Joe, My Uncle was a toy train enthusiast and a public health officer at the outbreak of WWII. His parents were Polish and he couldn't stand being a civilian with other men in uniform. He got himself a commission and couldn't get into the war in health, so he transfered. He served in a railroad unit in Europe. His name was Harry Krzywicki. Maybe with your dad. Regards, Bob S.
On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 6:40 PM, Joseph McAllister <pentax...@mac.com> wrote: > On Sep 6, 2011, at 18:28 , Doug Franklin wrote: > >> Yep, those are B-24s, if you're talking about the seventh image from the top >> on page two. I'm kinda partial to the second one from the top of page 2, >> just because I've always been somewhat entranced by "train artillery" (the >> original form of rail gun). > > My father, R.G. McAllister, was a Sergeant in the 723rd Railway Operating > Battalion in WW II. After 10 months of training after he was called up, he > embarked for England Aug 11, 1944. They docked in Liverpool on the 22nd, > disembarked on the 24th, then 30 hours later boarded a British ship in > Southampton. Two days later (a slow sailing waiting for the beach to be > ready) at 1600 hrs on the 26th they loaded up into L.C.I.'s and headed for > Utah beach in France, where they gathered up their equipment and personal > gear then headed inland. They caught a convoy on the 28th and made it to Le > Mans by 1330 hrs on the 29th. > > On September 9th, after working for a week under the command of the 708th > Railway Grand Division repairing the rails and getting under steam, they > moved on to Surdon where the Battalion Headquarters was established. When > the Battalion arrived in Surdon, there was much to be done. Most of the > buildings had been damaged by air attack. The railroad yards were in poor > condition and there were no facilities for handling other than a mere trickle > of traffic. On September 14th, the "Advance" party with it's hundreds of tons > of heavy equipment, prime movers to picks and shovels, arrived. > > What his Battalion was responsible for in essence was repairing damaged track > and rail yards as fast as possible to allow the locomotives my father worked > with to carry supplies to the front line(s). They had to keep up with the > forward movement of the troops as they liberated France, turning the lines > and equipment over to the French crews as they became available. > > My father was a yard locomotive engineer, a keeper of records and maps for > the Battalion, and when not busy doing that, he had to crawl into and repair > or overhaul with new pipe the boilers, clean and repair the fireboxes, grease > the parts that needed it, oil those that did not, fire them up and take them > out for testing before they were turned over to the long haul engineers and > crews. > > The Battalion moved to Dreux France to re-establish it's headquarters on > October 25th. They had by now established 70.4 miles of good track through to > Argentan. They kept enough locomotives and tenders operable to work that > trackage 24 hours a day. Leaving Dreux they were treated to a parade, > flowers, bands, food (women?) by the residents returning from wherever they > hid to avoid capture by the Germans. By Christmas, they had 110 miles > operating to the front beyond Versailles. > > On March 12 of 1945 the entire remaining rail system was turned over to the > French. The 723rd left on four trains to re-establish themselves in - > Germany! - at Munchen-Gladbach by 1200 noon on the 15th. One year to the day > and hour they started their training in Lincoln, Nebraska, plus someplace in > Texas where they had a European railway system and rolling stock set up to > play with. > > The main line of operation was from Herzogenrath to Geldern in priority > movement support of the Ninth Army. They operated under decent amount of > shell fire, though no lives were lost, just track needing repair. The Ninth > soon broke through the German Rhine defenses. The day was taken off on the > 14th of April to honor the death of President Roosevelt. > > In the month of April an estimated 125,000 prisoners of war and 29,000 French > and Belgium repatriates, in addition to the constant movement of supplies > foreword to the lightening advances of the troops. The 723rd's most important > and exacting task was the repair and rebuilding of the Gouldin Bridge at > Wesel - first railroad span constructed across the Rhine River. The 723rd got > the responsibility of that span from completion until VE-Day. A daily average > of 16 Eastbound trains crossed the bridge every day, about one per hour. The > same was true of the empties or troop trains heading West. What was > significant was that it was a single track bridge in support of the American > 1st, 9th, and 15th Armies, as well as the British 2nd Army. A self-imposed > bottleneck that took careful tending and control to make everything work > trouble free. Thank Company "A", the signal, track, and bridge platoon, my > father's in "B" company, the car, shop, and roundhouse platoon. > > The war ended on the 9th of May, but wasn't over for the 723rd. They still > maintained control and responsibility of the road from the border of Germany > over the Victory Bridge at Duisberg on to the city of Hamm, plus all > associated spur track. The Allies hired former German railroad employees > before the end of the war to rebuild the circuits of the electrically > operated switches and control towers in the various yards. Once the war > ended, we utilized all former German railroad employees, the goal being to > turn control of operation to them, only maintaining supervisional control by > the occupying forces. In fact, even that was soon turned over to the British. > > By the 3rd of July 1945, the Battalion was declared a Category IV Unit. The > downside was that no one had made any plans to get them back to the USA right > away. They were stuck doing the usual idle Army things like calisthenics and > close order drill, and a bit of sightseeing. In all that time in Europe, the > Battalion only lost four men, one in an accident in France, two in a train > wreck in Germany, and one by his own hand long after VE day. > > My father made it home and mustered out in February of 1946 in Chicago (they > always take you back to where you raised your hand and swore) where mother > and I had been living with my grandmother in Evanston. The family soon headed > to Glendale, Arizona to visit with fathers brothers and sisters and parents. > If you are on Facebook and a friend, the photo of me on horseback and being > wheeled around in a wheelbarrow on top of a bale of Arizona hay was that > time. I was 3, turned 4 in July. > > Factual events are from a book written by the Battalion, and printed while > they were still in Germany, of which I have my father's copy, along with a > large 10 x 24 print of the men upon graduation from training, and his medals, > along with some but not all of the images he took or his friends took of him > as they trudged around France and Germany. Little tiny deckled edge 2 x 3" > things, I've yet to copy. Back in the 50s and 60s my father made several > trips back on business at the Hague, but took the time to visit with some > very close friends he made in both countries. > > Thank you for reading. DId me good to put it down. It all started when I saw > that rail gun. My dad had a photo of one too. Don't know if I still have > that, but it was impressive. > > If it doesn’t excite you, > This thing that you see, > Why in the world, > Would it excite me? > —Jay Maisel > > Joseph McAllister > pentax...@mac.com > > > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
