at the top reveal the striking improvement brought to a muddy country lane after the 1321st dug drainage ditches and surfaced it with crushed rock. 
28 

PREPARING TO DEPLOY

Preparing to Deploy There is a great deal of work involved in preparing for movement overseas. All kinds of showdown inspections were in store for us, which resulted in great lists of clothing and equipment to be requisitioned and issued. Boxes and crates had to be made, but, fortunately, not in great numbers, for our travel orders specifi ed minimum essential equipment only. On the night of 23 September 1944 Service Club No. 3 gave a farewell party for us. It had been the custom with units getting ready for departure to stir up some sort of commotion, and we were not to be outdone, but we certainly picked the wrong time to do it, for it so happened that Brig. Gen. Lehman W. Miller was there.31 A few men who had worked themselves up 

into a frenzy showed disrespect toward him. It was certainly a black mark on the regiment’s record. We had always been able to conduct ourselves as soldiers before—and have since. General Miller was very unhappy—maybe angry—and as a disciplinary measure made us take a ten-mile hike the night of the 24th. Hiking by this time had become our forte and we breezed through this one, singing all the way. We were, however, truly repentant. The next day we continued our preparations for movement, and on 28 September we departed from Camp Sutton for the port of embarkation. We left Sutton on three separate trains. The fi rst train had Companies C and D plus part of H & S, and the third train had Companies E and F and the remainder of H & S. During the trip the only thing that caused us any concern at all was the stretch over the RF & P (the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac) Railroad. It took us longer to cover that “slightly over hundred mile of rail” than it did for the remainder of the trip. We arrived at Camp Myles Standish, the marshalling area for the Boston Port of Embarkation, about twenty-eight hours after we had left Camp Sutton.32

 We found Myles Standish one of the best coordinated and supervised camps we had yet encountered. Our fi nal inspections of clothing and equipment and records were received there. The hard work spent in preparation bore good results, for the regiment was found in excellent condition. We all managed to get passes into Boston and Providence, our last passes in the States for many months.31 Brig. Gen. Lehman W. Miller, commandant of Camp Sutton. Coll, Keith, and Rosenthal, 

Troops and Equipment, 311. 

32 Established in 1900, Camp (later Fort) Myles Standish was situated on Lovell’s Island, 

Boston Harbor. It served as a staging area for the Boston Port of Embarkation until its inactivation on 7 January 1946. Roberts, Encyclopedia of Historic Forts, 411. The 1321st 

arrived at Myles Standish on 29 September 1944. Shelby L. Stanton, Order of Battle, U.S. Army, World War II (Novato, Calif.: Presidio Press, 1984), 563.



From Boston to Britain On 7 October 1944 we moved up to the Boston Embarkation by rail and boarded the USS Mount Vern

afternoon we sailed from the United States and headthe Atlantic. Before the war the USS Mount Vernon had been 

three largest luxury liners, and although she was convcarrier, she lost little of her dignity.33 The crossing was 

for one day of rough weather. On the fi fth day out, the tossed in heavy seas typical of the Atlantic in October. leaned over the rail; some never reached it. The entranHarbor on 15 October was very interesting because, fowas our fi rst view of the “old” world. Results of the Gerbe seen in the damaged docks, buildings, and sunken masts stuck above the water. We were promptly disem

33 The New York Shipbuilding Co. built the SS Washington in 1933. The 

in 1941, renamed it Mount Vernon, and converted it to naval use at P

several voyages transporting troops to the Pacifi c, it began sailing fMediterranean in 1944. Decommissioned in 1946, it was delivered tCommission and became the Washington again. James A. Moody, ed

American Naval Fighting Ships, 8 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Navy Dep

of Naval Operations, Naval History Division, 1959–81), 4:449.



Aviation engineers building Nissen huts, similar to those th1321st during their time in Britain.
30 

midnight of the 15th most of us had boarded trains and were headed for Camp Stapley, south of Taunton in Somerset County. Traveling at night in a strange land gave us an eerie feeling, but when daylight came, our eyes and minds were absorbed in the scenery of the passing English countryside. A lush green even at this time of the year, neat and giving the impression of antiquity, the landscape was beautiful. The ride on an English train with its individual compartments was an experience in itself. The train moved along at a good clip, and by noon of the 16th we had reached Wellington Station where we detrained and climbed aboard trucks for the ride to our bivouac. Heavy rains usually accompanied our truck movements, and they did not fail us on this ride to Camp Stapley. The trip to the camp over narrow, winding roads gave us a better view of the English countryside, and we had our fi rst glimpse of a custom to which we would soon have to adjust ourselves—that of driving on the wrong side of the road. Stapley, a small camp of Nissen huts, Offi cers of the 1321st relaxing at an engineer depot.

From Bost

was about eleven miles out of Taunton and was just lahouse our regiment.34 We settled down to comfortable 

acquaintances with the neighboring Englishmen, dropicked up new words for our vocabulary. We found thto be friendly people with little or no imagination, heastrong patriotism, a thirst for “ile,” and a hunger for crhard workers who had sacrifi ced much that England m Our main objective while at Camp Stapley was equipment and supplies required to bring us up to fulaccordance with the Tables of Equipment for our regimtask was accomplished during the next six weeks by ddepots scattered all over England and Wales, and doinopportunity for those engaged in the task to see much At the same time, we conducted refresher courses on ttraining that we thought would concern us most directseveral of the offi cers and enlisted men to a three-day Salisbury. Company C improved and added to some of the 23d General Hospital in Taunton, and bivouac areafor other units arriving from the States. The offi cers wleaves in London, and their stories indicated that they sojourn immensely. The Buzz Bombs were bad around time, interfering especially with Captain Lee’s and Capprogram to the extent of forcing them out of bed prem

 The procurement of equipment was a complicatask not only because the depots were widely scatterebecause priorities were involved. Our priority was not 

colonel made it his personal mission to convince the sof the United Kingdom Base Headquarters, who controf equipment, that we were urgently needed in France the war.36 He was successful in obtaining necessary re

procurement task was completed earlier than expecte

34 Designed in World War I by British R

Peter N. Nissen, the huts served as chstructures for a variety of purposes, ihousing for military personnel. They of the American Quonset hut. Julie Deeds., Quonset Hut: Metal Living for a MPrinceton Architectural Press, 2005), 

35 The term “buzz bomb” refers to Germ

used extensively in the aerial attack oCaptain Harris was Robert E. Harris, Battalion dental offi cer.

36 Perhaps the author means the United 

Section. Alfred M. Beck, Abe Bortz, CMayo, and Ralph F. Weld, The Corps of Against Germany (Washington, D.C.: CHistory, U.S. Army, 1988), 351.

RU

The 1321st in Europe The 1321st arrived in Liverpool, England, on 15 October 1944 and in Le Havre, France, on 6 December 1944. The regiment went to work repairing roads and bridges, establishing depots, and constructing facilities in the northeastern Vosges area of France to support the Seventh Army’s advance towards Germany. The 1321st crossed the Rhine on 24 April 1945 and rebuilt damaged roads and bridges along the autobahn. Fifteen soldiers from the regiment received bronze stars for their service in Germany. Following the Allied victory in Europe, the 1321st redeployed to the Pacifi c Theater, where they served in Korea. 

Manchester Liverpool

Cardiff

Birmingham

Oxford

London

Plymouth

Southampton

Portsmouth Brighton

Dover

Taunton

Salisbury

Dunkerque

Calais

Lille

Beauvais

Rouen

Le Havre

Caen

Reims

Paris

St. Lô

Cherbourg

Rennes

Brest

Nantes

Tours

Orléans

Compiègne

The Hague

Brugge

Liege Bruxelles

Lausanne

Frankfurt am Main

Koblenz

Bonn

UNITED KINGDOM

FRANCE

BELGIUM

GERMANY

LUXEMBOURG

S e v er n

T h a m e s

O

u s e

Trent

L o i r e

Se i n e

S e i n e

Guernsey

CHANNEL ISLANDS

Jersey

Golfe de St-Malo

Baie de la Seine

C h e r

M a r n e

NORTH SEA

ATLANTIC 

OCEAN

ENGLISH CHANNEL

NORMANDIE

Cologne

Essen

Karlsruhe

Stuttg

Zurich

Freiburg

Bern

Luxembourg

Nancy

Metz

Epinal

Lunéville

Verdun

M o s e l l e

M e u s e

Dijon

Doubs

S

a ô ne

N e c k a r

R h i n e

S a a r

M o s e l

M e u s e

Sa m b re

R h i n e

Fu l d a

M a i n

VOSGES

SCHWARZWALD Chalôns-en-Champagne Les Forges

SWITZERLAND

0 25 50 miles

0 50 100 km

e

Essen

VOSGES

St. Dizier

Langres

Dijon

Domgermain

Toul

Nancy

Verdun Metz

Epinal

Colmar

Les Forges

Strasbourg

Lunéville

Obernai

Russ

Sarreguemines

Sarrebourg

Vincey

Luxembourg

Saarbrücken 

Freiburg

P

FRANCE

G

S

a ô ne

D o ubs

M o se l l e

Bad Durkh

Woippy

Château-Salins

M e u s e

Homburg

Kaiserslautern 

Saverne

S a a r

R h i n e

Wissembourg

Haguenau

SCHWA

SWITZE
Across the Channel Accordingly, we were alerted for movement to the Seventh Army sector in eastern France in lieu of the regiment originally scheduled for that assignment. On 30 November we moved to the Romsey Marshalling Area near Southampton.37 Vehicles and 

equipment went over the roads; the majority of the troops made the trip by rail. Our stay at the marshalling area was characterized by 

37 The Romsey Marshalling Area was one of several camps in southern England used as 

staging areas for the Normandy invasion of June 1944.



Soldiers of the 373d Engineers catch their fi rst glimpse of France at the heavily damaged port of Le Havre.

Offi ce of History

ACROS

more rain and mubrief, for on 1 Decloading on variouSouthampton docand equipment of were loaded on twship, tank), and aland equipment of companies, plus aoffi cers and men, the Nicholas Herk

Ship. The main boboarded the Leopocargo line vessel oEnglish. (At the enwe learned with intwo weeks after dtroops, the Leopol

sunk, resulting in greatest loss of life entire war.)38 The crossinHerkimer, as we teher, was anything cruise, for it took lcrossing the ChanUSS Mount Vernon crossing the Atlanmuch less comfortOn the fi rst two atnecessary to turn anchorage becaus

winds and heavy sthe cargo was damthese attempts wh

from the lashings and shifted. The third attempt, on 6 successful and the crossing was made on water smootafter the crossing the Herkimer had to wait four days 

pilot to guide her over the sandbar to a berth.

38 The Southeastern Shipping Corp. built the Liberty Ship Nicholas He

scrapped in 1967. Walter W. Jaffee, The Liberty Ships from A (A. B. HGale) (Palo Alto: Glencannon Press, 2004), 264. A German U-boat s

in the English Channel on 24 December 1944 near Cherbourg, Franand two American soldiers, most from the 66th Division, died. AllaLeopoldville Disaster, December 24, 1944 (New York: Tern Book Co., 

36 

EASTERN FRANCE

 The entrance into the harbor at Le Havre had a profound effect on us, for it brought us in close contact, for the fi rst time, with the ravages of war. The dock facilities and the city were in shambles—piles of rubble and twisted steel.39 The damage we had seen in England did 

not begin to compare with Le Havre. The LCTs (landing craft, tank) landed us on the beach for our fi rst amphibious operation. Two days were required to unload the vehicles and equipment and assemble them along the side of a road in Transit Area B. The troops traveling on the Leopoldville had arrived three days earlier than those on the 

Herkimer, but their three-day bivouac in pup tents in the rain and cold and mud was a miserable episode. Several men caught bad colds, and a few were left behind with pneumonia. Meanwhile, the vehicles and equipment loaded on LSTs went up the Seine River to Rouen to be discharged there.

10 December 1944. The last 24 hours have been very, very rough ones. I have had no more than three hours of sleep. These were in my command car. I haven’t had my clothes off; haven’t once washed my face or teeth. These notes are being written in my C and R by the light of a “torch.” It’s very cold and damp; it’s hailing. This will be my bedroom tonight also.

Eastern France Our instructions for movement from the Channel ports directed us to Dijon, which is located in the eastern section of France, but gave us no clue as to our specifi c assignment. Duly impressed at the time with the necessity of secrecy and having a naïve faith that “they” knew what “they” were doing (“they” being a mystical body who guided our destiny), we started on the cross-country jaunt. The movement was made in different groups, over different routes, and by different modes of transportation, but in general it started on 10 December and, except for stragglers, was completed on the 15th—not 39 The Allies subjected German-held Le Havre to heavy bombardment by air, sea, and land, 

destroying nearly two-thirds of the city. Before the Germans surrendered Le Havre they infl icted further damage, especially to the port facilities. Beck, et al., War Against 

Germany, 360.



at Dijon but approximately 120 miles north of there at Those who crossed the Channel on the Leopoldville stLe Havre station and traveled on “forty and eights,” Fwhich bore the inscription “40 hommes ou 8 chevaux.”4

started at Rouen and arrived safely at the destination intact. The vehicles unloaded from the Herkimer start

Area B in three serials but fi ltered across into Les ForFor all of us the movement afforded the opportunity tof Allied might as evidenced by the wrecked German strewn alongside the roads and the destruction wrougWe received our fi rst intimate glimpse of Frenchmen fi rst French as children surrounded us at halts and asdes bonbons?”—somewhat of a change from the familchum?”41 Each group can claim many features of inter

can be no question that those who traveled on the “forare entitled to the spotlight. Not until we arrived in Dijon did we learn that assigned to the Continental Advance Section (CAS),a b

whose mission was the direct support of the United StArmy and the French First Army, and that Col. Chaun

40 “40 hommes ou 8 chevaux” is French for “40 men or 8 horses,” which 

of the railcar. American soldiers became acquainted with these carWar, when they were used extensively to transport troops to the fro

41 “Avez-vous des bonbons?” is French for “Do you have any candy?”



Members of the 1321st on one of the “forty and eights,” inscGate in Forty-Eight with Aldo’s Boys.”
Snow and cold weather dominated the regiment’s experiences in France during the winter of 1944–45.A view of Epinal, one of the fi rst locations of regimental headquarters forthe 1321st in France.

EA

CAS Engineer, was our new boss.42 We were introduce

with whom we would have many contacts in the futurprove good friends—Maj. Bill Alsyn, roads section; Masection; Major Impson, supply offi cer; Captain McKenoffi cer, and Major O’Toole, chief of engineering, who gimpression initially of being a sourpuss but who, as we was a sound engineer with a delightful sense of humo

fi rst visit to Dijon we were assigned the responsibility certain roads and bridges on main supply routes, whicand army depots, and we were advised that our initial be Les Forges, a town north of Dijon roughly in the dirwhich we had just come. Les Forges, three miles west of Epinal, was a tFrench village of tiled roof houses, manure piles, pouFrench peasants all intimately intermingled. A brick provided housing for a short time but proved inadequ

42 The Continental Advance Section was originally the Coastal Base S

10 September 1944 it became the Continental Base Section and was Continental Advance Section on 26 September 1944. CONAD, not Cacronym. Beck, et al., War Against Germany, 449. CONAD was the ad

southern assault on the Continent. Final Report of the Chief EngineeOperations, 1942–1945, vol. 1 (n.p., n.d.), iii, CEHO.

43 Impson (fi rst name not known) was the engineer supply offi cer of C

diary entry for 23 January 1945.



Maj. W. H. Jaques’ regimental operations offi ce, 29 Januar
15 December 1944, regimental headquarters and the 1st Battalion (Companies A, B, and C) moved into French military barracks, Caserne de Courcy Annex, in nearby Epinal.44

 The solution to inadequate housing for the 2d Battalion came when orders were received on a Saturday night, 16 December, to create a division rest center at Lunéville, approximately thirty miles north of Epinal. Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch of the Seventh Army wanted this rest center for his divisions, some of which had seen long, continuous frontline service, like the veteran 3d, 36th, and 45th Divisions.45

The following day, Sunday, the 2d Battalion moved to Lunéville to undertake the project and occupied the Caserne Stainville, a fi ne old 

44 “Caserne” is French for “barracks” or “garrison.” For more details on the movements and 

whereabouts of the regiment’s battalions and companies in France and Germany, see “Unit History,” National Archives.

45 Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch was named commander of the U.S. Seventh Army on 

2 March 1944.

A curious child peers through the window as members of the regiment take a break from their work in France.



EA

French barracks which halittle damage in the war. Rof buildings to be used for had already been accompliof CAS headquarters and oLee, so upon arrival the troto work immediately rehabCasernes Gareson, StainviBusarine, and the Château 

We were impressed particugrand Château Stanislas, wdamaged considerably by Gthen American troops (whfor billets) but which still gof a glorious past in the remspacious mirrored ballroomstairs, luxurious living roochandeliers, and large cousoft lawns had been deeply the wheels of military vehi

companies of the 2d Battalfuriously, for all were keenin providing as much as pocombat troops, but after seproject was abandoned sudGermans had started their denying the troops any hop

46 The Caserne Stainville is in Lunéville

tioned could not be identifi ed.

47 Stanislas I Lesyczynski was elected k

1704 but was deposed by the Russian to France, where his daughter marrieStanislas was again elected king of Pposed, France granted him the Duchy The duke often held court in the Châtis unclear if Bagnulo is referring to thCommercy known as the Château StaPerkins, France Under Louis XV, 2 volMiffl in, 1897) 1:113–23, 155–58, 160, 1

48 The Germans launched a surprise off

Ardennes region on 16 December 194in creating a huge salient in the Allieand Luxembourg, and the fi ghting thEnglish as the Battle of the Bulge. ThGerman advance on 24 December and enemy back into Germany. Several gements, but not the 1321st, fought as inarea. Final Report of the Chief Enginee

Repairing Roads in France

In Europe, road maintenance was one of the 1321st’s most important tasks because the Allied advance depended on the steady fl ow of men and supplies toward the front. The regiment maintained hundreds of miles of roads, largely by improving drainage and reinforcing surfaces with crushed rock. In mid-February 1945, the 1321st was working on roads between Epinal and Lunéville, France. Clockwise from upper left: engineers using logs, later to be covered with dirt and crushed rock, to repair a heavily damaged roadbed; struggling to free a bulldozer caught in a road collapse; and working to reinforce a failing roadbed as Colonel Bagnulo supervises.
44 

GERMAN ADVANCES

German Advances Yes, the picture changed abruptly. All units were alerted against the dangers of enemy paratroopers and the activities of enemy agents disguised as American soldiers.49 Security measures were increased, 

and plans for withdrawal were prepared in all echelons of command in the event the enemy were successful in their offensive. The Germans had crossed the Rhine River south of Strasbourg near Colmar in French First Army territory and were pressing the U.S. Seventh Army north of Strasbourg at Haguenau. The entire area around Strasbourg was held only lightly by Seventh Army troops and was a potential pocket. The plan was to withdraw from this area, to evacuate valuable materials, and to demolish any installations that might be of value to the enemy. On 27 December 1944 the regiment received instructions to evacuate captured enemy engineer materials from depots in Strasbourg, Obernai, and Russ and also to organize ten demolition squads to be readily available to demolish bridges and valuable installations. As the combat troops withdrew to more favorable positions, men of Companies E and F moved forward to undertake these tasks and established effi cient loading organizations at the captured enemy depots for the convoy of trucks assembled from the 46th Quartermaster Truck Group, the 28th Quartermaster Truck Group, the 791st Engineer Dump Truck Company, and our own regiment. We made our fi rst contact with “Jerry,” having our convoys en route to and from the depots strafed and being in several patrol clashes near the depots.50

29 December 1944. The Germans have crossed the MOSELLE River south of us near COLMAR. We are being pressed also from the north. This entire area around STRASBOURG then forms a pocket which is held on lightly. The plan is to withdraw.Meanwhile I’m evacuating as much supplies from RUSS and from here as I can. Hope we don’t get caught.

49 As part of the German offensive, Operation GREIF involved sending German soldiers 

(about 150 of whom could speak English) to infi ltrate American-held areas wearing American uniforms. The infi ltrators had some success in creating confusion among the Allies, but the airborne phase proved largely a failure. Hugh M. Cole, The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge (Washington, D.C.: Offi ce of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1965), 269–71.

50 “Jerry” is a slang term for Germans, commonly used by the Allies during the war.



 Back at Epinal, a distance of 150 miles, the 1st unloaded the cargo of the returning convoys in their band before it was over found themselves literally burinails, wire, skis, commodes, sinks, and electrical fi xtuhad to be sorted and shipped to the rear by rail to our Under different conditions the trip between the two pbe most enjoyable, for the route is through the pictureMountains, but the lieutenants who commanded the clittle opportunity to absorb the beauties because of thencountered in traveling over the winding mountain heavily loaded trucks. On one of the trips, Lieutenant seriously injured when his weapons carrier skidded oand crashed into a tree. On 1 January 1945 our troops of Strasbourg and Obernai (a platoon of Company E uWilburn remained at Russ because this was farther to having evacuated approximately twelve hundred tons engineer materials.51Work Near Epinal During the period that the 2d Battalion was enactivities in Lunéville, Strasbourg, and Obernai, the 1commenced a number of additional projects at Epinalthese tasks, which was assigned to Company C, was thof a French military prep school to provide facilities f51 J. Wilburn, commander 3d Platoon, Company E.



1321st regimental staff, 22 March 1945.
Hospital construction using prefabricated components in Lunéville, France, 30 January 1945.Bridge over the Moselle River, rebuilt by Company B of the 1321st in Epinal, France, 27 January 1945.

General Hospital. They started the job on 22 Decembcontinued for approximately one month. Skills heretowere called upon to accomplish the work, for major elplumbing, and sewer installations were required aloninvolving diffi cult carpentry. Wounded men were rechospital shortly after we started work. Not only were actually working on the project busy but also those rethe procurement of supplies. Supply personnel were fentirely new—the procurement of construction supplin Dijon approximately 120 miles to the rear. As the cmaterials that were being evacuated became availablwas greatly simplifi ed. As part of our principal missiobridge maintenance, Lieutenant Bayliss and his platoB rebuilt a bridge across the Moselle River under the conditions. The 1st Battalion became involved in maninstalling an offi ce in the Seventh Army post exchangand painting directional signs for our friends in the QTrucking units, who were not good map readers like tLieutenant Meyers of Company A was assigned the taand operating a lumber dump at Vincey, north of Epin The many and varied tasks which were assignsuffi cient to keep the average regiment busy, but in ouin addition to our primary mission of maintaining thrmiles of roads and bridges. During the month of Januencountered our coldest and most severe weather conall companies of the regiment locked horns with a sturemoval problem. The few snow plows that were avaidrawn from the depots along with additional graders and more plows were procured in nearby villages froChaussées, the highway department of the French govan all-out “get the supplies through” effort.53 Rail tran

become completely congested, and supply trucks rolleup to the front. We labored night and day to keep the night while answering a call with his platoon to spreaslope, Lieutenant Price’s weapons carrier skidded and tree, resulting in his permanent disability, our second 

The heavy work during January took its toll on two otLieutenant Colonel Wetzel and Captain Cross, both of to be sent to the hospital and eventually back to the S

52 E. E. Meyers, administrative offi cer, Company A.53 The Ponts et Chaussées is the French government’s bridges and roa

54 A. E. Price, commander 3d Platoon, Company D.55 See Bagnulo’s diary entry for 25 January 1945.



WOR
48 

John Dabbs was moved up to the position of executive offi cer and Lieutenant Kellogg was transferred from Company F to replace Cross as commanding offi cer of Headquarters and Service Company.56 It was in January also that we undertook a job that required only a few men and a small amount of equipment but that made an indelible impression on those of us who came in contact with it. The Quartermaster Graves Registration Company was falling behind in digging graves in the solidly frozen ground for the soldiers, American and German, who had been sacrifi ced in the winter offensive. The company commander came to us with his problem, and we responded with all of the air compressors and dirt-digging tools that could be made available. We saw the corpses as they were removed from the mattress covers in which they had been transported by the truckloads to the “bull pen”—paled in death, bloody, and frozen stiff in the various grotesque positions in which they had died. Normally the men sang, joked, and indulged in a certain amount of horseplay as they worked, but they undertook this job with a grim determination and with the thought in their minds, “but for the Grace of God, there go I.” Early in February the rains came and the snow disappeared. We had looked forward hopefully for a period of rest when the snow and ice would disappear, as the men and equipment had worked 56 John N. Dabbs, of Bessemer, Ala., executive offi cer of the 1321st, was later promoted 

to major.



When heavy snows gave way to spring rains, the engineers’ mission changed from snow removal to road repair.

relentlessly through December and January, but such the case. Following closely on the heels of the retreatithe early spring thaws, and with the thaws came our and diffi cult problems. All Frenchmen know that certtheir roads will fail completely during the thaws if subtraffi c, and our friends at the Ponts et Chaussées advis

emphasizing their point by referring to what had haproads during World War I. The German winter offensstopped and preparations for our spring offensive wewhich meant hauling mountains of supplies forward oroads in spite of the warnings of the Frenchmen. Certtrue to their prediction, very quickly, almost suddenlyquagmires under the constant, heavy pounding of the that streamed forward in an endless chain. As we tacproblems, we looked back to the period of snow and icleast we had roads then.” Covering three hundred miles of road, we werthinly, and each section of road that failed presented task requiring feet, not inches, of solid fi ll to replace tthe construction of corduroy road.57 All of the men an

assisted somewhat by the Ponts et Chaussées and Germ

57 A corduroy road is one constructed with logs usually laid crosswise

crushed rock and is essential to any horizontal construction projec



Shin deep in rain and mud, an engineer inspects road damathawing and heavy vehicle use.
50 

of war (PWs), were thrown into the battle, and even Captain Harris, our dental offi cer, put aside his dental drills temporarily to supervise the repair of a bad stretch of road north of Epinal. By ditching and draining and hauling in rock, by constructing by-passes, by laying corduroy, and by pulling the trucks through the mud with bulldozers, we kept the supplies moving up to the front. While our immediate objective during the early part of February 1945 was to keep the roads open, our eyes were pointed generally north toward Nancy and Metz as future sites from which to provide support for the Seventh Army, whose spring thrust was expected to be north and beyond these points. The area to which we were looking had already been taken by the Third Army, but it was planned that this area would be turned over to the Seventh Army because the effort of the Third Army would be farther north and slightly to the west. Colonel Bagnulo, Major Jaques, and Captain Lee reconnoitered for depot and billet sites in the vicinity of Nancy and Toul, and Major Jaques and Captain Dabbs made one wild sortie north beyond Metz in which they tangled with Third Army MPs (military police), artillery, and anti-aircraft batteries and were grateful that they managed to return unscathed. An extensive military installation in Toul, the Caserne Bautzen, was selected as the site of billets for engineer troops and also for covered storage and shop space for engineer depot operations. South of Toul at Domgermain—a triangular area formed by railroad tracks, two legs of which could not be used for through traffi c because of a demolished bridge beyond the point where these two legs joined to form the apex of the triangle—was selected to be developed for open storage. Captain Lee established the advanced regimental command post at Caserne Bautzen and Company C, reinforced, was moved to this location to undertake the 

Soldiers unloading timber at the lumber yard in Vincey, France, 9 February 1945.

WOR

development of the two depot sites as well as rehabiliEuropa and doing some carpentry work at the MP sta In February our lumber enterprise at Vincey bla thriving business. The 1392d Engineer Forestry Comattached to the regiment with the mission of hauling luthe mills scattered throughout the Vosges Mountains tVincey, where we provided for all the operations, incluof our fi rst steam locomotive to shift cars. To the Sevenwe shipped fi fty thousand board feet of tactical timber period of approximately one month, and by the time wassignment in March, we had handled 3.4 million boar Early in March Company E was detached from to help form a team whose mission was to lay pipe for of gasoline to the advancing divisions of the Seventh A58 In the original manuscript, Bagnulo writes that the unit handled “t

hundred board feet of lumber.” While it is possible that he was bein(3.0004 million), it is likely that by accident he omitted the word “thphrase “four hundred thousand” (3.4 million).



Engineers of the 1321st in late March as they supported Atoward Germany.
Engineer Depot at 

DomgermainBeginning in February 1945, the 1321st spent several months building an engineer supply depot at Domgermain, France. With the help of four companies of German prisoners of war, the regiment prepared the site, operated rock quarries that produced thousands of yards of crushed stone, and built access roads and hard stands for open storage. Activities at the depot included (clockwise from the bottom): depot site preparation and road construction; prisoners pushing railcars loaded with construction supplies; and operation of a rock crusher by the 1321st. 
assignment carried Company E right into the battle zone, laying pipe as fast as mine sweepers could clear a path. On 15 March Company D moved north of Metz to Woippy to take over from the Third Army a captured enemy engineer depot.Spring Offensive into Germany By the end of March 1945 the spring offensive was well underway. It appeared that Lt. Gen. (later General) George S. Patton and his Third Army would reach the Rhine in a few days. The direction of General Patton’s thrust, however, shifted in an easterly direction more than initially contemplated, causing General Patch and his Seventh Army to advance in an easterly instead of a northerly direction. General Patch called on CAS to relieve some of his engineer combat battalions of road responsibilities so that they could prepare for the Rhine River crossing, and CAS in turn called on us, marking the beginning of a period characterized by many movements, more rush jobs, and our fi rst achievement medals. We started off by moving into the area that Seventh Army had captured, lost, and recaptured and where they subsequently spent the winter of 1944–45. Regimental headquarters, 1st Battalion headquarters, H & S Company, and the 791st Engineer Dump Truck Company, which was attached to 

Soldiers of the 1321st repairing one of the regiment’s many vehicles.

SPRING OFFENSIVE 

the regiment for this mission, moved to Sarrebourg. Cmoved to Baccarat, Company B to Château de KetzingChâteau-Salins, Company D to Hofmuhl near Saverneto Haguenau, where for a period they were subjected air raids. Company E was farther north, spread out ovand still engaged in pipeline operations. At this time thad two companies of German PWs, totaling fi ve hunwhich was attached to Company B and the other to Co59 To alleviate the shortage of American engineer soldiers, German p

pressed into service. American labor supervision units oversaw thers, who were organized into 250-man construction, depot, maintecompanies. Final Report of the Chief Engineer, vol. 1, 144–45.



German prisoners of war on kitchen duty with the 1321st, The regiment also used hundreds of German prisoners for and construction jobs.
56 

S P R I N G O F F E N S I V E I N T O GERMANY

 Road conditions were such that any repairs short of complete reconstruction were inadequate. Rock was shipped by rail to various distribution centers located throughout our area of responsibility, from where it was hauled to the roads as needed. Along with road maintenance, the regiment was engaged in operating water points at Blâmont, Sarrebourg, and Saverne and in pipeline construction. The main supply route (MSR) from Sarreguemines through Homburg and Kaiserslautern to Mannheim suddenly loomed in importance and required considerable work. Company C moved near Kaiserslautern with one of its platoons under Lt. John Collins at Bad Durkheim.60 Company A 

moved to Sarreguemines and Company B to Homburg with the company of German PWs attached. Advance regimental command post moved to Bad Durkheim also.

11 April 1945. Being in Germany resulted in a strange feeling which is not pleasant. We are surrounded by people who have been our bitter enemies for years, and it is certain that their feeling toward us must not be friendly.

 On 23 April 1945 the regiment was given its largest single assignment yet—that of opening an MSR from Karlsruhe to Stuttgart for the fi nal drive of Seventh Army into Munich. Our fi rst companies, 

Companies F and D, crossed the Rhine on 24 April. The 2d Battalion 

60 John E. Collins, Philadelphia, Pa., commander 1st Platoon, Company C.



headquarters and Company D, with its attached compPWs, moved to Singen, Germany; advance regimentaand Company F moved into position at Leonberg, GerE was pulled off pipeline construction and moved into roughly halfway between Companies D and F. The taan MSR by rebuilding stretches of road and bridges thdemolished by the retreating Germans along a route wof sections of the autobahn (famed German superhighparallel highway with connecting roads located so as obstacles that could not be removed in the time allottethe jobs involved were as follows: • Fill and surface bomb craters north of Karl • Fill and surface a crater two kilometers nor • Provide support for the partially destroyed 

stringers by cribbing and repair the hole in fl oor of the bridge in Singen.61

61 Stringers are the longitudinal members that support the bridge fl oo

Singen the engineers built crib piers, frameworks of logs fi lled with damaged stringers. 



Engineers of the 1321st and a newly completed water point, distributed potable water, 8 April 1945.
58 

 • Widen by six feet approximately a mile of road and a 

masonry bridge at Wilferdingen.

 • Construct a masonry abutment to support eighty-foot 

concrete beams at the east end of a bridge where they had been sheared by demolition. This bridge on the autobahn provided an overpass for German Highway 10 about three kilometers northwest of Pforzheim.

 • Construct approaches to provide for one-way traffi c 

entering and leaving the autobahn north of Pforzheim.

 • Fill two gaps, each eighty feet, the result of demolished 

overpasses, on the autobahn, one at Neubärental and one at Wimsheim.

 • Clear the block created by dropping a built-up, steel girder 

overpass on the autobahn near Rutesheim.

 • Fill three more gaps similar to the ones listed previously at 

Heimsheim, Perouse, and Rutesheim.

 • Construct a two-lane bridge, 150-foot span, over a double 

line railroad track south of Leonberg. For this job, I-beams and hardware were found at Stuttgart, timber for cribs were cut from adjacent forests, and lumber was collected from nearby hills.

 • Prepare and post signs along the entire route for the proper 

guidance of traffi c.

Brig. Gen. Ralph M. Immell presenting Bronze Star medals to members of the 1321st with Colonel Bagnulo looking on, 13 May 1945.

spring offensive 

 Sunday, 6 May, was given as the completion dathe job looked big; closer scrutiny indicated that it wathe companies of the 2d Battalion wasted no time in gsetting that date for our target. We hit it; we still shot e Meanwhile, the 1st Battalion was relieved of itresponsibility near Kaiserslautern and crossed the RhMSR generally parallel to the one being opened by thconsiderably north. The 1st Battalion headquarters anA and C moved to Mühlacker. Company B moved to Hone platoon at Heidelberg. Later all of the company, inattached German PWs, moved to a huge castle at Fürfsupervised by Lt. James Gray, built a bridge which sparailroad bridge at Bruchsal and maintained the road wbridge to Mannheim.62 Company C constructed a tran

railroad siding in Mühlacker, maintained by building to the autobahn just beyond Wilferdingen. Company B highways 37 and 38 between Heidelberg and Heilbrona system of roads for a prisoner of war enclosure at H On Sunday, 13 May 1945, Brig. Gen. Ralph M. Icommanding general of CAS, inspected our achievemautobahn and made on-the-spot awards of the Bronze six offi cers and nine enlisted men of the regiment.63 W

that day.64

15 May 1945.There has been nothing but praise for performance in connection with that woron the autobahn.

62 James R. Gray, commander 1st Platoon, Company A.63 Ralph M. Immell served as an infantry offi cer in World War I. Betw

came a brigadier general in the Wisconsin National Guard and the general. On active duty in World War II he performed in various caServices of Supply/Army Service Forces in North Africa and EuropChief, Historical Resources Branch, U.S. Army Center of Military Hcommunication, 23 May 2008.

64 The recipients were Capt. William C. Pahl; Capt. Glenn E. Pickrel; 

1st Lt. Cecil C. Levister; 1st Lt. Vincent Ream; 2d Lt. Robert S. ParkBufford; S. Sgt. Philip M. Bagley; S. Sgt. J. D. Cox; S. Sgt. Fred D. DiTanniehill; S. Sgt. Paul Triplett; S. Sgt. Isaac S. Wynn; Sgt. Frankli(Technician Fourth Grade) Dossie Hammond. In addition, S. Sgt. Aawarded the Soldier’s Medal for “rescuing a fellow soldier from dronear Singen, Germany, 13 May 1945.... The heroism displayed by Seoccasion refl ects great credit upon him and is in keeping with the hmilitary service.” “Unit History,” National Archives.

Bridge Construction 

in GermanyIn May 1945 the 1321st Engineers built a 150-foot-long bridgto replace an autobahn bridge destroyed during the fi ghtinga span required both skill and common sense, for engineers as quickly as possible using readily available labor and mabridge at Leonberg, the 1321st fi rst had to remove the remaspan and then build two timber cribs to support the new supcompleted bridge is shown at lower left. 
Recreation and L

Although the engineers of the 1321st oftethere was still time for recreational activwas in Europe, sports and sightseeing wOther recreational activities included (clplaying cards; enjoying a libation in the 16 March 1945 boxing match. 
LEAVING FRANCE

Leaving France On the afternoon of General Immell’s inspection we learned that the regiment was selected for direct redeployment to the Pacifi c Theater. On 4 May regimental headquarters and H & S Company had moved to the Caserne Hindenburg at Kornwestheim. This caserne, which consisted of fi ve large barracks, each with capacity for seven hundred men; two battalion sized mess halls; extensive garage and shop space; parking areas; and recreational facilities, had been completed in 1938 and was left in excellent condition by the Germans only a few days before we arrived. We decided to use it as an assembly point for the regiment prior to movement to the staging area. As the companies cleaned up the various jobs on which they had been working, they moved into Caserne Hindenburg, and for the fi rst time since we left Camp Stapley in England, the regiment was assembled in one place again. For approximately one week we worked on our vehicles and equipment, exchanged some which were beyond repair, and received some enlisted and offi cer replacements. Lieutenants Edwards, Puckett, Shaffett, and Stevenson joined us at Kornwestheim to fi ll some of the offi cer shortages which had developed since arrival Following V.E. Day, the 1321st enjoyed a respite while mobilizing to move to the Pacifi c Theater.

L

in Europe.65 On 20 May vehicles and equipment of the 

moved out for the staging area; the 2d Battalion and H convoy left the following day; and the main body of pheavy engineer equipment departed by rail on 23 Mayour beloved “forty and eights.”

27 May 1945. It has been interesting to watch the retions of the personnel here at Hqs now hostilities have ceased. Everybody has hterrific let down and everybody seems rless. Of course they all want to return and most seem to prefer transfer to the rather than remain here.

 The staging area to which we moved was at Camiles northwest of Marseille, France, and was still in of construction when we arrived. Our transportation wus for processing and none substituted, the chow was was plentiful, and the staging personnel were still in of being organized. Confusion, however, was not somus. Our readiness date was set as 3 June, so we workeprocure clothing and equipment. Lt. Vincent Ream, thhad supervised the construction of our boxes and craCamp Sutton, went to work again to make bigger and in much greater quantities.66 It was satisfying to obser

which the men constructed the boxes and crates in cotheir performance in the same task upon starting our Sutton. This simple operation was indicative of our imhad developed into a seasoned outfi t. We processed as quickly as the facilities at the would permit, and by 10 June 1945 all personnel and eready. Our equipment was loaded on the USS White SLt. Horace Smith as ship’s transport quartermaster, a

65 Edwards is probably William T. Edwards, Rotan, Tex.; James A. Puc

Alvin B. Shaffett, Port Arthur, Tex.; and Carl A. Stevenson, Dawson 

66 Vincent A. Ream, Paxton, Ill.

66 

TO THE PACIFIC

sail for the Pacifi c on 28 June.67 We picked up additional enlisted men 

and offi cers to fi ll shortages resulting from losses that occurred as the 

result of readjustment. The offi cers who joined at this time were Capt. David Curtis and Capt. Robert Marquardt, Chaplain James Stewart, Lt. Thomas Brinkley, and Warrant Offi cer Gerard Dore.68 Although the 

personnel had completed processing by 10 June, we had to kill time for a little more than a month in sporadic review of training, assorted athletics, and hoping that the war would end, resulting in our being sent home. Finally, after almost two months at the staging area, we were alerted, but personnel of the regiment were split into two groups for the movement. The 1st Battalion headquarters and Companies A and B loaded on the USAT Fred C. Ainsworth on 13 July and set sail the 

following day.69 The balance of the regiment boarded the USS Admiral 

R .E. Coontz and set sail on 21 July 1945.70 Thus on three different ships 

the personnel and equipment of the 1321st were en route to the Pacifi c to put an end to hostilities there also.

To the Pacifi c Our fi rst stop was at Cristobal, the Atlantic end of the Panama Canal. The ship took on fresh provisions and ice and refueled. It was here in Panama that we had our fi rst taste of bananas since we had left the States—incidentally our last. Being restricted to a fenced-in area on the docks, we did not do much sightseeing in Cristobal, but inside the stockade the Red Cross did wonders to provide for our recreation. Everything from ice cold Coca-Colas to a USO show was 

67 The North Carolina Ship Building Co. launched the White 

Squall in 1943. After its war service it sailed for the Matson Navigation Co. under the name Sonoma. Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, Register Book, 1950–51, 2 vols. (London: Lloyd’s 

Register of Shipping, 1950), 2:76946.

68 David T. Curtis, Toledo, Ohio; Robert B. Marquardt, 

Binghampton, N.Y.; James E. W. Stewart, Boston, Mass; Thomas M. Brinkley, Los Angeles, Calif.; and Gerard V. Dore, Adams, Mass.

69 The Fred C. Ainsworth was a War Department troopship 

built by the Ingalls Shipping Corp. in 1943. Initially, it carried soldiers from San Francisco and Seattle to the Pacifi c. In June 1945 it sailed to Marseille and from there transported troops of the 1321st to Ulithi and Okinawa. Roland W. Charles, Troopships of World War II (Washington, D.C.: 

Army Transportation Association, 1947), 26.

70 The Bethlehem Steel Corporation built the troopship 

Admiral R. E. Coontz in 1944. The ship transported troops from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor and Ulithi until mid1945 when it sailed to Europe. It cleared Marseille 21 July 1945 with soldiers of the 1321st aboard and arrived at Okinawa in September 1945. The Coontz was decommissioned in March 1946, turned over to the War Department, and renamed the General Alexander M. Patch. Moody, 

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, 1:12.



made available.71 There were sandwiches, doughnuts, 

movies, and a post exchange, a souvenir stand, and a  The trip through the Panama Canal highlighteWe were fascinated by the strange country which borand were inspired by the canal itself, which is a tribuengineering, tenacity, and ability to do big things. We entered the Pacifi c on 3 August 1945 and hHarbor. It was during our three-day stopover at Pearl the false pre-surrender celebrations occurred and PreTruman made the offi cial announcement of the JapanTo be at the very site where the war started on the daa thrill. Many theories were advanced on the cause fosurrender—the atomic bomb, our aerial might, the bloothers—but we knew that the Japanese had learned of that was the real reason for the surrender. To the seas again on the 15th. We stopped for a Eniwetok, then proceeded to Saipan, where some of th

71 The USO (United Service Organizations) is a private, nonprofi t orga

troop morale by providing entertainment, welfare services, and rec



A view from their ship as the 1321st prepared to sail from PHawaii, to Okinawa, Japan, 14 August 1945.
68 

OKINAWA, KOREA, AND THE LAST DAYS OF THE 1321st

travelling on the Admiral Coontz unloaded. From Saipan we sailed to Guam, where the 1325th Engineer General Service Regiment was put ashore. We then sailed to Ulithi, a naval anchorage approximately four hundred miles south of Guam, where we were to wait for two weeks until called for by the port authorities at Okinawa.72 It was here 

that we caught up with the USS Ainsworth, which was carrying 1st 

Battalion headquarters, Companies A and B, and the USS White Squall, 

which had our equipment aboard. While at Ulithi we were permitted to go ashore to the tropical enchanted isle named Mog Mog. Some recreational facilities were available, as were plenty of beverages, hard and soft. The “Battle of Mog Mog,” as it was designated, was a unique experience for all of us.73 After almost two weeks, the Ainsworth 

set sail for Okinawa, and the personnel aboard landed in time to experience the fi rst minor typhoon, while the Coontz left Ulithi a few 

days later and caught this typhoon on the high seas.

Okinawa, Korea, and the Last Days of the 1321st By 20 September 1945 all personnel had been unloaded at Okinawa and we started in earnest to develop our tent camp.74 Our camp 

site was located on cultivated fi elds, bordered on the west by the beach that had been the scene of considerable fi ghting, and the bones and decomposed bodies of Japanese soldiers were strewn along the length of it. In spite of the lack of materials and equipment (our regimental equipment was still on the White Squall) and the rains, which converted our area into a sea of mud, we developed a credible camp by 7 October. On that day, Saturday, an inspection was made of the entire area. The colonel was very well pleased, as what we had developed would compare favorably with any other camp on the island.75

 The credible camp was not to last long, however, for the typhoon of the afternoon and night of 10 October changed all that. In the worst storm that the island had suffered in twenty years, the wind 

72 Ulithi is an atoll in the western Caroline Islands that was 

occupied by American forces in September 1944. It became a major base for the offensive against Japan.

73 The “Battle of Mog Mog” is likely a reference to an alcoholinduced brawl on the island between Navy pilots of the 

USS Bunker Hill and those of the USS Essex in March 1945. 

Arthur L. Kelly, BattleFire! Combat Stories from World War II

(Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001), 42.

74 Before arriving at Okinawa, the regiment, on 12 August 

1945, landed at Ie Shima, a small island about two miles off the west coast of Okinawa. Stanton, Order of Battle, 563.

75 At Okinawa the regiment was consolidated and assigned to 

XXIV Corps, Tenth Army, in anticipation of movement to Korea. “Unit History,” National Archives.



having attained a velocity of 120 miles per hour, the cato a total wreck without one tent escaping the fury of twind, rain, and sand. We had had no warning of the stwind increased we scattered to fi nd protection behind in the cellars of ruined houses in the nearby villages, Those who took refuge in some of the caves had to disskeletons before moving in. The morning of the 11th fout on a dismal setting, a ghost town. There was little which to rebuild, but within a few days our camp had shape. Where we had squad tents before, however, we tents; where once we had some sort of bed, we now sle On 13 October we drew some equipment for thof maintaining the roads throughout the south end of developing a water point, and doing odd jobs like conan amphitheater with a capacity of fi ve thousand for tbivouacked in our general area. During October we lokey enlisted personnel and some offi cers by readjustmthe regiment loaded on LSTs early in November for mKorea, it left many more enlisted men and offi cers to 76 Prior to the war, Japan controlled the Korean Peninsula completely

the U.S. and the USSR agreed to a joint trusteeship of Korea, and bto the country. The Soviets occupied the area north of the 38th parawere in the south. In 1948 the two areas offi cially separated into thRepublic of Korea and the Republic of Korea.



A storm-ravaged camp in Okinawa after the typhoon of 10 O
70 

OKINAWA, KOREA, AND THE LAST DAYS OF THE 1321st

When the regiment landed at Inch’on, Korea, it consisted of thirty-six offi cers and less than nine hundred enlisted men.77 Korea was the strangest of all countries in which we had served. Here we encountered people whose dress, customs, and civilization were different from anything we had known before, and here we saw the rice paddies, which were new to our eyes although centuries had been required for their development. Regimental headquarters was set up in building F–6, a former Japanese factory for the manufacture of small arms ammunition, and the personnel were billeted in Area Q, former workers’ quarters, both located in ASCOM City. ASCOM City, a derivative of Army Service Command, was the name given by the XXIV Corps Service Command to the huge industrial center that had 77 Companies C, D, E, and F, H & S Company, and the Medical Detachment departed from 

Okinawa on 31 October 1945 and arrived at Inch’on on 6 November. Companies A and B and “remaining rear echelon troops” sailed from Okinawa on 5 November 1945 and arrived at Inch’on on 11 November. “Unit History,” National Archives.



A Korean man in traditional hanbok clothing as photographed by a member of the 1321st Engineers, ca. 1946.

OKINAWA, KOREA, AND THE LAST DAYS 

been developed in the broad valley east of Inch’on as aproduction of small arms and small arms ammunition Upon arrival, a number of engineer units, inclconstruction battalion, two light equipment companiebattalion, two maintenance companies, a dump truck a utilities detachment, were attached to the regiment. units attached, the regiment was assigned the responall construction in the general area, which included Aand Inch’on, and regimental headquarters assumed tdesignation of Headquarters, Inch’on Engineer Area.In this capacity the regiment performed its last servicArmy—the development of troop housing, road and bmaintenance, construction of two station hospitals, dedepot facilities and ammunition storage areas, and thof Quonset Hut barracks and the installation of a watesystem in Area A at Kimpo Airdrome.78 The regiment 

administrative matters in connection with the readjunumbers of personnel, the inactivation of a number ounits, and the consolidation of remaining personnel tmaximum effi ciency. During the severe winter monthperiod when personnel were being changed frequent

78 For further details see “Semi-Monthly Construction Reports for Inc

Military Files X-63-7, CEHO.



Staff Sergeant Billing, 1321st Engineers.
72 

OKINAWA, KOREA, AND THE LAST DAYS OF THE 1321st

performed this service in a manner that heaped additional credit on a record of which we were already proud.79 Losses in personnel by the readjustment continued so that by February only a handful of men of the original regiment remained. New life was injected into the unit by the transfer of personnel and equipment from the 1331st Engineer General Service Regiment, but the story of the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment that had activated at Camp Sutton; trained, worked, sweated, and erred in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee; fought mud, snow, and ice in England and France; rebuilt roads and bridges for the Seventh Army in Germany; traveled to the far Pacifi c to do its last bit there in Korea; and throughout its career made up for lack of experience and skills by a desire to do its best in any assigned task, big or small—the story of that regiment ended in February of 1946.79 The 1321st served in Korea through the end of 1946. It received credit for service in the 

Rhineland and Central European campaigns and the Pacifi c Theater. Stanton, Order of 

Battle, 563. Bagnulo did not command the regiment during its last months in Korea. His successors, and the dates when they assumed command, were Joseph J. Mackey (20 September 1946); Hugo T. Shogren (temporary, 1 October 1946); Herbert H. Glidden (5 October 1946); Neil S. Edmond (16 November 1946). “General Orders—1321st Engineer General Service Regiment,” ENGR 1321-1.13, Box 19697, Records of the Adjutant General’s Offi ce, RG 407, National Archives.



Colonel Bagnulo and his jeep on New Year’s Day, 1946, near ASCOM City, Korea.

The Diary of 

Col. Aldo H. Bagn
Diary of Colonel Aldo H. Bagnulo

74

Diary of Colonel Al



THURSDAY, 7 December 1944, 1815 h

 We are still anchored off LE HAVRE waiting fauthorities to send pilot aboard who will guide us ove Nothing of unusual interest occurred today. After breakfast this morning, I went out on dein conversation with Lt. Senior Grade McGown who is commanding gun crews stationed on this ship. He is fand has heard of Colonel Garbish and Grace De Ware

enjoy my accounts of the experiences in the West Ind This afternoon I had a nap, read for a while, ththe deck. It was my turn to wash the mess gear after the  I’m reading the book UNDER COVER by John 

FRIDAY, 8 December 1944, 2015 [hou

 Another day spent at anchor off LE HAVRE. A blown all day and it has been quite cold. The Chief Mate came into our cabin earlier in and he, Maj. Worley, Maj. Mohler, Doc Ivkovich and I delightful “bull” session. The chief mate here has beeyears and, of course, has many tales to tell. I didn’t sleep well last night since my body was feared that I had the fl u, but during the course of the dand feel pretty good this evening. Waiting at anchor aleads one to believe that there is faulty planning someline. I understand that a ship of this size costs the govedaily. There are many other ships lying at anchor as w The Mate tells many stories of mismanagemenwith transporting cargo across the channel. Perhaps tinevitably a part of the war.

4 Probably Edgar William Garbisch, who graduated from the U.S. Mi

(USMA) in 1925 and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers. Hbut returned to the Army in 1942 and served as executive offi cer anengineer of the Corps of Engineers’ New York District. In 1944 he bengineer of the Providence District and, later that year, district engDistrict. Charles N. Branham, ed., Biographical Register of the Offi ceU.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York Since Its EstablishmenVolume IX, 1940–1950 (n.p.: Association of Graduates, U.S. Military AGrace De Ware is not identifi ed.

5 John Roy Carlson (not Carson) [Arthur Derounian], Under Cover: My 

Nazi Underworld of America—The Amazing Revelation of How Axis AWithin are Now Plotting to Destroy the United States (New York: E. P. 



74



Aldo Bagnulo earned a Legion of Merit for his service in the Caribbean before WWII and a second for his service from 1955 to 1965.

WEDNESDAY, 6 December 1944, 1830 hours

Aboard MT338, Nicholas HERKIMER anchored off 

LE HAVRE, France

 For some time I’ve wanted to start a diary. I have fi nally started today since time is more readily available than is the case normally and the events of the last few days have been particularly interesting. Approximately 200 men and all of the vehicles and equipment of the lettered companies were loaded on this vessel 4 December 1944 and we left Southampton, England, the morning of 5 Dec. Twice it was necessary to turn back to safe anchorage because of heavy seas and high wind. Some damage was done to our equipment, which broke loose from the lashings and shifted. Today, however, we crossed the Channel on a very calm sea. There are two French Offi cers aboard ship, Maj. LEYDET and Capt. TROTER, who are returning to France for the fi rst time since 

having escaped to America in 1941. Capt. TROTER 

is especially interesting, having been involved in 

underground activities.

 Maj. Worley, Maj. Mohler and Major (Doc) 

Ivkovich share a stateroom.1 We are supposed to 

be eating C rations but manage to get odds and 

ends in food which we cook on a gasoline stove 

provided by Doc.2 Each meal is an adventure.

 Right now I’m in the cabin of the 1st 

Mate, Mr. Luther G. Youngs, who is a very 

pleasant fellow. He is acquainted with P.R. and 

plans to buy land there sometime in the future.3

He plans to buy a schooner which he will use to 

haul supplies to and from P.R.

1 Paul I. Ivkovich, the 1321st’s regimental surgeon. As in the history section, offi cers of the 

1321st, unless otherwise indicated, are identifi ed in “1321st EGS Regt. List of Offi cers, with civilian addresses, 1945” and “Offi cers of the 1321st Engineer General Service Regiment While in Europe,” Aldo H. Bagnulo Papers, Box 1, Folders 26 and 27, Offi ce of History, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alexandria, Va. (hereafter cited as CEHO).

2 C-rations typically consisted of canned meat, vegetables, and dessert, along with candy, 

gum, hot beverage mix, hard biscuits, crackers, cheese, salt, sugar, cigarettes, toilet paper, and can openers.

3 P.R. is Puerto Rico.
Diary of Colonel Aldo H. Bagnulo

76

Diary of Colonel Al

SATURDAY, 9 December 1944, 1630 hours

 We have crossed the sand bar and are approaching LE HAVRE. We are now passing a ship whose stern only is above water. It seems to have broken midships. As we approach LE HAVRE, on the left is a high cliff. This cliff is studded with gun emplacements. This is my fi rst experience of the ravages of war. Approximately seventy fi ve percent of the bldgs are damaged or completely destroyed. We are now entering the breakwater, a massive concrete wall. Very close on our right is the mast only of a ship sticking out of the water. This city is really in shambles. As we come closer it becomes apparent that a very few bldgs have not been damaged at least slightly.This damage, I understand, was done by allied sea and air power in wresting the city from the Germans. Some of the destruction is so complete, however, that I would guess that it is the result of deliberate demolitions on the part of the retreating Germans. As we come closer to the docks I’m more convinced that the destruction here was accomplished by the Germans.6

 They have done a thorough job. These sights have had a profound effect on me. I couldn’t begin to estimate the extent of the damage. The two French offi cers are with me now pointing out the various bldgs. Capt. TROTER is now telling me about the GARE MARITIME Du HAVRE. The framework only of this railroad station remains. Although some ships are tied up to docks, most are anchored in this slip thru which we are moving and are discharging their cargos into lighters and DUKWS.7 Two tugs are jockeying us now. It’s 1720. I’m going to eat in case we have to debark hastily. It is 2000. We have tied up along another ship. Nothing will happen until tomorrow morning. 2200: The picture has changed again. We are now being unloaded by Doc Bn.8 Operations will be continued until we are 

completely unloaded. I still do not know where the rest of the regiment is or when we will marry up with them.

6 See note 39 in the history section.7 A lighter is a large barge used for delivering goods to or unloading goods from a cargo 

vessel. A DUKW is a 21⁄2-ton, 6 ft. by 6 ft., amphibious truck.

8 “Doc Bn” might be Dock Battalion.



SUNDAY, 10 December 1944, 1800 ho

 The last 24 hours have been very, very rough ono more than three hours of sleep. These were in my haven’t had my clothes off; haven’t once washed my fa We were unloaded last night on an LCT and mlanding at LE HAVRE. At approximately 0200 this moarrived at our bivouac area, which is merely a stretch which we parked our vehicles. I saw Maj. Wetzel upoBivouac Area; he departed for DIJON by train this moapproximately 1,000 troops. These notes are being written in my C and R b“torch.”9 It’s very cold and damp; it’s hailing. This will 

tonight also. Today I made arrangements for gas, water and movement for Tuesday, 12 Dec. Not all of our equipmeunloaded yet—approximately 80%.

TUESDAY, 12 December 1944, 0830 [ho

 Did not manage to write notes last night since the complicated task of unrolling my bedding roll in tworming into same. We’re still at the transient area (B) awaiting clconvoy. As a matter of fact, these notes are being writHqs where I have come in an attempt to expedite clea At every meal (C rations, of course) which we hnumber of women and children have gathered to ask really do not look starving so I don’t know whether thto begging as the only means of obtaining food or whewitness no shame in the matter.

9 “C and R” is a command and reconnaissance vehicle, developed to g

mobility on the battlefi eld. “Torch” is the British term for “fl ashligh

12 December 1944, 1800 [hours]

 As the result of some “fast” talking, I obtained clearance for my convoys this morning. We left the bivouac area in three serials: First Bn vehicles minus heavy equipment 2d Bn vehicles minus heavy equipment. Heavy equipment. Heavy equipment departed 0900, 1st Bn at 1100, 2nd Bn at 1130. Riding in my C and R with Lt. Yonally and Dan Brown (Driver), I lost 1st and 2nd Bn convoys and passed Heavy Equipment.10

 These notes are being written at the mess hall of an MP det[achment] in Beauvais where we stopped off to ask for a meal. Fortunately we ran into the mess sergeant who gave us fi rst: steak, potatoes and corn, then followed this up with a hamburger and spaghetti. I ate everything. The road, so far, has been interesting in that both sides are strewn with wrecked German vehicles, the results, no doubt, or our strafi ng of the retreating German columns. A huge railroad bridge was noticed demolished. We’re going to shave and wash at the MP Det.

THURSDAY, 14 December 1944

 After riding practically all night Tuesday, we arrived at DIJON (Engr Section of CAS) at approximately 1100 Wednesday morning.11

There we were advised that the Regimental bivouac area was located 

at LES FORGES approximately three (3) miles west of 

EPINAL. Without delay we proceeded to LES FORGES, 

arriving at approximately 1800 Wednesday.

 The route followed from LE HAVRE to LES 

FORGES is: LE HAVRE N14, St ROMAIN GC 134, 

LILLEBONNE GC 29 to RD Jct GC 40 to RD Jct N14, 

YVETOT, ROUEN N30, GOURNAY N31, BEAUVAIS, 

CLERMONT, Compiegne, SOISSONS, 

FISMES N386 RD Jct N51 Right on N51 to 

EPERNAY N3, CHALONS N4 to VITRY LE 

FRANCOIS, ST DIZIER N67, JOINVILLE, 

CHAUMONT N19, LANGRES, N74 DIJON.

 We retraced our steps part of the way in order to arrive at LES FORGES.

10 James N. Yonally, Akron, Ohio, regimental information and education offi cer; Dan Brown 

was apparently an enlisted man who was Bagnulo’s driver.

11 See note 42 in the history section.



 Upon arrival at LES FORGES I found everythina mess. Nothing much could be done at night so I turnin a room of the caretaker’s house. There was no stove  Today I spent most of the time at EPINAL recofor another bivouac area. I found one place, a previou[barracks] (occupied by US troops in the last war) whvery favorably. I decided to move 1st Bn and Hqs to that site. These notes are being written at LES FORGESEPINAL tomorrow.

MONDAY, 18 December 1944

 The events of the last few days have happened succession that I even forgot to note them. (Last notes 14 December.) Friday, 15 Dec, I rode to DIJON, CAS Hqs. On tHq, H/S Co and the 1st Bn moved to EPINAL.12 I went 

principally to confer with Colonel Smullen, CAS Engrto obtain the general picture on work, supply, adminiColonel Smullen, however, was not there, having gone to contract for prefabricated bldgs. Both Friday and Saturday were spent at CAS Hwas spent at CENTRAL HOTEL, DIJON. Upon my return to EPINAL, Saturday eveningtelephone call from Capt. Lee from LUNEVILLE. Capsent there to reconnoiter site for division rest camp. Hjob was hot, so I decided to send 2nd Bn and went thaFORGES to notify Bn Cmdr of 2nd Bn [Major Mohler] The 2nd Bn moved to LUNEVILLE Sunday anin the afternoon to make a hasty inspection. Returned Sunday night; learned that we have also been assignerehabilitating certain bldgs in EPINAL (the site of a mschool) for a general hospital. Monday morning, Maj. O’Toole, Maj. Worley anthe reconnaissance of these bldgs. In the afternoon Maj. O’Toole and I drove to LU These notes are being written at the RIVERA LUNEVILLE. I’m tired; its 2300. I’m ready for bed.

12 Regimental headquarters, Headquarters and Service Company, and 



Army Engineer lensatic compass.

Diary of Colonel Aldo H. Bagnulo Diary of Colonel Al

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WEDNESDAY, 20 December 1944, 2100 hours

 I’m back at EPINAL again.After a great deal of scurrying about, making plans and mobilizing for the task of developing a division rest camp at LUNEVILLE, the General (Maj. Gen. Arthur Wilson) informed us this morning that the entire scheme has been dropped.13 It seems as though our Armies 

are being “Tussled” by the Germans at present and there is not much chance of a division being pulled back from the front lines for rest.14

 I decided to leave the 2nd Bn at LUNEVILLE at the CASERNE STAINVILLE. It is an excellent site and promises to be close to the center of gravity of activities. After giving Maj. Mohler instructions, I drove to SAVERNE to visit Engr Section of 7th Army reference road maintenance. The road from LUNEVILLE to SAVERNE was heavily congested with trucks going both ways. The scars of battle were readily noticeable en route. It appeared that a good portion of the disabled equipment seen is allied. Tonight I’m apprehensive about the amount of work being accomplished by the staff. They may require some “jacking up.”

TUESDAY, 26 December 1944, 0845 [hours]

 It is diffi cult to realize that six days have passed since I wrote notes last. These notes are being [written] at HQ, 2nd Bn, LUNEVILLE. I drove up here yesterday afternoon, attended a party last night, now I am waiting for certain papers before proceeding to OBERNAI, then STRASBOURG. OBERNAI is the site of a 7th Army Engr Dump which we are taking over as per orders from Engr Sect, CAS. Mohler, Gunter and I are going to STRASBOURG reference captured enemy equipment. Major Keller, CEM, is the offi cer we want to see there.15 The party last night turned out to be a drunken brawl. 

I didn’t enjoy myself at all. During the night a number of planes fl ew 

overhead and aerial bombardment could be heard to the east. The night before last a number of men, Free French I suspect, fi red on my wrecker as it was towing a disabled vehicle of the 94th 

13 Arthur R. Wilson was commander of the Continental Advance Section (CONAD). Roland 

G. Ruppenthal, Logistical Support of the Armies. (Washington, D.C.: Offi ce of the Chief of 

Military History, Dept. of the Army, 1953), 1:10.

14 A reference to the Battle of the Bulge.15 CEM is captured enemy material. See diary entry for 28 December 1944.



[Infantry Division]. Who was with him received a buthe leg. In the last few days, Maj. Wetzel and I have haof “run-ins” reference division of responsibility and stYesterday, I wrote six pages outlining proper staff funMaj. Wetzel has read and which apparently has clarifi The “poop” also contained defi nite instructions on cerwant accomplished. Two German prisoners have just entered 2d Bguard. Approximately 150 such prisoners are being wBn. Of these two who just entered, one is approximateother is 35 years. Just a little hand signaling was neceto work cleaning the fl oor.

THURSDAY, 28 December 1944

 The situation is, at least, lukewarm. I went to OBERNAI Tuesday to reconnoiter the dump. I was surprised to see what was there. The dumapparently was built by the Germans with permanencSpur facilities, shops, warehouses and offi ce space wer

Large stores of Engr materials were left intact. In the awent to STRASBOURG to contact Maj. Keller, head of t(Captured Enemy Materials) but did not fi nd him. We vcaptured enemy dump where all classes of materials wcannons to horse equipment. At this location, we were of the front lines. Large caliber guns could be heard cooccasionally machine gun fi re could be heard at not to Wednesday morning we visited the dump at Rof misc supplies were available there also. My reaction resulting from observations was tpermanent dump at OBERNAI, but this was changed when I received telephonic instructions from Engr Ofall supplies from OBERNAI and RUSS as quickly as phave ten demolition squads alerted and mobile. These lead me to believe that a German breakthrough is expmore or less confi rmed by news from the front. Between LUNEVILLE and OBERNAI we travesome beautiful mountain country very much SWISS iAlong these roads the remains of German-prepared oin evidence.
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FRIDAY, 29 December 1944, 2015 [hours]

OBERNAI

SATURDAY, 30 December 1944, 1900 [hours]

OBERNAI

 Just as I started this last night the lights failed, and I was compelled to discontinue. This has been a very interesting week: On Tuesday, I came to OBERNAI with a view of taking over dumps both here and RUSS. Upon my return to EPINAL I was advised to evacuate these dumps since they may be in enemy hands within a few days. Within the last three days we have loaded approximately 200 truckloads of supplies from here and RUSS. This morning I went to STRASBOURG to obtain information of the tactical situation. This what I was told: The Germans have crossed the MOSELLE River south of us near COLMAR. We are being pressed also from the north. This entire area around STRASBOURG then forms a pocket which is held on lightly. The plan is to withdraw. Meanwhile I’m evacuating as much supplies from RUSS and from here as I can. Hope we don’t get caught.

MONDAY, 8 January 1945, 0800 [hours]

EPINAL, 

 On New Years day, troops of the 343 Engrs (III Corps) took over the guard of OBERNAI and we departed, having evacuated approximately 1,000 tons captured enemy material.16 On the return 

trip I was convoy commander for six Italian Service Unit trucks, the last group of trucks to come out of OBERNAI.17 Since then I’ve spent 

two days in DIJON conferring with Col. Smullen. (I’m expecting him to visit me this morning.) This morning is the fi rst time in a week that I have felt like living. I have a cold and apparently I was pretty much worn down as a result of the intensive and nerve wracking work. One of the platoons of Co E is still at RUSS evacuating that place. Co D has moved back to LUNEVILLE to maintain a 17 mile 

16 343d Engineer General Service Regiment, a white unit.17 After the fall of the Mussolini government, Italy became a cobelligerent of the Allied 

armies. Italian prisoners of war were given the choice of remaining prisoners or joining Allied non-combatant units. In the U.S. Army these were company-size units, usually in the Quartermaster or Transportation Corps. A majority of Italian PWs in American hands voluntarily joined the Italian Service Units. Their status was ambiguous—although considered soldiers of the U.S. Army, they were technically PWs. Charles T. O’Reilly, Forgotten Battles: Italy’s War of Liberation, 1943–1945 (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2001), 165–67.

stretch of road for 7th Army. I have failed to note that Army moved back to LUNEVILLE and took over the CSTAINVILLE being occupied by 2nd Bn. Co F moved Sta[tion] Hospital at LUNEVILLE.18 Bn HQs Cos D and 

to LES FORGES.

TUESDAY, 23 January [1945], 1200 ho

NANCY

 Last notes were written on 8 Jan 45. I’m at the Grand Hotel, NANCY, having been has a result of the fact that CAS area has extended conwest beyond NANCY. I don’t know the exact line as yeCol. Smullen asked me to come up to NANCY to fi nd t a. Depot Site b. Offi ce space for Engrs Sect—8,000 sq ft19

 c. Billet for Engr Sect Personnel d. Billet for my personnel I’ve found what I believe will be an excellent dTOUL. Maj. Impson, Engineer Supply Offi cer, CAS, aninvestigating the site more in detail today. I’ve found, also, an excellent caserne in TOUL regiment or part of it. Maj. Carey, Real Estate Offi cer, CAS, is workin

space and billet. Nothing very exciting has happened since writing my last notes. “Mike,” my brother in law, came to visit me.20 He seems to be 

a swell fellow.

18 The 500-bed 51st Station Hospital at Lunéville was originally inten

psychiatric facility in support of the Third and Seventh Armies but medical and surgical patients during the Ardennes-Alsace Campaigand Albert E. Cowdrey, The Medical Department: Medical Service in of Operations (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Ar

19 Engineering Section, Seventh Army.20 Maj. Miguel Montesinos was the brother of Bagnulo’s wife, Helen. D

served as an intelligence offi cer in the Seventh Army. His unit camcentration camp at Dachau, which they helped to liberate. Miguel J. 25 January 1980, by Elizabeth Jacobs, Box 3, Folder 65, Fred Robertthe Holocaust Project fi les, Special Collections Dept., Robert W. WoUniversity.



ficer, CAS, is workin



Engineer branch insignia.
Diary of Colonel Aldo H. Bagnulo

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FRIDAY, 25 January [1945], 2000 hours

EPINAL

 We (Captain Lee and I) left NANCY at approximately 1400 yesterday, stopped off to see Col. [Ralph D.] King, Engr Sect of 7th Army HQs, then Co F at LUNEVILLE, and arrived here at approximately 2000 last night. Had a meeting with the staff to discuss my plans regarding the move of Hqs and 1st Bn to TOUL. Wetzel has been ill for a week or ten days. This morning at 0500 I heard him calling for Dabbs and went into his room to fi nd 

out what was wrong. He asked me to call “Doc.” I did and when we returned, Wetzel started to cry and explained that he has been in constant fear of something. It seems that he has completely broken down and is a PN case.21

 This surprised me for Wetzel is the last one whom I would suspect to “crack up.” He will report to the hospital this morning for admission. With both him and Bob Cross in the hospital we are running pretty short of personnel. [one and a half lines blacked out]

SATURDAY, 26 January 1945, 2100 hours

EPINAL

 The last few days have brought us approximately 15 inches of snow. This has caused us to work feverishly night and day in an attempt to keep the roads open. The Regiment has an area of responsibility which includes approximately 300 miles of road. The situation looked quite serious this afternoon so HQs at DIJON have reinforced us by sending two graders from the 335th Engrs and issuing, in addition, 2 more graders and a D–7.22 Maj. Jaques made arrangements with the 926th Avn Engr 

Regt to take over the roads in the NANCY area.23 This is the area 

which, I believe, will be given to us, but which, at present, is nobody’s responsibility. I’m tired so I’m going to bed. Made out effi ciency reports today and tonight.

21 It is possible that Bagnulo meant NP, or neuropsychiatric, case.22 335th Engineer General Service Regiment, a white unit. A D–7 is a medium bulldozer.23 926th Engineer Aviation Regiment, a white unit.



FRIDAY, 2 February [1945], 2120 hou

EPINAL

 Much has transpired since the writing of the las Col. Wetzel has been transferred out of the regwas admitted to the 236th [General Hospital] as a mentransferred from there to an unknown hospital. Therspeculation in the regiment to the effect that he has “greceiving his promotion. Many things lead one to beli Three days ago it rained and we have had a thPractically all snow has disappeared off the roads. Noworried about excessive fl oods and our bridges going  I returned from TOUL after a quick trip up theCapt. Lee’s plan for occupying caserne BAUTZEN. He Co C are there now. The staff is going up there tomorrthe scheme which Lee and I have agreed upon. Capt. Dabbs has been assigned as executive. Las S–1.24 Capt. Lee is very much disturbed that he was 

executive’s job.

24 S–1 is the personnel staff offi cer.



“Doc” Ivkovich, surgeon for the 1321st, and nur
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SUNDAY, 4 February 1945

EPINAL

 Last notes were written 2 Feb. An interesting episode happened today. This morning I went into Capt. Dabbs’ offi ce to advise him that I was leaving for church. In his offi ce was a French female soldier. She was blonde, small, dressed in American G.I. coat and French motorcyclist headgear. She was searching for a hospital which was reported to have French soldiers in it. Since I was going to the 35th Sta[tion] hospital to church, I offered to show her the way to it and to the 236th Gen Hosp which was very close to the 35th. (She could not speak a word of English so we had our interpreter (Velasquez ) interpret.) Before letting her off at the 236th I asked her to have lunch with us, which she gladly accepted, and I went off to church. Capt. [R. A.] Watson, CO [commanding offi cer] of 791st DT [Dump Truck] Co also had lunch with us and had with him an excellent interpreter. I learned that Mademoiselle Lemoine was attached to the “Regiment de March Legione Etrangere” (Foreign Legion) as a social worker.25 A most interesting conversation ensued 

for approximately one hour. Her driver arrived and she left, but before she did she gave me the regimental insignia of the RMLE in gratitude for our hospitality. My memories of her are that she is intelligent, keen and gracious; attractive but not beautiful.

25 Régiment de marche de la Légion étrangère, a unit of the French foreign legion.



gracious; attractive but not beautiful.

MONDAY, 12 February 1945

 Last notes were written 4 Feb. During the past week, I went down to DIJON athen I went to TOUL through LUNEVILLE to watch thbeing done by Co F on the road. I returned from TOUL Saturday at approximatmore than 20 minutes after having arrived I received Smullen to go to THIONVILLE, 28 Kils [kilometers] nto reconnoiter a site for its possibilities as an Engr Dewanted the information by noon, Sunday, I went to TOnight, remained there overnight, and Maj. Jaques and road 0600 Sunday. We went to THIONVILLE, but learno Engr Depot there, but that there is one at WOIPPYnorth of METZ. We retraced our steps to WOIPPY where we foenemy engineer depot. It was a huge depot; 300,000 sq ft closed storagstanding, and siding for 100 cars, but it was badly damresult of air bombardment by our air force.26 I reporte

Col. Smullen by phone and returned to EPINAL. I’m rthose trips.

26 Hardstand or hardstanding is a hard-surfaced area, often used for 

or storage.



An engineer from the 1321st poses upon an abandoned fi eld artillery piece.

Members of the 1321st at church service in Fran
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THURSDAY, 15 February 1945

EPINAL

 Last notes written 12 February. The roads have been failing badly since the thaw and in many places they are impassible. Yesterday, I conducted an experiment using gravel. Since all offi cers (here) are busy, I put Capt. Harris, my dental offi cer, in charge of the detail. He did an excellent job. I’m going out again now with Capt. Harris and the detail to work some more on the particular spot. We spread a thick layer of gravel over a bad spot. This morning I want to check it and run a grader over it. I expect Smullen to visit me later this morning.

FRIDAY, 16 February 1945

EPINAL

 Colonel Smullen arrived at approximately 1700 yesterday. He had supper with us and departed at approximately 2100. Maj. Baldwin, a former SOLOC [Southern Line of Communications (Rhone Valley)] offi cer now with Engr Sect CAS, accompanied him. The conference was very satisfactory. In connection with the 1392nd Forestry Co, we will ship out of VINCEY 50,000 bd ft [board feet] of tactical lumber to 7th Army daily. 7th Army and 1392nd vehicles will haul from mills to VINCEY. We have been authorized to become engaged in lumber business to certain extent by helping mill owners. In addition, we are to commence drawing lumber from MEURTHE MOSELLE Dept.27 Our allocation in VOSGES is 5,000,000 

bd ft; in MEURTHE and MOSELLE it is 2,000,000. This lumber is to be procured by 31 March. Col. Smullen could not honor our request for more dump trucks. Problem of providing 400 tons of rock or slag to 7th Army daily was explained. Nothing defi nite was reached. Maj. Jaques is reconnoitering in connection with this. Col. Smullen explained that it is contemplated that considerable road maintenance area would be taken from us in the south so we could take over Nancy area. We are pleased with these prospects.

27 Department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. A French department is roughly equivalent to an 

American county.



MONDAY, 19 February 1945, 0915 [ho

 Last notes written 16 Feb. Saturday morning I went to Hqs 7th Army to obsigned receipt for all of the lumber furnished to them u I then went to BLAINVILLE to visit Co F in ththen proceeded to TOUL. Remained at TOUL Saturday night, went into Nmorning to try to make arrangements for shipment by gravel to DOMGERMAIN. Maj. Jaques and I were togelittle success. Maj. Jaques will follow through. Then proceeded to DOMGERMAIN to inspect of developing depot. It promises to be an interesting jCapt. Collis is constructing additional unloading hard hard standing for open storage. I return[ed] to TOUL Sunday afternoon.

Unwinding in the mess hall.
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TUESDAY, 20 February 1945

TOUL

 I have moved my offi ce and belongings to TOUL. This move was prompted by the fact that I intend to move my Hqs and one battalion to TOUL eventually and also by the fact that four German PW [prisoner of war] companies are to report to me in TOUL within the next day or two. These four PW companies (216 PWs in each company) are to be used for depot operations, and until depot personnel can take care of them, I am to be responsible for them. After arriving here, I went around with Lt. Geller to obtain information on how they will arrive. Information indicates that they will have personal equipment only. Accordingly we made arrangements for cooking facilities and rations.

WEDNESDAY, 28 February 1945

 Last notes written 20 Feb. The events of the last two days are worthy of being noted. The German PWs arrived yesterday afternoon, 704 in number. Today the four companies, 9041, 9042, 9043 and 9044, were engaged in cleaning and improving their quarters. Captain Lee, who has been made P/W offi cer, has done an excellent job of whipping things into shape rapidly. The prisoners have taken hold without much instructions. Capt. Lee seems to be enjoying his assignment immensely. Today 20 4-ton dump trucks were made available to us for our work here. It has been a great source of pleasure to observe the amount of rock being hauled by them. Two of the main roads at DOMGERMAIN are practically complete. Stone is being applied to the third. Our progress at DOMGERMAIN has been cause for many favorable comments. Capt. Collis has done a fi ne job so far. We have had excellent weather for approximately 2 weeks.

THURSDAY, 1 March 1945

 These notes are being written in my C&R whilDepot project, DOMGERMAIN.28

 At a conference yesterday afternoon (Col. BaldO’Toule, Maj. Radki, Capt. Dabbs and myself) it was dthe 334th Engr would take over construction work at E would continue at E 257.29 This morning I had a confe

[G.] Bloodgood, CO of the 334th Engr, in which I outlinfeatures of the work, as given to me in yesterday’s conCol. Bloodgood and I decided that 10 (ten) of his 4-ton would continue to haul for me; the others would haul agreed to take over operation of 3/4 Link-belt shovel wprovided by the Dept. At present I am operating a 3/4 and a 1/2 yard OSGOOD.30

MONDAY, 12 March 1945

TOUL

 Notes have not been written for many days. Today, Colonel Baldwin asked me for an estimcompletion of the Depot at DOMGERMAIN. Estimate  1 - Original area 23 March 2 - Area within south cover of triangle 31 Mar 3 - Area south of triangle 10 April The information I received regarding sending La FORGE (South of SARREBOURG) was confi rmed tbe sent.

28 E–257 is perhaps the Engineer Supply Installation at Domgermain. 29 It is uncertain if “Col. Baldwin” is the same as the Major Baldwin m

of 16 February 1945 and if “Maj. O’Toule” is the same as the Major O18 December 1944. The 334th was the 334th Engineer Special Serviwas the Engineer Supply Installation at Toul. Final Report of the ChTheater of Operations, 1942–1945, vol. 2 (n.p., n.d.), Appendix 20–A aCEHO.

30 Link-Belt, Buckeye, and Osgood were companies that manufacture

other construction equipment. Eric Reinert, CEHO, personal comm

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THURSDAY, 15 March 1945, 0830 hours

TOUL

 Yesterday was a very full day. In the morning Col. Baldwin advised me that he desired that the 334th take over construction of the area at DOMGERMAIN south of the triangle. I contacted Colonel Bloodgood, C. O. of 334th, and advised him of same and made arrangements for his proceeding with this work. Later in the day Colonel Baldwin advised me that rear boundary of CAS would be coincident with MEURTHE – MOSELLE – VOSGES boundary and that, in all probability, troops would be frozen in present locations. In view of the fact that he desired that all of my regiment be with CAS, he suggested that I take steps to move those, who are not already there, into proposed CAS area. Accordingly Hdqs, 2nd Bn is moving to BLAINVILLE with Co F and Co D is on its way to WOIPPY just north of METZ. Tuesday I went to La FORGE to reconnoiter area into which Co E is moving. I learned that Co E will be part of a team whose mission is to keep a pipeline within 10 miles of front line as 7th Army moves forward. It promises to be an interesting assignment for Co E.

SUNDAY, 18 March 1945

HQs in vicinity of St. NICOLAS

 Yesterday “Mike” came to visit me but I was at I’ve come to visit him, but he is at 6AG HQs.31

 This morning I delivered to Colonel Smullen in tabulation of the results of our survey of METZ. (He gave the regt the assignment of surveying facilities.) He explained that he desired two companieto be taken over from 7th Army and that he wanted to (sidings) along which he could establish stockpiles of and Maj. Alsin are reconnoitering those areas today.32 

Captain Collis got drunk and raised hell with his offi care ready to “quit.” I intend to investigate the matter tothat we might have to start reclassifi cation proceedin

FRIDAY, 23 March 1945

TOUL

 Last notes written 18 March. The events of the last few days have happened [speed]. My regiment is moving forward to take over cthe 7th Army moves forward. Three out of 5 G[eneral]. S[ervice]. Reg’ts have support 7th Army as it advances. The 1321st is one of  This morning Colonel Bloodgood and I are goiHdqs to report.

31 6th Army Group, commanded by Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers.32 “Alsin” is probably the Maj. Bill Alsyn mentioned in the history sec



Colonel Bagnulo at a fi eld conference to determine the boundaries of the 

Domgermain depot.
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TUESDAY, 27 March 1945

SARREBOURG

 I moved to this location yesterday. The rest of the Reg’t HQs will move here today and tomorrow. The disposition of the Reg’t at present is as follows: Reg’tl HQs H/S Co - SARREBOURG Hdqs, 1st Bn - SARREBOURG CO A - TOUL Co B - RECHICOURT Co C - CHATEAU-SALINS Hdqs 2nd Bn and Co D either SAVERNE or PHALSBOURG Co E - SARREGUEMINES Co F - HAGUENAU

WEDNESDAY, 4 April 1945

SARREBOURG

 Last notes were written 27 March, 1945. Saturday, I was ordered back to NANCY to attend a ceremony given by the French to honor General Sebree, who liberated that city.33 In a very colorful ceremony at the Hotel de Ville, Nancy, the 

General was made an honorary citizen of Nancy. The ceremony took place in a large ballroom. Lined up along one side of this room were the American Offi cers like myself who were ordered to the ceremony and on the other side were French offi cers, French civilians and city offi cials dressed in bright colored ermine robes. Lieutenant General Patch, 7th Army commander, attended the ceremony. He is a tall, impressive soldierly man. My eyes were fi xed on him in admiration throughout the ceremony. Sunday morning I went to TOUL to make arrangements for picking up some equipment and releasing the men of Co A from guard at E 523 and E 524.34 On the return trip from TOUL between Toul and 

Nancy, I saw what was left of a horse which has stepped on a mine. What remained consisted only of the rear portion of the body and the two hind legs. Engr Sect, CAS, moved to MANNHEIM yesterday (forward) and rear moved to KAISERSLAUTERN.

33 Brig. Gen. Edmund B. Sebree was the assistant commander of the 35th Infantry Division 

through February 1945. A task force under Sebree liberated Nancy on 15 September 1944. Hugh M. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign (Washington, D.C.: Historical Division, U.S. Army, 

1950), 95.

34 E–524 is not identifi ed. It does not appear in the Final Report of the Chief Engineer, vol. 2, 

Appendix 20–A.



SUNDAY, 8 April 1945, 1330 hours

SARREBOURG

 Two interesting episodes occurred since the wnotes which are not “in the line of business.” Friday afternoon, Maj. Worley and I went to Hinvestigate the site for unloading rock. While we were American soldiers, very much excited, came to us to rgirls had approached them and asked them for protecguard, they related, had struck one of the girls and hareturn with a pistol. Thinking it was one of my men, I accompanied the soldiers to the home of these girls. Worley entered fi rst to fi nd a number of young girls, one of whom had nothing on but a skirt and a blouse which was unbuttoned so that her breasts were bare. She had covered up by the time I entered so that I did not get in on the show. In my best French, I investigated and learned that soldiers frequented this home. That day a slightly dark soldier had asked one of the girls if she would “coucher” with him, whereupon she slapped him on the face.35 He in turn slapped 

her. I asked if she knew who the soldier is, and she replied in the affi rmative and led Worley and me to an adjacent house. 

35 In this context, “coucher” is meant as “go to bed.”

asked them for protec

one of the girls and ha

e



Corps of Engineers half-pound 

blocks of TNT.
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There I found that a number of Ordnance soldiers were billeted and it was one of these who had done the slapping. Things were worked out satisfactorily and the girls asked us if we would return to their home for some coffee, whereupon I decided that it would be advisable to decline and continue our investigation of the rock situation. Six months ago yesterday we set sail from Boston P of E [port of embarkation] and we had a party last night. Arrangements for approximately 25 girls had been made at the major’s offi ce. They were fairly attractive but mostly young. Both colored and white offi cers were there and it was somewhat of a disturbing sight to see the colored offi cers dance with the white girls—although I have tried to eliminate any such reaction. Toward the end of the dance I met a Marie Houssier who had been a dancing instructor and who is an excellent dancer. I enjoyed dancing with her immensely. The party ended at midnight and all seemed to have enjoyed themselves. Many of the girls asked me if we would have another.

MONDAY, 9 April 1945

German border north of WISSEMBOURG

 This is the fi rst time I have set foot on German soil. I left 

SARREBOURG at approximately 0930 hours and proceeded to HAGUENAU. Between SARREBOURG and DETTWILLER, Co D had a number of prisoners on the road. Their work resulted in considerable improvement on the condition of the road. I stopped off at Co F for a short time at HAGUENAU, had a cup of coffee, then proceeded on my way. It’s a beautiful spring day. The trees are in full bloom and the grass is a luscious green. Dan Brown and I have just completed lunch, and having written these notes we will be on our way.

WEDNESDAY, 11 April 1945

SARREBOURG

 I returned from my trip to Germany late yeste I left HAGUENAU about 1100 Monday, proceeto WISSEMBOURG, NEUSTADT, LUDWIGSHAFEN, Rhine over to MANNHEIM and proceeded to CAS Hqapproximately six kils southeast of MANNHEIM. Arrmid afternoon. LUDWIGSHAFEN and MANNHEIM have beebeaten to a pulp. We crossed the RHINE on a reinforcbridge. Being in Germany resulted in a strange feeling pleasant. We are surrounded by people who have beeenemies for years, and it is certain that their feeling tnot be friendly. With the non fraternization policy now occupation troops will be similar to confi ned men.36

 Most of the land seen is farmland and mostly v36 As the Allied troops were entering Germany, General Dwight D. Ei

directive prohibiting “mingling with Germans upon terms of friendintimacy, individually or in groups in offi cial or unoffi cial dealingsfraternization policy proved nearly impossible to enforce. Charles BOffensive (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 



German prisoners of war attached to the 1321s
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cultivated. It is beautiful. The Germans were hard at work in their fi elds and in the cities setting everything right. It was alarming to see the large number of [young] German men in civilian clothes working. There can be no question that these men are German soldiers who have thrown away their uniforms and returned to civilian life. They may be dangerous. Colonel Smullen directed me to take over maintenance of the road from SARREGUEMINES, HOMBURG, KAISERSLAUTERN and relieved me of responsibility of the road from LUNEVILLE to SARREBOURG. That means at present we are maintaining the road from SARREBOURG to Haguenau in addition to the road mentioned above. Co’s A and C will be sent up to take over the SARREGUEMINES–KAISERSLAUTERN road.

SUNDAY, 15 April 1945, 2145 hours

SARREBOURG

 Last notes were written Wednesday 11 April. Today being Sunday, I decided to take it off this afternoon and take a ride up into the nearby mountains. Maj. Worley, Capt. Dabbs, Lt. Thomas, and Lt. Geller and I made the trip.37

 It was a perfect day and the scenery along the mountain roads was beautiful. Near the town of DABO, we could see in the distance a church which stands on the top of the highest mountain in that area. At about the same time we passed two religious processions, of approximately 200-300 people in each procession, headed in the general direction of this church. We learned that today is the day set aside to commemorate Pope LEO who was born in this area and that these processions were headed for the church.38 We decided to visit the church also. We had to leave the car at the road and travel the rest of the way by foot, which was a 20 minute climb. The views from the top of that mountain thrilled me. These small French towns with their red roofed houses setting on the sides of the hills formed a delightful picture. Some of the views showed cultivated land, towns and some areas just forests.37 George M. Thomas, Saco, Maine, regimental motor offi cer.

38 Probably St. Leo IX, who was born in Alsace and was known as Bruno of Toul. His papacy 

lasted from 1049 to 1054; his feast day is 19 April.



THURSDAY, 26 April 1945

SINGEN, GERMANY, CP, CO D.39

 The last notes were written 15 April. I have not been prompted to write since there much of interest. The last two days, however, have brought abounew picture. Monday of this week, I moved my advance CP DURKHEIM, GERMANY with a view to being closer Tuesday morning, when I reported to CAS HQ, I learninstructions had been issued to rear HQ to move Co’s into position to accomplish repair work on the autobaKARLSRUHE to STUTTGART. Yesterday I reconnoitroute and these are the jobs involved.40 a. Fill a crater two kilometers NW of SINGEN b. Jack a bridge back into position 1.0 kils SE o c. Raise and crib one end of autobahn bridge 

partially dropped. This is a reinforced concrete stringer stringers (5’ x 2’), 60’ span. Location is at inHwy 10 and autobahn a few kils NW of PFO

39 CP is command post.40 In the original diary, items (a) through ( f) on this list are preceded 

items (g) through ( j) are not. The signifi cance of the marks is unkn

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100

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 d. Provide 2 way connection from Hwy 10 to autobahn north of 

PFORZHEIM.

 e. Build 80’ bridge along autobahn over cross road E of 

PFORZHEIM.

 f. Build 80’ bridge along autobahn over cross road 1 kil SE of 

WIMSHEIM.

 g. Fill gap on autobahn caused by dropping bridge on cross 

road below, 3 kils north of HEIMSHEIM.

 h. Fill gap on autobahn caused by dropping bridge on 

crossroad below, 3 kils slightly east and north of HEIMSHEIM.

 i. Fill gap on autobahn 1 kil SE of RUTESHEIM. j. Build 150’ span over RR crossing 2 kils SW of LEONBERG. Co D is now located at SINGEN. Co F at LEONBERG. Capt. Lee and I stayed with Co F last night at Leonberg after having travelled from BAD DURKHEIM to LEONBERG. The autobahn is a magnifi cent road which equals anything we have in the States, and the countryside surpasses in beauty anything we have in the States. Co F is located in barracks originally built for German military, which are on a hill overlooking LEONBERG. The picture of the town cannot be described by anything less than poetic expressions. As we were approaching LEONBERG yesterday, we passed a 2 mile column of German prisoners marching to the rear.

MONDAY, 30 April 1945, 0730 hours

LEONBERG, GERMANY

 Last notes were written 26 April. I’m writing these notes hurriedly before I go out to the projects this morning. Yesterday a French Medical offi cer, a French lieutenant and three French (female) Red Cross workers came to this site to look over the barracks which we had contemplated to use for Regt’l Hqs. They want to use it as a transient bivouac for repatriated Frenchmen returning to France. I told them that if I could fi nd another suitable site I would be willing to let them have it. Accordingly we went to the offi ce of the military Govt who made arrangements for us to inspect other available sites in LEONBERG, none of which were very suitable; then we all had dinner at LEONBERG, a long drawn out French affair. After lunch Dr. FASSIN, the French Lieutenant and I went to DITZINGEN to reconnoiter that place. DITZINGEN had been occupied only 8 days previously and very few troops had been there. As we entered the town, children would run and hide, and people watched us from behind partially drawn curtains.

 We contacted the Burgermeister who showed uIt annoyed me to see the number of well equipped mathis small community. They apparently had been organized as part oindustry. French, Polish, and Russian drafted labor dthese plants.

FRIDAY, 4 May 1945

CASERNE HINDENBURG, KORNWESTHEIM

 Last notes were written 30 April. This is, indeed, amazing!! Headquarters and H/S Co are moving from SAtoday. For a number of days Capt. Lee and I have been possible sites without too much success. Captain Lee lCaserne but did not pay too much attention to it since this is French territory. We learned this morning, howFrench are moving out, making this 7th Army area. This caserne is quite new and in excellent shapbarracks (700 man capacity ea), 8 garages (300’ x 30’), 1 x 60’), 1 gymnasium (200’ x 75’), drill fi eld, paved (500’ x 

mess to house 100 offi cers. In each of the barracks, exceis one family. These families originally lived here with husbands. We decided to occupy the barracks which hafamilies are all concerned as to whether or not we plan They have all started to clean this barracks. Each barraapartments, complete with kitchen and bath. Apparentperhaps his fi rst sergeant occupied these apartments w We had one of the ladies, who claimed that she cook, prepare our noon meal. That perhaps was not wgood. (At present Capt. Dabbs, Sgt. Velasquez, JohnniBrown and I are the only ones here waiting for troops  I’m writing these notes in one of the rooms of twhich I plan to use as my quarters. Apparently, the German soldiers left in a hurrtheir uniforms still remain in the wall lockers.
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TUESDAY, 15 May 1945, 1600 hours

 Saturday morning, while at CAS Hqs, I was informed that the unit was alerted for movement to Marseille Staging Area on call of CG, Delta Base Section.41 This means, undoubtedly, that we will be going to 

the Pacifi c Area. Sunday morning, General Immell, CG, CAS, inspected the work we have done on the autobahn and gave on the spot awards to six offi cers 

and nine enlisted men for the excellent work we have accomplished.42

 There has been nothing but praise for our performance in connection with that work on the autobahn. The entire regiment has been instructed to move into this area in order to prepare for the move. Co C has started and the entire Regiment should be here by the end of the week. Once again the Regiment will be together, which is a rare thing.

TUESDAY, 22 May 1945

SECKENHEIM, GERMANY

 I’m in the billet for transient offi cers at CAS Hqs, having 

reported to fi nd out if any arrangements have been made yet for an interview with General Lee in connection with my promotion. 43 Last Sunday I was interviewed by the CG of CAS, General Immell, who sent the papers forwarded approved. CAS Hqs is trying to expedite action on this matter since the Regiment has started its movement to the Marseille Staging Area. The 1st Bn Motor convoy departed yesterday, the 2nd Bn and H/S convoys departed this morning, and the personnel of the Regiment will depart tomorrow night by train. Oh, yes, real important news!! Last night I received 2 V-Mails from Helen, V-Mail from her mother and a card from sister Dora announcing the birth of my son [Michael] 12:50 PM 5 May.44 I am the 

father of an eight pound nine ounce boy.

41 CG is commanding general. Delta Base Section (DBS), established 1 October 1944, provided 

logistical support for the forces in the Marseille area. Ruppenthal, Logistical Support, 2:40.

42 See notes 63 and 64 in the history section.43 Maj. Gen. John C. H. Lee, was commander of the Communications Zone, European 

Theater of Operations. The Communications Zone, an Army organization in the rear part of the theater of operations, provided logistical support (supply, communications, administration) for combat operations. Ruppenthal, Logistical Support, 1:198–206.

44 V, or Victory mail, was a type of mail used during World War II to conserve shipping 

space. The sender wrote a letter on special letter-sheets, folded it into its own envelope, and mailed it. The correspondence was then reduced onto microfi lm, which was shipped 

to a receiving station, where facsimiles were created and then delivered to the recipient. Christopher H. Sterling, ed., Military Communications: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2007), 489.



SUNDAY, 27 May 1945, 1000 hours

CAS Hqs, Near MANNHEIM, GERMA

 I’ve been waiting here at CAS Hqs since this pa call from Paris (COMX) advising me that arrangememade for an interview by General Lee on my promoti

 The regiment has already arrived at the Marseand I have been very uneasy being separated from it. through today I shall have to leave tomorrow to join t It has been interesting to watch the reactions ohere at Hqs now that hostilities have ceased.46 Everyb

terrifi c let down and everybody seems restless. Of couto return home, and most seem to prefer transfer to ththan remain here.47 Some have received word that they 

Army of occupation personnel and are not too happy a45 “COMX” is possibly a typographical error, with “COMZ” being inten46 On 7 May 1945 the German High Command surrendered all land, s

the Allies; on 8 May President Harry S. Truman proclaimed V-E Da

47 CBI is China-Burma-India Theater.



Aldo Bagnulo’s wife, Helen, and son Michael.
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MONDAY, 28 May 1945, 1400 hours

Airfi eld near FRANKFURT, GERMANY

 This is better. Yesterday evening a message came through from COMZ, directing me to report to CG, COMZ, Tuesday morning for an interview. I left the MANNHEIM airfi eld at 100[0] hours this morning and fl ew to this location where I am now waiting for a plane to Paris. SHAEF Hqs is at present in FRANKFURT and we had lunch there.48

This Hq is in a huge building which was one of the main offi ces of I. G. FARBEN, owner of the largest chemical industry in the world. We had chicken, potatoes, beans and ice cream—the fi rst time in eight months I have had ice cream. We set a small table with table cloth—clean, well organized. It was a treat. The building is a new structure built on modernistic lines. It is quite impressive.

THURSDAY, 31 May [1945]

Aboard Plane (C–47) en route to MARSEILLE

 Last notes were written 28 May 1945. We have just taken off from ORLY fi eld (Paris). So far fl ying conditions are suffi ciently smooth to permit my writing these notes without diffi culty. I arrived in Paris Monday afternoon and after signing in and arranging for billet, I had supper at the offi cers mess at the MAJESTIC Hotel. As I was leaving the dining room, I encountered Capt. MICKLE who, as a civilian, dug wells for me both at St Croix and Antigua. He accompanied me to my billet at the Hotel FREMTIER to visit with me for awhile. (This hotel is near the TROCADERO and the EIFFEL TOWER.) The following morning I reported to the G–1 section of COMZ and was instructed to return at 1130 for the interview by the General. At 1130 General Lee saw approximately 10 of us Lieutenant Colonels who had been recommended for promotion to Colonel and 3 WAC Captains who had been recommended for promotion to Major.49 We 

reported individually, but he spoke to us in a group. He spoke of the responsibility which we had and of the necessity of setting the example for military courtesy and in appearance.48 SHAEF is Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force.49 WAC is Women’s Army Corps.



 Before the interview, I called on Colonel CANAdivision, OCE, then visited with Col. DEMERY, Maj. BMICKLE, all of the pipeline service.50 At lunch I met Maj. MALSTROM who accompaMICKLE and me while arranging for transportation tI had supper with Colonel MATHIOS that evening (I hthat morning) and after supper we walked for miles thstreets, in the Vicinity of the EIFFEL TOWER. It was night when I returned to the hotel. Wednesday morning I met Lt. Col. H. TUMIN of the FO course at Belvoir) with whom I had lunch.52 

during the afternoon but made his car available which transferring my billet from the FERMTIER53 to the H

TUMIN and I had a delicious steak dinner together, thme through the city. We have nothing in the US which Paris. We covered most of the city including the MONDistrict, the park districts, the Opera House and fi nalthe SACRED HEART CHURCH which is atop the highand which affords a breathtaking view of Paris. It remapproximately 1030. At 1130 I returned to the Du Rho The girls of Paris are beautiful, not some of ththem. They dress and make up more expertly than anwould be diffi cult to remain faithful to one’s family anhe stayed there any length of time, and very, very few stationed there can manage to remain untainted. Betwgirls, the English civilian girls who have been importHqs, and the WACs, the temptations are more than thcan withstand. Now I’m on my way to Marseille. A new phase career is unfolding.

50 Howard V. Canan, USMA 1918, served as chief of the Troops Divisi

the Chief of Engineers (OCE) from 15 April 1943 to 3 May 1946. BraRegister, 280. Major Bird is possibly Clayton A. Bird. Offi cial Army R(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Offi ce, 1946), 1:91. The Miwas under the control of Headquarters, Communication Zone. AlfreCharles W. Lynch, Lida Mayo, and Ralph F. Weld, The Corps of EngiGermany (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 

51 Possibly Einar A. Malmstrom, an Air Corps offi cer. Offi cial Army Re52 The Field Offi cer course at Fort Belvoir, Va., trained captains and s

Larry D. Roberts, Command Historian, U.S. Army Engineer School, Mo., personal communication, 27 May 2008.

53 Bagnulo spells the name of the hotel both “Fremtier” and “Fermtier

both are misspellings.

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Diary of Colonel Al

THURSDAY, 14 June 1945, 1900 hours

DBS Staging Area, NW of MARSEILLE

 Last notes were written 31 May 1945. I arrived at the MARSEILLE Airfi eld in time for the noon meal 31 May 1945. It took approximately 2 hours before transportation was arranged to the Staging Area. In the Staging Area, I found everything very much in a state of confusion. The Staging Area was not yet complete and the Staging Area personnel were inexperienced and were not properly organized. Dabbs had done a good job of accomplishing as much as he had under the circumstances, and now we are almost 100% ready as far as being re-equipped, packed and crated. Tonight we will start transferring all of our equipment, except TAT, down to the pier where it will be loaded on a cargo vessel.54 I would 

estimate that two weeks will lapse before the personnel is loaded. This area and especially Marseille is completely different from any other part of France that I have seen. It is a semi desert country and resembles, to a certain extent, the hills of St Croix and Antigua. Marseille is a dirty, stinking port city. It has the reputation of being one of the world’s most wicked cities and what I have seen of it confi rms that reputation. Venereal Disease among the soldiers is going to be a real problem and it is for that reason, primarily, I am anxious to leave here as quickly as possible. It is reported that the VD contracted here is more virulent than similar diseases any place in the world, and in a great many cases the normal method of treatments does not give satisfactory results. Already this month 15 cases of VD in this regiment have been reported to me. The Staging Area at present is Staging, primarily, Engineers and I have been able to renew many old acquaintances. I have met the following: Colonel Sorley, who was my Commanding Offi cer and who is now CO of 1325th Engineer Gen Serv Regiment; Lt. Col. Dunn, Commander of 1318th; Captain Autilio, S–3 of a construction Battalion; Lt. Col. Jiminez, whom I knew in P.R. and who is now commander of a Quartermaster Trucking Group; Lt. Colonel Angelopoulas, Executive Offi cer for the 375th Engineer Gen Serv Regiment; Captain Peterson, one of the Offi cers whom I knew in P.R. and who is now commanding 

54 TAT stood for “to accompany troops” and referred to specifi c equipment, tools, kits, etc. 

that went with the troops themselves as opposed to heavier equipment and vehicles that were shipped separately. Larry D. Roberts, personal communication, 28 May 2008.



1535th Engineer Dump Truck Company.55 Maj. Ken Fo

to the transportation section of DBS Headquarters anhad a number of meals with him. He has been very hohis attempt to make my stay here a pleasant one but, oanxious to get going to tackle a new job which lies ahe Since writing the last notes, the following promregiment have come through: Dabbs, promoted to MajGuess, to Captain.56 My Eagles have come through.57 Tfor all these promotions is 1 June, 1945.

SUNDAY, 17 June 1945, 1730 hours

 Last notes were written 14 June 1945. All of our organizational equipment except TAdown to the pier during the last two days for loading oShip.58 Lt. Horace C. Smith was appointed Ship’s TQM 

accompany the cargo on the ship.59

 This morning I attended nine o’clock Mass and communion. This afternoon, Captain Peterson and I wit was the fi rst time for me in approximately a year. Th55 Merrow E. Sorley, USMA 1924, assumed command of the 1325th En

Service Regiment, an African American unit, on 2 June 1945. BranhRegister, 427. A. W. Dunn was commander of the 1318th Engineer GRegiment. The 1318th and the 375th were African American units. 1535th Engineer Dump Truck Company, also an African American 

56 Ralph A. Guess, Houston, Tex., special service offi cer.

57 Bagnulo’s promotion to colonel was in the Army of the United State

rank of colonel in the Regular Army on 12 February 1962. U.S. Army United States Army Active and Retired List, 1 January 1965 (WashingtPrinting Offi ce, 1965), 24.

58 Assembled with prefabricated parts, the mass-produced and slow-m

accounted for half of the merchant vessels constructed in the UniteWar II.

59 TQM is transport quartermaster.



Brass collar insignia for U.S. Army offi cers.
Diary of Colonel Aldo H. Bagnulo

108

Diary of Colonel Al

beach is approximately nine miles from the Staging area and is quite a long beach which extends one mile or so. It was crowded to capacity today with military personnel who wore little if anything as swimming suits. The temperature of the water was just right and I enjoyed the swim very much. Last night I saw Mickey Rooney along with a number of other enlisted men in a GI show.60 The show was held in the Amphitheater 

which is constructed in a huge ravine and accommodates approximately 10 to 15 thousand. This makes an ideal setting. The Staging Area is located on a high plateau and is designed to accommodate 75 thousand to 80 thousand troops. In this Staging Area there is still much construction to be done in the way of shower facilities, sewer and water lines, but suffi cient 

water is already available so that it is not too uncomfortable. The chief objection, at present, is excessive amount of dust. Rock is out cropping everywhere throughout the area and there is not a sprig of vegetation. The weather so far has been almost perfect. Days are quite warm but the evenings are delightfully cool and nights are cold.

SUNDAY, 23 June 194561

DBS Staging Area, CALAS, France

 Last notes were written 17 June, 1945. Not much has transpired since last Sunday. The ship, SS WHITE SQUALL, has not left Marseille yet. All of our equipment, except TAT, has been loaded. A 4-ton and a 6-ton Prime Mover was lost in the Ordnance processing yards and they cannot be replaced.62 Lieutenant 

H. C. Smith will make the trip on the WHITE SQUALL as ship QM. Friday, I accompanied Maj. Foster on an inspection trip of some of his vehicle assembly parks and TCPs.63 On the return trip 

we stopped off at a large airfi eld to visit Lt. Col. Johnson, a friend of Foster, who commands the 837th Avn Engr Bn and who is in charge of 

60 Film star Mickey Rooney served in the 6817th Special Services Battalion and was 

awarded the Bronze Star Medal. Alvin H. Marill, Mickey Rooney: His Films, Television 

Appearances, Radio Work, Stage Shows, and Recordings (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2004), 34–37.

61 In 1945, 23 June was a Saturday and 24 June a Sunday. It is unclear which day Bagnulo 

wrote this entry.

62 A prime mover is a heavy cargo truck used for moving trailer-mounted equipment. 

U.S. War Department, FM 5-5 Engineer Field Manual, Engineer Troops. 11 October 1943

(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Offi ce, 1943), 131.

63 TCP is traffi c control post.



the construction work being done there.64 The fi eld is 

natural plain that is approximately 12 miles long and was constructed originally by the French; the Germanlater but demolished, quite thoroughly, all of the instaleaving. Col. Johnson and his forces are putting it bac Col. Johnson knew Bill McCrone, having servin Corsica.65

 I obtained Bill’s address and wrote to him yest

THURSDAY, 5 July 1945

DBS Staging Area, CALAS, France

 Last notes were written 23 June, 1945. We are still at the Staging Area without any dewhen we can expect to be moving. All of us are restleget going. Lieutenant Smith on the WHITE SQUALL sorganizational equipment, 28 June 1945. I have “Stepped out” during the past week morin a long time. I “lazied” around all day Sunday, becamproposed an expedition into town with Dabbs, Worley as the other expeditioniers. We went to the Engineersarrival, Dabbs and Guthrie went to the 235th Gen[erawhere approximately 2,000 nurses are being staged, aan Elizabeth Josephson and Helen Jaeger. Worley and Colonel Sorley whom we met there. Last night Dabbs and I went to the club again w(Joe) and Jerry Bell (a date arranged for me by Joe). It is quite a circus at the Nurses Staging Area aoffi cers pick them up and bid them goodnight Oh, yes, I met Maj. Rice at the Club, an offi cer wThomason Act Duty with the 1st Engrs in 1938 or 193964 J. O. Johnson led the 837th Engineer Aviation Battalion, an African 

served in Bermuda, North Africa, Italy, and France. Shelby L. StantU.S. Army, World War II (Novato, Calif.: Presidio Press, 1984), 583.

65 Possibly Lt. Col. Willard P. McCrone, an engineer offi cer. Offi cial Ar

66 The Thomason Act of 30 August 1935 authorized as many as 1,000 r

serve for up to one year on active duty as second lieutenants with thU.S. Statutes at Large, vol. 49, pt. 1, 1028. It is likely that Bagnulo himduty through the Thomason Act. The “1st Engrs” is the 1st EngineeBagnulo also served in the 1930s.

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SATURDAY, 7 July 1945

DBS Staging Area, CALAS, France

 Last notes were written 5 July 1945. Yesterday at 1100 Ken Foster picked me up to accompany him on what was supposed to have been an inspection trip but actually turned out to be a tour of some of the historical sites in this section of France. Lt. Wilburn was invited to come along since room was available in the jeep. We started at 1100, went north through SALON and stopped for lunch at a truck assembly park which is one of Foster’s installations. After lunch we proceeded northwest to AVIGNON which is a walled city of considerable interest. A massive masonry wall surrounds the city, which in one section has very old buildings and narrow streets, and in another section has modern structures, wide streets, street lights, and so forth. It is a most fascinating spot. The chief item of interest is the Pope’s Palace. Over a period of time fi ve or six different Popes lived there. This was strange for I never realized that any of the Popes had lived anyplace other than Rome. Another thing that sounded strange to me, as explained by Foster, is that at one time there were three separate Popes, one in Italy, one in France and one in Spain.67

 Another point of interest is the Pont Saint-Benezet just east of the city across the Rhone River. The construction of the Bridge was begun in the year 1177 by Pastor Benezet, native of Vivarais, who presented himself to the Bishop of Avignon as sent by God to build a bridge over the Rhone River. The construction, which lasted eight years, was paid for by gifts and bequests. The Bridge is about 900 meters long and 4 meters wide and consisted of 19 slightly raised elliptical arches. Only four of these arches remain today, upon one of which stands the Chapel of Saint Nicholas (Patron Saint of Ferryboatmen). In this Chapel is found the Tomb of the Founder Saint Benezet. We then proceeded beyond NIMES to see the PONT du GARD which is a huge aqueduct constructed approximately 2,000 years ago by the Romans. This is an arch structure approximately 1,000 feet long and 200 feet high at its highest point. This is the oldest structure I have seen. Construction required approximately 50 years. I purchased some souvenirs there. We drove through the towns of NIMES, ARLES, and SALON on our return trip and in NIMES and ARLES saw coliseums and other items of interest constructed by the Romans.67 During the Avignon Papacy (1305–76) seven popes, all French, reigned there. The papacy 

returned to Rome in 1377, but the new pope soon died. The French cardinals elected a pope, as did the cardinals in Rome. The Council of Pisa (1409) tried to end the controversy by electing its own candidate, resulting in three claimants, residing in Avignon, Rome, and Pisa. The Council of Constance (1412–15) settled the issue by approving the Roman line of popes.



 At SALON we stopped off at the Red Cross for doughnuts (our supper) and arrived back at camp at 2 [Handwritten:] (The Pont St-Benezet is known on which the people used to dance. A song explaining written.)68

THURSDAY, 12 July 1945, 1930 [hou

DBS Staging Area, CALAS, France

 Last notes were written 7 July. Not much has transpired since writing of last nafternoon I had a conference with Capt. Harris and Ccolored offi cers, to discuss the colored situation and to understanding.69

 They were interested in learning whether or nany limits on how high colored offi cers could rise in thI assured them that performance was the chief prereqpromotion. They also indicated that they believed thain the I and E position would prove to be more satisfa

We touched many subjects, however, and talked for apthree hours. The meeting appeared to be very, very sawas asked to talk to the colored offi cers as a group sinthey could not convey all I had expressed. Last night I spoke with all of the colored offi ceI did not obtain the same satisfactory results as had bSunday. As some white people are defi nitely prejudiceproblem and cannot be made to think rationally, so sooffi cers are prejudiced only by the unfair practices annations which exist without acknowledging any of the This situation is made even more diffi cult by the fact really concerned only with personal, selfi sh interests problem as pertains to the race as a whole. Some, howMr. Bailey, appear to be sincerely and genuinely interproblem as pertains to the EM.71 This is encouraging.

 The Regiment will make the trip to the Pacifi c Companies “A” and “B” and First Battalion Headquartthe S.S. AINSWORTH tomorrow. It is expected that thload in a week or so.

68 “Sur le Pont d’Avignon.”69 John A. Cooke, Akron, Ohio, commander of Company A.70 I and E is information and education.71 Edward C. Bailey, Savannah, Ga. The reference to “Mr.” Bailey indi

warrant offi cer. EM is enlisted men.

114 

 CCalas, France, 65, 108, 109, 110, 111Campbell, Cloyce, 10Camps Butner, N.C., 3 Claiborne, La., 3 Gordon, Ga., 3 Myles Standish, Mass., 28 Rucker, Ala., 3 Stapley, England, 30, 31, 64

Sutton, S.C., viii, xii, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 15, 21, 22, 25, 28, 65, 72

Canan, Howard V., 105Captured enemy material (CEM), 3n, 44, 47, 54, 80, 81, 82, 87Carey, Maj., 83Carlson, John Roy (pseud. of Arthur Derounian), 75CAS. See Continental Advance Section.Caserne Bautzen, Toul, France, 50, 85Caserne Busarine, France, 41Caserne de Courcy, Epinal, France, 40Caserne Gareson, France, 41Caserne Hindenburg, Kornwestheim, Germany, 64, 101Caserne Pallestiere, France, 41Caserne Stainville, Lunéville, France, 40, 41, 80, 83Catawba River, 6, 21CBI (China-Burma-India Theater), 103Central Hotel, Dijon, France, 79Châlons-en-Champagne, France, 78Chapel of Saint Nicholas, 110Château de Ketzing, France, 55Château-Salins, France, 55, 94Château Stanislas, France, 41Chaumont, France, 78Clermont, France, 78Collins, John E., 56Collis, L. F. “Spike,” 12, 89, 90, 93“Collis Pig Fry,” 11, 12Colmar, France, 44, 82Combat training area, Pageland, S.C., 4, 5, 6, 9, 9n, 21, 22Command and reconnaissance vehicle (C and R), 77, 78Commands Fourth Service Command, 4, 22, 25 XXIV Corps Service Command, 70Companies, of the 1321st Engr. GS Regt.

Co. A, 21, 25, 47, 55, 56, 59, 94, 98, 111Co. B, 10, 46, 47, 55, 56, 59, 94, 111Co. C, 28, 31, 45, 51, 55, 56, 59, 85, 89, 94, 98, 102Co. D, 21, 25, 28, 54, 55, 57, 82, 83, 92, 94, 96, 99, 100Co. E, 3, 21, 28, 45, 51, 54, 55, 57, 

82, 83, 91, 92, 9Co. F, 3, 13, 15, 83, 84, 87, 89, 9Headquarters Co., 3, 12, 13, 164, 65, 79, 94, 1

Companies, other

791st Engr. Du55, 86

 1392d Engr. Fo 1535th Engr. D

Quartermaster Registration C

Compiègne, FrancContinental AdvanCONAD), 37, 39, 4183, 88, 92, 93, 94, 9Convoys, 11, 12, 44102Cooke, John A., 11Cowie, Robert, 21Cox, J. D., 59nC-rations, 74, 77Cristobal, PanamaCross, Bob “Pop,” 2Cumberland RiverCurtis, David, 66 DDabbs, John, 48, 5101, 106, 107, 109Dabo, France, 98Delta Base SectionDemery, Col., 105Depots, v, viii, 30

captured enem82, 87

 in Dijon, Franc

in Domgermain91, 92

 in England and  in Korea, 71 in Nancy, Fran

in Obernai, Fr82prisoners of w

 in Russ, Franc in Strasbourg, 

in Toul, France Bautzen), 50–5

 in Woippy, FraDerounian, ArthuCarlson), 75Dettwiller, FranceDe Ware, Grace, 7Dickey, Fred D., 59Dijon, France arrival at/assig depots, 47

A

Addis, Maj., 39Admiral R. E. Coontz, 66, 68

African American soldiers, vi–viiAlaska, xAlsace-Lorraine, France, viii, 83n, 98nAlsyn, Bill, 39, 93American Society of Civil Engineers, xiAmphibious operations, 36Angelopoulas, Lt. Col., 106Antigua, Lesser Antilles, viii, 104, 106Arles, France, 110Arlington National Cemetery, Va., xiArmies French First Army, 37, 44

Seventh Army, 32, 34, 44, 54, 80, 83n, 84, 93, 94, 101

1321st support to, 37, 40, 47, 50, 51, 54, 56, 72, 80, 83, 88, 89, 92

 Third Army, 50, 54ASCOM (Army Service Command) City, Korea, 70–71, 72Atomic bomb, 67Autilio, Capt., 106Autobahn, 32, 57–59, 60–61, 99–100, 102

Avignon, France, 110 BBaccarat, France, 55Bad Durkheim, Germany, 56, 99, 100Bagley, Philip M., 59nBagnulo, Aldo H., 6, 50, 42, 58, 72, 92 military career of, vii–x papers of, xii postwar career of, x–xiBagnulo, Helen, ix, x, 83n, 102, 103Bagnulo, John, xiiBagnulo, Marcella, xiiBagnulo, Michael, xii, 102, 103Bailey, Edward C., 111Baldwin, Maj./Lt. Col., 88, 91, 92Battalions, of the 1321st Engr. GS Regt.

1st Bn., 9, 11, 21, 25, 40, 45, 47, 54, 59, 65, 66, 68, 78, 79, 84, 94, 102, 1112d Bn., 10, 11, 12, 21, 40, 41, 45, 57, 59, 65, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 92, 94, 102

Battalions, other 533d Quartermaster Service Bn., 3 837th Engr. Aviation Bn., 108 1315th Engr. Bn., 21

 1321st Engr. Construction Bn., 15Battle of the Bulge, 41, 44, 80, 82Bayliss, John, 22, 47Beauvais, France, 78Bechtel Corporation, xBell, Jerry, 109Benezet, Pastor, 110Benzing, Samuel, 12Bird, Clayton A., 105Blainville, France, 89, 92Blâmont, France, 56Blitz (German bombardment of Britain), 29Bloodgood, G., 91, 92, 93Boston, Mass., viii, 28–29, 96Bramlet, James, 12Bridges autobahn, 57–58, 60–61, 99–100 in Bruchsal, Germany, 59 demolition of, 44 fl oating, 6, 9, 21 footbridge, 9 in Heimsheim, Germany, 100 in Korea, 71 in Leonberg, Germany, 58, 100

on main supply routes (MSR), 37, 39, 57, 59maintenance of, v, viii, 11, 39, 47, 58, 71, 72, 85across the Moselle River, France,

46, 47

 in Pforzheim, Germany, 99, 100 Pont du Gard, 110 Pont Saint-Benezet, 110–11 ponton (“pontoon”), 21, 97 railroad, 59, 78 in Singen, Germany, 57, 99

in the Tennessee Maneuver Area, 11training to build and repair, 6, 9, 10, 11, 16–17, 21

 in Wilferdingen, Germany, 58 in Wimsheim, Germany, 100Brinkley, Thomas, 66Britain, viii, 29, 31, 36, 64, 72, 74

See also names of towns and cities.

Brown, Dan, 78, 96, 101Bruchsal, Germany, 59Bufford, Clarence, 3, 59n“Buzz Bombs” (V –1 fl ying bombs), 31

Index

Page references in italic refer to photos or illustrations; 

those with an “n” refer to footnotes.

Military ranks are included only when fi rst names are unknown.
116 

 235th General Hosp., 109

236th General Hosp., Epinal, France, 45–47, 79, 85, 86

 in Korea, 71Hotel de Ville, Nancy, France, 94Hotel du Rhone, Paris, France, 105Hotel Europa, Nancy, France, 51Hotel Fremtier [sic], Paris, France, 104Houssier, Marie, 96Hurme, Charles, 22 IIceland, xImmell, Ralph M., 58, 59, 64, 102

Impson, Maj., 39, 83Inch’on, Korea, 70, 71Ivkovich, Paul I. “Doc”, 74, 75, 85 JJaeger, Helen, 109Jaques, William, 10, 39, 50, 84, 87, 88, 89, 93Jefferson, S.C., 21Jiminez, Lt. Col., 106John F. Kennedy Space Center, Fla., xJohnson, J. O., 108–09Joinville, France, 78Josephson, Elizabeth, 109 KKaiserslautern, Germany, 56, 59, 94, 98Karlsruhe, Germany, 56, 57, 99Keller, Maj., 80, 81Kellogg, Norman, 21, 48, 107Kimpo Airdrome, Korea, 71King, Ralph D., 84Korea, ix, xii, 69–72, 70Kornwestheim, Germany, 64, 101 LLangres, France, 78LCT (landing craft, tank), 36, 77Lebanon, Tenn., 11, 12Lee, Harold on leave, 31 position, 21, 85, 90

work by, 41, 50, 79, 83, 84, 85, 100, 101

Lee, John C. H., 102, 103, 104Le Havre, France, 34, 35–36, 37, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78Lemoine, Mademoiselle, 86Leo X, Saint (pope), 98Leonberg, Germany, 57, 58, 100Leopoldville, 35, 36, 37Les Forges, France, 37, 39, 78, 79, 83Levister, Cecil C., 59n

Leydet, Maj., 74Liberty ships, 35, Lighters, 76Lillebonne, FrancLiverpool, EnglanLohman’s Store, TLondon, England, LST (landing shipLudwigshafen, GeLumber for bridge cons procurement o

shipment to Se51, 88, 89yard at Vincey, 

Lunéville, France, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 8 MMain supply route Majestic Hotel, PaMalstrom, Einar AMannheim, Germ103, 104Marquardt, RoberMarseille, France, 104, 105, 106, 108Martha’s VineyardMassachusetts InsTechnology, vii, ixMathios, Col., 105McCrone, Willard McGown, Lt. Sr. GMcKenna, Capt., 3Medals and Award Army Commen

Bronze Star, 3n

 Legion of Meri marksmanship Soldier’s MedaMetz, France, 50, 5Meurthe-et-Mosel88, 92Meyers, E. E., 47Mickle, Capt., 104, Military police, 50Miller, Lehman WMog Mog, Caroline Mohler, Franklin, Montesinos, MiguMorris, John W., xMoselle River, 46, Mount Vernon, 29, Mühlacker, GermaMunich, GermanyMurphy, Paul J. B.Myers, W. T. “Bill,

Dijon, France (cont.)

CAS headquarters at, 77, 78, 79, 82, 84, 87

Ditzingen, Germany, 100Divisions 3d Infantry Div., 40 35th Infantry Div., 94n 36th Infantry Div., 40 45th Infantry Div., 40 66th Infantry Div., 35n 94th Infantry Div., 80–81Domgermain, France, 50, 52–53, 89, 

90, 91, 92, 92Dore, Gerard, 66DUKWs, 76Duncan, Franklin E., 59nDunn, A. W., 106 EEastern Ocean District, USACE, xEdwards, William T., 64Eiffel Tower, 104, 105Ellner, Lt., 45Engineer Board, viiiEngineer general service regiments, v–vi, viii–x

See also Regiments.

Engineer Unit Training Center (EUTC), 4, 21, 22England, viii, 29, 31, 36, 64, 72, 74

See also names of towns and cities.

English Channel, viii, 34–35, 36, 37, 74, 75Eniwetok, Marshall Islands, 67Epernay, France, 78Epinal, France, 38, 47

regimental headquarters at, 39–40, 

78, 79, 80, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88work at, 45, 46, 50, 79

Equipment, v, 2, 14, 15n, 31, 65, 67, 78,

78, 95, 99, 106–09 4-ton prime mover, 108 6-ton prime mover, 108 D–7 (medium bulldozer), 84

heavy, vi, 8, 14, 22, 26–27, 43, 48, 

52–53

 M–1 rifl es, v, 4

rock crusher, 7

welding, vi

 FFarben, I. G., 104Fassin, Dr., 100Fismes, France, 78Fort Belvoir, Va., viii, xFort DuPont, Del., viiFort Jackson, S.C., 10“Forty and eights,” 37, 37, 65

Foster, Ken, 107, 108, 110

France, 38, 72, 100, 106, 110

 eastern, 34, 36 effects of war on, 37 entering, 34, 36, 74 leaving, 64–65

See also names of towns and cities.

Frankfurt, Germany, 104Fred C. Ainsworth, 66, 68, 111French foreign legion, 86Fürfeld, Germany, 59 GGarbisch, Edgar William, 75Gare Maritime du Havre, France, 76Geller, Daniel, 22, 90, 98Germany, viii, 54–55, 72, 96, 97, 99–100, 103

See also names of towns and cities.

Gladeville, Tenn., 12Gournay, France, 78Grand Hotel, Nancy, France, 83Graves, digging of, 48Gray, James, 59Great Britain, viii, 29, 31, 36, 64, 72, 74

See also names of towns and cities.

Groups 6th Army Gp., 93 28th Quartermaster Truck Gp., 44 46th Quartermaster Truck Gp., 44Guam, 68Guess, Ralph A., 107Gunter, Douglas, 12, 80Guthrie, Percy, 15, 109 HHaguenau, France, 44, 55, 94, 96, 97, 98Hall, 1st Sgt., 3Hammond, Dossie, 59nHarris, Robert E., xii, 31, 50, 88, 111Heidelberg, Germany, 59Heilbronn, Germany, 59Heimsheim, Germany, 57, 58, 100Heming, France, 95Herbert, Tech. Sgt., 3Herkimer, 35, 36, 37, 74Highways, 11, 58, 59

See also Roads.

Hofmuhl, France, 55Homburg, Germany, 56, 98Hopper, Carl J., 59nHospitals, viii

23d General Hosp., Taunton, England, 3135th Station Hosp., Epinal, France, 8651st Station Hosp., Lunéville, France, 46, 83
118 

Rogers, George, 21Romsey Marshalling Area, England, 34Rooney, Mickey, 108Rouen, France, 36, 37, 78Russ, France, 44, 45, 81, 82Rutesheim, Germany, 58, 100 SSacré-Coeur (Sacred Heart), Basilique de, Paris, France, 105Saint Croix, Virgin Islands, 104, 106Saint-Dizier, France, 78Saint-Nicolas-de-Port, France, 93Saint-Romain-de-Colbosc, France, 78Saipan, Mariana Islands, 67–68Salisbury, England, 31Salon, France, 110–11Sarrebourg, France, 55, 56, 91, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 101Sarreguemines, France, 56, 94, 98Saverne, France, 55, 56, 80, 94Sebree, Edmund B., 94Seckenheim, Germany, 102Seine River, 36SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force), 104Shaffett, Alvin B., 64Shaw, Johnnie, 101Singen, Germany, 57, 59n, 99–100Smith, Aaron L., 59nSmith, Horace, 21, 65, 107, 108, 109Smullen, Chauncey K., 37, 79, 82, 83, 87, 88, 93, 98Society of American Military Engineers, xiSoissons, France, 78Somerset County, England, 30Sorley, Merrow E., 106, 109Southampton, England, 34–35, 74Southern Line of Communications–Rhone Valley (SOLOC), 88SS White Squall, 65, 68, 108, 109St. Paul District, USACE, xStevenson, Carl A., 64Stewart, James, 66Strasbourg, France, 44, 45, 80, 81, 82Stuttgart, Germany, 56, 58, 99 TTactical Air Command, Langley Field, Va., ixTanniehill, Louis, 59nTaunton, England, 30, 31“Tennessee Fire,” 12–15, 13Tennessee Maneuver Area, viii, 10, 11Thionville, France, 87Thomas, George M., 98

Thomason Act, 10Toul, France, 50, 891, 91n, 92, 93, 94, Traffi c Control PoTrail, Gerald, 12Training, vi, ix atomic weapon basic, 4, 5, 20–2 bridge buildin cold weather, x

combat, 18–19

 demolition, 6 fi eld, 20–21

heavy equipme

 marches, 5, 9, 2 marksmanship Military Train

mine and mine 6, 31

 physical, 25 review of, 31, 6 road construct technical, 5–6,  tests, 20, 22, 25Trindal, G. W. “Bu11, 14, 15Triplett, Paul, 59nTrocadero, Place dTroter, Capt., 74, 7Truman, Harry S.Tumin, H., 105 UUlithi, Caroline IsUnited Kingdom B31U.S. Army Air DefU.S. Army EngineDevelopment LaboU.S. Army Signal CU.S. Army War CoU.S. Cold Weather Training School, xUSAT/USS Fred C. 111USS Admiral R. E. USS Mount VernonUSS White Squall,  VV –1 fl ying bombs (Van Wyck, S.C., 6, Velasquez, Sgt., 86Venereal disease (Vessels DUKWs, 76 LCT (landing c

Leopoldville, 35

 NNancy, France, 50, 51, 83, 84, 88, 89, 94NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Admin.), xNashville, Tenn., 10n, 11, 12Neubärental, Germany, 58Neustadt, Germany, 97Newport, Tenn., 13–15, 13New York District, USACE, 75nNicholas Herkimer, 35, 36, 37, 74Nichols, Don, 10Nimes, France, 110Nissen huts, 29, 30, 31nNon-fraternization policy, 97 OObernai, France, 44, 45, 80, 81, 82Offi ce of the Chief of Engineers (OCE), 21, 105Okinawa, Japan, 11, 66n, 68–69, 69, 70nOperation GREIF, 44n Orly Field, Paris, France, 104O’Toole, Maj., 39, 79, 91n PPacifi c Theater of Operations, 64, 72n, 102Pageland, S.C., combat training area, 4, 5, 6, 9, 9n, 21, 22Pahl, William, 15, 59nPanama Canal, 66–67Paris, France, 103, 104, 105Parker, Robert S., 59nPatch, Alexander M., 40, 54, 66n, 94Patton, George S., Jr., 54Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, ix, 66n, 67, 67Perouse, Germany, 58Peterson, E. J., 106, 107Pettis, Albert, 25Pforzheim, Germany, 58, 99–100Phalsbourg, France, 94Pickrel, Glenn E., 21, 59nPipelines, viii, 51, 54, 55, 56, 57, 92, 105Pneumonia, 36Pont du Gard, 110Pont Saint-Benezet, 110, 111Ponts et Chaussées, 47, 49, 50Pope, Evans, and Robbins, Inc., x“Pope’s Palace,” Avignon, France, 110Price, A. E., 47Prisoners of war (PWs)

German, viii, 50, 52–53, 55, 55, 56, 57, 59, 81, 90, 96, 97, 100

 Italian, 82nProvidence, R.I., 28, 75Providence District, USACE, 75n

Puckett, James A., 64Puerto Rico, viii, 74n, 106 QQuarries, 8, 12

See also Rock and gravel.

Quartermaster truck units, 47, 106 28th Quartermaster Truck Gp., 44 46th Quartermaster Truck Gp., 44Quonset huts, 31n, 71 RRadki, Maj., 91Ream, Vincent A., 59n, 65Rechicourt, France, 94Recreation and leisure, 25n, 62–63, 66–67, 68, 109

athletics, 24, 66, 107–08

 dances and parties, 28, 80, 96 facilities for, 64, 68 sightseeing, 31, 66, 105, 110–11Red Cross, 66, 100, 111Régiment de marche de la Légion étrangère (of the French foreign legion), 86Regiments 1st Engr. Regt., vii, 109

334th Engr. Special Service Regt., 91, 92

 335th Engr. GS Regt., 84 343d Engr. GS Regt., 82 375th Engr. GS Regt., 106 926th Engr. Aviation Regt., 84 1310th Engr. GS Regt., 3 1316th Engr. GS Regt., 10 1318th Engr. GS Regt., 106 1325th Engr. GS Regt., 68, 106 1331st Engr. GS Regt., 72

See also Engineer general service regiments.

Rhine River, 44, 54, 57, 59, 97Rice, Maj., 109Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad, 28Rivera Hotel, Lunéville, France, 79Roads

construction of, v, 6, 11–12, 59, 90, 100

 corduroy, 49–50, 87

maintenance of, viii, 21, 26–27, 39,

42–43, 47, 48, 49, 56, 57–59, 69, 71, 

72, 80, 82–83, 84, 88, 96, 98See also Highways.

Rock and gravel, 7, 108

shipment of, 56, 88, 89, 90

 stockpiling of, 93, 95, 96 use in construction, 12, 50, 88, 90

See also Quarries.
120

Vessels (cont.) Liberty ships, 35, 107 Lighters, 76 LST (landing ship, tank), 35, 36, 69

Nicholas Herkimer, 35, 36, 37, 74USAT/USS Fred C. Ainsworth, 66, 68, 111

 USS Admiral R. E. Coontz, 66, 68 USS Mount Vernon, 29, 35

 USS White Squall, 65, 68, 108, 109

Vincey, France, 47, 50, 51, 88Virgin Islands, U.S., viiiVitry-le-François, France, 78V-Mail (Victory Mail), 102Vosges Mountains, 45, 51, 88, 92 WWAC (Women’s Army Corps), 104, 105Water points, 21, 56, 57, 69

Watson, R. A., 86Wellington Station, London, England, 30Wetzel, Lt. Col., 22, 47, 77, 81, 84, 85White Squall, 65, 68, 108, 109Wilburn, J., 45, 110Wilferdingen, Germany, 58, 59Williams, Johnnie, 21Wilson, Arthur R., 80Wimsheim, Germany, 58, 100Wissembourg, France, 96, 97Woippy, France, 54, 87, 92Works Progress Administration, viiWorley, Stewart, 21, 74, 75, 79, 95, 98, 109Wynn, Isaac S., 59n