723rd Engineer Railway Operating Battalion photo
723rd Engineer Railway Operating Battalion. Note the early uniform with John Brown Belt, riding pants and boots. This photo came from the collection of a veteran of the 723rd.
The 723rd was originally organized as the 614th Railway Engineer Battalion in 1924. In 1933 it was redesignated as the 614th Engineer Battalion a Reserve unit affiliated with the Union Pacific Railroad Company and reorganized in February, 1941 as the 723rd Railway Operating Battalion, Transportation Corps. From 1943 to 1945, the 723rd operated in the European Theater in England, France, Belgium, and Germany. It was part of the occupation forces in Germany from May to October 1945.
The Grossman family: 8 brothers who helped the war effort during WWII
This is a great story about the uncle of Jim Grossman, one of our contributors ( who served in the 763rd) and it talks about the 8 Grossman boys ( his Dad and Uncle's ) who all helped out the war effort ( 6 served in combat roles) during WWII.
Jim writes ...
Here is a Today Show piece about my Uncle Carl Grossman, the last of 8 brothers from Pittsburgh who served in WW II at the same time. Uncle Carl, in his 90's ,still works, as a greeter at a Walmart, in a suburb of Detroit. The interviews with him were done there and at the WW II Museum in New Orleans. He was a special guest of Tom Brokaw the weekend they dedicated a new wing therein November 2009. I have also attached a story from the Detroit News. The Today Show piece, shown right before Christmas in 2009, won the Emmy Award for best feature story on a national news show. My Dad was one of two brothers who were exempted because of age and having two children, but he is the one mentioned in the piece who worked on building parts for the atom bomb at the Westinghouse plant in East Pittsburgh. The old pictures and movies in the Today Show piece were mostly taken by my Dad.
763rd Railway Battalion -- Jim Grossman
Thanks so much to Jim for these great photos.
Jim Grossman writes ...
I was the supply officer for the 763rd Railway Battalion (Maintenance) at Ft. Eustis, Va. from Sept. 1964 to about July 1965, when I left to go to 8th Army Hqs in Korea. The battalion was being taken out of service at that time.
Here are two; in one I am sitting in engine 606 in Jan.1965, and the other is a photo of me with fellow lieutenants during a field exercise at Ft. Eustis in March 1965. In that photo, Lt. Colonel Walsh, the battalion commander is promoting 2nd Lt. Cummins to 1st Lt. I am second from the right in the photo.
At that time there where two battalions in a Group (I cannot recall the Group's number and name). They were the 714th Operating Battalion and the 763rd Maintenance Battalion. I got orders in March 1965 to be reassigned to the 8th Army in Korea the coming July. About a month after that, nearly every lieutenant in both battalions received orders to report to Danang in Vietnam around the same time.
The 714th and 763rd were the last two railroad battalions in the Army in 1965, I believe. I do not know if they were revived there or in Vietnam.
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