just woundering what combat engineer battalions were in Italy? anyone have a list?

picked up a Ph named to a local vet that was kia and family is gone Saved it from

Ebay paid too much for it but he was from my county in PA and felt It hade to stay in this area! I know he was killed in Italy on sept. 25 1944 and was suppose to be an engineer thats all I have he was awarded ETO medal w/1 battle star if that helps! may be I have wrong info but maybe you guys know!!!

his name was Alexander G Rose us army #33 337 595

kia 9-25-1944 italy !!!!

The picture above was taken in Southern France. That's my jeep and my driver, PFC Norman Steele. Jeeps carried only one spare wheel and tire.

Razor sharp shell fragments, particularly at road junctions, were plentiful and unavoidable. They cut the tires up and if you didn't have a second spare, you were in trouble. There was no room for another inside the jeep. Some drivers hung a spare wheel & tire over the angle iron wire cutter welded to the front bumper.

Notice the French flag wired to the wire cutter and my carbine lying on the hood.

Russ Cloer

Yeah, I'm so excited. I talked with Bill Vander Wall, one of the 540th members who lives on the west coast of Michigan, and we set a date to meet at his house on August 18th & 19th. I know this will be a memorable time for both of us.

Bill has over 100 photos from the war and lots of memorabilia. I am bringing all my documents, pics, etc. and 2 days probably won't be enough for us.

Bill's page is almost done too. Should have it completed this week.

Well off I go... We are going tubing down the Rifle River right now with my hubby, his brother and brothers wife, my nephew who is home on leave from the Air Force and his aunt. Weeee! Yup we are bringing some beers along too. Ah, a day of no thinking. It's been a while.

See ya.

Many of you know that I have struck up a friendship with Gilbert Stevenot who served as an interpreter for Gen Bradley 12th Army Group during WWII and the Battle of the Bulge. Gilbert hails from Belgium. I was introduced to him by John McAuliffe of the 87th Infantry Div. John has met Gilbert several times in Europe when he's attended various WWII commemorations.

This morning I received a very fascinating email from Gilbert regarding Major Baum. You might recognize the name if you know the history of Patton's 3rd Army and the attempted liberation of a POW camp that contained Americans including the son-in-law of Gen Patton. Anyway...

Gilbert shared the letter below and is going to meet Major Baum this fall if all goes as planned.

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

I was very happy to speak with you by telephone today.

Col. Lyons and Gen. Irzyk have spoken very highly of you,

your historical research, and your kindness to US veterans.

I am attaching a tentative schedule of the visit to Europe

Oct. 19 through 28 which will include Maj. Baum, his wife,

2 sons, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, and myself (7 persons,

though possibly one or two more may join us as plans develop).

There is a re-tracing of the Hammelburg raid on Oct. 22

and 23 which is organized by our good friend and co-author

German Lt. Col. Peter Domes (pdomes@aol.com), he also

has a nice website http://www.taskforcebaum.de

There will be 9 or 10 restored US jeeps, some US uniforms,

following the original route with details given along the way

and some receptions in the towns and villages.

Then Major Baum wanted to revisit Bastogne, where he

has not returned for 60 years. I am a screenwriter who has just

finished the screenplay about the raid called "Patton's Secret Raid."

We are now looking for a producer of this as a feature film.

Abe asked me to plan the trip and make hotel reservations.

Attached is the schedule as we have arranged it so far.

I have been to the Bastogne area 3 or 4 times, but I don't know

any of the hotels there. Perhaps you can recommend a 2 star

hotel in the Bastogne area?

We have obtained permission to get a tour of Patton's

HQ at the Fondation Pescatore in Luxembourg City. Then

we would like to follow the route of the 10th Armored Infantry

Battalion. It will be interesting to see if any of the landscape

is familiar to Abe. I have attached the diary of this unit during the period

Dec. 19, 1944 through Jan. 16, 1945.

Perhaps we can follow some of the route Anlier-Louftemont-

Fauvillers-Hotte-Menufontaine-Burnon-Chaumont (perhaps a detour

to Remoiville-Nives-Vaux sur Sure) Grandru-Hompre-Clochimont-

Assenois. I suppose the troops were out in the surrounding hills and

woods, not often in the villages.

Would you be able to accompany us on this part of the trip?

It would be a great honor for us if you could share from your

wealth of local knowledge.

Looking forward to meeting you, I am

Sincerely,

Jim Sudmeier

Memory

I remember Sept. 8,1945, we were advance occupation force going to Korea..

The first one to see a floating mine would received a 25 Dollar War Bond.. Any one ever heard some thing like that or are my senior moments getting mixed up.

Cadetat6