The Wyandotte news-herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1943-1963, 1944-12-11
Cpl. Flaishans With
"Sawdusf Commands"

Ollly OItc VI lOS hAI4u III VIC 6EhN
pean Theater of Operations, is
working day and night, deep in the
forests Of France, to aid the supply
of timber to Americas fighting men.
Cpl. Harry E. Flaishans, 2734 Fourth
street, drives truck with this unit.
Members of the unit, the Engin-
eer Forestry Battalion, supplying
lumber, pilings, railway ties, and
other forest products for United
States construction engineers, have
many claims to distinction.
They are the only soldiers in the
American Army privileged to wear
black boots"-the traditional log
gers boots with metal spikes, or
calks, In the soles, and they claim
to be members Of the most spread
out battalion in the world.
When the battalion, commanded
by Captain Winton M. Bernardin,
of 2l4 South Dartmouth street, AL
buquerque, New Mexico, was trained,
the organization which now Is in
France was battalion headquarters.
It was to have been company
which furnishd supply, survey,
transportation and administration
services for three other companies.
But the battalion was split up,
and now the only part Of it in
France is the headquarters. The
three other companies, although
still officially part Of the battalion,
are somewhere In he South Pacific.
They still belong to my outfit"
says Capt. Bernardin. But I don't
have very much control of them at
that range"
Although most Of the men are
specialists in the forestry line, and
many owned their own lumber bus
inesses before they joined the Army,
some have acquired all their woods
mans knowledge, and vocabulary,
within the unit.
1t might be expected that a gang
of ex-lumberjacks, loggers, mill
foremen, and foresters would be
hairy-eared, tobacco chewing giants,
not much interested in four-syllable
words and classical music. But the
unit is proudest of the fact that 1t
msterS almost 10 per ent college
graduaes among its men, including
college professor, and the unit
7. @. is exceptionally high.
Two of its top-notch enlisted men,
Technical Sergeants R. Wilson Hut
Crimson, of 1118 High street, Eugene,
Oregon, and Francis A. Wood, Of
70 Forbes Place, East Haven, Con-
necticut, are college graduates with
degrees in forestry. They are now
survey men for the battalion, doing
timber cruising and timber recon-
Nuisance work.
Timber-cruising, according to Ser
geant Hutchinson Clutch" to his
mem is one of the most important
| jobs in the business. A timber
cruiser is the man who goes out
| into a tract of forest, and makes
an estimate of the amount Of lum-
Der that can be obtained in that
tract. Many a lumber company has
failed because of timber cruise
that was over-optimistic, and in the
Army, days can be wasted If the
outfit moves into a forest that can
not produce the required lumber.
Among the men on Sergeant Hut
chinson's staff is Sergeant Fred C.
Duncan, Of Fordyce, Arkansas, an
expert timber-cruiser in his own
right, who is also, according to his
captain, 'the best damned maker
of barbeched chicken In the army"
Sgt. Duncan was born and raised in
the lumber business, and is proud
Of cruise he once made, estimat-
ing 10000 board feet in a certain
tract. on which he was only 400 feet
off. Timber-cruisers are allowed 10
per cent error in their estimates,
but rarely err that much.
Other men among the outfit are
experts in their own speciality. Staff
Sergeant Charles w. Lea, of Ash
down, Arkansas, is a millwright with
years of experience behind him. It
is his job to see that the portable
saw-mills maintain their production
"a hours day. And when anything
goes wrong, he is the man to fix it.
Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Hager,
2440 Corinth avenue, Los Angeles,
California, is the master saw-filer
Of the battalion. He sees that the
vital 54-inch circular saws are kept
sharp, and that the other saw
filters are well-trained. A skilled
cabinet-maker, Sgt. Hager has q
craftsman's love of tools, and his
skill contributes much to the eff
cheney of his unit. Sgt. Hager was
born near the B lack Forest of Ger
many, and his one ambition now Is
to get back to that forest, and chop
1t down."
Two men In the unit, although
American citizens, have done most
Of their numbering in the Canadian
Northwest. One, Sergeant Newton
D. Cameron, who is now a log
scaler oman who measures logs to
calculate lumber footage) operated
his own lumber business at Victoria
on British Columbia's Vancouver
Island. The other, Corporal Thomas
G. Wright, adds "class" to the sur