715th Railway Operating Battalion--Simpson

Christy , daughter of Raymond D Simpson of Company A of the 715th  Railway Operating Battalion sent these great photos.

She says "Dad served in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. He was on a ship heading towards Japan when the atomic bombs were dropped. When Japan surrendered, the ship was turned around and headed towards the US.  I have attached some of pictures of Dad which were taken in Italy.  I do not know the names of the other soldiers in the pictures. The back of the picture of the Tower of Pisa says he is in the top of the tower."

4 comments:

ryan h. said...

My Grandpa Virgil L Ryan (Erie,Pa) was a Tech Grad 5 with Company B Rail Way Engineers. He told us that he was Italy and Africa. He talked about his Italian Girlfriends and i have no service pictures of him and i don't know what the 715th rail way patch looks like but im researching it and I'm willing to buy one from someone if they have the patch. He enlisted in New Cumberland,Pa in February 26,1942 and was honorably discharged in November 6, 1945 at Camp Atterbury,Indiana. By the way I'm Ryan.

krm said...

Great photos. My dad has similar ones, however he may be with a different company but still 715th. I will have to ask him - he is 92.
Some names that he had on a photo are: Garford, Schmeider, Chearhart, McPherson,Kreisel, Jenkins, Borden, Chalforsh, Tom Miller, Moore, Dalan, and Hord.

Please let me know if you have any other information. Thank you!
Kelly(dot)McPherson(at)gmail(dot)com

Munchos said...

The story shared above about the 715th Headed to Japan when the Atomic bombs were dropped, is EXACTLY what my grandfather, Loay J Ball, Company A 715 R.O.B. told me while he was still alive. He said that they were headed to Japan, combat ready. He said it would have been the first combat he actually saw, he joked that he wasn't even sure he knew how to fire a gun. He said when the news came over the radio that the war was over, they didn't even know what had happened or why. He said they were back in the states before they knew what had happened. He said that you had never seen a happier group of guys in all of your life.

I don't know much about the 715, and am currently looking for any information that I can find.

If you have anything to share, you can email me at
Samuel.ball@yahoo.com.

krm said...

At Samuel(dot)ball(yahoo.com)
Yes! My father said they were headed to Japan when they were notified the war was over and they would be returning home. I believe the ship continued on to Japan but much of the crew opted to take another ship home. That is how my father's belongings were lost. At least that is what I understood. He was just happy to be going home since this would be his 6th tour.