292nd Engineer Combat Battalion (New Member)

[Sir Gator]

 

Gary, I believe you're 100% correct that the 20th Engineers was the probable unit that my dad was attached to prior to the 292nd. The website link you sent even mentions the 20th guarding President Roosevelt just as my father wrote about in his letter to his mom. And, it's entirely possible that he was wounded clearing mines. Here's the quote, "although the fighting was over, the bloody days for the 20th Engineers were just beginning. They moved into the Sedjenae Valley and began removal of the great minefields. Almost every day had its accident, with a cost of 7 officers and 19 men dead and many more wounded, as the engineers removed over 200,000 German mines".

Thanks so much for your help. I can't wait to share this news with my sister.

Absolutely, my friend! I found myself excited as well that we could move you forward a step or two and placing a few of the puzzle pieces in the story of your father and his service. But then that's often the case... helping someone else has it's own rewards directly or indirectly.

 

Question... does your family know whether he was sent back to recover from his wounds? The Serviceman card I found on Ancestry has a date close to the end of June and I wondered if he had been sent back to recuperate? I wondered since his unit headed to Sicily with the invasion in July whether it is possible that he was not yet fit and was later reassigned to a new unit. Logic would dictate that since he was experienced with the Engineers that he may be assigned to a new Engineer unit and in November that would have been the 292nd. The "64 thousand dollar" question of the day!

 

Onward and upward, friends, in our goal to document the honored men of the 292nd and the unit that they served in!

 

Gary