Nevin emailed me the other day. I decided to post it here because others may be looking for info on the 49th too.

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Hi Marion,

I am trying to do research on my Great Uncle... a WWII US army veteran.

He was in the 49th Engineering Combat Battalion. B Company

Name: William Mattie.

Enlisted April 1942 in Boston Mass.

Discharged Oct 1944

Service: Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland.

Would you know any details on how I can find any history specific to the 49th Engineering Combat Bn? Photos, books, stories etc.

I have already contacted National Personnel Records in St Louis. According to their records his files were lost in the fire back in 1973.

Thank you for you time.

Nevin Gaudet

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Okay here we go. I hope this helps. I will continue looking too.

Yes you are correct, he was part of VII Corps.

http://www.jeroenkoppes.com/ww2/units/7th%...0US%20Corps.htm

You may want to contact Janet Williamson and see what she can tell you about the 49th. Looks like she has some info, even though she is looking for more specifics too. I have not talked to her, but am passing on the info that I saw on a board. janet.williamson2@verizon.net

"My father Olan Coy Cowardin was a truck driver and power shovel operator in the combat engineers in Europe in WWII, Co. A, 49th Engineers. He served between Sept. 1943 and Dec. 1945 and was at St. Lo, The Battle of the Bulge, D-Day and others. He once told me about being where a Concentration Camp was just liberated and the condition of the prisoners.. I would like to know which camp it was. He also told of driving off the ship at Normandy D-Day and how scary it was. I would like to know more about the method of building the long ramps from the ships and how this was all managed."

Here is a link on the seaborne assault that was Task Force U. The 49th were part of this assault.

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/BOOKS/WWII/utah/utah3.htm

Here is a link for the divisions and units that were part of the Normandy assault June 6 & 7th. You will see his unit listed under the 101st Airborne Division. I will try and find out more. I have several friends that belonged to the 101st and in fact I am having lunch with them next month.

http://www.dday-overlord.com/fepeng.htm

Here is the gentleman you should contact regarding the 49th CE.

49th Engineer Combat Battalion

Mr Wilbur Vickers

1209 Ambridge Dr

Louisville, Kentucky 40207-2467

I am hoping to have more unifying details later but this should get you started. You may also wish to see the research suggestions I have listed on my board. I strongly urge you to contact the army corps of engineers. They are a wonderful wealth of info. You may also want to contact Richard Horrell, especially if you come to spot where you aren't getting any further. It is a pay-for service, but he is a good friend and has a 5000 plus book library at his personal disposal. If you do contact him, please tell him I sent you. I would appreciate it.

http://www.6thcorpscombatengineers.com/eng...hp?showtopic=23

Warm regards and the best of luck to you. Do not hesitate to ask for more help.

Hello,

My name is Keith Dominick. I am a 30 year old career firefighter in

Maryland. On my off days I collect W.W. II items such as uniforms,

patches, helmets, hats, knives, etc... I have been collecting since the

age of 13 and am always looking for items to add to my collection.

I prefer to obtain the items directly from the veteran or the family if

possible. This way I have a name, face, and stories to go with the

item. This makes it more interesting to me and also helps to keep that veterans

experiences around for as long as possible. If you or anyone that you know

has any items that they would like to have a good home and be

appreciated, please feel free to contact me by e mail.

Thank you for your great service to our country,

Keith Dominick

Convoys safer at night, but danger is still present

Benjamin is pictured at the bottom of article.

I found a note from 1943 . It said I shot a 142 with the M-1 Rifle. Anyone know if that is good , bad, or average. All I remember is laying down in prone position, faceing a large target that came out of the ground.. After each shot a small round marker would show were the hole was in the target.. My senior moment does not remember, how many shots or how far away the target was..

Art

Hello, everyone. Reading the above, it has just dawned on me that I haven't introduced myself.

My name is Marilyn and I live in Southern California where it's warm and sunny...most of the time. A few weeks ago, we had four straight days of really serious rain and I was beginning to feel waterlogged.

I was a kid in WWII and remember certain things from that point of view. I also had an uncle who fought in Italy and ended up in Austria. That's about all I know because once he came home he wouldn't talk about it and we kids were strictly forbidden to ask. Hence, I don't even know his outfit. I thought for awhile it might be the 36th but as I read more history about the Italian campaign, I'm inclined to think he was with the 34th. Why? Because bits and pieces of family talk say he fought all the way up the Italian Boot and, so far, my readings indicate that the only outfit to do that was the 34th.

Growing up, one's worth with the other kid's on the block was measured by how quickly you could spot and identify the planes being ferried across the sky on a clear day; whether you'd seen Thirty-seconds Over Tokyo and how well you could remember the lines because once home, the plumb roles of reenacting were taken by the kids who could best remember those lines. Seniorty was also given to those kids whose fathers/uncles outranked the other kids'. Since my father was too young for WWI and too old for WWII and, anyway, just ran a gas station - oh, the humiliation of it all! - and no one had seen hide nor hair nor even heard from my uncle once he went in - it fell upon me to take the bull by the horns. As we rarely stayed in one neighborhood longer than the length of one school year, I took it upon myself to promote him. From 1943 or thereabouts, he got promoted from private to major - quickly, and shamlessly. Had the war not ended when it did, I'm sure he would have made Colonel.

Every Tuesday was Stamp Day at school and I made sure that I had my dime to buy a stamp to paste in my Stamp Book. Once the Stamp Book was filled, you got a $25 War Bond. Everyone was urged to buy a War Bond. It was either that or prepare to speak German.

Rationing was everywhere; sugar; meat. I don't remember it all. Regular gasoline cost 14 cents/gal and ethyl cost 16 cents/gal. What else do I remember? Hiroshima.

The day they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. I remember the stunned faces of all the grownups once the news was announced. It was the first time I'd ever encountered a situation where the grownups didn't seem to be totally in control. They were just...speechless. They all just looked at one another. What could one say? To think that one bomb could do all that. I remember not liking the feeling of grownups not seeming to be in control. Kids dream of independence and freedom from control...but at six? I went off to play by myself and when I came back, Dad was pumping gas and my mother was greasing a car and everything seemed normal again. The bomb was gone. For awhile. - Marilyn