^ back to top ^ World War II - Luzon & New Guinea 79th Engineer Battalion History From World War II through the Korean War By Bobby Thompson An excellent history of the 79th from World War II to Germany. A Battalion of Heroes The Story of the 79th in World War II Dedicated to the memory of Andres Martinez Andres Martinez American Threater Campaign Medal Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with 2 Bronze Stars Phillipine Liberation Medal with 1 Bronze Star Victory Ribbon Overseas Service Bars These are the photos of Albert B Blake courtesy of his daughter Elaine Gideon. 79th Engineer Combat Battalion For Performance Under Enemy Fire 79th Engineer Commendation of 1944 Source: Andres Martinez "The performance of the 79th Engineer Combat Battalion in the operation contributed in large measure to the success of that operation. In particular, the close support furnished by your unit to troops in the assault, the rapid improvement of the track from the beach, the improvement and maintenance of the road, and the dilligent prosecution of all assigned engineer missions ably demonstrated the initiative, resoursefullness, skill and determination of the personel of the 79th Engineer Combat Battalion. The conduct by your men under enemy fire was exemplary, and their accomplishments in the assault and later phases of the operation redounds to their credit."

^ back to top ^ Eniwetok Atoll & Japan "The Battalion was reactivated as the 79th Engineer Construction Battalion on 28 February, 1949, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. We remained at Fort Sill, attached to the 17th Field Artilley Group, until February, 1950. The Battalion was then notified that it had been chosen as part of Task Force 3, which was to take part in "Operation Greenhouse." Our misssion was to destroy existing buildings on Eniwetok Atoll and erect new installations for a garrison of a permanent nature." - Bobby Thompson Entwetok Atoll Project Just a tad different than Grafenwoehr was !!! Operation Greenhouse "I was in Japan Jan. 1949 to Nov. 1951 During that time Gen. Mark Clark declared the 79th Engr. Bn. to be the BEST Engr. Bn. in the Far East. They had just returned to Japan from Eniwetok" - Clyde Keene Mystery Photos; 1940s or 1950s By John Mcconaghy If you recognize any of these pictures send me a e-mail. They must have been taken during this time frame. My current hunch is Japan.

^ back to top ^ Korea The 79th Engineer Battalion World War II through the Korean War By Bobby Thompson An excellent history of the 79th from World War II to Germany The Arch Bridge The Arch Bridge Story The Arch Bridge Construction Pictures Slide Show 1 Slide Show 2 Slide Show 3 USO Slide Show Who Built Yongsan? 8/12/52 We got word the whole battalion is going to Seoul and may build the new 8th Army Headquarters. - 1LT James Patterson UNC and US Forces established headquarters at Yongsan in 1952 About Yongsan Army Garrison One of the most accomplished officers in 79th history 1LT Patterson's Commendation Medal Ceremony GREAT PICTURES OF KOREA Korean Scenes Photos of 1LT Jim Patterson More Pictures of Korea Photos of 1LT Sid Friedman Korea Book Estes Memorial Bridge M/Sgt Cupit with the B-Co 79th Engineer Battalion. This was written on the back of the picture that my wife's uncle took. My wife's uncle was LTC Louis D. Calarco, he was with the 43rd Inf and KMAG. - Bob DeGuise Battalion Casualties in Korea New Collection The Photos of Albert L Hardon (58 pages eventually) Page13 - Dale Potter - "Mr. Doublestop" The 79th Engineer Battalion's Most Famous Fiddle Player Listen to Dale !!! Jazz From The Hills 5 Clips

^ back to top ^ Neureut The 79th Engineer Battalion was activated by the transfer of the battalion colors from Korea to Neureut Kaserne, Karlsruhe Germany and on 22 February 1955, the battalion started its construction work in that location. PFC Bruce Gearhart Bruce has the first recollection so far of the 79th in Germany

^ back to top ^ Beirut, Lebanon Pictures of Lebanon during Operation Bluebat SP/4 Paul Abat, 1956 - 1958 The official history of Operation Bluebat with links to the pictures of Paul Abat Beirut, Lebanon: Operation Bluebat, 1958

^ back to top ^ Pirmasens On 14 February 1956 orders were received for a permanent change of station for the Battalion. Preparations were made by Headquarters and Service Company and Company A to move to Pirmasens, Germany. Companies B and C made preparations to move on a temporary change of station basis to Mannheim for the summer construction season. Part 1 Part 2 These great videos were made by Dave Presley who sent them to me as a DVD set in 2006. You might need to click pause and let it load for a while if you have a slow internet connection. Enjoy your journey back in time. Very well done! Fait Accompli! Visit Norm Snowden's Website Great pictures of Husterhöhe, Pirmasens & Kleber Kasernes With a great link about American History in the 1950s John Clifford, 1951 (He wasn't in the 79th but the pictures are great. I think he is dead now.) Pirmasens Photo Album Updated PFC Richard Frisch 1959-1961 1st Platoon, Company C, 1959 New from Dan Woolsey The Sonics, 1963 and 1964 PFC Dan Woolsey 1963-1965 Pirmasens in May 2000 The 79th Engineer Yahoo Group Web Site Frank Martucci's Web Page Frank Martucci, 1950s A-Company 3rd Platoon, 1955

^ back to top ^ Agadir, Morocco Letters of Commendation, Morocco Disaster Relief, 1960 By Richard Frisch

^ back to top ^ Wiley Barracks Neu Ulm On 15 March 1966, the 79th Engineer Battalion came once again under the control of the 39th Engineer Group. The relocation of the battalion from Pirmasens, Germany, to Neu Ulm, Germany occurred during the period of 10 July 1966 to 1 November 1966. Wiley Barracks - Neu Ulm About the Kasernes plus Pictures and Maps Recalling Neu Ulm, 1967-70 By Tom Waddell Bridge Training on the Danube River, 1971 By John Mcconaghy Construction Sites & Projects, October 1970 - April 1971 By John Mcconaghy Recalling 1970 LT Jon Ridgeway Battalion History from 1970 - 1971 By Colonel Eugene J. Stokes Battalion Commander Operational Report, November 1970 - April 1971 By LT John Mcconaghy Itschner Award Nomination 1969 Company C The 79er Newsletter, September 1970 -

^ back to top ^ Gerszewski Barracks In June 1971 the 79th Engineer Battalion moved to the zoo, it's final destination. Gerszewski Barracks: South Kaserne Gerszewski Barracks: North Kaserne The History of Rhein Kaserne The History of Gerszewski Barracks Historical Information What Was Where At Gerszewski While digging through my stack-of-stuff I found this corny video. It's the first one I made about Gerszewski Barracks and before YouTube. It tries to show how the 79th Engineers ended up at the Gerszewski Barracks. It has pictures that are not posted anywhere else on the site. Click the two history links above for a much better expanded version of the two intersecting histories, and much better videos. Yahoo! Group Gerszewski Barracks Everybody is Welcome! Everything you could possibly want to know about the kaserne is here. The Gerszewski Barracks Movie Clips from the movie Buffalo Soldiers (Watch The Trailer), which was filmed at Gerszewski Barracks in the 79th's end of the kaserne. You will see every building that the 79th occupied. All of the scenes filmed in the Colonel's office were in the 79th's headquarters building. Here are clips from the movie with the music from the end of the movie. 1. A funny scene in the colonel's office. 2. Various clips of the motorpool and barracks. Demolishion Pictures Courtesy of: Sabine Altenmueller Remember The Dap?

^ back to top ^ Grafenwoehr in 1973-74 Tank Ranges 12 & 80 If you have good speakers turn the volume way up. Note: The webmaster was in the 24th Engineer Group attached to the 79th as a Soil Analyst during this period. By the middle of 1973 he was transfered to the 79th. The webmaster was flown from K-Town (Kaiserslautern) to the Zoo (Gerszewski Barracks) in Karlsruhe in a small helicopter, then he boarded a Chinook with a platoon from Co C 79th, and a barf bucket, and was flown to Graf. About Tank Ranges 12 & 80 C Company's project at Tank Ranges 12 and 80 was a whopper in its own right. They had significant support from HHC in the form of surveying control and soils lab work. The folks from A Company operated a quarry near the range, providing gravel for C Company's new tank trails. C Company occupied both their vertical construction platoons, and all the earthmoving assets in the battalion. A pretty big job for a group of young fellows, and they did it safely, taking care of each other. (But they built the Range Tower backwards - Webmaster) Tragically, we lost a B Company earthmoving soldier who drowned swimming in an old quarry near Graf after an especially hot day on the range. - LT John McConaghy, Co. B, 1st Platoon Jim Earle's 19 Most Memorable Moments AWOL from Graf, 1973 Italian hitch hiker we picked up in Milano. She stayed with us for 3-days. The answer to your question is no way. It's a great story though. Here's a small taste of the story. The Maintenance Complex Note: After Kogut and Earle went back to the world the 79th only had one surveyor left. But the Maintenance Complex was way over his head. So the webmaster was given the responsibility of both Soil & Survey until SSG Pelfrey finally arrived near the end of 1973 to head up the new survey team. When the time came to draw the As-Built plans the 79th did not have enough draftsmen either, so the webmaster drew the As-Built plans for the project too. About The Maintenance Complex The Maintenance Complex was the biggest project B Company had taken on in a long time. Planning started in the winter of 1972-1973 with LT Kenneth Clow as the Project Officer. By the time B Company moved to Graf in the spring of 1973, CPT William Gay (Read Biography) had assumed command of the company, and LT Sidney Allison took over as the Project Officer. LT Allison was promoted to CPT and reassigned, and in the fall of 1973, LT Lee Davis took over as Project Officer and finished the job. Just about nobody from B Company (or the rest of the 79th, for that matter) was left in Karlsruhe. Both B Company vertical construction platoons were involved at the Maintenance Complex site, and the earthmoving platoon was working with C Company on the upgrade of Tank Ranges 12 and 80. The early work on the Maintenance Complex involved getting the building foundations and structure in place, and a whole pile of grading and paving. The paving equipment came from the 24th Engineer Group's Equipment Platoon, and labor was provided by the 79th. Concrete paving went on dusk-to-dawn for months. There were also hundreds of yards of concrete-paved drainage ditches, sludge traps, and oil separators that had to go in, as well. I'll leave it to the Webmaster to tell the story of how the Maintenance Complex project turned out, since he was there. In response to the observation that the NCOs were not very visible on the jobsite, I can only recall that there were not many there in the first place. In the post-Vietnam draw-down, the Army was having a hard time convincing career soldiers that they should stay in, especially after twenty years. Europe came lower in priority than Asian assignments, or apparently than stateside duty for that matter. B Company had First Sergeant Givens, a number of earthmoving NCOs, and several experienced vertical construction leaders like 1st Platoon's SFC Crawford out on the line. They were good NCOs, but they were spread plenty thin. In general, things got done because some special young fellows like Mike Bridge and Gary Burdett got picked to be acting NCOs. They took the challenge, and stepped up and got more done with fewer resources than anyone could reasonably have expected of them. - LT John McConaghy, Co. B, 1st Platoon

^ back to top ^ What Happened To The 79th Engineers ? This is now a dead link: 94th Engineer History But it said: "Following Operation Desert Storm and the fall of the Soviet Union, the battalion was reassigned to the 130th Engineer Brigade, V Corps, and then reorganized in 1992 to become the only Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy) in the European theater. Newly designated Companies A and B moved from Karlsruhe, Germany, to Hohenfels and Wildflecken, Germany, while Headquarters and Support Company and Company C moved to Vilseck, Germany." THAT was the 79th !!! Read it again like this: Newly designated as the 94th Companies A and B of the 79th moved from Karlsruhe, Germany, to Hohenfels and Wildflecken, Germany, while Headquarters and Support Company and Company C of the 79th moved to Vilseck, Germany." Now this: I was in the 79th when they disbanded, and everyone went to the 94th in 1993. HSC and Charlie were re-deployed to Vilseck (I HATED Vilseck!), Alpha went to Hohenfels (I was assigned as one of Alpha's medics for 6 months, Loved it in Hohenfels, but then again, I spent every possible amount of time in Nuremberg, not Hohenfels), and Bravo went to Wildflicken. I have a bunch of pictures from Karlsruhe and from Hohenfels and Vilseck, if you guys want to copy them. Robert L. Welch (YES Robert, Send Pictures) It was further confirmed in these two biographies. NOTE: CSM Landy's link is dead but I was able to coorespond with him a couple of years ago and he confirmed it. The problem is I lost it or misplaced it: The Command Sergeant Major of the NEW 94th ENG BN had two tours with the 79th ENG BN in Karlsruhe, Germany. CSM Landy, 94th Engineers In 1982 ... he was the Battalion Logistics Officer and then the Battalion Maintenance Officer for the 79th Engineer Battalion in Karlsruhe. He next became the Brigade Maintenance Officer for the 18th Engineer Brigade .... then (became) Company Commander, B Company, 94th Engineer Battalion in Darmstadt. Lieutenant Colonel Boyd D. ?Doug? Houck Therefore The 79th Engineer Battalion BECAME the NEW (and now inactivated) 94th. Fait Accompli So there you have it. The history of the 79th Engineer Battalion. I hope you enjoyed the journey. Fait Accompli