1269th Engineer Combat Battalion
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 Color Guard of the 1269th being inspected by Colonel Carew, CO of the 1131st Engineer Combat Regiment. |
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The 1269th, in its brief existence, was a microcosm of WW II fighting units of the U.S. Army. Young men in their teens and serious-minded older men in their 20s and early 30s, all came together with little in common to be molded by intense training and iron discipline into an effective team. A few months of basic training sufficed, just barely, to forge a cohesive unit with rudimentary wartime skills. A French woman offering wine to our column marching from the dock at Marseille exclaimed: "My god, they're children!" But not for long: Hard experience in the mountains of southern France came soon, continuing through the Rhine crossing and into the mountains of southern Germany. Now looking back on life-changing experiences in the 1269th ECB some sixty years later, we remember friends and what we did together. |
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We recommend Yank Magazine's excellent website: http://yankmagazine.blogspot.com/ Please send comments to engineer1269@yahoo.com |