American Soldier- Railroaders in India Lauded by Mountbatten

 


Newsreel December 1944 Newsreel: Battle of the Bulge; Bastogne; Army Railroads

G.I. Rails Rairoad magazine 1940s?

Tracks to victory

Military Railway Service in Italy

764th Railway Shop Battalion

 


Army Railroad Master Plan post 1970s

Unknown Railway Operating Battalion operating Italian railroad April 1944

FM 55-55

Field Manual 55-55 Description Describes "the organization and operation of the railway-operating battalion upon a railway operated by the Military Railway Service. Its purpose is to assist military railway officers in the training and operation of their units and to guide command and staff officers charged with their employment." 57 p. : ill. ; 19 cm. United States. War Department. February 4, 1944.

715th Railway Operating Battalion - Charles Wesley Lewis

His granddaughter, Melissa writes .... 

Charles Wesley Lewis was morn Jan 24, 1919 and passed Dec 6, 1986 Once home to West Virginia he began work in the coal mines eventually getting his Mine Foreman's Certificate in 1953. Was a member of the local Lions Club and an avid gardener. 

He had bright blue eyes and a warm toothy smile, a wicked sense of humor and a great story teller, and he never met a stranger. Sadly he passed at only 67 from complications of emphysema and Black Lung Disease. 

*Thanks Melissa for sharing these with us !

Army railroading at Antwerp Railway Age magazine March 1945

Railroads at War by S. Kip Farrington

Part I

 

 Part II

 

743rd Railway Operating Battalion photo


 

WWII Research Resources for Veterans Day


  • Ancestry.com’s 1942 “Old Man’s” draft cards, Navy cruise books, missing in action reports and other WWII records. I was glad to be able mention Ancestry.com's Free Access Weekend for its military records in honor of Veterans Day.
  • Footnote’s WWII missing air crew reports, submarine patrol reports, Pearl Harbor muster rolls and other WWII records. 
  • The Veterans Administration searchable Nationwide Gravesite Locator  has burial information on veterans and, in some cases, their descendants, in VA cemeteries and state and local veterans cemeteries.
  • The WWII National Memorial Registry, which combines four other databases: those buried in American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) overseas military cemeteries, those memorialized on ABMC Tablets of the Missing, those listed on official War and Navy Department Killed in Service rosters , and those who’ve been enrolled in the memorial’s Registry of Remembrances. (You also can search ABMC WWII databases here.)


Railroad companies sponsoring MRS units