Evening star., 1944-07-04
Engineers, Signal Men,
Little PubIicized, but
Defy Death Regularly
BY WALTER McCALLUM,

BY WALTER McCALLUM,
Star War Correspondent.
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE, June
~ delayed .-Unsung and almost
unhonored Is battle units, the men
of the Signal Corps and engineers
get little credit for the brave work
they do well within sound and reach
of enemy small arms fire and ex-
posed enemy shelling.
went up to the front near Cher
bourg, where the enemy held the
slopes Of . valley . few hundred
yards from our forward observa-
ton posts and where a captain had
caught a slug in the neck a few
hours before.
Not 200 yards from this exposed
spot were the combat engineers, al
ready clearing the battlefield won
only few hours before, getting
ready to clean up the roads and re-
pair road damage.
Engineers Already ut Work.
In the jeep driven by Jimmy Lake
OF San Francisco, a driver who does
not care where he goes Just so 1t is
a hot spot, we bounced over hilltops
on which Jerry had 88s zeroed. so
that when anything moved and
stayed around a while the Germans
would drop few in that vicinity.
The combat engineers already
were In with their bulldozing equip
ment. fining up shell holes even
while pillboxes blazed and smoked
a few yards from the spot where
they were pushing dirt. These bull
oozers DO amazing things.
We came across the beachhead
with some special heavy equipment,
including bulldozers. Their pur-
pose was to push sand up across the
concrete sea wall and thus make a
path for the troops to come. You
see the same equipment today on
the roads OF France, travelling on
tracks.
Some Killed, Others Wounded.
The engineers were fully equipped
with carts Of tarred gravel, shovels
and heavier stuff. Some of them
were hurt and one or two killed, but
they kept right on shoveling dirt,
making the roads passable for 'front.'
line action, although they them
selves were in the front lines.
Driving along up front you see
signs, SLOW, filled crater" where
the Air Force has dropped a big
one, and SLOW, dangerous explo-
sives," where lot Of unexploded
ammunition has been gathered into
huge pile.
You drive slowly and carefully
past these dumps, gathered by the
engineers. The boys carry rifles and
do not fight unless they have to,
but they can-and how! Combat
engineers Is their name. They are
just that.
Yesterday morning up front an SO
shell hit smack on the switchboard
Of a forward company unit, killing
the operator and wounding several
others. 1t was back in action in a
couple Of hours, carrying the vital
battle information 50 necessary to
any action. An hour later another
SO landed close to the switchboard.
1t happened to be dud, but it might
have been the real thing.
Move Along With Infantry.
This is the sort of work the signal
boys do. But out in front, where
the shells fall and enemy Schmeis-
sers punctuate the battle with their
hysterical popping, the wire-string-
ing boys move along with the in
fantry. They have to, for If there
is one thing vital to the success of
any action, it is information.
The miles of wire laid along the
French roads and bypaths between
regimental and battalion command
posts and between units Of higher
command and the front lines would
make a transcontinental phone sys-
tenn look amateurish
The signal boys climb those con-
crete-and-steel French posts In full
view of the enemy, clinging to them
with one hand and stringing wire
with the other. They take risks few
infantrymen take and get away with
them.
Heroes? Sure they are, but no
one thinks of them as such. They're
there to do routine job, keeping
pen the lines of communication
There's radio, of course, but phone
wires do the job best of all.
Machines Ride Over Wires.
Jeeps and heavier vehicles ride
over the wires strung across the dirt
and macadam Of the roads and don't
seem to harm them. The messages
go through.
We have several airfields In this
part Of France now, where the P-51s
and the PATS can land and take
OF. The air, as it has been all
through this operation, is ours. But
the signal boys, vital as they are to
the infantry, are equally vital to
the Air Force.
You don't hear much of the COM
bat engineers or the Signal Corps
boys. You hear more often of an
infantry unit, or the tanks, or the
borne lads. But behind them
are the engineers and wire string
ers, vital cogs In this great battle |
picture.
If the infantry is necessary to dig
the Germans out of foxholes and |
pill boxes, the engineers are neces-
sary to keep the stuff moving up to
him. And the signal boys are just |
As necessary to keep the command |
Informed on what is going on up
front.