Thanks to Greg for sending some more 722nd photos.

 Group shot back reads " In this picture, from the left is George W. Irvin, Gordon Hawk (Middle) "Red" Grass "
The portrait is Bill Keith

Veteran of the Week: Private George Walker Farr

The Veteran of the Week is sponsored by the National Veterans Shrine and Register of Honor at the American Village — honoring America’s veterans and telling the stories of their service and sacrifice for the cause of liberty.

“The American Village is pleased to join the Shelby County Reporter in recognizing Private George Walker Farr as Veteran of the Week,” American Village founder and CEO Tom Walker said. “He is representative of the hundreds of thousands of Alabamians who have risked it all for the sake of our country and its freedom. To all veterans we owe a debt we can never fully repay.”

Visit the website, Veteransregisterofhonor.com, today and add your loved ones to the Register of Honor. Help us honor, recognize, respect and remember our country’s veterans. Here are highlights about this week’s Veteran of the Week: George Walker Farr was born in Birmingham in 1919. He entered the service as a U.S. Army Private in May of 1944 at Fort McPearson in Georgia. He served during World War II in the Philippines with the 737th Railway Operating Battalion, and was honorably discharged in November of 1945 in Seoul Korea. Farr immediately reenlisted and served two more years with a Military Police Detachment, receiving his second honorable discharge at Camp Stoneman, California in July of 1947. He died in 2007 and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham.
https://www.shelbycountyreporter.com/2020/06/09/veteran-of-the-week-private-george-walker-farr/ 

The Trains That Fueled the ... by Nancy on Scribd

Remembering Historic Camp C... by Nancy on Scribd

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Ned Streiff - Interview with Ned Streiff(18:55)
Audio interview

unknown soldiers

 

716th High Ball Nov 1945 by Nancy on Scribd

716 Highball Oct 1945 by Nancy on Scribd

Anyone know who's these photos might be ?

Photos of "Cliff"

https://www.scribd.com/document/465009003/740th-ROB-Cliff-Cliff-Photos

https://www.scribd.com/document/465008985/740th-ROB-Cliff-Cliff-Photos-2

Photos of war damage, rails and other soldiers (marked) :

https://www.scribd.com/document/465009010/740th-ROB-Cliff-Marked-No2 

Photos of war damage, rails and other soldiers (unmarked) :

https://www.scribd.com/document/465009017/740th-ROB-Cliff-Unmarked-No1 https://www.scribd.com/document/465009023/740th-ROB-Cliff-Unmarked-No2

**Thanks to Lewis for working on this if you know email me militaryrailwayservice@gmail.com and I will get you in touch with Lewis.

Do you know the numbers, names and ranks of the eighteen locomotives named in Belgium during February 1945 after 708 RGD soldiers and are there any photographs of these named locomotives?

During the WW2 USA supplied 2120 S160 locomotive The United States Army Transportation Corps S160 Class is a class of 2-8-0 Consolidation steam locomotive designed for use in Europe during World War II for heavy freight work. They worked on railroads across the world, including Africa, Asia, all of Europe and South America.
During February 1945 eighteen S160 were named after Military personnel who lost their lives during the aerial and V1 bombardment of Liege and environs, Belgium. The locomotives were named after servicemen from 740th and 741th railway operations battalions and 755th railway shop battalion. Torret (1995) list 15 of the locomotive numbers and the names of three of the locomotives.

 Locomotive No    Name    Battalion
1    1609    ?   
2    2039    ?   
3    2052    ?   
4    2171    ?   
5    2174    Pvt J. A. Auriemma    741
6    2181    Pvt H.B.Lindsey    741
7    2182    ?   
8    2208    ?   
9    2327    ?   
10    2360    ?   
11    2582    Pvt H. J. O'Brien    741
12    2603    T/5 A.A. Van Kleeck    740
13    2615    ?   
14    2792    Pvt J. M. McGillis    755
15    2913    Pvt C J Anderson    741
16           
17             
18             


Gregory (1947) includes a photo of 2582 Pvt H. J. O’Brien being names by Major Gen. Frank S. Ross at Kinkempois Yard on 28th February 1945, also present were Lt. Col. S. Pulliam, Brig. Gen. C. Gray and Col. W. S. Carr. T/4 E. H. Welborn and T/Sgt A. R. MacDonald crewed the locomotive.
Recently I came across the photo of locomotive 2181 Pvt H. B. Lindsey on the internet and 2174 Pvt.  J. A. Auriemma.
Livingstone (1981)  list the eight 740th servicemen are the following T/4 D. R. Gnovese, T/5 J. L. Mullin, Corp S. J. Belcastro, T/5 F. Rallo, Pvt R. J. Greco, Pvt O. L. Lance, Pvt A. G. Lewis, and T/5 A. A. Van Kleeck.
Livingstone (1981) states 8 were named after servicemen from the 740th, 8 after servicemen from the 741st and one from 755th.
Ross (1945) states “On Dec. 24, a lone German plane bombed the joint billet of the 740th and 741st Railway Operating Battalions, six blocks from the Guillemins yard. Nine soldiers were killed, several injured. Three days later, a V-1 exploded in the Kinkempois yard in Liege. The 740th lost eight men this time, had twenty injured.”
Tourret (1995) states eighteen locomotives were name in February, the other references list seventeen, but are referring specifically to incidents in the 740th history.

Pictorial Handbook of Military Transportation: Operational Photographs of the U.S. Army
Transportation Corps European Theater of Operations 1945, list the eighteen men dedicated:
     Rank    Name    Battalion    Died    Locomotive No.   
1    Corp    S. J. Belcastro     740    27/12/1944    2171 ?   
2    T/4    D. R. Genovese     740    27/12/1944       
3    Pvt    R. J. Greco    740    27/12/1944       
4    Pvt    A. G. Lewis     740    27/12/1944       
5    Pvt    O. L. Lance     740    27/12/1944       
6    T/5    J. L. Mullin     740    27/12/1944       
7    T/5    F.    Rallo     740    27/12/1944       
8    T/5    A. A. Van Kleech    740    27/12/1944    2603   
9    Pvt    C. J. Anderson     741    24/12/1944       
10    Pvt    C. H. Creamer     741    24/12/1944       
11    T/5    R. D. Gugger     741    24/12/1944       
12    Pvt    H. B. Linsey     741    24/12/1944    2181   
13    Pvt    M.H.  Massaro     741    24/12/1944       
14    Pvt    B.    Reiss     741    24/12/1944       
15    Pvt    E. H. Wiese     741    24/12/1944    1609 ?   
16    Pvt    J. A. Auriemma     741    12/12/1944    2174   
17    Pvt    H. J. O'Brien     741    24/12/1944    2582   
18    Pvt    J. M. McGillis     755    25/12/1944    2792   

Unfortunately the scanned image of the locomotives around edge of the dedication is illegible, does anybody have a copy of Pictorial Handbook of Military Transportation: Operational Photographs of the U.S. Army Transportation Corps European Theater of Operations 1945. It shows 17 of the 17 locomotives.
               
 


References
Ross I. (1945) Combat Railroading VFW Bulletin Sept 1945 p33-35.
Gregory A. G. (1947) The saga of the 708 Railway Grand Division

Tourret R. (1995) Allied Military Locomotives of the Second World War

Livingstone J. (1981) 740th Railway Operating Battalion History

Pictorial Handbook of Military Transportation: Operational Photographs of the U.S. Army Transportation Corps European Theater of Operations August 1945, Technical Information Office
Office of the Chief of Transportation.














           

724th James Bell Memories by Nancy on Scribd