712th Transportation Railwa... by Nancy Cunningham

765th orean Commisary

Paul's son, Larry Walker writes ....

My father was Paul T. Walker, Sargeant with the 743rd Railway Operating Battalion Company C
The attached are a few of the pictures I have of him and comrades. I attached some labels at the bottom


Thanks Larry!!

743rd ROB Walker by Nancy on Scribd

Thanks for much to Jerry Lamb, son of Charles Lamb for sharing his Dad's photos and unit history!

Thanks for much to Jerry Lamb, son of Charles Lamb for sharing his Dad's photos and unit history!

746th Railway Operating Battalion Unit History by Nancy

I am always trying to get more copies of these- if you have any I would appreciate it if you would contact me so we can arrange to get them scanned and on the blog.

They are a treasure trove of various units news as well as mentions of many soldiers.

I try to buy any histories, ephemera and newsletters as I can afford. If you would be willing to sponsor a purchase for the blog let me know - most things costs under $50 but I can't afford everything that comes along.

I don't want these things to go into private collections, I want them scanned and shared here for all the vets and their families to see, enjoy and learn from.

Thanks, Nancy

Email me at cunningb2@gmail.com if you have anything to share or if you'd be willing to sponsor a future purchase.

Yankee Boomer Vol.1 No.9 December 2, 1943 by Nancy on Scribd

Thanks to son Mark... Mark writes ....Harold Shaughnessy was born in Huntington, Indiana, in 1914 and died suddenly in 1976 in Hornell, NY. His father was Chief Trainmaster in Hornell in the 1930s and 40s. In his early 20s, Harold started working for the Erie Railroad in Hornell as a brakeman, then conductor, and after attending Cornell University, on to their Cleveland, OH, offices as their safety engineer. (The Erie became the Erie-Lackawanna, then Con-Rail)
In 1941-42 he served in the US Naval Reserves aboard the USS Wichita and was in the North Atlantic. He then served in the US Army with the 745th Railway Operating Battalion as a conductor and was stationed in India for all of 1943 and most of 1944. His job was handling trains full of military equipment, supplies and troops.
After arriving home from India he developed complications from the malaria and dysentery he had while stationed there and was placed in an Army hospital in NY State. While there, he met a kind Army nurse and married her 6 months later. They then had seven kids from 1947 until 1963 of which I am one.

The 745th Railway Operating Battalion was formed in May of 1943 by the U.S. Army Transportation Corps. Although it was sponsored by the CB & Q (Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad), it was composed of men from 63 different railroads who worked in 42 different states. The 745th went to Camp Harahan, Louisiana, for basic training and completed their technical training in Fort Wayne, Indiana. On or about December 6, 1943, they departed from San Francisco on the USS Mariposa, which was once a luxury liner but was converted for wartime use. They made a stop in Wilmington/Long Beach, California, and then headed for India. On board were the 721st, 725th, 726th, 745th, 748th and 758th railroad and shop battalions. They reached Bombay, India, on or about January 10, 1944, after stops at Hobart, Tasmania....Wellington, New Zealand....and Melbourne, Australia. Once in India, the 745th operated a 110 mile stretch of the Bengal & Assam Railway from Lumding to Mariani carrying troops, equipment and supplies. There was a U.S. military base in Jorhat which was about 10 miles N-W of Mariani. On October, 2, 1945, the 745th departed Calcutta, India, on the USS General Hugh L. Scott. On board were an odd mix of military personnel including the First Tactical Air Communications Squadron, the 23rd Fighter Control Squadron, the 725th Railway Operating Battalion, the 427th Night Fighter Squadron, the Army Airways Communications System, and intelligence agents from five OSS units (Office of Strategic Services). The USS Hugh L. Scott refueled at Colombo, Ceylon, on Oct. 6th. Entered Gulf of Aden on Oct. 10th. Entered Red Sea on Oct. 11th. And then through the Suez Canal, across the Mediterranean sea, across the Atlantic Ocean to Pier 88, NY City. Then to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. (This is where and when the 745th group photo on this blog was taken. My dad is 5th from the right and looks ragged from bouts of malaria.)

Rail Birds Issue 1

Rail Birds Issue 1 - Copy


Rail Birds 7
Rail Birds 7 - Copy

Thanks to Mark for these great newsletters -other ROBs are mentioned.

Mark writes ....My dad was a conductor in the 745th ROB and I have some bits of info and a few wartime pics. I also attended the 55th reunion of the 745th in 2001.

Your site is great! I did all of my research in 2000-01 and many links were dead and few were interested, especially in the 'forgotten theater of war'.....China-Burma-India.

For starters, I have info on the ships & routes the 745th took to get to India and when they left. In storage I have newsletters they self-published while en route.

Thank you, Mark Shaughnessy

Rail Birds Issue 3

Rail Birds 3 - Copy

Rail Birds 8

Rail Birds 8 - Copy

Rail Bird 10

Rail Birds 10 by Nancy Cunningham

Hospital Trains:

HOSP TRAIN No. 1 – 8 Feb 44 England – ETO Rhineland - Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 3 – 20 Apr 44 Wales – 19 May 44 England – ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 4 – 2 Feb 44 England – 23 Apr 44 Scotland - ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 5 – 7 Mar 44 England – 23 Apr 44 Scotland
HOSP TRAIN No. 6 – 7 Mar 44 England
HOSP TRAIN No. 7 – 3 Jun 43 England – ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 8 – 13 Mar 44 England
HOSP TRAIN No. 9 – ETO 31 Oct 45 Northern France - Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 10 – ETO Normandy – Northern France
HOSP TRAIN No. 11 – 31 May 44 England – ETO 4 Aug 44 Normandy – Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace (first improvised HOSP TRAIN, consisting of French freight cars fitted with litter brackets, ran between St. Lô and Cherbourg, 4 Aug 44)
HOSP TRAIN No. 12 – 21 May 44 England – ETO Normandy – Northern France - Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 13 – 21 May 44 England – 24 May 44 Wales - ETO Normandy – Northern France (later redesignated 7th Hospital Train)
HOSP TRAIN No. 14 – 21 May 44 England - ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 15 – 30 May 44 Wales – ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 16 – 7 May 44 England – 30 May 44 Wales – ETO Northern France – Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 17 – ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 18 – 26 Mar 44 England – 10 Jun 44 Scotland – 8 Sep 44 Wales – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 20 – 30 May 44 Wales – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 21 – 24 Oct 44 England – Wales - ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 22 – 30 May 44 Wales – 15 Jun 44 England – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 23 – 14 Sep 43 England – 24 Mar 44 Scotland – ETO Sep 44 France -Central Europe (partly destroyed by German bombing, at the Gare St. Lazare, Paris, 26 Dec 44)
HOSP TRAIN No. 24 – 14 Sep 43 England – ETO 29 Sep 44 Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 25 – 6 Jul 44 England – 25 Jul 44 Scotland – ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 26 – 6 Jul 44 England – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace – Central Europe (inactivated 10 Sep 45)
HOSP TRAIN No. 27 – ETO 14 Aug 44 France (FIRST Hospital Train to reach the continent, disembarked in France 14 Aug 44, carrying the 43d GEN HOSP on board, also the very FIRST one to reach Paris 2 Sep 44, with part of the 203d GEN HOSP)
HOSP TRAIN No. 31– ETO 5 Jul 45 Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 34 – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 37 – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 38 – ETO Oct 44 Belgium
HOSP TRAIN No. 41 – MTO Naples-Foggia – Rome-Arno – North Apennines - ETO Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 42 – MTO Rome-Arno – Southern France - ETO 10 Sep 44 Rhineland – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 43 – 11 Mar 43 England - ETO 14 Aug 44 Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 44 – 13 Nov 43 Northern Ireland - 17 May 44 England - ETO Northern France - Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 45 – 26 Jun 43 England - ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 47 – 6 Apr 44 Scotland – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 49 – 6 Apr 44 Scotland
HOSP TRAIN No. 55 – 27 Jul 44 England – 2 Aug 44 Wales - ETO Northern France – Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 56 – ETO 20 May 45 Rhineland – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 57 – 25 Feb 44 England (inactivated 12 Nov 45)
HOSP TRAIN No. 58 – 25 Nov 44 England
HOSP TRAIN No. 59 – 6 Sep 44 England
HOSP TRAIN No. 73 – ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 74 – ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 76 – ETO Rhineland – Central Europe
HOSP TRAIN No. 77 – ETO Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 79 – ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 80– ETO Rhineland
HOSP TRAIN No. 82 – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace
HOSP TRAIN No. 83 – ETO Rhineland – Ardennes-Alsace

**updated 4/15/2012

Cranes Us Army

We salute all those who serve and have served and thank them for their service.
It's so important that we keep the history of their accomplishments alive and that's the reason for this blog.

The vets and increasingly their children and grandchildren help keep the efforts of our WWII, Korea and other wars/conflicts soldiers alive by contributing to this blog!

Please if you have a photos, letters, document or other information that adds to our knowledge of the service of our Military Railway soldiers, please contact me and I will help you share it with others.

I get emails every week from someone who learned about a father's,  grandfathers, uncle's service from information they found here. Quite frequently,  I get emails saying that someone  saw a previously unknown photo of their relative here ..

Please help me keep this going...

Email me today if you have something to share ... I also buy what documents and books  I can so it all doesn't all go into the hands of private collectors and I scan and publish for all to see,  everything I buy and you can also help with that effort by donating here you can also donate your  items to me.

Thanks, Nancy Cunningham  cunningb2@gmail.com

Brothers keep trains, wars on track
Byline: Martin B. Cassidy Connecticut Post, Bridgeport

Oct. 04--STAMFORD -- Looking back over his 13-month tour helping transport supplies from Kuwait to other soldiers in Iraq and throughout the Middle East, Thomas Finn Jr., of Stamford, said he is wistful thinking of his daughter Angela's prom and other milestones in his children's lives he missed while abroad. "Whether it was my son's first Little League home run or my younger daughter's first soccer goal or my son Kevin's first day of nursery school, I've missed a lot," Finn said. "I've spent the past couple of weeks catching up and just trying to spend time with my children."

A master sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve's 1174th Deployment and Distribution Battalion, Finn returned to Stamford in late August after spending more than a year moving equipment for the U.S. Army from Kuwait into Iraq and throughout the Middle East. Finn and his younger brother Troy Finn, 39, share a great deal of common experience, having both served in the U.S. Army Reserve in Iraq and as train conductors for Metro-North Railroad in their civilian lives. Finn joined the reserves in 1990 and previously served in the U.S. Army Reserve's 1205th Transportation Railway Battalion. Troy Finn, a former U.S. Army reservist who works as a conductor on the New Canaan branch line, served an 11-month tour in Iraq in the U.S. Army Reserve's 325th Transportation Company in 2003.

"It's been great to have Tom back home," said Troy Finn, who now lives in Stratford.
Their father Tom Finn Sr., retired from a 39-year job as a Metro- North Railroad engineer in 2006.
"I did a lot of different things before working for Metro-North, but it's a very good job," Troy Finn said of his job. "I wish sometimes I had joined the railroad sooner." Thomas Finn Jr., who also served a 13-month deployment during the Persian Gulf War in 1991 working in the United States, said he is training to transition from his previous post as a conductor to that of a flagman on the New Haven Line's catenary replacement project or another initiative.

Thomas Finn Jr. has worked for the railroad since 1987; Troy since 2000. When Thomas Finn Jr. joined the military in 1990, the recruitment officer helped get him an assignment with the 1205th Transportation Railway Operating Battalion in the continental United States on the basis of his professional experience. I feel like with both deployments I was able to bring something from my job to the military and after the deployment bring a different experience back to my job," Finn Jr. said.

Tom Finn Sr. said he was initially surprised by his two sons' interest in the military, but was supportive and proud though somewhat concerned about their deployments to Iraq in the past decade. "My thought is that I don't want it to be one time more; it's one time too much," Finn Sr. said about Thomas Finn Jr.'s still active reservist status. "I'm aware in his position he could be remobilized. But he's done his time and served his nation proudly and I'd just as well have somebody else take a turn."

Finn Sr. said he got his son a job as a porter for Metro-North to help pay his way, but said in retrospect that many railroad workers tend to end up in it as a career. "I thought he'd go on with his career but I've found over the years that once you work on the railroad it kind of gets in your blood," Finn Sr. said. "I guess that's what happened with my kids." Since 2001, Metro-North Railroad has had 30 employees who have been activated for military service for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Angela Finn, Tom Finn Jr.'s 19-year-old daughter, said that she already feels like she has made up for some of the lost time with her father, who drove her back to the University of Connecticut at Storrs a few days after returning from the Middle East. "When he first left I didn't realize how long he would be gone," Finn said. "Then I realized, 'wow, my Dad is going to be gone a long time' and missed him a lot."

Finn Jr. said that he would not balk at another deployment if it came, because he believes that people in Iraq and Afghanistan are mainly supportive of American troops and the improvements that the military has been able to make there. "It's still in me to go back," Finn Jr. said. "For me it's more about the entire world, because the people there are no different from us and I felt like I was helping them to have the opportunities that we have."

Staff Writer Martin B. Cassidy can be reached at martin.cassidy@scni.com or 203-964-2264.



4544).

If you have anything you'd like to share I would appreciate it ..you can
send me copies or scans. If you only have originals you can send those to me and I'll scan them and return them to you

We all have this stuff sitting around in old boxes, photo albums or in files on our computers and we need to get them out where others can see them. So many relatives of these veterans ( kids , grandkids) are so thrilled when they see this materials. It only takes up a few minutes to make sure the incredible service of these guys is remembered

Thanks so much for your help and look what we've alread gotten up. http://militaryrailwayservice.blogspot.com/