Info on Richard Conn - 540th Combat Engineer

[Walt's Daughter]

I desire to become a member I am working on a school project involving a solder in the 540th Engineer Corps. My soldiers name is Richard M Conn and I've looked through your website for about 3 weeks and can not find enough information on him. I've found his census, serial number, and even where he is buried. I'm looking for detailed information about him from February to March 1,1944 , the date of his death.

Thank you

 

I wrote back and stated...

Sounds like a great project Zane! Thanks for joining.

Unfortunately it's very difficult gleaning info on a specific soldier, so unless the veteran or one of his family members has shared this history, the only thing we are likely to have on site, is the soldier's name, rank and serial number. The 540th (my dad's unit) had two battalions, so that means there were approximately 1500 men who comprised this regiment.

I can try looking for the date in my archived records, to see if I can find anything specific.

Thanks,

 

 

This is what i discovered for you, Zane.

 

Daily Journal Report from Lt Col Monnier

 

and

 

Activity Journal from 1st Lt Clifford

 

From what I can ascertain, it would appear that Richard Conn was part of an air raid that took place on March 2, 1944 at Anzio, Italy. This strike took place at 2310 (that's 11:10 PM) and affected men of F Co, who were billeted, causing massive damage to the building, with 11 known dead and 11 missing, with 12 hospitalized.

 

Let me know how I can be of further assistance.