82nd Engineer Combat Battalion Association
This
website was created to recognize and honor the men who served with the
82nd Engineer Combat Battalion during WWII. On June 17, 1944, 634
men of the 82nd landed on the shores of Normandy, France. Their mission
ended 326 days later, on May 8, 1945, when the German Army
surrendered unconditionally!
Most of these men were in their teens or early 20's, many right out of
high school, when they joined the 82nd, at Camp Swift Texas in January
1943, to begin military training.
The role of the combat engineer is to assist the infantry and armor by
removing or laying mines, opening and maintaining supply routes,
bridging the rivers, using explosives to facilitate infantry
and armor movement, provide water supplies and a myriad of other
engineering assignments.
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XIX Corps
U. S. 1st Army
u.s. 9th Army
From
D-Day, June 6, 1944, through May 8, 1945, 5.5 million young men
entered the European theater of operations. When it was over 465,000
allied soldiers lay dead including 165,000 American boys who would
never return home.
We have attempted, with this
website, to present the story of WWII. First, by describing
the events leading up to the second world war and America's
response. We have documented the Normandy landings (Operation
Overlord) followed by the history of this battalion as we carried our
our mission all across Europe. And finally, we have presented a capsule of the entire
WWII conflict! These historical accounts are accompanied by hundreds of
photographs.
We hope you will find interest in our recording of these WWII historical events! |
| The written history of the 82nd ( 1945-46) was prefaced with
the following dedication. Although the author is unknown, the
tribute to the youth of that day was timely and appropriate. |
This
brief history, a moment in the annals of the eternal struggle of
freedom loving people, is humbly dedicated to the youth of
America. For early in the year 1943, in an hour of deepest
darkness, when the United States of America was faced with an
unparalleled adversity in a strife- torn universe, with her
future doubtful and her way of life in jeopardy, it was her youth to
whom she turned for further aid and resource. And American youth
spontaneously answered her plea!
American
youth, ingenuous, immature, unknown in quality, responded
to her fervent calls in a voice loud enough to give courage and
consolation to downtrodded people everywhere. American youth
accepted it’s full share of responsibility for the preservation
of democratic principles and ideals, well before it’s time, and
was not found wanting. Nutured in freedom it took to arms to protect
it’s birthright and to preserve it’s destiny.
It
left it’s peaceful schoolroom, it’s cozy fireside,
it’s simple pleasures, to pay a full stipend towards the price of
freedom. When war shadows were the darkest, when injustice was at
it’s zenith, and when death and destruction were most
prevalent, it was the transfusion of youthful American blood into
the fray that breeched the crisis. American youth stood out as a beacon
light of hope, of peace, of victory......a veritable phalanx and
bulwark against the pestilence of hate and bondage...a solemn promise
to the world, not only for the defeat of tyranny but for the future
preservation of liberty, decency, and human rights to all forever!
|
Ed. Husted, 82nd historian - July 2011
Please
enter- here |
