THIS INFO WAS GATHERED FROM A 2003 SITE, THEREFORE THE DATA LISTED BELOW IS MOST LIKELY OUT OF DATE DUE TO THE PASSING OF WWII VETERANS, ETC.

AIRFORCE

1198th OE & T Sqdn (heavy chain): Jerry Baird (541) 779-4875; orajerry@aol.com

1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th Recovery Sqdns (Korea, Japan, Okinawa): Charles D. Rushing Jr. (209) 267-0866

22nd Rescue Boat Sqdn, 5th AF: Joe Connor (843) 552-4035; jjc199@aol.com

2nd Aerial Port Sq: Mrs. Richard Vaught (812) 853-5679

305th Bomb Gp Memorial Assn: John Butler (203) 795-3020

307th Air Refueling Sqdn (Lincoln AFB, NE & Selfridge AFB, MI, 1954-64): Dick Amenell (757) 877-0316; rjamen@tni.net

319th Fighter Interceptor Sqdn (FIS): David G. Headen (270) 258-5633; dwheaden@charter.net

362nd Ftr Gp (P-47s in 9th AF:, Europe, 1943-45): Fern Mann (901) 578-5333; FAXL 901-578-9999; cmann1525@aol.com

374th APS/CRK: John Johnson (321) 255-7396; jjmailman@aol.com

37th Ftr Sqd, 37th FIS & 37th FITS: Leslie E. Knapp (210) 655-0908; lesknapp@juno.com

427th Night Fighters Sqdn: Samuel M. Abbott (925) 837-9532

459th Bomb Gp (H), 15th AF: Harold Sanders (661) 250-2115

461st Bomb Wing B52/KC135 (461BW & 4128th Strat Wing SAC, Amarillo AFB, TX): Bill Davies (501) 225-2400

47th Bomb Gp, 12th AF (A020 Lt Bomb): Tony Tykema (480) 831-1354; Wkema@aol.com

47th Bomb Wing Assn (B-45/B-66): Charlie Palmer (907) 332-0296 cvpalmer@qci.net

50th Air Police K-9 (Hahn AB, Germany): Art Brunig (303) 946-4243; abrunig@aol.com

51st Ftr Intercpt Wing: Gene or Shirley Zenk (712) 263-5051; hesszenk@frontiernet.net

5th AF, 8th Ftr Gp (33rd/35th/36th/80th/HQ & all 8th gp support sqdns): John Mark (847) 678-5075

6160th Air Police Sqdn (Itazuke AFB, Japan 1951-54): Fritz Kirkby (614) 891-3059

6461st-21st TC (Kyushu Gypsy of Japan or Korea): Dick Grimm (803) 432-7402

6910th (60s & 70s Gp, Darmstadt/Augsburg): Red Barthel (386) 428-5354; redbarthel@ucnsb.net

6927th RSM: Ray Thibodaux (504) 488-8214; raytib@aol.com

75th Air Depot Wing (Korea, Japan, Europe): Walter Walko (303) 690-7399; wawlaw1@juno.com

799th AC&W Radar Sqd (Joelton AFS, TN): William C. Chilton (931) 668-8473; wcandnelma@blomand.net

79th Ftr Bomb Sqdn (Woodbridge, Eng, 1952-55): Ray C. Gautreaux (225) 357-8198

86th Ftr-Bomb Gp (WWII): John Thompson (715) 886-3042

940th ARW/TAG/MAG & 314th FS (TCS/TAG/MAG/ARG): Kathy or Hutch (916) 334-8550

99th BG (WWII): Robert J. Bacher (440) 365-3023

9th AVRS, 20th AF (Kadena AFB, Okinawa, 1951-53): Richard Frarey (716) 526-5143

AC-119 Gunship Assn: Ray Barradale (570) 722-2067

AF Photo Mapping Assn: Dwayne & Betty Flatt (731) 427-7783; 2flatts@bellsouth.net

Berlin Airlift Vets Assn: Lewis D. Whipple (318) 965-9860; Idalewhip@aol.com

Class 65D & IPs: Bob Therrien (858) 488-4296; therrienb@aol.com

Det 1 & Det 2, 1045th OE&TG: Tom Nutting (712) 527-3537; tnutt36142@aol.com

EC-47 Assn (360/361/362 TEWS & 6994th SS members invited): James C. Wheeler (479) 754-3507;jc@ec47.com

Flight Checkers: Marlin Legault (816) 858-2335; magicmarlin@vebtv.net

HQ Comd Flt Line Crews (Bolling AFB & Andrews AFB): John B Joyner (301) 868-6855

Ninth AF (WWII-present): Fern Mann (901) 578-5333; FAX: 901-578-9999; cmann1525@aol.com

Pilot Class 55K: R. Thomas Rowe (321) 777-0219; rtr2169@aol.com

Sampson AFB: Chip Phillips (716) 633-1119; chip34@aol.com

Strategic Air Command (1946-70): Chuck Barber (619) 561-5505; meyersjacobsen@msn.com

USAF Veterinary Service Assn: Larry Kerkow (210) 658-1557; rxgolfr@aol.com

ARMY AIR FORCES

13th AF (all units): Phil Dyer (231) 843-9597

14th AF (Flying Tigers): Dan McCollum (856) 582-4110

1891st Engr Avn Bn (China, Burma, India, WWII): Louis Caruso (609) 263-6694

1901st EAB, all co's (Okinawa, April 1,1945): Richard Mansfield (314) 838-4495

1st Aircraft Assembly Sqdn: Thomas R. "Buck" Hicks (901) 357-7028; buckandellieh@aol.com

29th Bomb Gp, 3141h Bomb Wing, 21st Bomb Cmd, 20th AF (Guam): Fred F. Pawlikowski (773) 735-5008

312th BG: Claud Haisley (512) 931-0078; cchmwh@igg-tx.net

373rd Ftr Gp, 412th Sq (410 & 411 welcome): John R. Kinn (419) 626-1114

40th BG (VH) (Global 20th AF): Jean Suitt (800) 959-2582

416th BG (L): Ralph Conte (573) 817-9247; rconte@socket.net

434th Ftr Sqdn, 479th Ftr Gp (WWII): Kermit Brickson (218) 891-4265

434th Sqdn, 12th BG (B25's): Charles McKim (713) 682-5678

457th Bomb Gp, 748/749/750/751 Sqdn, 94th Wing, 8th AF (WWII): Will Fluman (717) 258-3090; oakgrove35@aol.com

460th Bomb Gp, 15th AF (WWII, Italy): Donald Aalbers (952) 884-9169; mardonaal@aol.com

70th Tank Bn (Korea)/760th Tank Bn (WWII): Rev. Jim Stanford (209) 367-0173

86th Ftr/Bomb Gp: Sid Howard (714) 992-2504

888th Sig Co: Arnold Larson (425) 488-7463

93rd Bomb Gp: Harry A. Kelleher (772) 546-1486

China-Burma-India Hump Pilots Assn: J.V. Vinyard (806) 352-4449; jv28800@aol.com

North African Div, Air TransCommand: Carl H. Whipkey (724) 235-9237

Second Aircraft Repair Unit Floating: Daniel N. Tiberie (724) 239-5644; dntjet@bentcom.net

ARMY

100th Inf Div: Rudy Keserich (708) 754-7730

101st/503rd MP Bn (WWII, Italy): Hamey H. Miller (727) 786-3529; fdnv158@juno.com

103rd Inf Div (Cactus Div): Douglas Stellner (707) 642-2102

106th Ord Co (HM): Jerry Buffington (918) 456-6844; jerrybuf@fulney.net

109th Engr Bn ©, 34th Div (WWII): Clarence C. Carsner (605) 343-2708

112th Cay: C.S. Kingsley (214) 327-6515

11th Engr (Panama & ETO, WWII): Robert H. Tippett, 290 Blandford Dr., Worthington, OH 43085

11th Evac Hosp (Korea 1950-53): Edward Elliott (718) 987-3557

137th Signal Radio Intel Co (WWII): Ed Ioanes (330) 725-0761

13th Inf Regt, 8th Inf Div (WWII): George Krist (440) 235-9862

140th AAA Bn, all btrys: Sam Salazar (619) 464-6698

148th Ord, MVA Co (WWII): Jerome Paulson (712) 867-4432; jercol@webtv.net

156th FA Bn, 44th Inf Div: Glen C. Edquist (269) 683-6482

159th Combat Engr Bn: Russ Ruch (570) 622-2942

178th ASHC/400th TC Boxcars (Avn Co atchs to Americal Div): Dean C. Nelson (763) 780-8869

17th Armd Engr Bn, 2nd Armd Div: John Shields (724) 287-4301

199th Inf, Charley & Echo Co, 3/7: Bill Roach (623) 878-7673

19th Combat Engr Bn (VN) & atchd units (509th/553rd/554th FB & 137th LE Co's): Cliff Goodson (505) 293-0725

19th Combat Engr Regt (WWII): Debra King (618) 939-5213

1st Engr Combat Bn, 1st Inf Div: Bob Ayrton (860) 442-9782; eayrton@earthlink.net

1st Sp Forces Gp: Ed Miller (210) 653-7615; edsumil@aol.com

21st Evac Hospital (WWII): Robert Murphy (760) 728-7245; rgblmurphyl@adalphia.net

244th FA, 3rd Army (WWII): Marie Varrecchia (330) 896-0929

249th Engr Bn (WWII-present): Irmin C. Magruder (540) 886-6941; magruder249@cs.com

24th Inf Div, 3rd Engr C Bn (all): Dan Rickert (760) 868-6634

25th Div, 14th Inf Rgt (1950-53): Keith Walker (574) 722-1069

25th Div, 8th FA Bn (1950-53): Allen M. Smith (612) 529-4567

277th FA Bn, A/B/C Btrys: Mary A. Vincent (330) 544-6085

280th FA Bn (WWII): Leo Holinstat (626) 339-7168

282nd FA Bn, 3rd Army: Willis R. Shumaker (304) 788-3302

294th-293rd JASCO (WWII): Edward Gorman (732) 548-5965

2d Cav Assn (2ACR): Lonnie Davidson (813) 752-0854; webmaster@secondcavalry.com

2nd Armd Cay Regt, 2nd Bn, Fox Co (1957-59): Bill Burdick (870) 425-4116; wb@cox-internet.com

2nd Armd Div (all): Lewis E. Bogart (570) 546-9415

2nd Chem Mortar Bn (461st Bn): Wm. Thomas (972) 387-1247

2nd Engr Spe Bde (Amphibs), VWVII, Korea, peacetime: Paul Lieberman (561) 482-9862; seahorse2esb@aol.com

3062nd QM, Bakery Co, Mobile Special: Wm. E. Johnston (712) 523-2723; billj@bedford.heartland.net

30th Inf Div, 119th Inf Regt, G Co: Jack L. Mace (770) 590-7945

3119th Sig Svc Bn, 6th Army, HQ/NB/C Cos, 2nd Spe Pltn: Alice Laustsen (908) 647-0641

315th Bomb Wing (VH) (Northwest Field Guam): Bev Green (217) 893-3197

3204th QM Co: Bill Gail (740) 366-5877

328th Inf Combat Team: Alex Pagnotta (215) 412-3335

3483rd Ord, M.A.M. Co (WWII): Don Eynon (216)251-1129; pokupa@comcast.net

34th Inf Div (all units): Ivan D. Delp (504) 833-9037

350th AAA SL Bn (WWII): Leroy James (985) 892-3339

359th Engrs, F Co: Glenn Atkinson (419) 938-3031

37th Inf Div: Cyril L. Sedlacko (614) 228-3788

38th Ord Co: Ralph Pickens (574) 735-6838

38th Sig Bn: Bill Foiles (803) 776-1114

390th AAA AW Bn (SP): Carl Murray (714) 521-2995

39th Bn Comb Engrs & supporting umts (Vietnam): Gale Helser (608) 838-4774; galehelser@aol.com

40th Div, Hvy Mortar Co, 160th Inf Rgt: Jack Bly (509) 758-6295

40th Inf Div, 160th Regt, 2nd Bn, E Co & atchd units (Korea): Jim Bork (928) 567-6334; jobork@msn.com

41st Inf Div (Montana Chapter): L. Michalson (406) 442-1147; mtchap163rdinf@yahoo.com

428th MPEG Co: J.W. Burson (770) 786-2219

43rd Inf Div, 169th Regt, 2nd Bn, H Co (1950-52): Ed Jarsen (860) 644-0805

44th Div, 217th FA Bn: Richard Steckley (231) 941-6131

453rd AAA AW Bn, all btrys: John Dickens (330) 223-2057

45th Div, 279th Inf, Co L: Jack W. Rose (979) 693-4656; jrose24@juno.com

45th FA Bn Assn (WWII): Brad Rice (901) 682-5784

471st AAA (AW) Bn (WWII): John Widmer (708) 333-1195

472nd AAA AW Bn: Andy DeMattia (843) 357-2518

478th AAA AW Bn: Ralph L. O'Dell (254) 776-6009; rodelltx@earthlink.net

489th AAA AW Bn: Carl Meiser (928) 445-8674; carlm6@worldnet.att.net

4th Cay Rcn Sqdn (US forces Austria, 1945-55): Don Worralt (254) 547-1691

4th Inf (Ivy) Div: Gregory Rollinger, 13507 Danube Lane R-28, Rosemount, MN 55068-3395

504th AAA Gun Bn, all btrys: D. Schmid (330) 336-5816

50th AAA AW Bn (SP): Bob Matis (352) 686-0550; bob50aaa@netzero.com

517th FA Bn (WWII): Chuck Underwood (515) 978-5576; FAX: 515-978-7577; cneund@fbx.com

51st Sig Bn (Korea): Tommy Thompson (214) 670-6322

534th EB&SR Regt (Amphib Engineers): Henry Allan (708) 579-0562; hcnjallan@aol.com

53rd OCS Co, Inf Class 2-66 (Ft Benning, GA): Algie B. Warren (704) 864-0368; ocs2-66@carolina.rr.com

553rd Engrs, Hvy Ponton Bn: Allie O'Connell (920) 438-7886

568th AAA AW Bn: M.H. Gilbert (336) 765-8240; doubleeag@aol.com

568th Ord, HM Co: Hebert Peppers (615) 883-1417

593rd Joint Assault Signal Co: Dick Schlueter (573) 484-3181; ggschlue@fidnet.com

5th Armd Div: Will Cook (419) 739-9677; wc5ad@bright.net

625th Engr Lt Equip Co: Duane Majors (618) 644-5552; jrward@hometel.com

65th Signal Bn: Billy Robertson (903) 893-8942

66th Engr Topographic Co (1951-57): John Stephanos (410) 641-8055; 66topo@stephanos.org

6th Inf Div, 6th QM Co: Paul R. Steffens (417) 754-2577

6th Inf Regt: Charles Farrell (727) 563-9362

71st Sig Svc Bn (Tokyo) & GHQLL Sig Gp (Korea 1948-53): Wade Sellman (941) 627-4492

712th TROB: Robert Shannon (910) 949-3920; rshannon@ac.net

739th AAA Gun Bn: Ambrose Sandbothe (636) 458-3667

73rd Engr Combat Bn, Co A/B/C & HQ (Korea 1950-60): John G. Simmons (319) 233-7367

765th TRSB Trans unit (Korea): Billy F. (Bill) Hill (423) 942-2644

778th AAA AW Sp: Martin Yanchek (610) 933-5378; cpe117@aol.com

778th Tank Bn (WWII): George Nicholson, 1321 E. Douglas St., Goshen, IN 46528

787 MP Bn: Harry Rinehart (215) 855-2908; ikesnowball@netcarrier.com

7th Armd Div: Charles Barry (814) 333-8051

7th Base Army Post Office (WWII, Korea & later): Kordich (313) 884-5529

7th Sqd/17th Cay (Ruthless Riders): Jose Martinez (314) 423-7910

808th TD Bn: Chat Norwin (586) 979-8958

82nd AAA Bn, 2nd Inf (Korea): Melvin Bailey (501) 329-4211

841st Eng Avn Bn (WWII/Korea): Jack Murphy (239) 997-9940

85th Chem (4.2) Mortan Bn: Regis L. Grogan (843) 357-8421

86th Engr Bn, HW Ptn (WWII): Philip J. Wax (215) 491-4188

90th Chem Mortar Bn: Charles Patron (717) 741-2741

91st Chem Mortar Bn: Harry Schetter (937) 399-4086

91st MP Bn, 289th/560th/563rd MP Co's (Pusan, Korea 1952-54): Bob Simon (989) 792-3718

92d Armored FA Bn (Red Devils): Guy McMenemy (281) 469-2819; reddevilbn@aol.com

97th Div, 386th Regt, Co F: Tom Moore (314) 961-4769; tmoore7706@aol.com

97th Inf Div, 303d Regt, 2nd Bn: George Novak (440) 843-6445; George@gbnovak3582@aol.com

999th AFA Bn: Tom Talaska (414) 421-4189

9th Armd Div, 19th Tank Bn: Robert Keenan (608) 835-3033

9th Inf Div, 39th Inf, 2nd Bn: Raymond Hanks (501) 726-3388

All CID Special Agents: Louise M. Head, 3613 Concord Ct., Augusta, GA 30906

Army Security Agency 114th/331st (1948-52): Leonard Bittner (412) 364-4061; lenbittner@att.net

B Btry, 235th FAOB (Korea): Don Durbin (816) 297-2097

Berlin Airlift Vets Assn: Lewis D. Whipple (318) 965-9860; Idalewhip@aol.com

Co B, 540th MP Bn, Railway Guard, Det B (Berlin 1953-58): Frank Hendricks (218) 245-0160; pgbison@uslink.net

Co C, 66th Sig Bn: Richard W. Hanzel (708) 354-5890; richh1107@aol.com

Co G, 119th Inf, 30th Div: Tom Floyd (409) 866-8330

Co L, 35th Inf Regt, 25th Div: R.L. Roper (828) 692-2279

Ft. Richardson, Alaska: Alex & Arlene Franchuk (701) 282-4276; eajames49@msn.com

G Co, 85th Regt & H Co, 87th Regt, 10th Mtn Div Basic Trng (1953-54, Ft Riley, KS): Gary Latham (850) 302-0025; 1big1@cox.net

Hvy Mortar Co, 5th RCT (Korea 1950-54): William B. Conley (412) 885-2053; copconley@aol.com

K Co, 3rd Bn, 409th Regt, 103rd Div: Carl Greene (713) 774-4010

National Order of Battlefield Commissions (NOBC): John Angier (904) 471-7695

Phulam Signal Bn (Phulam Sig Base, VN): Ronald Chronister (717) 792-9485; angelvet@blazenet.net

Thunderbirds, 45th Div, Co A, 120th Medics: Fred Cannon (918) 225-1034

X Corps Sp Opns Co/GHQ 1st Raider Co: J.E. Ballow (217) 546-7168; bballow@motion.net

MARINE CORPS

12th Defense/AAA Bn: Ray Bonar (505) 523-0583

1st Mar Aircraft Wing Assn (VN): Joe Amant (610) 398-7378; joeta@fast.net

1st Mar Div, 5th Regt, 3rd Bn (Korea 1950-53): Al Bettiga (520) 229-0657

3/8 Beirut to Geiger, all co's & atchmnts (1980-90): C. Eric Tischler (814) 234-1209 (24-hr line); tisch@att.net

7th Communications Bn (1966-70, Vietnam): Michael Fink (252) 223-4064; mfink@ec.rr.com

A Co, 1st Bn, 7th Mar (Korea 1950-53): Harold "Muley" Mulhausen (405) 632-7351; hmuleym@aol.com

A-1-1 (Korea 1950-53): Bob Nippolt (509) 493-4338

AFFR (crash crew MOS 7051): William Young (252) 240-0104; cashncari@ec.rr.com

Anti-Tank Co, 5th Marines (Korea): Chuck Batherson (231) 839-5476; chuckandbarbat5@voyager.net

Aviation Logistics Marines (formerly Aviation Supply Marines): Don Davis (252) 444-1777; greyegl@ec.rr.com

B-1-1-1 (Korea 1952-53): Phil Ackert (650) 712-9625

Clearfield NSD (1941-58): Charles Micle (724) 796-1640; geezers2@cobweb.net

Fox Co, 2nd Bn, 5th Regt, 1st Mar Div (Korea 1950-52): Mike Michael (203) 748-5154; hnmich@snet.net

G-3,5, 1st Prov Mar Bde/Div (Jul-Sept 1950, Korea): Frank Scialdone (760) 726-3350

Gen. Robert E. Caftan AP139: Beverly D. (Bud) Lowry (970) 352-1685

Hotel Co, 2nd Bn, 7th Mar (VN): Thor "Skipper" Holm (253) 265-8407; thorholm@att.net

Marine Corps Mustang Assn: Bill Max (800) 321-USMC; topmustang@aol.com

Mike 3/7 Vietnam Assn: Ralph Herr (251) 476-9035

PLT 334 (Jan-Mar 1966) MCRD PISC: Hillard Crosswhite (256) 726-9204; hillam@knology.net

USS Indiana BB58: Albert J. Vicarelli (631) 734-5001

VMA-225, 1st MAW (Chu Lai 1965): Dave Shapleigh (248) 347-7811; dshapleigh@twmi.rr.com

VMB-612: Joel Krensky (800) 972-7777/(781) 326-7800

VMD 154 (Marine Photo Sqdn, WWII): Dallas L. Willis (915) 682-2700; permianclu@aol.com

MISCELLANEOUS

Aleutian Island Reunion (all branches, WWII): Albert F. King P.O. Box 130327, Sunrise, FL 33313-0003

Moroccan Reunion Assn (all who served in Morocco): Al Babinsky (253) 851-8272; ababinsky@msn.com

National EOD Assn: Bud Engelhardt (413) 569-5040; mossyfixture@supplyguys.net

Subic Bay/Philippines (all who served): Judy Buzzell (703) 212-0695; info@subicbayreunion.com

NAVY

111 NCB (WWII): Robert Munich (636) 240-3505

125th & 130th NCB: Harry or Connie Seavey (248) 628-4438

137th-139th NCB (WWII): William Sass (636) 397-3373

17th/53rd/120th NCB (WWII): William O. Merrill (219) 762-2048; danhoosierman@aol.com

18th Spec Seabee Bn: Richard L. Shinsky (616) 399-2513

4th Special NCB Unit: Joe Williamson (915) 366-6927; wogel@webtv.net

593rd Joint Assault Signal Co: Dick Schlueter (573) 484-3181; ggschlue@fidnet.com

60th NCB: Clarence A. Hemmer (314) 427-5352

63rd Seabee Assn: John E. Morris (262) 569-0770; 63rdSeabees@ameritech.net

77th Navy Seabees (WWII): B.I. Camp (817) 626-1103

78th Seabees: Ken Kelly (616) 846-2329; FAX: 646-846-2773

8th Beach Bn (WWII): Jack Hickman (251) 471-4671; jh2825@aol.com

96th NCB: Jack Egan (708) 599-1420

9th Special Navy Seabees (WWII): John Arnott (941) 255-5427; annjl04@aol.com

ACORN 45: George A. Murray (812) 425-1424

ACORN 52: Ralph Snyder (217) 698-9122

AE Sailors Assn.: Ralph Gaul (717) 436-6814

AGC Flagship Alliance: Ted Branthoover (412) 884-2650; FAX: 412-884-5459; adirondack2@juno.com

All Naval Minewarfare Ships & Stations: David S, Christian (636) 931-3568; dschristman2082@aol.com

All Net Tender: Eddie Pinson (208) 362-2659; epinson@spro.net

Any/all ship's officers/crew: Art Bowne (845) 856-3756; ajbowne@frontiernet.net

Armed Guard, US Navy (WWII) Texas reunion: John C. Shirley (512) 671-3464

Assn of Torpedoman Mates: Ronald Curtis (573) 437-3899

Berlin Airlift Vets Assn: Lewis D. Whipple (318) 965-9860; ldalewhip@aol.com

Bremerhaven, Wesier River & Rhine River reunion (Boulder AK227/Provo AK228/Las Vegas AK229/Manderson AK230/Bedford AK231/Mayfield AK232/New Castle AK233/Bucyrus AK234/Red Oak AK235/Lakewood AK236: Dale Sparrow (409) 625-4228; sparrow@sabinenet.com

Burtonwood Air Base, England (all units, WWII, Berlin Airlift, Korea, Desert Storm): Richard Iwanowski (773) 767-1810

Destroyer Div 38: Gillespie DD609/Hobby DD610/Kalk DD611/Welles DD628: Bob Miller (828) 692-5520

Escort Carrier Sailors and Airmen Assn: John Smith (515) 289-1467; jwspauli@aol.com

Gen. Robert E. Callan AP139: Beverly Lowry (970) 352-1685

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: Stanley Hunt (419) 882-1723

Joint East/West Navy Photographers Roundup: Tim Timmerman (757) 409-3442; dctimmerman@earthlink.net

LCU Div 13, LCU 1500 (1962, Coronado NAB, CA): Lucian Simmons (870) 264-3501

LSM260 (WWII): Bill Kneebone 1479) 359-3487; mbbones@mc2k.com

LSMR-401 (USS Big Black River): Quentin Wagenfield (319) 364-0402; wagen@ia.net

LST 377: Melvin C. Shoberg (320) 358-3448

LST-781: T.A. Plasic (717) 564-3806

Manicani Island: Richard Distasio (781) 963-4310

MSO Assn: Larry K. Fugh (407) 292-2394; flafoo@aol.com

Naval Medical Research Unit #2 (WWII): Chuck Davison (815) 756-2618

Navy Helicopter Vets (all sqdns, years): Don Bellemare (336) 282-3212; dbellemare@triad.rr.com

Navy MSO Assn (1953-91): Larry K. Fugh (407) 292-2394; flafoo@aol.com

Navy Nuclear Weapons Assn: Paulette Picoult (918) 426-5904; paulettepicoult@vebtv, net

NMCB 1: Ron Marvin (716) 372-0548; rashmar@eznet.net

NSA/NSF (all detachments), DaNang: John LePore (717) 763-8741; jdlepore@msn.com

Patrol Sqdn 24 (1943-85): Al Kennell (757) 857-1510

PATSU 1-9: Walter Lastoskie (727) 343-2384; mlastoskie@ij.net

UDT 19: Archie Klein (231) 582-3652; ark@torchlake.com

UDT 21/USS Bunch: David L. Hibbs, Sr. (717) 637-7721; jbwdlh@netrax.net

US Navy Four Stack APD Vets (APD-1 thru APD-36): Curt Clark (619) 282-0971; apdsec@att.net

US Navy Ftr Sqdn 54: Glenn W. Ward (703) 527-7315; wardgw@erols.com

US Navy Mail Veterans Assn: John or Beth Smerdon (415) 333-6865; bjsmerdon@aol.com

USS Acree DE167: Robert Glorioso (410) 683-0389 (W); (410) 661-2856(H)

USS Alhena AK-26/AKA-9: Clyde Meyers (225) 664-4786; clydemeyers@yahoo.com

USS Almaack AKA10 (Mar welcome): Sterling Baker (281) 481-0040; sterling@ussalmaack.com

USS Amsterdam CL101: Leon Stewart Sr. (610) 363-7977

USS Anne Arundel AP76: John Weber (843) 448-0504

USS Anzio/Coral Sea CVE57: Maurice E. Charles (972) 418-6057 or (214) 697-5757

USS APL-30 MBP 1# Servpac (WWII, Korea, VN): Robbie Roberts (352) 787-0968; harirobb@webtv.net

USS Arided AK73: Philip Olson (760) 843-9828

USS Arkansas BB33: Darrell Baker (623) 548-6200; darkansastravler@aol.com

USS Attu CVE102: Marie Moore (337) 762-4656

USS Badger DE/FF1071: Patrick Winchester (260) 691-1370; patwin@myvine.com

USS Bainbridge DLGN/CGN 250: William Neel (703) 830-0644; wneel@cox.net

USS Bairoko CVE-115: Stephem Hinman (985) 809-3260

USS Balch DD363/USS Porterfield DD882 (WWII, Korea, Vietnam): Pat Fisher (641) 487-7692; clfisher@netins.net

USS Ballard AVD10: Albert L. Harmon (870) 793-5049

USS Bang SS385 (1943-72): Bob Gunny (702) 878-8538; rufusrob@aol.com

USS Banner (land craft crew): John Rogers (541) 469-0450

USS Bausell DD-845: Warren Doyle (281) 997-7157

USS Bayfield APA-33: Joe B. Williams (803) 831-1822; fayewilliams6121@juno.com

USS Benham DD796: Jim Buclous (724) 375-1946

USS Bexar APA-237: James W. Redding (559) 935-1439

USS Biscayne AVP22/AGC18: William Walker (540) 929-4705; johneditor@prodigy.net

USS Bougainville CVE-100 (all officers & crew): Robert J. Barrett (781) 843-0703

USS Boxer CV/CVA/CVS21/LPH4/LHD4: Gerald McLaughlin (419) 625-6007; gmclaughlin696@aol.com

USS Boyle DD-600: Richard Rogers (517) 782-7885; rrrogers@modempool.com

USS Bremerton CA-130/SSN698: Robert Polanowski (585) 365-2316

USS Brooklyn CL40: Clarence Gilbert (727) 531-1314

USS Burleigh APA95 (WWII): Carl Bell (724) 342-7598

USS Burleson APA67: John R. Grzywa (630) 584-6726

USS Cabezon SS334: Jim Johnston (305) 451-0626

USS Cacapon A0-52 tall): Konrad Remmereid (402) 721-0388

USS Caliente A0-53: Bob Howard (925) 939-3662; rhoward328@aol.com

USS Calvert APA32: John L Cole (507) 789-6344

USS Canberra CA-70/CAG-2: Kenneth Minick (740) 423-8976; kcm4@charter.net

USS Catamount LSD-17: Don Steinbach (414) 453-8930; pepi@execpc.com

USS Cavalier APA37: Robert Hansberry (435) 673-8041; aacres@charter.net

USS Cebu ARG-6 (1943-46): Clinton M. DeWolfe (830) 833-5314; lobo@moment.net

USS Cepheus AKA-18: Mike Pitalo (228) 872-0309

USS Chanticleer ASR7: Robert Bilbrey (217) 864-4276

USS Chara AKA58/AE31: Jim Harper (866) 359-9147 (toll free); info@usschara.org

USS Charles Lawrence DE-53/APD-37: H.B. Cranford (301) 620-4045; hbc-de-53@attglobal.net

USS Chenango CVE-28: Ernest L. Klindt (660) 425-3897; elklindt@grm.net

USS Chester CA27: Tom Kopping (209) 478-3133

USS Chickasaw ATF83: Floyd H. Clark (409) 385-2534

USS Cimarron A0-22: George King (702) 438-5165

USS Clarence K. Bronson DD668: Ken Sullivan (906) 265-6615 or (941) 755-4394; kenhelen@up.net

USS Claxton DD571: William E. Monfort (813) 286-1599; monfort@iopener.net

USS Clay APA39/USS Elizabeth C. Stanton PA69 (WWII): Jim & Betty Nolan (219) 769-8134; bjnolan@netnitco.net

USS Cofer DE-208/APD-62: Gene Carlock (703) 280-2773

USS Colorado BB-45: Andy Andresen (800) 472-7860

USS Columbia CL56: Bill Bohne (610) 543-9073; usnc156@cs.com

USS Columbus CA-74/CG-12/SSN-762 (1944-present, Mar incl): Alvin S. Lewis (626) 339-3568

USS ConwayDD/DDE-507: Coy Gillenwater (504) 392-2030; clgcag@bellsouth.net

USS Cooper DD695 (WWII): Russ Catardi (215) 884-7422

USS Craven DD382: Glenn Belisle (509) 926-1070

USS Currier DE700: Albert DeWinne (210) 826-4741; aldotl02@aol.com

USS Davidson DE/FF1045 (all crews 1965-88): Robert Schippers (641) 792-3930; colkng@pcpartner.net

USS Davison DD618-DMS37 (1942-49): Earl J. Lee (619) 444-5384; dms37@sprintmail.com

USS Duffy DE-27: Don Goodwin (651) 777-5918

USS Eaton DD/DDE-510: B. Gorvin (319) 828-4964

USS Eberle DD430: Robert M McKenzie (856) 697-1587

USS Eldorado AGC-11: Bob Tench (830) 995-2041

USS Entemedor SS340: Glen Houck (843) 797-6906; curlyhouckss580@prodigy.net

USS Estes AGC-12: Noah Joyner (252) 536-4283; n_joyner@charter.net

USS Eugene A. Greene DD/DDR-711: Glenn Herman (559)732-t766 hermanl@lightspeed.net

USS Everett F. Larson DD/DDR830: Al Pierre (775) 423-6775

USS Fanshaw Bay CVE70, air gps VC68/VC66/VC10/VOC2: Duane D. Iossl (970) 482-6237

USS Feland APA-11: Lynn Davidson (325) 695-0733; lynnd@camalott.com

USS Flint CL97: George Stai (320) 269-8403

USS Forrestal CV4/CV/AVT-59: Jim Stewart (215) 943-7626/888-434-5955

USS Fort Marion LSD-22: Bill Bennett (503) 366-1741

USS Francis Marion APA-LPA 249: Bob Martin (781) 665-9222; tinman61@juno.com

USS Frank Knox DDR742: Bob 0'Kon (954) 717-9906; bobokon@aol.com

USS Frederick Funston APA89: Walter Schwarting (262) 367-0055; saltyv10@aol.com

USS Frybarger DE/DEC705 (WWII & Korea): Alex Boyd (804) 233-0581

USS Furse DD/DDR882: Maurice C. "Tut" Tuttle (631) 749-0274; FAX: 631-749-0123; ussfurse@aol.com

USS Gen. M.C. Meigs AP116: Waiter R. Case (303) 934-8665

USS Griffin AS13: Garland Roach (660) 564-2518

USS Griggs APA110/USS Grundy APA111: Charles E. Forshee (336) 357-6476; ctforshee@lexcominc.net

USS Guadalupe AO-32 (1941-75): Vincent Teresi (408) 258-7753; r_teresi@yahoo.com

USS Gulfport PF20: George Guest (419) 661-9459

USS Gypsy ARSD-1/USS Mernder ARSD-2/USS Salvager ARSD-3/USS Windless ARSD-4: Vinnie Morrell (860) 666-5970; bluniteone@aol.com

USS Hale DD642: Jori Marshall (708) 403-4908; jonmarshatl@prodigy.net

USS Halsey Powell: Michael R. Baker (616) 392-3547

USS Hamner DD-718: Buck McInturf (952) 934-5633

USS Hansford APA106: Richard C. Haw (563) 578-5137; rhaw@iowatelecom.net

USS Harveson DE/DER 316: C.L. Fisher (806) 792-9659; clfisher4@cox.net

USS Hector AR-7: William M Cullum, Sr. (352) 796-3687; loydjo@msn.com

USS Helm DD388: Mickey Burgemeister (414) 697-0862

USS Hickox DD673: Jerry Cawly (732) 283-0556; dd673@juno.com

USS Holder DD/DDE819 & DE401: M. Bruce Rambo (843) 556-0255; HolderAssn@aol.com

USS Holland AS3 (ship's co, prewar #2 to 1946): James R. Jensen (402) 571-3137

USS Hollister DD-788: Nelda Rupp (503) 656-4949; hnrupp@hevanet.com

USS Honolulu CL-48/SSN718: Lou Nockold (949) 644-6105; FAX: 949-644-6335; sailorlou@aol.com

USS Hope AH7 (WWII): Mary Blegen (505) 294-2111

USS Hornet, Air Gp HS-2/VS-35/VS-37/VAW-111: Jori Dekker (619) 524-1421; jdekker@ddlomni.com

USS Hornet CV-8/CV-12/CVA-12/CVS-12: David Burton (703) 670-9040; oscarb93@aol.com

USS Houston CA30/CL81: Kenneth Rogers (717) 792-9113; donnakenr@cs.com

USS Hull D0350: Pat Douhan (559) 255-3629

USS Huse DE-145: David Perlstein (561) 368-7167; FAX: 253-399-0443; dbp14@hotmail.com

USS Indiana BB58: Albert J. Vicarelli (631) 734-5001

USS Ingersoll DD652/990: William C. (Bill) Wilhelm (724) 727-7808; wwilhelm@kiski.net

USS Irwin DD794: Don Stine (707) 944-8054

USS Iwo Jima LPH2/LHD7 (all incl Mar): Robert G. McAnally (866) 237-3137; FAX: 757-249-0900; yujack@megalink.net

USS James K. Polk: Charlie Kotan (916) 835-2427; JKPAA President@ssbn645.com

USS James Monroe SSBN622: Wayne Sieckowski (360) 275-0204; sec622@msn.com

USS John M. Bermingham DE530: Danny Walker (813) 634-3456

USS John R Craig DD885: Rex McNay (949) 768-6327; McNAVY@msn.com

USS John Rodgers DD574: Jack Mindock (815) 883-8443

USS Juneau Assn: Edwin Cox (843) 537-5848

USS Kasaan Bay CVE69/VC12/VF74/VC13/VC72; Walter Jones (770) 253-4490

USS Kaskaskia AO-27 (all years): John Bakowski (412) 985-1062

USS Killen DD593: Florence Haiber (845) 227-2747; mhaiber@frontiernet.net

USS Kitkun Bay: Ron Vaughn, 511-10-CR 544, Easttand, TX 76448

USS Kitty Hawk (Marine detachments): Daniel J. Crocker (810) 953-3274; vfcrocd@vba.va.gov

USS Kleinsmith APD-134;. Raymond Barnes (636) 519-7676

USS Knapp DD-653: Charlie Nappi (781) 294-5002; patrician3@aol.oom

USS Kula Gulf CVE108/AKV108 (WWII, Korea, VN): Andrew R. Warade (727) 862-3058

USS Kwajalein CVE-98: Monte Allen (816) 478-8107; mallen2191@aol.com

USS Langley CVL27: Roy Laliberte (727) 861-1678

USS Latimer: Stephen Buckingham (712) 527-9607; ramey1931@msn.com

USS LCS(L) 1-130: J. Keith Reid (801) 295-0909; keithreid@juno.com

USS Lesuth AK-125: George Hill (612) 521-8946; geo6th@aol.com

USS Lexington CV16: John Miller, Jr. (414) 282-6831

USS Leyte CV-32 (ship's co, air gps, Marines): Ron Whitmoyer (713) 392-2420; sanron@aol.com

USS Long Beach CGN-9: Don Shade (866) 352-2469; Ibcgn@aol.com

USS Los Angeles CA135: Luther Keith (540) 366-0220; keiths@infi.net

USS Lowndes APA154: Wm. "Bud" Kautz (815) 344-6326

USS LSM/LSMR: Larry Glaser (724) 334-1021; Iglaser@stargate.net

USS LST 602 Clearwater Co: Marco Sampogna (516) 228-1O98

USS LST-1153 & USS Talbot Co.: Milevoy Kotay (717) 273-6389

USS LST1033H (WWII): Robert Dodaro (815) 469-4311; dodo1033@aol.com

USS Lycoming APA155: Johnnie Bollinger (505) 763-5093

USS Markab AK31/AD21/AR23: Don Somers (860) 633-4254

USS Maryland BB-46: R.W. "Dick" Beaman (831) 722-4966

USS Massey DD-778: Philip Smith (570) 788-3305; smitty778@epix.net

USS Maury AGS-16: James M. White (480) 989-3086

USS Mellette APA156: Jim Peterson (309) 476-8717

USS Memphis CL-13; Robert Brown (276) 623-1626; bbruce3@aol.com

USS Menard APA-201: Robert B. Lloyd (850) 432-0195; rblfla@cox.net

USS Meredith DG890/728/434: Harry L Wrede (973) 639-0332

USS Merrick AKA97: Richard Bonn (503) 982-7117 or (760) 251-1276; dcbonnl@earthlink.net

USS Miami CL-89: Jim Duff (410) 641-8010; ejduff@aol.com

USS Moale DD693 (WWII): Russ Catardi (215) 894-7422

USS Montague AKA 98 (WWII): Ray Cracraft (330) 542-0957

USS Monterey CVL26: Jim Palace (631) 281-8456

USS Mountral; APA213: Don DiCoio (973) 696-3725

USS Mugford DD389: Marie Moore (337) 762-4656

USS New Kent APA217: Sharon L Fenimore (302) 376-0776; nefnorahs@aol.com

USS New Mexico BB-40: Vernon G. Dascher (636) 949-9413

USS Oberon AKA14: Bob Cheadle (541) 536-5038

USS Ocklawaha AO-84: Bill Parker (831) 449-4874; bnjp@redshift.com

USS Passumpsic AO/TAO 107: Bob Brockman (936) 646-5086; brockman@samlink.com

USS Phaon ARB-3: Joe J. Grado (409) 727-6299

USS Point Cruz CVE 119: Philip Miller (316) 838-4365; pointcruzO3@msn.com

USS Polk County LST 1084: Lloyd King (661) 589-1757; lloydking@2atgldinternet.com

USS Pollux AKS2& AKS4: Dudley Crawford (616) 267-2247; ddcrawford@aol.com

USS Power DD839: John Pinto (352) 527-2352; loosecannon839@dicjitalusa.net

USS Preble DD345/DM20/DLG15/DDG46 & DOG88: Gene Wamsley (513) 246-4026; genew15@juno.com

USS Princeton CV/CVA/CVS-37 & LPH-5: Robert Butler (563) 259-8219; bbutler100@msn.com

USS Puget Sound CVE113: Jerome Wittman (863) 638-2360

USS R.L Wilson DD/DDE847: Robert W. Arndt (321) 254-0944

USS Rainier AE-5: Joseph P. Appelt (830) 249-8575

USS Rall DE-304: Bill Shumate (303) 838-2177

USS Randall APA224: Duane D. Clausen (402) 359-2360; dclausen@phonet.com

USS Ranger CV-4: Ira O'Brist (636) 272-8112; io'brist@mail.win.org

USS Rathburne DE/FF1057: George Banks (724) 592-6771; bankslageo@alltel.net

USS Richmond K. Turner DLG/CG-20 (1964-95): Phil Habib (850) 474-4903; FAX: 663-807-7933; phabib@bellsouth.net

USS Rineheart DE196: Patrick Santelli (727) 217-0277

USS Rockaway AVP-29: Ernie Birchfield (954) 968-8278; birchxyz@cs.com

USS Rocky Mount AGC-3: John Vreeland (858) 277-0689; rockymount@worldnet.att.net

USS Rodman DD-456/DMS-21: Norm Simonelli (757) 464-2845

USS Rolette AKA-99: C.A. Mathis (919) 776-4497; FAX: 919-775-1599; matt@alltel.net

USS Ronquil SS-396: Richard "Ozzie" Osentoski (734) 671-3439; rosentoski@juno.com

USS Rowan DD405/DD782: Loren R. Melton (805) 483-0566; FAX: 805-240-4675; iceburg72@msn.com

USS Sabine A025: Bob Rhodes (419) 238-9499

USS Saginaw Bay CVE-82/VC78/VC88: Rite Homman (740) 654-1651; ejhomman@juno.com

USS Salamaua CVE-96: Ed & Lorraine Kenny (707) 938-1777; kennyel@aol.com

USS Samuel N. Moore DD-747: Bob Culver (402) 489-5910; torpedoman@alltel.net

USS Samuel S. Miles DE183: Arnold (Mac) McLain (919) 934-7092

USS San Francisco CA38: Donald Gritz (209) 532-4719; gritzdo@lodelink.com

USS San Juan CL54: W.B. "Red" Harper (205) 525-5156; redharper@webtv.net

USS Saratoga CV3/CVA/CV60 (all, Marines, TAD, Magic Carpet): John Brandman (877) 360-7272; cva360@aol.com

USS Sargo SS-188/SSN-583: Don Cole (816) 470-6137; doncole66@worldnet.att.net

USS Satyr ARL23 (WWII, Korea, VN): William Janosco (928) 453-6755; foojanosco@msn.com

USS Savage DE/DER386: Ray Crumley (770) 532-0904; raiyccrumley@msn.com

USS Schroeder DOS01: Bob Schwartz (209) 367-5909

USS Sea Fox SS402 (crew 1947-70): George M. Arnold (573) 635-6033; seafoxg@mchsi.com

USS Sepulga AG-20: George Vollmer (614) 263-0838; georgelv@aol.com

USS Shelby: James Frye (256) 764-2738; jimbo10424@aol.com

USS Shelton DB790 & DE407: Michele Thompson (Ozark Mtn Sightseeing) (800) 925-8498, Ext 115; mtchele@bransonfun.com

USS Shenandoah AD26: E. David Zapf 64 Olguin Rd., Corrales, NM 87048

USS Shields DD-596: A.D. Burchfield (662) 289-4745; adbshields@aol.com

USS Sicily CVE118 (all co & sqdns): Ed Smith (410) 758-1659

USS Sigourney DD643: WallyShiver 9904 Joel Ave., River Ridge, LA 70123

USS Silverstein DE-534: A.T. Dunn (619) 583-9188; atdunn@cox.net

USS Skagit AKA105: Jerry R. Gaughan (440) 777-9569

USS Soley DD707: Eugene Blum (714) 527-4925; eblum3@juno.com

USS Stickleback SS415: Jim Johnston (305) 451-0626

USS Stockham DD683: Richard E. Himler (740) 726-2714

USS Strong DD467 & DD758: Ed Semoneit (732) 721-8732

USS Sumner DD692 (WWII): Russ Catardi (215) 884-7422

USS Taluga A062: James L. Young 3 East Periwinkle Ln., Newark, DE 19711; jimbetty7@aol.com

USS Tattnall DD125/APD19: Anthony DeMarco (609) 859-1238

USS Teton AGC-14: Frank Reda (386) 672-5481

USS Thetis Bay CVE-90-/CVHA-1/LPH-6: Dennis R. "Doc" Moss (320) 676-8940; drmoss@ecenet.com

USS Trenton CL-11: Robert J. Drew (636) 583-3182

USS Trinity A013: Clarence R. Wills (773) 779-4727; crwills1@aol.com

USS Vammen DE644: George DeLozier (217) 847-2248; gdelozr@adams,net

USS Wasatch AGC-9: Walter E. Shuey (724) 335-8635; scott_shuey@hotmail.com

USS Washtenaw County LST-1166/MSS-2: Tom Osmond (586) 558-4231; LST1166_Reunion@yahoo.com

USS Wasp CV-7 & Sqdns: L.L. McDonough (231) 796-5329

USS Wedderburn DD684: Jim Saulnier (909) 677-3670; jlsnjls@pe.net

USS Weeden DE797: Howard Green (727) 791-0196

USS Weiss APO135: Bernard C. "Bud" Miller (608) 847-7409

USS West Point AP23: Ken Johnson (906) 428-3105; kennhelen315@aol.com

USS West Virginia BB-48/SSBN-736: Joseph D. Variot (231) 584-2280; FAX: 231-584-2290; marqot@avci.net

USS William C. Lawe DD763: Owen Turner (617) 969-8328

USS William M. Wood DD715/DDR715: Chuck Traub (757) 340-9056; ctraub3@cs.com

USS Willis DE-395: Daniel F. McHugh (502) 426-3594; willis@dfm.win.net

USS Winston AKA-94: Joe Buckles (812) 877-3113; jbuckles@gte.net

USS Worcester CL144: Phil Harter (845) 255-2603; philharter@aol.com

USS Wyoming BB32/EAG17/SSBN742: John Winters (419) 823-7524

USS Zellars DD777: Howard Blessitt (770) 504-1064 VA-106: Dave Dinius (775) 623-5511; diniusdl@wmnv.net

VF-92 Ftr Sqdn: John Farrell (858) 278-0876

VP-24 Sqdn: Don Hall (850) 650-3048; FAX: 850-650-3707; djhdestin@cox.net

VP-4 Assn: Lefty Nordill (702) 255-1218; leftyn@aol.com

VP11 NAS: Mike Brittingham (804) 560-3306; captemb@erols.com

VPB-VP26: C.T. Lipps (816) 796-6065

VQ Assn (FAIRECONRON's), VQ-1/2/5/6: Jack Kenton (310) 322-8098; bd655@lafn.org

VS33 (1988-70): Ed Auble (610) 889-1640, Ext 101; edauble@aol.com

The following form can be found on the VFW's site. If you are a member you can post reunion info through them.

http://www.vfw.org/magazine/51.shtml

Hi,

Try this

http://www.thestatenislandboys.com/U_thrill_me/

papa Art

Enjoyed your site -- I served in the 2nd Corp Engineers, 5th Army in Italy. At the end of the war in Europe, was aboard ship heading to Japan when peace was declared. The ship was then rerouted to Newport News, VA. I ended my army career at 2nd Corp headquarters in Louisana.

Never received any info regarding reunions perhaps because I was overseas such a short time, having joined the unit in northern Italy as a replacement. Do you have any interesting info on this unit's activities?

One proud Veteran

Robert H. Eklund

---------------------------------

He wrote back and added that he was with the 401st Combat Engineers that I joined in Udine, Italy in 1944.

------------------------------------

Here's some info I gathered. I will have more hopefully this weekend.

-------------------------------

Reorganized and redesignated 1 July 1940 as the 19th Engineers

Redesignated 1 August 1942 as the 19th Engineer Combat Regiment

Regiment broken up 1 March 1945 and its elements reorganized and redesignated as follows:

1st Battalion as the 401st Engineer Combat Battalion

(Headquarters, Headquarters and Service Company as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 19th Engineer Combat Group; 2d Battalion as the 402d Engineer Combat Battalion -- hereafter separate lineages)

401st Engineer Combat Battalion inactivated 6 December 1945 at Camp Polk, Louisiana

-------------------

Here's a link for the Order of Battle. Your bn was attached to IV Corps earlier in the war:

http://www.milhist.net/ordbat/4corpsus.html

-------------------------------

The 401st and 402nd Battalions started off as the 19th Combat Engineer Regiment. Here is a name for a gentleman. I'm afraid I can't tell you for sure if he is still alive, but it's worth a try.

19th Combat Engineer Regiment (WWII)

Mr. Robert Lenecker

(916) 331-4915

----------------------------------

401st_Combat_Engineer_Bn.pdf

Attached Files

  401st_Combat_Engineer_Bn.pdf (Size: 92.89 KB / Downloads: 0)

Embedded With the 101st Airborne

Sat Jan 7, 9:58 PM ET

AP writer Ryan Lenz is embedded with the 3rd Brigade of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division in

Iraq and will be filing periodic reports on life in that unit.

The Associated Press

Thursday, January 19th, 2006 03:21 PM (PST)

AP writer Ryan Lenz was embedded recently with the 3rd Brigade of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division in Iraq. Here are his reports on life in that unit.

---

TUESDAY, Jan. 17, 11:45 p.m. local

AMMAN, Jordan

I'm racing down the highway in Jordan, smoking American cigarettes with a man named Mustaffah, who wears a tight, black-and-white New York Yankees stocking cap. His English is broken, which reduces our attempt to talk to humorous gestures.

I have traveled for five days to get here, tucking myself into the back of crowded Humvees with soldiers headed for leave, getting delayed by Black Hawks that never came or were too crowded when they did. The last leg of the trip was through the streets of Baghdad in the back of an armored Mercedes with draped rear windows.

All of it makes this ride jarringly normal in comparison. The countryside in Iraq rolled past for weeks filtered through 4-inch bulletproof glass as I watched soldiers at the wheels of Humvees weave to avoid the pot holes and scan the horizon, always scanning the horizon.

Mustaffah points at the dark sky over Amman, pulls hard on a Marlboro cigarette and chuckles. I look up but have no idea what he sees or why he's laughing. The scenery blends and blurs with everything I've seen before.

I roll down the window and a blast of cold wind hits my face. I haven't shaved since Nov. 27, but it feels good to feel the wind. Litter doesn't pepper the roads here. I look up at the trees on the roadside and begin to doze.

"Mister," Mustaffah yells. We're almost to the airport and he taps the digital clock on the dashboard. Midnight. My plane leaves in two hours. We're right on time.

Inside the airport, I'm a walking luggage rack. Bags hang from my back, chest and shoulders. This must be what the soldiers in Iraq feel every day when they leave for patrols weighted down by 100 pounds of body armor and weapons.

I feel guilty for making the association as I leave and they stay.

Inside the airport, civilian contractors and businessmen mill in packs. Some I recognize from trips between military posts in Iraq. They recognize me and we smile.

"Didn't I ride on a Black Hawk with you early this week?" I ask a man who sat across from me on a choppy ride from Tikrit to Baghdad. The last time I saw him he was covered in guns and bullet cartridges. He must work for a private security firm.

He nods, says he's going home to California. I don't ask his name, but wish him good luck. The air feels lighter and maybe it's because of a collective release. There's no fear here of explosions or mortars, no bombs or gunfire.

I collapse near the gate to wait for my plane and begin thumbing through a beaten copy of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" that I've taken with me on trips for years. The book falls open to a poem I know, and the opening lines fit the occasion.

"Adieu O soldier/You of the rude campaign, (which we shared)."

Man, the soldiers would laugh at me if they saw me reading this, I think. They'll probably mock me if they see me again. I dog-ear Page 405 and put the book away.

___

Posted 1/13/2006 2:29 PM

Soldiers do it themselves, improve Humvees

By Ryan Lenz

TIKRIT, Iraq — Soldiers exposed to Iraq's increasingly lethal roadside bombs, which can rip through armored Humvees, are drawing on wartime experience and stateside expertise to protect their vehicles with stronger armor and thermal detection cameras.

Parked Humvees wait to be shipped overseas at the Red River Army Depot in Hooks, Texas.

By Mario Villafuerte, Getty Images

The upgrades are being done by individual soldiers and units as the Pentagon decides how Humvees should be changed, and follow public criticism of the Bush administration for not armoring all Humvees ahead of the war.

Nearly three years after rolling into Iraq in trucks covered in many instances only by canvas roofs, the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade is adding extra layers of armor to its Humvees.

Col. Michael Steele, the brigade's commander, said he ordered the improvements because the insurgents' roadside bombs — known to the military as "improvised explosive devices" — have become bigger and harder to detect.

"The responsibility of the commander is to figure out what we need to respond to this evolving threat. The easiest, the fastest and most appropriate answer is add additional armor," Steele said.

Iraqi insurgents are also using more anti-tank mines and making bombs that can penetrate the Humvee's current armor. Among the more deadly devices are explosives shaped to funnel a blast through Humvee plating — sophisticated bombs that officials suspect are being imported from neighboring countries like Iran.

Because additional armor won't always stop such explosives — one bomb destroyed an Abrams battle tank last month, for instance — a National Guard unit in Baghdad has added detection devices and other measures to protect its Humvees.

Drawing on the part-time soldiers' backgrounds as mechanics, electricians and carpenters, the 126th Armor Battalion based in suburban Grand Rapids, Mich., added thermal imaging cameras and a 6-foot boom that can be lowered in front of the Humvee. Dangling chains and an infrared countermeasure on the boom can help trigger explosives before the Humvee is directly over them, said Lt. John Caras.

Caras, a former Marine, was the driving force behind the improvements, which have been made to six of the unit's Humvees.

"Right from the beginning, I was looking for ways to go on the offensive," he said of the upgrades, which also include extra bulletproof glass around the Humvee gunner and lights and sirens to help with traffic control.

Many Humvees around Iraq also jam signals like cellphones, garage door openers and other remote-control devices used by insurgents to detonate explosives.

U.S. troops in the past have hardened soft-skin Humvees by using upgrade kits or by whacking spare steel onto their vehicles, and the Army's chief of staff now requires that all combat vehicles in Iraq be armored. The military now has more than 25,000 armored Humvees in the country.

Commanders in Iraq and at the Pentagon have debated how to further improve the Humvee. The Army also has tested several vehicles to replace it, but a successor has not been developed.

There have been 43 bomb and mine attacks on Humvees operated by the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade since it came to Iraq in September, killing nine soldiers and injuring dozens.

Given those numbers, Steele said the need for new armor was apparent.

"There are a whole bunch of IEDs that are above the current protection level for the armored Humvee," he said. "Everybody has been trying to do something over the last couple of years."

Army officials would not comment on where Humvees have failed or detail how the armor improvements differ from current designs.

Nearly all the 530 Humvees in the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based brigade, which is deployed to north-central Iraq, will be upgraded at a makeshift assembly line the brigade created at Camp Speicher in Tikrit.

Maj. Tom Bryant, the brigade spokesman, said the armor program is not a reaction to faulty equipment but a response to change on the battlefield.

"We're not interested in creating controversy," he said. "It's about saving soldiers lives."

While the brigade plans to upgrade all its Humvees, the program is not in official use elsewhere. Francis Harvey, the secretary of the Army, was briefed on the improvements to the Humvee's armor months ago.

There is no Humvee armor strong enough to protect against roadside bombs packed with thousands of pounds of explosives, which the Army categorizes as "catastrophic IEDs," Steele said.

"There is nothing wrong with the Army," he said. "But I'm not willing to wait. I'm not sure I would be the priority and I don't know how many of my guys could be hurt or killed between now and then."

The National Guard unit's Humvee improvements also have been passed up the chain of command, but it's not clear if the military plans to make the changes on more vehicles.

Caras said the additions like the infrared camera — which might detect the thermal footprint of a bomb hidden among roadside debris — help turn the Humvee from an armor-wrapped defensive shell into an offensive vehicle.

"It's about moving to where the problem is and counteracting it," he said. "Your purpose is to move against any enemy that's out there."

Commanders in both units say insurgents are adept at hiding their work and improving their bombs. And they are quick to learn.

"All the stupid ones are dead," said Capt. Jamey Turner of Baton Rouge, a brigade commander in Beiji.

Ryan Lenz reported from Tikrit. Jason Straziuso reported from Baghdad.

___

SATURDAY, Jan. 7, 5:15 p.m. local

BEIJI, Iraq

Soldiers have cursed the cold wind that sweeps across the desert for weeks. It chills the bones and gives mornings teeth-chattering discomfort as they run to the showers in short sleeves, flip-flops and stocking caps.

In Iraq, the winter chills mean the rains have already begun brewing in the distance.

And so the storms came today, slow and steady. Rain pattered the tin hooches and turned dusty clearings into dark brown muddy seas. The desert floor absorbs most of the water, but still murky puddles slosh beneath their steps.

Life in Iraq has improved in leaps for soldiers. They run to chow excited about what's on the menu on occasion, buy new music at the post exchange and even enjoy professionally laundered uniforms. The weather alone can rip those comforts from them.

Those who can hide in their rooms as the rains fall. Others continue their patrols or stand guard in towers on the FOB's perimeter. The rain can't stop their watch.

But they look to warmer temperatures and a summer that will come before they return home, and most say they'll take soggy trousers from the rain over any day when temperatures rocket well over 100 degrees.

It's a balancing act of extremes in the desert.

___

SATURDAY, Jan. 7, 10:30 a.m. local

BEIJI, Iraq

It was candor you don't expect to hear over coffee in the morning — a soldier talking about a dead comrade, a man he knew well and will never see again.

I had the conversation in the logistics center with a group of men who receive the bodies of soldiers in the unit who die in roadside bombings or insurgent attacks. They wait as the bodies come in and help gather a soldier's belongings.

Last week Sgt. 1st Class Jason L. Bishop, 31, of Williamstown, Ky., was killed. The soldiers talked about the media coverage of his death, and they couldn't understand why his life was not as important as his death in the news reports.

Why does America seem so fascinated with the death of soldiers, they asked. They are at war, and soldiers at war die.

The flag-draped coffins that arrive in the United States aren't the untold story of the war — it's the lives of soldiers that need to be remembered.

Sadly they are rarely told, the soldiers say.

The soldiers carry green books to take notes. They are government issued journals with white-lined pages. Bishop had written a letter to his infant son on some of the pages, and the soldiers in Iraq wanted to ensure his wife got the book.

That's what the people at home need to know, they said.

___

FRIDAY, Jan. 6, 11:55 a.m. local

BEIJI, Iraq

To search for weapons in the desert is to embrace frustration. Soldiers know this well. Today they scoured the sandy hills on the banks of the Tigris River.

Gnats and bugs swarmed their faces as they combed the river banks. The area holds an infamous reputation — the road leading to the dusty clearing has been dubbed Smuggler's Road.

They look for freshly turned dirt, listen through headphones for a mine detector to sound. They joke that insurgents are lazy and wouldn't make weapons too hard to find. But they find nothing, and the fatigue and frustration show on their faces.

Of the number of fronts in the war against insurgents, the search for weapons caches may be the most important, soldiers say. If you can't find the people, rob them of their ability to tap untold amounts of ordnance buried in the desert.

Choke them out, as the theory goes.

___

THURSDAY, Jan. 5, 12:20 p.m., local

TIKRIT, Iraq

The towering American colonel looked on his Iraqi counterparts who sat in folding chairs at Camp Speicher to observe a U.S. ceremony to mark one division leaving Iraq and another officially taking over after months here.

Col. Michael Steele, commander of the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade, was the incoming commander. He paused before he spoke and looked at Iraqi generals sitting in folding chairs around him. They will be his peers until he leaves.

"Freedom isn't free," he said, then paused with a dead on stare. "But we can't give you your freedom. You will have to earn it." He went on to describe a freedom that has "a flavor the protected will never know."

I've heard him give variations on this speech before in Kentucky at Fort Campbell. He told soldiers this at a memorial service last spring, which the Rakkasans hold annually.

But the speech unfolded in unexpected ways today. He was talking to fellow soldiers who are experiencing first hand freedom Steele and all his soldiers would give their lives to protect.

____

SATURDAY, Dec. 31 11:57 p.m. local

BEIJI, Iraq

It wasn't a ball dropping in Times Square, but it surely marked the occasion.

A throaty boom in the distance, and the sky lit up like a patchwork of lightning-like flashes just before midnight. Most of the soldiers were asleep, and they ran from their hooches alarmed, wearing only gym shorts and carrying rifles into the chilly night air.

A lone soldier who just moments before had been manning the radios met them in the darkness, yelling "controlled det" (slang for detonation). Explosive ordnance workers had destroyed an arms cache miles away. No one knew in advance that it was coming.

The soldiers shuffled back to bed, grumbling when they heard, and I watched.

I had been walking around the FOB (Forward Operating Base) just before the explosion, waiting for the minutes to tick down to midnight. (I haven't missed observing the first minute of a new year in 15 years.)

While the holiday marks a chance to begin fresh with a whole new set of goals and opportunities for so many, the day passed without any such consideration by the soldiers here.

There were no New Year's resolutions; no promises that this year they would lose those 15 pounds or quit smoking or treat themselves to that exotic trip to far off places. In fact, many of the soldiers won't see home again until 2006 has passed.

The only countdown soldiers here know is how much time they have in Iraq and how much longer until they go home. Counting in minutes becomes unbearable.

____

FRIDAY, Dec. 29 10:15 p.m. local

BEIJI, Iraq

A soldier died today in an explosion that echoed for miles and lasted only seconds.

The moment a soldier dies is something you don't think about in the States when the Army releases a name. The circumstances of the death — a routine patrol. The aftermath — a drum roll of gunfire you can hear but can't see as soldiers respond to the blast.

These are details left to those who live constantly aware that an IED hides on the roadside for someone, maybe them, and families who will forever remember the day the phone call came to let them know that hidden bomb had found their loved one.

Soldiers who knew the soldier who died picked themselves up out of their grief. They headed outside the wire to drive the streets that have taken soldiers before. They carried on with tasks that would fall to the side anywhere but here.

In Iraq, it's important for soldiers to acknowledge the dead and pass along the names. But they all do their damnedest not to dwell.

____

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 28, 12:35 p.m. local

The power went out and blackened the hooches today. Soldiers poured from their doorways, griping loudly and kicking the rocks and sand at their feet.

A generator that powers a group of buildings where soldiers live overheated and blew just an hour ago, leaving only the radios in the command post working.

Soldiers depend on electricity. Sun comes up, lights go down. Sun goes down, lights come up. But when there's no power, the veil comes back with a reminder of where they are.

Profanities fill the air as soldiers return from their patrols to find darkness.

Electricity affords soldiers some of the comforts of home. Sony PlayStations, computers, DVD players. Coffee makers from Europe. Without it, another world waits just outside the gates.

It's easy to forget that "other world" with a chow hall open four times a day and a constant flow of movies mailed from the states. But when the power's gone, soldiers become intimately aware of how splendid it is to feel clean, wear fresh cloths, sleeping in the comfort of a bed or easing back in front of a television can be.

And, yes, soldiers have televisions here.

Veterans who have been in Iraq before, who slept on tanks in the desert during the invasion and ate MREs for months, talk about how good they have it now in comparison. Hot meals and warm showers, cold water and air conditioning.

But when the power dies, that disappears and their surroundings come creeping in. The lights no longer shine on glossy pinup girls. Coffee makers stop burping. Even the computer station down the road giving them access to the world outside turns black.

They are detached and left with nothing to do but think of where they are.

There's truth in the adage that if a soldier can't adapt to his surroundings, he'll laugh at his misery to bide the time until things change.

The conversations outside the hooches brim with laughter now.

___

TUESDAY, Dec. 27, 2:35 p.m. local

Some days on the Forward Operating Base (FOB) slog by without excitement.

Since brigade headquarters left, the combat units on the post have had to split their time between patrolling surrounding villages and pulling guard duty.

It's called force protection, and the soldiers resent it.

Soldiers watch the unmoving desert for hours from guard posts. Commanders struggle to keep up their patrols with a third of their company gone.

And the soldiers wait for their shift to come around, trying, just trying to get a few hours of sleep while the sun beats hard and bright outside the hooch.

Boredom. Fatigue. Monotony. A soldier in Iraq knows these things just as well as the thrill and the rush of adrenaline a patrol can bring.

___

MONDAY, Dec. 26, 8:15 p.m. local

An explosion rumbles like thunder on the horizon and no one moves. Soldiers stare blankly into the air for a few seconds, processing the sound.

A symphony of blasts rocks the outlying areas of Iraq every day. Controlled detonations of discovered munitions, practicing mortar teams, heavy gunfire. They are part of the day and seem part of the atmosphere — like police sirens at home.

But with time anyone can tell the difference in the way they sound and feel, the way the explosion moves the ground or shimmies building walls.

Controlled detonations are fierce, with a boom that travels miles. The blast sounds tired when you hear it. Outgoing mortar fire is robust and lacks the sound of an impact. (You can feel the ground tear apart with incoming fire.)

I heard incoming fire today and knew immediately it was different. Two hours ago a mortar round hit a few hundred yards away from soldiers' quarters. It rang out in the quiet of the desert night.

The soldiers stood with wide eyes. A pause. The radios rang out with calls for accountability. Was equipment damaged? Was anyone hurt? Was everyone found?

Weeks ago Cpl. Jimmy Lee Shelton, 21, of Lehigh Acres, Fla., died during a mortar attack launched just after the morning call to prayer from a nearby village.

No one was injured in this blast, but luck had something to do with it, the soldiers say. Safety is a perception.

___

SUNDAY, Dec. 25, 7:30 p.m. local

They binged on turkey, stuffing and ham. They crowded in the darkness to get a moment on a telephone to call home to their families. They gathered outside their hooches, smoking cigars in the cold and laughing about home.

Christmas at war is unlike any holiday I've seen, not because of what the soldiers have or don't have, who they miss or even where they are. It's their ability to make even far off lands seem a bit like home.

For days leading up to Christmas morning, they had strung tinsel from doorways and hung vibrant red, white and green holiday cards on the tan metal walls of their hooches. Artificial Christmas trees stood tall in dining halls and command posts.

But on Christmas morning, when the mail truck arrived packed with boxes — goodies from mom, letters from girlfriends, wives and husbands, toothpaste and underwear — the soldiers weren't awake to see it come.

I'm not sure they even expected anything from home.

Having just returned from an early morning mission, they were sleeping when the truck unloaded. In the dead of morning they raided a village just outside of town, they hammered down doors, inquired about insurgents, dug deep for weapons caches.

And when they awoke, they weren't heavy with homesickness or quiet with nostalgia.

Christmas was just another day with a job to do and a letter from home. Oh ... and the food was a little better than normal.

___

SATURDAY, Dec. 24, 2:55 p.m. local

Soldiers nowadays have become media savvy warriors slung with guns and filled with an up-to-date knowledge of what's going on in the world around them.

That alone separates them from their predecessors, those men who went to war and were left cut off from home and in the dark.

Newscasts appear at chow time. Copies of "Stars and Stripes" circulate from hand to hand in hooches across post. Those of us who aren't soldiers but know about them from Hollywood movies have an idea that deploying to war is a complete severing of ties.

Hardly the case.

To illustrate the point, soldiers had a copy of one of my articles printed and taped to a doorway in their command post. They had it within hours of its release for publication.

___

FRIDAY, Dec. 23, 5:05 a.m. local

The morning call to prayer came just as the helicopters slammed the ground. The door flew open, and the soldiers disappeared into the darkness.

Before I could move, an unseen hand grabbed me, pushed me and I fell chest first into the sand. The silt from the desert floor coated my teeth and filled my mouth with a grinding crunch.

I pulled my helmet back from over my eyes, expecting the soldiers to be on the ground with me. Instead, they were on their knees, rifles cocked and pointed. They scanned the outskirts of the village through green video screens of night vision goggles.

So this is an air assault, I thought.

An air assault, the modern version of an insertion tactic the Army first used in Vietnam and the calling card for the 101st Airborne Division. Helicopters fly in the black of night and land with soldiers itching to move on an objective.

The objective today? A tiny village with mud homes that seemed cast from the bible more than the 21st Century. Soldiers searched through the morning for an insurgent thought to be living there who had killed five of their friends.

The man wasn't there, and the soldiers ended with a disappointment they were reluctant to discuss. They happily talked about my "digger" that began the morning, though.

I have an excuse, though. They had night vision goggles. All I had was color blindness and compromised depth perception. Hey, you roll with the punches.

___

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 21, 4:20 p.m. local

BEIJI, Iraq — Fear. It's a dirty word among the soldiers in Iraq. Even if they feel it, they don't discuss it, or let anyone know it's there.

They laugh at movies, gig each other and even play practical jokes. A passer-by can tell when they're happy, homesick or pissed off.

But fear hides well in Iraq.

Maybe the battlefield makes normal men and women harder than they would be elsewhere.

Capt. Jamey Turner, commander of the unit I'm with, quickly reminds soldiers under his leadership that becoming a target is a matter of perception, and that the line separating a soldier from a targeted observer is thin.

If a soldier is scared, he will cross the line.

"If you look like an easy target, chances are you are one," he often says, setting his jaw and locking his stare on them. "You've got to dominate your enemy."

And they listen, these youngsters whose counterparts in the states are in school or partying on a Friday night.

Fear is here someplace, I'm sure. It's just beaten every day.

____

TUESDAY, Dec. 20, 9:30 p.m. local

ZUWAD KHALAF, Iraq — The voices came from the other side of a sand dune or over the radio, carrying an air of untouched desert in all directions.

"Found another one," someone with a metal detector would yell as he swept the desert floor for buried explosives.

Soldiers pile into Humvees or run to help. After another five minutes, a yell would come and they would run again, burning with curiosity.

Missiles, rockets, mortars and mines, all wrapped in plastic and buried with care — mountains of them near a half-demolished brick building on an open desert plain in northern Iraq.

It was a rare moment. One in which soldiers let their guard down and enjoyed an accomplishment. They laughed and swore as they formed daisy chains of arms and hands to move the weapons from the ground into trucks to take them to be destroyed.

They sang lewd boot camp marches as they filled one truck, and still munitions appeared in sandy holes that looked like graves when emptied.

These soldiers knew the weapons they had found could just have easily been found by someone else, whoever it is making the bombs they find on the roadsides: Homegrown insurgents, foreign fighters, whoever.

But today the weapons were in American hands. They knew it and laughed loudly as cars slowed to watch on a highway in the distance.

____

SUNDAY, Dec. 18, 10:30 a.m. local

BEIJI, Iraq

Brunch in Iraq? Yup.

Every Sunday, the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division are treated to an American-style brunch of scrambled eggs, pancakes, hash browns — the whole nine yards.

Now there aren't glasses of mimosa or bloody marys on the table, and it's still dished out with the lightning speed of a military meal.

But I suppose it's the thought that counts.

___

SUNDAY, Dec. 18, 3:30 a.m. local

BEIJI, Iraq

A big screen TV flickered with images from half a world away — soldiers wives and children gathered at Fort Campbell during a live satellite feed.

It was a holiday present. A surprise.

One by one, sleep-deprived soldiers shuffled to a microphone, donned a floppy set of headphones to hear their loved ones thousands of miles away.

They laughed, watched as their children made faces into the camera, and wished their families the best for the holidays. It wasn't a lot of time they had to talk, but it was striking how the Internet has affected even soldiers at war.

Just as paper-and-pen letters have fallen out of favor back home, soldiers in Iraq have the luxury of high-speed Internet connections to keep them from becoming strangers to their families during long deployments.

Every night, lines of soldiers of all ages file out of a bombed out building on Forward Operating Base Summerall where they can call, e-mail and see their families and friends via Web cams.

The downside may be for historians. When the history of the Iraq war is written, there won't be any letters from soldiers to their friends and family to chronicle their days in the field.

___

FRIDAY, Dec. 16, 8:50 p.m. local

BEIJI, Iraq

You find yourself thinking in acronyms, nicknames and abbreviations if you live with the Army.

You swim in a pool of jargon and shorten everything.

After waking up in the morning ready to move, you are "G2G," or good to go.

The soldiers strap on their "happy gear" or "battle rattle" and SP, start patrol.

There are even nicknames the soldiers use for their weapons. An M-16 is a musket. A .50 caliber machine gun jutting from the turret atop a Humvee is a "Ma Deuce." There's even a machine gun known as a "Saw." Perhaps after the sound it makes.

It's a dizzying world for an outsider.

But even I've found myself making appointments for interviews in military time and planning my day around "ops," or operations. My "hygiene ops," "chow ops," "writing ops," "sleep ops," "e-mail ops."

It's an addictive way of speaking, even graceful — in a weird abbreviated way.

___

FRIDAY, Dec. 16, 2:15 p.m. local

SHARQAT, Iraq

Soldiers watched from a sandy hillside as an election they helped make possible went on without them.

Under strict orders to leave the process to the Iraqis, they paced anxiously as voters strolled casually into rundown buildings to vote in Iraq's Sunni Arab Salahuddin province north of Baghdad.

They got into their Humvees, got out again, smoked cigarettes, chewed tobacco — anything to pass the time. They talked about guns, bragged about marksmanship and gave impersonations of "Dirty Harry" — all the while waiting for a calamity that never came.

The closest came when children from the village crowded the surrounding hillside, taunting them and asking for money. Their shrill cries sounded too much like a Western movie where indistinguishable voices come from the hillside.

An interpreter named "Norton" who travels regularly with soldiers from the 33rd Cavalry Regiment taunted the kids and tried to chase them down. But he stumbled where they seemed fleet-footed. The hillsides were their playground, and they knew the terrain well.

The night before the election, the soldiers slept on cots in an Iraqi ammunition depot outside Sharqat waiting for the election. I had awakened with them hours before sunrise to ride to a point in Sharqat where they could oversee the polling sites.

They wanted to be ready to move if anything happened but nothing did. We returned to post early this afternoon, showered and slept. Was it disappointment that kept them quiet on the way home?

The soldiers say that a boring day is a good day. So a boring election would be a good election. An election without bombs or IEDs would bring them one step closer to coming home, mission complete.

Staff Sgt. Jason Scapanski, 33, of St. Cloud, Minn., put it this way. "Sometimes it feels like we're beating a dead horse, but maybe this here today will be the culmination of it all."

___

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 14, 8:10 p.m. local

BEIJI, Iraq.

The radio had crackled just minutes before with a soldier screaming that his Humvee had hit an IED planted on the side of the road near Sharqa.

No one was injured, a tire was destroyed, and soldiers from the 33rd Cavalry Regiment's Bravo Troop had begun searching nearby homes for someone, something, anything that might have been used as a detonator.

They found a young boy in a room that had walls covered in pictures of Hollywood models. A pornographic American film played on the television. The boy smiled sheepishly as soldiers led him into the courtyard where a group of women had gathered, laughing.

That's when they found the old man, chained to the wall and pawing at a bowl of rice covered with flies in an alley filled with rotting food and feces. His beard was matted with grime, and he mumbled through chewed food that spilled from his mouth.

The man reached out as soldiers passed him. Maybe he was asking for help. Maybe he didn't know what he was doing. I couldn't look and began to gag.

The soldiers I'm with say they've seen this before in Iraq's tribal villages: families that have chained relatives to the walls because of age, senility, disability or disfigurement. Apparently they are seen as an embarrassment to the family.

I had seen it once before. At another home just a block away, soldiers found a disfigured boy chained to the wall. They were talking excitedly about it when he somehow worked himself free from his shackles and wandered closer.

The soldiers spun around, offered him candy and shooed him away with yells.

Finally one soldier led him by the shoulder toward a group of women that were peering around a stone wall who seemed to know who he was.

The soldiers had just been attacked, and the boy was becoming a distraction.

The unit detained six men today from another house they searched after the explosion. They found automatic rifles, $900 in U.S. bills, license plates from Dubai and a picture of the homeowner standing next to

Saddam Hussein's brother.

But tonight, it's the man in the alley and the boy on the street who have kept everyone talking.

MONDAY, Dec. 12, 11:25 p.m. local.

BEIJI, Iraq.

FOB, short for forward operating base in military slang.

Fobettes, a nickname for those soldiers who never leave the fortified compound, who stand by on the radios, who make sure soldiers are fed three times a day.

There's a general disdain for fobettes among those who routinely go into the villages in Iraq armed with rifles and a vest full of ammunition. While they listen to heavy metal music and pace around their Humvees before leaving, fobettes play videogames, watch DVDs and write letters.

Life on a military compound in Iraq can be like like a college dormitory. The only thing missing is the booze.

---

SUNDAY, Dec. 11, 5:15 p.m. local.

BEIJI, Iraq.

Going outside the wire. It's a slang expression for leaving the security of a military base in Iraq to travel on highways pocked with holes from roadside explosions.

Silence runs deep during that moment soldiers cross the barrier lined with concertina wire and guard posts. At first their silence struck me as boredom, which sometimes it surely is if nothing happens.

But after several patrols into the villages around Beiji, I've realized it's an uncomfortable mix of excitement, fear and the realization this could be it that keeps them silent.

Have you been blown up yet? The question is normal among soldiers in Iraq. Sgt. Marcus Barnes, a 22-year-old from Birmingham, Ala., said this when I asked him the question recently. "I ain't been blown up yet, but my time's coming."

The reality is that soldiers sometimes die in a flash of tearing metal while on patrol in Iraq. They've burned to death, been shredded by shrapnel that tears through the skins of their vehicles when a artillery shell disguised on the side of the road blows up.

A soldier told me not to worry the first time I went out with the 101st Airborne Division. "If we die, we won't be around to know about it," he said. He slapped me on the back and laughed.

A convoy rolls past a pile of sand on the side of the road; I grit my teeth. If there's a pothole in the side of the road, my stomach turns to the point of nausea.

But the truth in Barnes' statement can be comforting. The fact that IEDs blow up nearly every day across Iraq make even the shortest of drives a tense moment.

There's a saying the soldiers tell each other often. Being bored is OK. A boring day is a good day.

---

THURSDAY, Dec. 8, 5:20 a.m. local.

BEIJI, Iraq.

The darkness. It struck me first about this place even through the flames from gas flares at an oil refinery on the horizon that dazzle the sky outside Beiji in a burst of orange.

The darkness penetrates everything at Forward Operating Base Summerall, where the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade has deployed. I'm told you get used to it, but my eyes haven't adjusted yet.

Gunfire broke the early morning silence just a moment ago. Before that, loudspeakers just outside the camp's wires bellowed a call to prayer. Soldiers working in the largely Sunni Salah ad Din province say they can set watches by it.

It took an overwhelming five days after leaving New York to arrive here. Two nights in a Kuwait City hotel room, waiting for transportation that never came. Two nights on a stained nylon cot at the Convention Center in downtown Baghdad, waiting again.

Traveling through Iraq has proven to be a troublesome nightmare. Heliports jam with lines that form at dawn with soldiers eager for any available space on a Blackhawk. Flights get scrapped because of mission priority.

It takes some finagling to move anywhere.

One Blackhawk crew mistakenly left me stranded about 15 miles outside Baghdad at Camp Taji, a former Iraqi airfield where an aviation brigade of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division flew Apache helicopters. (My screams of I-Z, short for International Zone, must have sounded too much like Ta-ji through the din.)

The soldiers were getting ready to return home in about a month, and many already were wearing red and white Santa Claus caps. They ran through hallways of the post's buildings, laughing and skipping. They were going home soon. It was understandable.

I spent six hours trying to arrange a flight out with a National Guard sergeant from Texas stationed at Camp Taji who wanted instead to tell me about the videos and animated cartoons he makes in his free time.

"Sergeant, I'd love to see your cartoons, but can you help me get to Baghdad?" I pleaded. He found me a flight leaving after dark, but insisted I watch some of his films while waiting. He sent me away with two DVDs, films of the soldiers he made.

Moving by helicopter is necessary. The threat of roadside bombings before the parliamentary elections on Dec. 15 has made traveling by Humvee too dangerous.

I finally arrived with the soldiers from the 101st around midnight a day ago. More than a hundred hours in transit had left me exhausted when the Chinook finally landed, dropping a dozen or more soldiers out.

I fell asleep on a cot again, this time in a motor pool, choking on the smell of grease and diesel fuel.

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