Marion & National Archive Records
#11

I did send an email to the first person who kept telling me that no records were available, and informed him that I sent the very same info to Mr. Reid and that within two weeks, I had received a letter from Mr. Nenninger, informing me that there indeed WAS a wealth of info at College Park regarding the 540th. The letter was nice and straight forward, but I thought he should be aware that his assessments were not correct! :pdt34:

Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
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#12

Kudos for your preserverance! I hope you will get the information you ar elooking for. If you are able; spent the money you will spent on the student researcher on a trip there! It s an amazing facility.

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#13

Great news. It isn't good that you had so much trouble. Most people would have given up on pursuing thru Gov't channels and red tape. You are a persistant snicker.

 

Now, the next Question is how good will the copies look? I have seen some material that is very poor. Of course, this includes material I've received 2nd or 3rd hand and material that was from old, damage micro-fish files. I would hope that in this 21st Century, that they have good, clear copies of their records and have modern reproduction equipment to copy it.

 

Keep us informed.

 

Steve

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#14

If I'm anything, I am persistent. Anything that is worth having is worth fighting for. Must have gotten that from dear old dad! :D

 

I do wish I could go down there myself, but because of limited funds and limited time, I just can't get up and leave, at least not now. I am already leaving for four days in September to meet with the 36th and hopefully some 540ther's. That leaves my dear hubby here to run the store. Can't take advantage of him too much. B)

 

Of course I will keep everyone posted because what I learn will be helpful to others who are pursuing the same type of information on other units from the war.

Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
Reply
#15

If anyone might be traveling to the College Park area of Maryland this year, and interested in doing some paid research, please let me know. If I can find someone to pick up the 540th Combat Engineer info for me and copy it, I would be most grateful. I just thought I'd put our feelers before I hire a research student from one of the universities. Always worth a shot.

 

The documents would be ready on any set date that I give them and then the person would have to copy the documents for me. I would work out some sort of fee schedule to make it worth your while.

 

:pdt34:

Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
Reply
#16

Marion,

I wish I could take you up on your offer. A week off, drive up thru the mountains, a tour of DC and pay for it by hiring out for you. Such a deal.

 

If you find anyone will do this, let me know. I have a few small items that I would like to copy.

 

Steve

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#17

I appreciate you even contemplating it. It would be a nice trip wouldn't it? I wish I could do it myself, but time and money are the factors against me at the moment. I know I shall work it out one way or the other.

 

I will let you know what course of action I decide to take.

 

:D

Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
Reply
#18

Hi All,

 

Reading your discussion about requests for records from NARA, I'd like to share my own experiences. I just received After Action Reports of the 327th Engineer Combat Battalion of WWII - my father's unit. Approximately 80 pages. WooHoo! I'm eager to scan the pages into PDF files for our new website at www.327engineer.com .

 

Years ago I ordered and received copies of my father's service records and separation documents, which show the charred edges from the 1973 fire at the NPRC in St. Louis.

 

I actually requested documents regarding the 327th ECB on September 8, 2003. I received a quote by mail on September 17, 2003. "We estimate the cost for copying the approximately 1,000 pages in file will be $0.50 per page. Enclosed is a copy of our index to these records...."

 

Well... the index listed History, A/A Reports, Opn Reports, and "SOP - for def Against Cml Attack". (No, that's not a typo. I should have asked what that means.) The index did not say how many pages were in each group. I was daunted by the $500 cost and filed the quote away.

 

In April this year I requested copies of General Orders for the 327th. Note that "General Orders" were not even listed in the 2003 index they sent me. I received a quote for the General Orders, I sent the fee and had 126 pages in hand by mid-May.

 

June 17 this year I pulled out the old quote from 2003 and called College Park. The representative & I discussed what the content of the 1,000 pages would most likely consist of. He explained that a lot of the papers would be meaningless without overlay maps, etc. We talked for quite some time, and he offered to go through the documents himself to sort out the After Action Reports and send me a quote. I received them in just over 8 weeks.

 

I am very excited about these AARs. They report dates, locations, what each company's activities were and which larger unit they were assigned to at the time. They really round out my father's letters in which he could not state locations or details of their activities.

 

For anyone who has a record request, I would recommend that you follow up with a phone call. Be prepared with pertinent questions. Ask for separate quotes for After Action/Operation Reports, General Orders, History, and ask them to let you know what other types of documents they find in the file. Not every employee will be apt to have a long discussion with you. If you do not feel satisfied, call again and you may reach a more helpful representative.

 

I must say that I would like to visit the facilities at College Park someday to see for myself if the other documents are "meaningless". Preparing the AARs for the web site will keep me busy for a while, but I imagine I'll be contacting NARA again in the future.

 

I wish everyone good luck & satisfaction with your records requests!

Laurie

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#19

Laurie:

 

What a fantastic post. As they say, right up my alley.

 

Thank you for your time and efforts and for being so thorough here on the forum. What you just relayed is invaluable to me. I feel now that I am fully armed and can't thank you enough.

 

Now that I've read your post, I am going to look over what they sent me again. I may be contacting you for some further clarifications.

 

Let me say how happy I am for you. This little gal here can certainly share in your joy. Ah, a woman after my own :heartpump:

 

I just spent two days with a man from my dad's unit and we spent about 15 hours going through his collection and mine and comparing notes. He is VERY EXCITED about my book and he keeps asking when it will be done. Well, I gotta get off my rump and get those reports from NARA. Thanks for the added incentive. :pdt34:

Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
Reply
#20

Well I finally got off my rear-end and sent several emails to personal researchers in the DC area. I sent them a copy of the list of archived documents that Mr. Nenninger sent to me and asked for a quote to copy said docs and to mail them to me.

 

So, things are finally getting off the ground. If the price seems to high, then I will take the second step and try and hire a student from one of the nearby universities. I also have a list for that too.

 

Wish me luck. :pdt34:

Marion J Chard
Proud Daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Engineer Combat Regiment, 2833rd Bn, H&S Co, 4th Platoon
There's "No Bridge Too Far"
Reply


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