Follow up/back story on Al Vella.
http://wellseasonedfool.blogspot.com/2013/06/greatest-generation-repost.html
Germany, early 60’s, I pissed off my First Sergeant. Alcohol was probably involved. He decided my idle hours needed to be filled doing something useful, and handed me some file folders, about 6” thick, that contained our unit history. The assignment was to sort it, catalog it, and retype a new summary.
Turned out to be an interesting assignment. In fact, I enjoyed it.
When I met Al Vella, and started talking to him, I learned he was at the Normandy landing in the predecessor company to mine. We had some interesting conversations.
The company is still on active duty and has been in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The unit was activated as the 511th Engineer Light Pontoon Company in 1942 at Camp Bowie, TX. WWII Campaigns were Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe.
After WWII, the unit was inactivated, then reactivated in 1954 as the 814th Engineer Company (Float Bridge) at Hanau (Pioneer Kaserne). It was inactivated in 1992, then reactivated at Ft Polk, LA and is still active.
The black and white photos aren't mine but are early 60's. The troops are still wearing "Ridgeway" covers instead of the ridiculous Baseball caps. That is an Atomic Cannon on that raft. Class 80 load on a Class 60 bridge section.
Learning what Al and his buddies accomplished added quite a bit of humility to memories of my service in a designated Soviet Army speed bump unit.
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