Well, it's still early in the morning and this day just keeps getting better. As you probably know, I search for info on an almost daily basis. Some days are frustrating and other days I'm literally dancing around with joy. Well today is another one of the dancing days! Of course this function will work better when I make and drink some coffee.

I just received an email from a gentleman named Rod O'Barr. His website is listed on our links page, 85th Engineer Heavy Ponton Battalion. He went to our site and read the History Page and said the the 85th, 36th and 540th have a lot in common. Oh heck, just read the some of the text I copied from his email. It explains it all:

"Hello Marion,

I have had some time to read the "history" portion of your web site. I've discovered that our two sites have quite a bit in common as relates to not only the River Crossing School on the Rhone River, but also the Rhine River Crossing. I have included below all the paragraphs from the original WWII 85th Engineer documents that mention involvement with the 36th or 540th. As you can see, the 85th trained your dad's unit in bridge building on the Rhone River, and later on the Meurthe River, and then the two units were joined in the efforts to bridge the Rhine River at both Worms and Mannheim, Germany. This means that the pictures you see on my web site that are of bridges on the Rhone, Meurthe, and Rhine Rivers, are bridges that the 540th and 36th also built. As your history points out, the 540th was made up of two regiments, the 2832 and the 2833, and so you'll find references to these two regiments in the paragraphs related to the Rhine Crossings that follow.

Feel free to use any of the following text, and to attach to your site any of the photos from my site that relate to your web site. As I previously stated, the following paragraphs are transcribed directly from the original documents of the 85th, and as such they use the unusual military syntax. Anytime it mentions "the Battalion" or "this Battalion" reference is to the 85th. I hope you find the info informative as it relates to the 36th and 540th.

Regards,

Rod O'Barr

Fantastic huh? Can't wait to upload the info for everyone to see. It's just great when I can see actual pieces of history and know that my dad, the 540th and the 36th were there.

Essayons!