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Robert
Robert,
Although I respect your efforts to honor WWII veterans and to make certain they receive the awards and decorations they earned under Army Regulations I cannot agree with your contention that engineers be retroactively awarded combat infantry badges when they did not meet the contemporaneous official requirements for the award. The requirements for the CIB were rather straight forward, and attempts to revise them some 65 years after the fact do a disservice to those who actually met those requirements.
Here is what Circular 286-1944 says regarding the eligibility requirements for the CIB according to the US Army Board for Corrections of Military Records.
10. War Department Circular 186-1944 provided that the CIB was to be
awarded only to infantrymen serving with infantry units of brigade,
regimental or smaller size. Additionally, World War II holders of the
CIB received a monthly pay supplement known as combat infantry pay and
holders of the EIB were entitled to expert infantry pay. Therefore,
soldiers had economic as well as intangible reasons to ensure that their
records were correct. Thus, pay records are frequently the best
available source to verify entitlement to this award. The Awards
Branch, Total Army Personnel Command, has advised in similar cases that,
during World War II, the CIB was normally awarded only to enlisted
individuals who served in the following positions: Light machine gunner
(604); Heavy machine gunner (605); Platoon sergeant (651); Squad leader
(653); Rifleman (745); Automatic rifleman (746); Heavy weapons NCO
(812); and Gun crewman (864).
This is pretty clear cut. It would, in my opinion, be better to stop trying to bend/stretch the regulations at such a late date, and consider obtaining recognition of the combat engineers in a different and more appropriate manner. Perhaps you might begin a campaign to have the US House of Representatives honor these combat engineer units in a House Resolution. That way the units in question receive the credit they are due without having to "go after" something they were not entitled to 65 years ago.
Best Regards,
Jim