Contains great article on 753rd
Railway Operating Battalion (ROB), Railway Shop Battalion (RSB), Railway Grand Division (RGD), Transportation Railway Shop Battalion (TRSB), Transportation Group (Railway), Transportation Railway Shop Battalion (TRSB), Transportation Railway Operating Battalion (TROB), Transportation Military Railway Service(TMRS), Transportation Group (Railway), Transportation Corps, U.S. Army and more
Friday, March 21, 2025 | Labels: 753rd Railway Operating Battalion, Central Railroad Headlight | 0 Comments
Bill writes...
Just found your wonderful web site on military railways. My dad William Alexander Sheaffer pvt was a member of Co D 746th R.O.B. 1944-45.
Hopefully he shows up in your records as I’m working, belatedly, on a family history to pass on. I was nine years old when he shipped out on a troop ship in 1944.
Bottom photo with the “sour puss” captions”these little fishies cost me 50 beans” and his stripes for fishing without permission.
Obit: William A Sheaffer, Co D 746th Railway Operating Battalion, was born in Mt Union, Pa, in 1910. He became a brakeman on the Pennsylvania RR at Conway Yards, Pennsylvania in 1941.
In 1944, at age 34, married with two children, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was trained as a railway operating specialist attaining the rank of T5. He shipped out to the European Theater of Operations later that year. After serving in Europe thru the Rhineland Campaign 1944-45, he mustered out after the war ended. He returned to work at the PRR and retired as a freight conductor in 1973. Upon retiring he and his wife relocated to Newbury Park, California. Enroute to California they attended a reunion of the 746th R.O.B. in Aurora, Illinois.
He died in the V.A. Hospital in Los Angeles, in February 1982, while awaiting open heart surgery for a heart valve replacement. He was survived by his wife Gwendolyn M Sheaffer, sons William Alexander, Jr, Robert Charles and daughter Suzanne Ruth Sheaffer.
A memorial service was held at the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks Lodge, in Thousand Oaks, Ca, where he had been the lodge chaplain.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025 | Labels: 746th Railway Operating Battalion | 0 Comments
If you have any materials connected to these great Army Railway units please share them here with the families of the soldiers. If you are a collector or memorabilia dealer PLEASE share copies or scans of items BEFORE you sell these priceless materials to private collectors . I will hold the copies until after they sell. It means so much to the families of the guy's that actually served in these units.
Contact me : Nancy militaryrailwayservice@gmail.