On display in Battalion Headquarters is a bit and reins that legend say a came from a seahorse. How this legend began is as follows:
It seems that on 22 January 1944, Lt. Col, Larson the Battalion Commander of the 3rd Battalion, 36th Regiment, from which the 19th Engineer Battalion is descended, was in a landing craft headed toward the port of Anzio. It was predawn on the fateful D-day and Col. Larson's instructions were to land with a Ranger Task Force and clear the port of Anzio, so that the rest of the Regiment with equipment could land there. Although unprepared for the invasion, the Germans did manage to get a few rounds of Artillery off at the approaching small landing craft. One round was so close that it threw Col. Larson's boat into the air and dumped Col. Larson into the sea. Weighted down by all his equipment, Col. Larson immediately started to go under. In his semi-conscious state, Larson reached out and grabbed at what he thought was a piece of rope, as a drowning man clutches at a straw. Still in a semi-unconscious state, he swears that what he thought was a rope was actually the reins of a bridle worn by, of all things, a seahorse.
When Col. Larson recovered consciousness he was lying on the dock with an aid man kneeling beside him. He started to tell the aid man of the experience when he stopped himself. He figured the story was too unbelievable. As he started to get up he looked in his hand and he still had the reins with the bit. Forgetting about it temporarily he got up, placed the reins and bit in his pack and took command of the Battalion again. So thoughroughly did his Battalion clear the port that the rest of the Regiment was able to land at the port rather than hit the beach as anticipated.
During a rest period, he mentioned the incident to the Regimental Commander who passed it off as a good story but hardly true. The Regimental Commander concluded that Col. Larson picked up the bit and reins at the dock where one of the many horses around the port may have lost them in the confusion of battle. However, as Col. Larson retold the story to some Italian workers, they said they had never seen such a bit before and that certainly none of the horses around Anzio ever had one like it, and also there were no teeth marks on the bit, as the horses took the bit in their teeth as they went along. Still being unable to fully resolve the story himself, Col. Larson gave the bit and reins to one of the workers around the dock.
The story, however, did not die and was told and retold so much that the story was still around at the end of the war when the 2828th Engineer Battalion, formerly the 3rd Battalion, was renamed the 19th Engineer Battalion.
When the 19th was activated in 1952 the legend was still around, but by this time it was just a vague memory. It remained this way until August of 1961. At this time Col. Regn assigned the Battalion Executive Officer the task of finding more information about the legend or contacting someone who had served with the old 36th or knew of it's exploits. One of the letters he wrote went to the mayor of Anzio. The mayor sent us the name of Antonio Batelli, the worker who claimed to be the one to whom Col. Larson gave the bit and reins. Further correspondence with Mr. Batelli revealed that he had kept the bit and reins as a souvenir and had never used it since it was different than any he had used. During September 1961 the bit and reins were returned to this Battalion and is used as a symbol of command. The old Battalion Commander presents it to the new Commander to signify that he now holds the reins to the "Little Seahorse Battalion", the 19th Engineers.
Adapted from story by 2LT Philip U. Bondi, Asst. Adjutant, 26 March 1961
NOTE : The original 19th Bit and Reins, made of British Silver, have been missing since the years 1970 - 1977. Anyone who knows the whereabouts is encouraged to contact an officer of the association so they can be restored to the 19th Battalion archives.
This is a repeat, if no-one reads it,--that’s OK
I think of it every day
Art Morneweck and Belle Isle.
How we met – the love of my life She was 19,,,,I was 20
Early in 1943, I went on a double date with a friend and the Matthews sisters to Eastwood Amusement Park at Gratiot and 8 mile. It was a long drive from Detroit's west side. I was paired with Blanche, but her sister, Charlotte (Micky) was a great looker and I thought she was the one for me. We all had a good time together. It was more like a friend's outing than a date. Two nights later, Micky was on her way home from her job at G.M.C. She stopped at Simone's soda fountain shop where I was having a frozen Power House candy bar. We talked a while and I asked her to go for a ride. We drove to Belle Isle in my father’s 1940 Ford and one section was a parking that you faced the river and watch the boats go bye. There was no open parking space so we had to ride around the island. When you come to the bridge there was about 5 or 6 driving lanes that all turned right and takes you back off the island. Luckly I was in the 6th lane that took you over the bridge or you could drive straight and go around again. Something in my heart said go straight and I did. This time there was a parking space open. I parked and we had our first kiss. We watched the boats and then Micky said she had to go to the bath room. We left and stopped at first bath room and it was pad-locked, I looked at my watch and it was after mid-night, so was the second bat room locked.Going across the bridge Micky said she really had to go. I new if we turned left to go home we would not find a restaurant so I turned right and found a restaurant about two blocks away. I stopped and Micky used their bath room. About four months later we got engaged just before I left for Army Air Corps cadet training. I returned to Detroit to get married during a week long furlough.
Micky and I were apart for the next two years as I was sent to the Philippine Islands and occupation duty in Taegu, Korea. I returned home to her in July, 1946. We celebrated our 57th wedding anniversary May 15, 2001. Then Dec. 30, 2001 my Micky went to be with our Lord. Our daughters and son-in-law are Toni Ann Morneweck, Terry & Jack Ellis, and grandson Tim 16. We all live in same neighborhood in Novi. Micky's sister Blanche Rosendale, now lives in St. Clair.
Papa Art your words have come true...The mountain has been moved.
When Dusty got denied re enlistment I asked him if he wanted me to write a letter, he said yes. One more try.So I did I will post it after this..its a little winded,So anyway we were in Kentucky seeing Taylor off before he deploys and we get home and there is a message from Dustys recruiter. There was some type of technical error in his submission, the word no impairment was not clear it left off the no in the sentence...They had resubmitted it and he is approved. So in the 48 hours I have been home life has changed some... He has already been to MEPS and will be leaving May 23. Now here is what I think happened . I wrote letters to many of the brass and got a letter from the Vice President who stated he had forwarded my letter to the Dept of Defense ( I had already done so myself) and all of a sudden there was the glitch.... whatever it was the mountain has been moved. Now all I have to do is learn to be without both of my boys... I am so grateful I have friends here to turn to when the going may get rough. Please keep my boys in your prayers... Oh and Tony look out 2 Screamin Eagles...Kentucky will not be the same. That was the one thing Dusty was adament about having Ft Campbell as his PDS, with the little one.. Love ya all Cindy
NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense
No. 352-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Apr 12, 2005
Media Contact: (703)697-5131
Public/Industry Contact: (703)428-0711
WWII Missing in Action Serviceman Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced
today that the remains of an Army Air Forces crewman have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with military honors.
Staff Sgt. Robert W. McKee of Garvey, Calif., will be buried in
Arlington National Cemetery April 12.
On Dec. 17, 1944, McKee was an aerial gunner on an 11-member crew of a B-24L *Liberator* that took off from Pantanella, Italy, on a mission to bomb enemy
targets near Blechhammer, Germany. The aircraft crashed over Hungary, near the
small towns of Böhönye and Felsosegesd, with the loss of two crewmen including
McKee. The other nine were able to safely parachute from the aircraft. Following
the war, the remains of the other unaccounted-for crewman were found in a cemetery in Felsosegesd.
Following the war, remains from an American aircraft crash near Vienna,
Austria, were found buried with McKee's military identification tag. But the
remains were identified as those of another flyer. Further analysis revealed that
McKee had flown on the same plane and had lost his identification tag, most likely
on that aircraft.
In 1992 an undertaker recovered remains believed to be those of an
American in the Böhönye, Hungary, cemetery but they could not be associated with a specific incident. DPMO analysts obtained information from a Hungarian researcher which indicated that the remains might be associated with McKee's loss. Aerial gunner's wings were found in the grave, as well as other items worn by U.S. bomber crews in 1944.
Scientists of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces
DNA Identification Laboratory used a number of forensic tools including
mitochondrial DNA to confirm McKee's identity, matching his DNA with that of two
known maternal relatives.
Of the 88,000 Americans missing from all conflicts, 78,000 are from
World War II.
For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to
account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call
