292nd Engineer Combat Battalion (New Member)

Folks,

 

Just a little information I found recently...

 

I located two other units that shipped out with the 292nd on Oct 22, 1944 on the USAT Thomas H. Barry. They were the 90th Chemical Mortar Battalion and the 475th Military Police Escort Guard Company. Slowly, more details appear...

 

Gary

 

Gary, I got to thinking that Stanton's World War II Order Of Battle lists the departure dates of units. One could scan through the volume and find which units left on the same date as the 292nd. Of course it does not list the ships these units were aboard, but one might get an idea of many of the units apart of the same convoy. Stanton's is a massive reference book, I was curious this morning as to how much it actually weighs. I put it on the scale and it read 7.6 lbs, nearly as much as a M-1 Garand (9 lbs.)! Needless to say it would take some time to scan through it all in this manner, but I decided to start with just the engineer units. The following Engineer Combat Battalions departed the Port of New York bound for England on 22 OCT 1944:

 

31st 277th 283rd 288th 1695th

187th 280th 284th 289th

243rd 281st 285th 290th

258th 282nd 286th 292nd

 

From time to time I will check for other units and expand the list. One could still not compile a complete list even from Stanton's. Only combat formations are included in this work, service formations such as quartermaster etc., are not. Have a good one!

 

Randy

Reply

 

That's awesome Pete! I have a feeling Gary is gonna be...bizzy!

 

Randy

Bring it on, gents! :)

Gary L. Gates

Proud Grandson of Randall Gates
Mechanic, A and H&S Companies, 292nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 1149th Engineer Combat Group
Reply

 

Gary, I got to thinking that Stanton's World War II Order Of Battle lists the departure dates of units. One could scan through the volume and find which units left on the same date as the 292nd. Of course it does not list the ships these units were aboard, but one might get an idea of many of the units apart of the same convoy. Stanton's is a massive reference book, I was curious this morning as to how much it actually weighs. I put it on the scale and it read 7.6 lbs, nearly as much as a M-1 Garand (9 lbs.)! Needless to say it would take some time to scan through it all in this manner, but I decided to start with just the engineer units. The following Engineer Combat Battalions departed the Port of New York bound for England on 22 OCT 1944:

 

31st 277th 283rd 288th 1695th

187th 280th 284th 289th

243rd 281st 285th 290th

258th 282nd 286th 292nd

 

From time to time I will check for other units and expand the list. One could still not compile a complete list even from Stanton's. Only combat formations are included in this work, service formations such as quartermaster etc., are not. Have a good one!

 

Randy

Good job, Randy! With this info we can search for unit histories that may tell us which ship they were on. Keep up the good work, my friend, and I'll look forward to the documents that you have in a few weeks.

 

Gary

Gary L. Gates

Proud Grandson of Randall Gates
Mechanic, A and H&S Companies, 292nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 1149th Engineer Combat Group
Reply

I wonder if we can gather all the on-line photos of the 292nd, plus the personal photos of family members, and include them with the documents. Make a sort of unofficial history of the 292nd. Just a thought at this stage...

Pete

Reply

I wonder if we can gather all the on-line photos of the 292nd, plus the personal photos of family members, and include them with the documents. Make a sort of unofficial history of the 292nd. Just a thought at this stage...

Pete

I like the idea, Pete! We will need to be careful about any possible copyright issues, but this is definitely a common sense suggestion. Incidentally, eventually I am going to scan Randy's C Company photo (the one he got on Ebay) to provide to anyone who's interested and for our "unofficial" 292nd history.

 

Gary

Gary L. Gates

Proud Grandson of Randall Gates
Mechanic, A and H&S Companies, 292nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 1149th Engineer Combat Group
Reply

I wonder if we can gather all the on-line photos of the 292nd, plus the personal photos of family members, and include them with the documents. Make a sort of unofficial history of the 292nd. Just a thought at this stage...

Pete

 

I think this is an absolutely awesome idea, Pete! There were a few photos in the documents I have already sent Gary, showing some of the bridge work they were involved in. And the personal photos you mentioned, there should be quite a number of those showing the 292nd in action. Capital idea, Pete!

 

Randy

Reply

 

I think this is an absolutely awesome idea, Pete! There were a few photos in the documents I have already sent Gary, showing some of the bridge work they were involved in. And the personal photos you mentioned, there should be quite a number of those showing the 292nd in action. Capital idea, Pete!

 

Randy

Obviously, I'd be willing to scan anyone's images at high res for our project and provide the high res scans to the donor. Maybe Sam Harrison would allow me some time with all of his photos to scan them? It's a dicey thing as anyone with photos cherishes them and so trusting them outside the family would be a huge decision. We can continue the discussions and see what folks that have photos think. Maybe the Longacre photos could be included depending on the copyright (see http://www.soldiersmuseum.com/pages/ww2/longacre/index.htm)? Add company photos and individual photos from others and we may have quite a collection!

 

Gary

Gary L. Gates

Proud Grandson of Randall Gates
Mechanic, A and H&S Companies, 292nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 1149th Engineer Combat Group
Reply

Steve,

 

Found a few tidbits about your uncle that maybe you don't have which I have attached. Also, we are trying to ID as many of the men as possible in the company photo so if you could take a look at the copy I just posted and locate your uncle I will update the ID on the image. Also, is the image that I found that of your Uncle?

 

Thanks, my friend,

 

Gary

Gary,

Thanks for the information, I did not have all of that. That is a picture of my uncle, and in fact, that is the ONLY picture I had of him as well. I have yet to get access to my Dads stuff, to see if he has more pictures of Charlie, so I would have to base any opinion of my uncle place in the unit from that exact same picture you posted. I would go so far as to say, the picture you posted is of better quality than the one I have from my Mom.

 

Thanks again my friend, I really appreciate it!!!,

Steve

ps: I have reached out by email to Hampton House to get a copy of the unit picture over a week ago, but have not received a reply yet.

Reply

Gary,

Those Longacre photos are the ones I was thinking of. The 1149th Ops Reports tell us what each company was assigned to each day during the Roer Crossings, which bridge or road or whatever. Interesting reading.

Pete

Reply

Gary,

Thanks for the information, I did not have all of that. That is a picture of my uncle, and in fact, that is the ONLY picture I had of him as well. I have yet to get access to my Dads stuff, to see if he has more pictures of Charlie, so I would have to base any opinion of my uncle place in the unit from that exact same picture you posted. I would go so far as to say, the picture you posted is of better quality than the one I have from my Mom.

 

Thanks again my friend, I really appreciate it!!!,

Steve

ps: I have reached out by email to Hampton House to get a copy of the unit picture over a week ago, but have not received a reply yet.

 

Steve,

 

They were not answering my e-mail either. So I just called the phone number Lisa posted on the thread( 336-723-8869), and completed the transaction that way.

 

Randy

Reply


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