Captain John Fallon of the 36th Combat Engineers WWII, sent this to me. This relates to the story I shared in the Engineer's forum earlier today.
John has been corresponding with Colonel Stevens for quite a while. The Colonel's letter is below. BTW, I sent an email to Colonel Stevens to let him know how I fit into the scheme of things.
I also sent forwarded this letter to my friend, Colonel Mike Morgan, of Army Engineer Magazine. See link regarding how this all relates:
John, I am so proud of my new 36th Engineer Hat. It is proudly hanging in the office of the commander. I also appreciated the photo from the reunion. We will find a place of honor to display it in the HQ. Thank you for thinking of us.
Our webmaster, I'm told, is still in school...but I hope to have a website up and running soon. Will keep you informed. I've copied an excerpt below that basically explains the function of the Brigade HQ in Army speak. Suffice to say, we are HQ responsible for integrating various engineer capabilities in support of the warfighter from the operational to the tactical level.
The centerpiece of engineer battle command system is the Engineer Brigade HQ. The Engineer Brigade HQ has no fixed number or type of supporting Baseline Forces or Mission Module Forces. The primary role of the Engineer Brigade is to provide battle command to support engineer forces at the operational and theater level. Engineer Brigades may be deployed and employed with any mix of engineer forces from multiple continental United States (CONUS) or outside the continental United States (OCONUS) installations. Once deployed, the Engineer Brigades become the focal point for apportioning and allocating mission-tailored engineer forces to the BCTs, support brigades, and to other Services. The Engineer Brigade will accept additional forces and redeploy others as the COCOM's requirements change throughout an operation, and will have the ability to provide deployable engineer command posts and staff expertise to provide engineer-specific C2 when required. An Engineer Brigade will also be able to be assigned to a Division or Corps to serve as an ME Brigade (with staff augmentation) or when the scope of the mission requires a robust and focused engineer HQ.
Of note that your men may find interesting...the Rugged Seahorse patch has now made its first appearance in Afghanistan. Several members of our team here at Fort Hood recently returned from a short reconnaissance in order to start preparing the Brigade HQ to deploy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom sometime in the spring of 2007. We will be directly supporting the 82nd Airborne Division. And so, the Rugged Engineers will once again leave their mark in a foreign land serving to defend freedom. Hooah!
Take care and please do stay in touch. And of course, Stay Rugged!
Special thanks to my dear friend Vito Cupertino, who sent me this license plate last week. How sweet of you. I will always treasure it. It is on my desk and I look at it every day and think of all you guys.
Hey Seahorses!! Sharing a letter from Col Mike which I received this morning.
Marion:
I just watched the DVD you sent me with the WW2 materials included, and it's great. You did a fantastic job making it and I'm impressed. I've never done video before. Where did you get the music? I like it!
I also want to tell you I received last week an unsolicited article from the 14th and 19th Engineer Battalions who are now serving side by side in Iraq. This is the first time since WWII, when they were both a part of the 36th Regiment, that these units have served together. Officers of the two units wrote a super story including the unit histories from WWII forward to today, and the 36th Engineer Combat Regiment is highlighted throughout. This is an unintended PLUS for the next magazine issue that has your article included. I'm always amazed at how things often come together by themselves. Call it coincidence or whatever.
I'm about finished with the magazine, and hope to get it to the printer in a week or so. It ought to be ready to mail around Thanksgiving, and I'm planning on sending you some extra copies to pass around.
Official Medal of Honor Citation: Sergeant Cornelius H. Charlton, Infantry, United States Army, a member of Company C 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy on 2 June 1951, near Chipo-ri, Korea.
His platoon was attacking heavily defended hostile positions on commanding ground when the leader was wounded and evacuated. Sergeant Charlton assumed command, rallied the men, and spearheaded the assault against the hill. Personally eliminating two hostile positions and killing six of the enemy with his rifle fire and grenades, he continued up the slope until the unit suffered heavy casualties and became pinned down. Regrouping the men he led them forward only to be again hurled back by a shower of grenades.
Despite a severe chest wound,Sergeant Charlton refused medical attention and led a third daring charge which carried to the crest of the ridge. Observing that the remaining emplacement which had retarded the advance was situated on the reverse slope, he charged it alone, was again hit by a grenade but raked the position with a devastating fire which eliminated it and routed the defenders. The wounds received during his daring exploits resulted in his death but his indomitable courage, superb leadership, and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest credit upon himself the infantry, and the military service.
