George writes ...

Hi - Come across your pages. I served with the 744th ROB in France, Belgium and Germany. I was admitted to hospital in Germany before returning back home.

I would love to have you add my Web Page to your collection. Thank you.

George Goetzelman
http://community-4.webtv.net/orecartent/744thROB

Thanks so much to Fred's daughter Linda.

Linda his daughter writes .....

I know that dad was in Mons, Belgium in 1945. He made very close friends with Dr. and Mrs. Therionet that lived there. They corresponded after dad got home until the Dr. passed away in the early 1960’s. I have nice pictures of Dr. and Mrs. Therionet. While dad was in Belgium, there was a Royal wedding. Dad got me a wedding commemorative ring that he gave me for my 16th birthday. It is a very dainty ring, the top shaped like a crown with diamond chips in it. I will give it to my granddaughter when she turns 16 years.

My dad spoke German and some French. At some time or other he was exposed to German prisoners. He said that he knew the war was over when he saw 14 years old kids in German Uniform.

Also, the winter he was overseas he said he had never been so cold in his whole life.

While I was waiting for your e-mails to send out, I read the history of the 717th. There’s not much mention of Company C. Perhaps he was attached to another battalion for some reason or another. I definitely know that he was in the Ardennes (Alsace), France and Germany.

I don’t know if I’ve contributed very much to the 717th Battalion because the lists that I sent you are questionable. I could not find any of the names on those lists in the Battalion history. I have to commend you for the railway battalions that are listed on the web. They are wonderful. If I find anything else among my father’s things (I still have some boxes of stuff), I will let you know. Good luck and good hunting for info. I admire you for what you are doing.

I have a picture that I think that is from a reunion. It is a group photograph, and may be a combined reunion with other Battalions. A man in the center foreground of the photo is holding a locomotive with the words “Detroit – 744.” It could be the 744 Railway Battalion. My dad is in the photo marked “Detroit 1964.” If you’d be interested in that photo, I will send it to you. There are several women in the photo – probably wives and daughters – or grandchildren.

I have some photos that are labeled Buchenwald (Concentration Camp). They are depressing. I have no idea how they came to be in his possession. I do know that he gave some of his photos away at one of the reunions. So they’re bouncing around out there somewhere. I think his buddies were good at trading photos.

I live in Houston Texas. I came here in 1967 with the Space Program. So if there’s anyone in my direction that might be from the 717th, I’d love to talk to them.My dad was a very special guy. When I was very very little, he told me he’d put the stars in the heavens – just for me. He was a very loving man.

717th Company a Roster by Nancy Cunningham

717th Headquarters Co. Roster by Nancy Cunningham

From BPresley ....(thanks !)

I just discovered your web site after a Google search of my dad’s military unit. I have in my possession a copy of the booklet “A History of Two years Activation”. My father was Opal L. Presley and served in this unit. I know precious little about his experience in the war as he died at the age of 49 in 1957 when I was only 7 years old. I only recently discovered this book....Attached are a few pictures my dad took while in Belgium. Unfortunately, I have no narrative of who are where.

755th RSB Unit Card by Nancy Cunningham

755th RSB by Nancy Cunningham

Thanks Tim

Description: US Army, 1945.

008193-Reports of the General Board-123-Military Railway Service 37 Pages1945 At the beginning of hostilities in December, 1941, one railway operating battalion was in training. Additional battalions were organized shortly thereafter, consisting of officer personnel drawn from the Reserve Corps, and enlisted personnel, transferred from other units and obtained through the Selective Service system.

It was from the latter that most of the men with civilian rai1way experience were obtained. About 40 per cent of the enlisted personnel of the Military Railway Service had from 6 months to 10 years of civilian railroad experience. Of this number, about 50 percent had over four years experience. On 16 November 1942, shortly after the arrival of the first military railway units in the United Kingdom, all personnel assigned to the Railway Transportation Service of the Corps of Engineers was transferred to the Transportation Corps, Services of Supply, European Theater of Operations. The General Board was established by General Orders 128, Headquarters, European Theater of Operations, United States Army, to prepare a factual analysis of the strategy, tactics, and administration employed by the United States Forces in the European Theater.
eto-123

By ANDE YAKSTIS

For The Telegraph video too :http://www.thetelegraph.com/articles/cooper-56689-712th-korean.html

Veteran Harold Cooper was a brave lineman who climbed power poles to keep the line of communication open for railroad cars carrying supplies U.S. infantrymen fighting on the battlefields of Korea.

Cooper, of Godfrey, was a soldier in the 712th Transportation Railway Operation Battalion, which gained fame for transporting supplies and ammunition through dangerous territory to the U.S. soldiers who were in fierce battles against North Korean and Chinese communist forces.

Cooper climbed 35-foot wooden power poles in 30-degree-below-zero temperatures to make emergency repairs along 52 miles of territory in the Korean War."The lines froze and broke in the cold temperatures," Cooper recalled. "We climbed high on the poles in the bitter cold air to set up an emergency phone system."

The soldiers of the 712th Transportation Railway Operating Battalion gained a reputation for their courageous action to keep supplies moving to U.S. infantrymen.The Korean War was raging in 1952 when Cooper was drafted in the Army in his hometown of East Alton.

He graduated from East Alton-Wood River High School in the class of 1950 and worked a year at Laclede Steel Co. until he went into the Army.Cooper was sent to special training to learn to climb wooden power poles as a lineman to keep lines of communication open to the fighting front.
He learned to dig the steel spikes on the side of his boots into the wood pole and climb 35 feet in the air.

Dozens of soldiers underwent intense training to learn the skill of standing near the top of a pole in the dangerous job of keeping lines of communication open for U.S. forces fighting to defeat communist troops in Korea.

Cooper was assigned to the elite 712th Transportation Railway Operation Battalion, which first went to battle in the early 1940s in World War II.
In the Korean War, the 712th was activated on Sept. 3, 1950 at Ft. Eustis, Va., with officers and enlisted men who had experience in railroad operation.

The 712th operated the Korean National Railroad in the early months of the war from Taejon north to the frontlines of the battlefield.Cooper climbed poles to set up emergency phone communication systems on the site of four major wrecks of railroad trains.

In one Collision, rocks slid down a hillside in the night and slammed into a train, killing the engineer.Armed with a pistol in his shoulder holster, Cooper dug his steel spikes in the wooden pole and climbed to install phones to open the line of communication at the scene of the train wreck cause by the rock slide.

Cooper's 712th Railway Transportation Battalion was awarded the U.S. Meritorious Unit Commendation medal for courageous action in transporting troops to the battlefields.In one dangerous mission, men of the 712th transported U.S. infantrymen, tanks and artillery guns of an entire army division through the night across Korea to another fighting front.

Cooper and his crew did maintenance work on 52 miles of power lines through deep valleys and up mountains in the hot, steamy summer and 30 degree below zero winters.After 17 months in Korea, Cooper came home in 1953 with Army service medals, including the Korean United Nations ribbon with three bronze battle stars.

He returned to work at Laclede Steel Co. where he operated a press in the wire mill, retiring after 42 years.Cooper and his wife, Juanita, married in 2003.He was married 51 years to Shirley Cooper, who died in 2001. They have two daughters, Debbie and Starla, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Cooper is a life member of Alton VFW Post 1308.

Read more: http://www.thetelegraph.com/articles/cooper-56689-712th-korean.html#ixzz1bLTnDPVl

Cook, Lester A, b. 04/24/1908, T/4 CO C 764TH RAILWAY SHOP BN TC, Plot: D 586, bur. 09/27/1961

Camp Butler National Cemetery
Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois


ALBERT A. DELVECCHIO
Albert A. Delvecchio, son of Mrs. Mary C. Delvecchio of LeRoy, N. Y., and the late Dominic Delvecchio, was born November 2, 1913, in LeRoy. He attended LeRoy Grammar School and High School. He was employed at Hirschman Ventilating Company plant. On January 10, 1942 he married Carmela LaRussa of Batavia.
He was inducted August 5, 1943. Serial No. 42 020 026. He left with the 39th contingent for Camp Upton, L. I. Then to Camp Harahan, La., and to a railroad battalion in Bucyrus, Ohio.
Albert went overseas July, 1944, three months in Southport, England and then to France. Sgt. Tech. Delvecchio served in General George Patton’s Army for eight months in Co. B, 764th Railway Shop Battalion. He died of bronchial pneumonia June 15, 1945. General George Marshall sent a letter of condolence and the Army Chaplain, Dennis McCarthy, wrote assuring his widow of his every care.
Sgt. Delvecchio received the Good Conduct ribbon and the European Theater ribbon with Bronze battle star. His body was brought to LeRoy to be buried in St. Francis Cemetery in the family plot. Besides his wife and mother, he was survived by five sisters and three brothers serving in World War II.

WIECZOREK, Steve J. 8-18-1911 - 10-14-1958
Nebraska PFC
Co C 764th Ry Shop Bn
WWII

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