Thanks to Barclay for sharing his grandfather's William J. Ricketson great 718th ROB photos.
Please get in touch with me if anyone can identify any of the other soldiers or locations.
My grandfather William J. Ricketson (4th row from bottom, 2nd from right) of Cornelia, Georgia, pictured with his unit - the 718th Railway Operating Battalion, Headquarters Unit, at Camp Claiborne, Alexandria, Louisiana, 1944.
The 718th would deploy to the European Theater in July of 1944 and move from England, to France, to Luxembourg, and into Germany. The 718th Railway Operating Battalion took part in The Battle of The Bulge, moving troops and supplies back and forth to the front.
Historical notes follow:
One railroad historian, Carl Gray, notes of this Christmas that "the most noteworthy action was the Battle of the Bulge, when Von Rundstedt counterattacked the Third Army. In the thick of this action the troops of the 706th R.G.D. . . . Among those operating battalions directly involved in this action were the 718, 722 and 732 R.O.B." The Yankee Boomer elaborated, saying "Assigned to the task of a railhead battalion in support of the Third Army, the 718th operated the advanced line in Patton's territory, moving as close to the front as possible." Gray writes that "During the period of the [Battle] the 718 R.O.B. accomplished a rather remarkable feat in that they moved within forty-eight hours four divisions, including supply, of the Third Army laterally across the front into the south flank of the Bulge." The Boomer agreed, asserting that "this movement was so successful that units withdrawing from the line in the south received their supplies at railheads and were returned to combat without delay. Third Army spokesmen consider this a primary factor in the repulse of the Bulge." This was not all, for, as the unit's own historian indicates, there was the additional problem "of moving the Seventh Army, which was replacing the Third Army, and this was accomplished [by the 718th] also without halt."
