723rd Railway Operating Battalion soldiers and mail
723rd Railway Operating Battalion
Raymond C. Jensen -Raymond was a Staff Sergeant with Company A, 723rd Railway Operating Battalion during World War II.
Wilbur A. Hunt-Wilbur was a Tech 5 with the Headquarters Company of the 723rd Railway Operating Battalion.
Guilford H. Howe - Corporal
721st Raliway Operating Battalion Company C History
If anyone has a copy of this -please contact me
Thanks, Nancy cunningb2@gmail.com
732nd R.O.B. photo Major T.J. BRENNAN
Below is a photo of Major Thomas J. Brennan, the commanding officer of the battalion throughout the war. He died in September of 1973.
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PHOTO from collection of Ernest Everett Pittman (PITTMAN Ernest Everett b 3 Nov 1908 IL d 20 June 1968 Mt.Vernon, IL , pre-war boxcar builder at Mt. Vernon Car Manufacturing Company)
Inscription on reverse of photo: "Major T.J. BRENNAN 732nd R.O.B." (handwritten)
This particular copy was printed on wartime Actien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation German paper (Agfa-Lupex paper), which would have been readily available at camera shops in Northern France.
In this photo, Maj. Brennan is holding a copy of the December 7, 1944, Stars and Stripes army newspaper, printed from its Paris press. (Vol. 1, No. 134 of that publication.)
The headline reads "Saar Crossed at 6 Points /// 3rd Forces Four New Bridgeheads on 50-Mile Front"
There are two boxes of "Kleenex Tissues" and a pack of smokes behind him.
It is speculated that this photo was taken within one week of the publication date of the newspaper pictured (07-DEC-1944), because one week later on 16 December the Germans sought to break through in the Ardennes forest, starting the Battle of the Bulge in which 19,000 American soldiers died.
[The full front page of the newspaper can be seen at http://www.wartimepress.com/WWII-Archives/images/717/Paris%201944%2012%2007.jpg ]
[ Photo: Major_Thomas_J_Brennan_DEC_1944.jpg ]
