"[16] The division was deemed one of the most service-ready units, and Ellard A. Walsh was promoted to major general in June 1940, and then succeeded to division commander in August, following month-long command tours intended to honor senior generals Lloyd D. Ross (Iowa), George E. Leach (Minnesota), and David S. Ritchie (North Dakota) before their retirements. This letter is pretty short but it seems as though I can think of nothing but home so I will tell you all about it when I get there. We are going to have a pretty good dinner on the fourth. Here we are and here we will no doubt stay for quite awhile. The climate during the summer was especially harsh. At that point the division transitioned into a medium division, with a required strength of 18,062 soldiers. Pneumonia proved fatal in France to Fred S. Conley of Oshkosh, after he had gone through the war without an injury. The post appeared first on Yesterday's Print. About fourteen bombs were dropped the first night but I only heard the last two. “I was honorably discharged from the United States Army. Air Force Units Army Units Coast Guard Units Marine Corps Units Navy Units Become a VetFriends Member Site Map. Additional information relating to the work of the 29 Engineers at the front can be obtained by writing to Washington or E. Hinman, Astoria, Oregon where a book was published giving the complete history of this organization. Oscar B. Howard, Casual Co. 2, Engineers, Decatur County, Indiana. Records of the Finance Bureau, including general correspondence, issuances, reports, periodic statements of disbursements and expenditures, and correspondence of the Board of Contracts and Adjustments, 1918-19. The initial group of 4,508 men stepped ashore at 12:15 hrs on 26 January 1942 at Dufferin Quay, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Never again. We were near Varrenes, at a small place called Baulny when I last wrote to you. Harry Feehauf Lieutenant Enqus. Well, Sis, if I write more this time I won’t have anything to write about next time so will say good Bye. National Guard; 115th Fires Brigade, Wyo. We have a ball game about every evening. Now, to answer some of your questions. The division was broken up in LeMans France and the Engineers served as training instructors for the front like combat divisions. Gen. F. G. Mauldin briefly on 18 September 1917 but was back in command by 10 December 1917. I used to lie in bed and listen to see where they were hitting but I don’t do that now. This regiment has been drilling pretty hard since we moved up here from Conflans and the fellows have done fairly good. 2d Battalion of Engineers expanded 1 July-1 August 1916 to form the 2d Regiment of Engineers; 2d Regiment of Engineers expanded 21 May-20 June 1917 as follows: Company C (see ANNEX), Company D (organized 24 August 1916 in Mexico), and part of Headquarters expanded 21 May 1917 to form the 5th Regiment of Engineers Mr. Conley was born at Watersmeet. Harold Leslie Clegg, 24th Engineers, Special Regiment, Marion County, Indiana, “During the Meuse-Argonne Battle, I was pumping water to the men on the front-line when a German shell exploded just as I went back to see how much water was in the tanks. We got into the “Ground Floor” of the war, and were among the first into Europe. The 34th Infantry Division is an infantry division of the United States Army, part of the National Guard, that participated in World War I, World War II and multiple current conflicts. His services in connection with the organization and development of the bridge department of the Chief Engineer’s office were of inestimable value. 12th Train Headquarters. Battalion. Entered service April 29, 1918. American enlistees of the 11th Engineers Regiment who fought with the British on the Cambrai Front, near Péronne, 12-5-1917. In 1960 its units comprised the 1 BG-133 Inf, 2 BG-133 Inf, 1 BG-134 Inf, 2 BG 134 Inf, 1 BG-168 Inf, 1st and 2nd Bns 168th Arty, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Battalions 185th Arty, 1st Bn 133rd Armor, 2nd Squadron 133rd Armor (Cav), 734th Ord Bn, 128th Engineer Battalion, 109th Med Bn, 234th Signal Bn, 234th Transportation Battalion, 34th QM Co., 34th Avn Co, 34th Admin Co., 34th Aircraft Maintenance Detachment.[32]. The division skipped the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky) and instead trained intensively for the invasion of the Italian mainland, with the main landings being at Salerno (Operation Avalanche) on 9 September 1943, D-Day, to be undertaken by elements of the U.S. Fifth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Mark Clark. Mr. Conley had been an engineer in the building of bridges to Montana and in Canada. I made fourteen pumpkin pies yesterday for some of the fellows. . He left a Father, Mother, two brothers, two sisters, and one half-brother to grieve for him. 281, codified at Minn. Stat. MASTER ENGR. The unit was in Vietnam for 4 years and 10 months. 34th NORFOLK DIVISION ROYAL ENGINEERS OUR COMPANIES WERE RAISED IN THE SPRING OF 1915, BY I, GORTON MOON, LORD MAYOR OF NORWICH AND WERE BILLETED IN THE HALL, THEY CROSSED TO REACH, UNDER THE COMMAND OF Col. A. C. MacDONNELL IN JANUARY 1916. We were sent from Brest, at last, to a village near Dijon and put on some structural work. The forestry troops of the 20th Engineers produced roughly 200 million feet of lumber in France. Lieutenant Colonel Lampert invented, developed, and superintended the production of the standard floating footbridge equipage, which was successfully used by the 1st Army in its attack east of the Meuse, near Dun. The weather was pretty cold the first few days out but we hit the Gulf Stream and it was warm so you see we fared better than I expected. The 47th Infantry Division was headquartered at St Paul, MN, by 1963, as the National Guard division covering the former 34th's area. Jr.  Stationed for some time in France and was later transferred near Bordeaux, on the Spanish border. Italy: Province of Turin  Spain: Biarwitz  Africa, Oran, Gibraltar, Azores England: Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Ramsey and Southampton. There was nothing left of the engine piston ring.”, Stanton William McCready, Engineers, Marion County, Indiana. “Telegraph operator on US military lines in France. . He went to Europe on one of the early trips of the Tuscania, later torpedoed by a German submarine. Since October 2001, division personnel served in Operation Joint Forge in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Operation Joint Guardian in Kosovo. Saw service on the Mexican Border with Co. L. 19th Infantry, in 1912, command of General Funston. I have been following civil engineering ever since I have been in the Army, and I like it fine. I see the need of a college education now, more than I ever did. On 17 January 1921, the Observation Squadron, Minnesota National Guard was federally recognized as the first aviation unit in the Minnesota National Guard. [28], The division participated in six major Army campaigns in North Africa and Italy. National Guard; 116th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, Idaho National Guard; 141st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, ND National Guard; 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Wis. National Guard; 196th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, SD National Guard; 2nd Brigade Combat Team, Iowa National Guard; and the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Wis. National Guard. From Baccarat we moved to Sorcy where our headquarters was located and from there to Menil la Tour, a small town near Toul. I have seen two of them brought down. It was the first American division deployed to Europe in World War II, where it fought with great distinction in the Italian Campaign. Very little damage has been done since the raids started. After the signing of the armistice, with sent to Rumalang, Luxembourg and kept there until he sailed for the United States in July, 1919. The division takes its name from the shoulder sleeve insignia designed for a 1917 training camp contest by American regionalist artist Marvin Cone, who was then a soldier enlisted in the unit. In common with other U.S. Army divisions during World War II the 34th was reorganized from a square to a triangular division before seeing combat. We were bombarded by German aviators that night. That means that we are going home for we are going to drill as soon as we get over there. They were relieved from their positions 11–13 February 1944. a “take” outfit, the men having been transferred from the different camps in the country to us, and it consisted of 24 companies or about a brigade. War Department, General Orders No. Engineers, Croix de Guerre, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Lee Glenn Winslow, K. I. Wife is Lottie P. Zufall. I am taking so much stock in these rumors that if they don’t come true I will go loco. I would have been just as well off if I had stayed in bed for it was all over when I got out. He was thirty-two years of age and was a master engineer in the Sixteenth Regiment of American railway engineers in the army. He is doing fine at IU, so he says. He showed ability, great foresight, and exact scientific knowledge, and his work had an important bearing on the successes achieved by our armies. Went into action at once, when not working for engineers was going over the top with infantry. Born at Lafayette, June 19, 1898 son of Elizah and Mary N. Zufall. The 34th, under command of Major General Ryder, saw its first combat in French Algeria on 8 November 1942. Here is a Menu from the Mauretania on the way over to France, also the post card they could send home when they arrived. The combat engineers constructed bridges, roads, and narrow-gauge railroads at or immediately behind the front. When the war broke out he was studying law at Detroit and although over the draft age, he enlisted in the army before finishing the course, planning to return after the war and get his degree. [citation needed]. The 68th Brigade comprised the 135th Infantry Regiment and the 136th Infantry Regiment. Private Patterson was gassed and went through many hardships. A., Grant County, Indiana. On 20 May 1942, Hartle was designated commanding general of V Corps and Major General Charles Ryder, a distinguished veteran of World War I, took command of the 34th Division. We saw here, for nothing, what hundreds of people spent thousands to see, and stayed at the best hotels, Uncle Sam paying the bill. The division maintained defensive positions until the offensive of 23 May, when it broke out of the beachhead, took Cisterna, and raced to Civitavecchia and the Italian capital of Rome. Entered service Dec. 12, 1917. Germany: Coblentz, Cologne, Montibar, Wirges, Trieves, and smaller towns. Engaging the enemy at the Calore River, 28 September, the 34th, as part of the VI Corps under Major General John Lucas, relentlessly drove north to take Benevento, crossed the winding Volturno three times in October and November, assaulted Monte Patano, and took one of its four peaks before being relieved on 9 December. It sounds like New Years eve in the States. G.M.) We stayed on board ship about five days after we dropped anchor in one of the ports of France and everyone was disappointed for we expected to land as soon as we arrived. War Department policy mandated that National Guard division headquarters could not be organized and federally recognized until 75 percent of their intended subordinate units had been organized and federally recognized; the headquarters of the 34th Division was organized and federally recognized on 14 July 1924. We were part of the 34th Infantry Division. [9] Cone's design evoked the desert training grounds of Camp Cody, New Mexico, by superimposing a red steer skull over a black Mexican water jug called an "olla." Dear Sis:– I think you will be disappointed when you get his letter because you said you expected a long one. Since then we have had a hard time getting paper. We used to curse clear nights. Help put in sewer plant and Camp Taylor, also made Camp Shelby, was at Camp Shelby for one year. Note: You may have to reload the web pages several times to get all the images to load because of slow connection speed, servers "timing out" and assorted reasons. We operated narrow gauge there, hauling rations, ammunitions, and guns during the St. Mihiel Drive. The 34th Infantry Division has deployed approximately 11,000 soldiers on operations since October 2001. Minnesota Governor Floyd B. Olson activated the National Guard and 4,000 guardsmen to suppress the chaos. It happened about three forty-five and when I woke up I mentioned to my bunky that they were getting pretty close and I wondered if we would have to move. It is almost time for me to check quarters, as it is a quarter of an hour till taps, so, so long. [dubious – discuss][citation needed], After rest and rehabilitation, the 34th Division landed at the Anzio beachhead 25 March 1944. http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/FIRST_AMERICANS_TO_FIGHT_IN_ww1#.XxMrsShKg3s. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings. Dear Sis– We are having big times around here in the shape of air raids. I am hoping to get home, so as to start in college in September, but it is uncertain as yet. In 2000 the Minnesota Legislature renamed all of Interstate 35 in Minnesota the "34th Division (Red Bull) Highway," in honor of the division and its service in the World Wars. In 1991 the 47th Division was redesignated the 34th. The mission of the 54th Engineer Battalion is to plan, integrate, and provide command and control of 3 to 5 engineer companies, and one forward support company to provide full spectrum engineer missions in support of the operational commander. We have had some pretty cold weather for the last couple weeks but it started raining last night and it turned warm today so I guess winter is over. 12th Supply Train 12th Sanitary Train. Well, sis, this is my limit so give my regards to Mack and tell him to write and tell me what kind of conditions they have in the yards there. I’ll tell you Sis, I wanted to get over here but I didn’t want to get over near as bad as I want to get back. Gassed at Etain about 6 miles from Verdun, France, about November 1918. Join TWS for Free Today! Some of the fellows have moved their bunks down below so they can get a good nights sleep. In the face of heavy and direct machine-gun and artillery fire they constructed their bridges, and by reason of their coolness, determination, and utter disregard for personal safety, the Infantry was able to cross the river and canal and capture the important heights east of the Meuse.”, Albert John Lambert, 108th Engineers, Ripley County, Indiana. You must not get sore, for that is the first letter I have written your “mar Cherie”, and she wrote to me first. I am still in the kitchen, trying to please a bunch of railroad men in the way of food and let me tell you it is an impossibility. It was only a small, twenty-five pound bomb and hit about one hundred feet from me but it sure did shake the dirt on me. Dear Sis– It has been a long time since I wrote to you and of course I am ashamed of myself. Find your Brothers on Army.TogetherWeServed.com JOIN FOR FREE TODAY! Born in Washington County, (Indiana) Nov. 29, 1893, son of Mrs. Clara Floyd. 46. Office of the Adjutant General, 1 June 1953). Gen. John Alexander Johnston took command 26 October 1918, and some personnel were sent to other units to support their final operations. Records of engineer regiments and battalions, 1912-21 (1,000 ft.). Ohio. [5], The division was established as the 34th Division of the National Guard in August 1917, consisting of units from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. [16], On 18 June 1939, a tornado hit Anoka, Minnesota, and Governor Harold E. Stassen called on the Guard again. As he enlisted on February 10, 1912, and this is concerned with going over to France, this letter must have been written in the winter of 1912. Chosen because the numeral \"1\" represents the number of the division and many of its subsidiary organizations. We don’t have much to write about except the weather and it is rotten. Lyons is sure some fast city or rather fast people stay there. The Forty-First Engineers and 13th Battalion, 20th Engineers. During his service he states that his shift of 30 men sawed 91.188 feet of board and his battalion made the record of all the A. E. F. of Engineers. I have since heard the news she is not at DP anymore. I was not sick and was sure glad, for judging from the cases of it I saw, it must be terrible. Less than 1,000 men in the United States saw service in both France and Russia.”, Jack Conley Thurston, Co. C., 34th Engineers, Marion County, Indiana, Meuse-Argonne offensive, October 8, 1918; Etain, October 1, 1918; Sedan, November 6, 1918. Books about the 34th Division 110 Introduction The 109th Combat Engineers were a National Guard Unit, with most members from South Dakota. Sailed the first of March, 1918. Original of first message between States and American Mission stating that Germans would sign, dated 23rd, June 1919 now in my possession.”, Letter home from American YMCA stationary, “On active service with the American Expeditionary Force”, Cpl. The Asphalt Section of the Engineer Equipment and Maintenance Company (A Company) of these battalions was also … In the face of heavy and direct machine-gun and artillery fire they constructed their bridges, and by reason of their coolness, determination, and utter disregard for personal safety, the Infantry was able to cross the river and canal and capture the important heights east of the Meuse.”, , 108th Engineers, Ripley County, Indiana. United States Mexican Border Service, 1916 to 1917; War Department. Relayed traffic between American mission and the American Embassy in Paris through transatlantic cables. The 34th Engineers served in the Central Pacific and landed on Kwajalein. Grant County, Indiana, Master Engineer, Engineers Corps, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, , Casual Co. 2, Engineers, Decatur County, Indiana, o: His sister Jessie Anderson, 2909 Station Street, Indianapolis, , Co. C., 29th Engineers, Marion County, Indiana, , Engineering Corps, Ripley County, Indiana, , Co. C., 34th Engineers, Marion County, Indiana, , 17th RR Engineers, Ripley County Indiana, Pvt. About a month ago, I was on a seven-day leave on the Mediterranean, going through Marseilles and spending the seven days around Menton. In 2011, it was staffed by roughly 6,500 soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard,[4] 2,900 from the Iowa National Guard, about 300 from the Nebraska National Guard, and about 100 from other states. [citation needed], In January 1944, the division was back on the front line battering the Bernhardt Line defenses. Source: "World War II Order of Battle", Shelby L. Stanton, 1984 Formed: 9 May 44 Hawaii (1st Bn, 34th Engineer Reg) Inactivated: (Active through 1946) Locations: Hawaii 9 May 44; Saipan 17 Jun 44; Espiritu Santo 16 Feb 45; Tsugen Shima I 10 Apr 45; Okinawa Aug 45 Stationed at Columbus. The German planes come over our lines and the anti-aircraft guns always fire at them. With no ice cream, cakes etc. At home this has included troops deployed for Operation Noble Eagle; abroad, units and individual soldiers have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. The division was reactivated as a National Guard division (renaming the 47th Division) for Minnesota and Iowa on 10 February 1991 upon the fiftieth anniversary of its federal activation for World War II. 212th Field Signal Battalion. “Luxemburg is German in character and sympathy was pro-German until after the Armistice.”, 21st Engineers, (L. R.) Special Regiment, authorized to construct, maintain, operate a light railway from railheads to trenches. We all thought we would be sent home as soon as the narrow gauge work was done but we were put up here, operating standard gauge railroad instead. I hope not though for they sure do spoil a man’s sleep. Via New York, To: His sister, Jessie Anderson, 614 North Keystone, Indianapolis, Dear Sis– This is the first letter I have written to you for about three months and I am not very proud of the fact. In World War I, the unit was called the "Sandstorm Division." Battles: St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Lee Glenn Winslow, K. I. 745, June 9, 1919. Howard Sebring Smith, Engineering Corps, Ripley County, Indiana, “Service, 7 months in France, 5 months in Russia, Murman Coast and south into the interior some 600 miles. I have been taking hikes around the country since we have been here. Organized to Camp Taylor and consisted primarily of men from Indiana and Kentucky. I got three yesterday. Educated in LaFayette schools. [2], The division was deactivated in 1945, and the 47th "Viking" Infantry Division was later created in the division's former area. “A mistake in orders on the night of November 10, 1918, sent two regiments ‘over the top’ near Metz without a protective barrage fire. I wrote Olive a letter not long ago and sent it to DP. The division is credited with amassing 517 days of front-line combat,[29] second only to the 654 days of fighting by the 32nd Infantry Division. A letter written by him was received by his mother and sister here the day after the date on which he died and in this he wrote of his anxiety to get home again, now the war had ended, as his ambition to cross the Atlantic had been realized and he come through the struggle in France without a scratch. By the end of the war in November, 1918, the demand for their expertise had required the services of almost 400,000 engineers. If I ever get back to the States, the Statue of Liberty will have to turn around if she ever wants to see me again. I wouldn’t care to travel much in Europe for their railroad equipment isn’t quite like what we are used to in the States. A Frenchman brought a german machine down pretty close here this morning. 34th Engineer Battalion Vietnam. The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Colonel (Corps of Engineers) James Gillespie Blaine Lampert, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. This is a very quiet sector just at present. We had a fine trip over from the States and not many cases of seasickness. Clifford Harlan Hullinger 109th Engineers 34th Division WW II The 109th Combat Engineers were a National Guard Unit, with most members from South Dakota. 59 (1919). Records of the 1st, 3d-7th, 9th-11th, 21st, 27th, 29th, and 70th Engineer Regiments, 1919-39. Brigades. We are living in a hotel that was used by the Germans and most of the windows are gone. The first contingent embarked at Brooklyn on 14 January 1942 and sailed from New York the next day. As for the French girls, to h— with them. The performance of the 34th Infantry Division in the mountains has been called one of the finest feats of arms carried out by any soldiers during the war. Double tracked RR with Canadian Army, establish terminal at Marcy. I’ll tell you more about them when I get back. One fellow just asked another one what time he thought we would have to get up tonight. From: John Moone, Co. F. 21st Engrs., American E.F. via New York, To: His sister, Jessie Anderson, 2137 Wheeler Street, Indianapolis.
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