• Richard L. Wirfs: Headquarters 3rd Military Railway Service
• Charles Niday: 3rd Military Railway Service

• Cecil E. Bolin: Headquarters 703rd Railway Grand Division

• Edmund V. Bolger: Headquarters 704th Railway Grand Division

• Estanislado Padilla: Headquarters Company 707th Railway Grand Division

• Beulah B. Adkins: Headquarters Company 709th Railway Grand Division
• Homer J. Drumm: Headquarters Company 709th Railway Grand Division

• Douglas F. Bunch: 710th Railway Grand Division

• Emmett R. Cheney: Headquarters 711th Railway Operating Battalion
• Thurlee H. Gourley: 711th Railway Operating Battalion
• Leslie Paul Hornyak: 711th Railway Operating Battalion
• George William Pelton: 711th Railway Operating Battalion

• Raymond W. Buxton: 712th Railway Operating Battalion
• Howard L. Cochran: 712th Railway Operating Battalion
• Frank J. Simon: 712th Railway Operating Battalion

• Oscar B. Burnett: 713th Railway Operating Battalion
• Elmer Leroy Gourley: 713th Railway Operating Battalion

• Edwin M. Drake: 714th Railway Operating Battalion
• Oral P. Perry: 714th Railway Operating Battalion
• Richard J. Perry: 714th Railway Operating Battalion
• Clyde Watkins: 714th Railway Operating Battalion
• Lyle Stevison Wilcox: 714th Railway Operating Battalion

• Lawrence R. Blomstrom: 715th Railway Operating Battalion
• Joseph J. Cahill: 715th Railway Operating Battalion
• Douglas T. Cain: 715th Railway Operating Battalion
• Sidney A. Graham: 715th Railway Operating Battalion
• John Clark Hepburn: 715th Railway Operating Battalion

• Robert W. Cover: 716th Railway Operating Battalion
• Antonio M. Lopez: 716th Railway Operating Battalion
• Charlie G. Ritch: 716th Railway Operating Battalion

• William L. Broadwater: 717th Railway Operating Battalion
• Earl Willard Carr: Headquarters Company 717th Railway Operating Battalion

• Eugene B. Bogutske: 718th Railway Operating Battalion
• Carl Cottle: 718th Railway Operating Battalion
• Arthur C. Hubbard: 718th Railway Operating Battalion
• Angus Alexander McDonald: 718th Railway Operating Battalion

• Emil Alvary: 719th Railway Operating Battalion
• Andrew Daniel Burke: 719th Railway Operating Battalion
• Chester L. Coe: 719th Railway Operating Battalion
• Marvin E. Eakins: 719th Railway Operating Battalion
• Eugene F. Ohler: 719th Railway Operating Battalion
• John Alfred Olsen: 719th Railway Operating Battalion

• Harry Chamberlain: 721st–748th Railway Operating Battalion

• Cebron Leonard Holton: 721st Railway Operating Battalion

• John W. Dumsday: 722nd Railway Operating Battalion
• Larther Lester Medlin: 722nd Railway Operating Battalion

• Charles Linton Jackson: 724th Transportation Railway Operating Battalion
• Thaddeus Wiater: 724th Transportation Railway Operating Battalion

 

 I did a little research on this event for an author who had heard the story anecdotally. I don't know if -Sgt. Charles Harrell, of Yuma, Ariz. and Pvt. Max Peterson, of Marlington, W. Va.,were actually in the 721st ROB but they were serving under General Joseph Stilwell on the Bengal-Assam line. Lots of additional various articles and information at link below

Kohima, India, May 27—
(Delayed)—(AP)—Two American soldiers, each with a three-day pass and a convincing line of sales talk, have brought a new version of the bushman’s holiday out of the Burma jungles today.

They spent their holidays killing Japanese.

“It took a little fixing,” said T-Sgt. Charles Harrell, of Yuma, Ariz.

“But it was worth it,” added Pvt. Max Peterson, of Marlington, W. Va., “yes, sir, quite an experience.”

They’re railroaders, attached to the special corps of American trainmen operating the Bengal-Assam line, which feeds the Allied armies in this area. They had never seen any combat.

So when they got their furloughs a short while ago they decided to go and find some.

It wasn’t as easy as it sounds. The nearest active front was in Manipur, where British troops are busily engaged in wiping out Japanese.

To go with the British, the two Americans obtained special permission from their own commanders, hitch hiked up the road from Dimapur, and kept going until they finally found a regiment of Scots.

They told the British commander what they wanted, produced their credentials, and went through the usual interrogation.

“We got a couple of good breaks, meeting that outfit,” said Peterson. “It was getting set for an attack. And it had tanks.”

Both men had had some experience in tanks. They set about talking their way into the operation. Armor, they said, was just their dish.

Probably more amused than convinced, the British commander finally consented.

The operation lasted 13 hours.

“And it was a dilly,” said Harrell. “These Scotch boys are tough guys.”

It seems the Japanese, pursuing their customary tactics, held their positions as long as any of them were still alive. The result was that both Harrell and Peterson actually saw the shells from their respective tanks as they crashed into enemy strongpoints barely 150 yards away. There were casualties in the crews of both tanks, too.

A day later, when the operation was finished, the two Americans went back to the more prosaic job of pushing freight up the railroad.

“Wouldn’t have missed it for anything,” they said.

More articles HERE 

721st history is here Rails of War  HERE 

War time editions of N.Y. Central Railroad Headlight are a goldmine and this edition includes mentions of soldiers in the units:

• 2nd MRS
• 721st Railway Operating Battalion
• 718th Railway Operating Battalion
• 774th Railway Operating Battalion

War time editions of N.Y. Central Railroad Headlight are a goldmine and this edition includes mentions of soldiers in these units: 

• 757th Railway Shop Battalion 
• 715th Signal Railway MRS 
• 721st Railway Operating Battalion 
• 746th Railway Operating Battalion 

August 1944 

• MRS Italy Wigginton
• MRS Egypt - McCaughey 
• 722nd Railway Operating Battalion - Przybylski 
• 721st Railway Operating Battalion Burma - Emmanuel 

721st History of 721st ROB by Nancy on Scribd

721st-- 725th -- 726th

Lincoln: University of Nebraska / Potomac Books, 2017. Pp. xvi, 200. Illus., maps, notes, biblio., index. $29.95. ISBN: 161234853X.

  Military Railroading in Asia's Jungles and Mountains Inspired by a box of memorabilia left by his father, a sometime staff sergeant in the 721st Railway Operating Battalion (ROB), Hantzis set out to learn more about his father’s war, and the result is this interesting history of two largely overlooked subjects, military railroading and the neglected CBI theatre, which included some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world, the jungle clad mountains of northeastern India and Burma.
  After an introduction offering some family background and comment on military railroading, Hantzis covers the recruiting and organization of the ROB battalions, each of which was organized around a cadre drawn from one of the nation’s great railways, the 721st ROB was recruited from the New York Central, the 725th from the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific, the 726th ROB from the Wabash, and so forth. He then follows these troops on their nearly 70 day voyage aboard a converted former luxury liner from the East Coast to Bombay in India, and thence overland to the front in the northeastern part of India, altogether journey of nearly 20,000 miles. From there, the book follows these troops as the engaged in upgrading the local railroads, building new ones, and bringing up the matériel needed to support the Allied war effort in the theatre.
  As he tells the story of the organization, movement, and work of these troops, Hantzis also gives us a look at the battalion’s personnel and their individual experiences coping with alien cultures and war. In the process, he also fills the reader in on a lot of information about railroading, civil and military, so, for example, we learn that one ROB could sustain operations along a 100-150 mile stretch of line. Although his primary concern is the story of the 721st ROB, Hantzis sets this within the overall picture of events in the theatre. Rails of War will prove a profitable read for anyone interested in military railroading or the CBI. Note: Rails of War is also available in several e-editions

https://goo.gl/PY7Dpe

721st training being mentioned in local paper Captain L.B. Griffin in my Uncle is anyone has a soldier in this group please email me Nancy cunningb2(@)gmail.com

Phil send along a photo of his dad, PFC Clyde O. Bosworth Jr., from Halifax, MA.
He served with the 721st Railway Operations Battalion in India.
Thanks Phil

721.pdf by Nancy

George Vorndran's son wrote a short bio of his Dad's story and included  two articles written by his battalion buddies. Thanks Mike

George H. Vorndran letters: Thanks to his son Michael for sharing them !

Vondran Letters Part 1 by Nancy

Vondran Letters Pt 2 by Nancy

Vondran Letters Pt 3 by Nancy

Amazing photos of the 721st reunions - thanks to George H. Vorndran. Thanks to his son Michael for sharing them !

Amazing photos of the 721st in training ( San Antonio and New Orleans ) and in India - thanks to George H. Vorndran. Thanks to his son Michael for sharing them !