that was a fascinating piece to read, Joe - thanks. Have you ever been over here and followed in his railtracks? That would be an interesting holiday.
B > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > Joseph McAllister > Sent: 09 September 2011 00:41 > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List > Subject: Re: OT: 24 Hi Res Images From World War II > > 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 > [email protected] > > > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > 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 [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
