US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Bragg, NC)

Page 8 text:

UF THE 36 flfwpmcd lfmenze TH ENGINE ERS COMBAT 5 x - IIN ffi wif vjljtb ff , all ill lla 535: , NF' 595' 5. L g x I 5 i S x g. XX 1 New BLAZON RY Engineer colors: Red and White on a shield with alter- t. nate wavy silver and blue lines bar dexter represen ing water. Thisis taken as indicating the formation of the Regiment on the shores of Lake Champlain and the training of the Regiment, a great deal of which has been in river crossings and on the water. The sea horse is erim osed on the right of the shield symbolizing SHP P the amphibious training of the Regiment and marine activites. E51 The motto of the Regiment is Ruggecl,,' which at first was held up as the aiming mark by its original com- manding officer and which subsequently came into more . IC. f or less habitual use by ofiicers and men in spea ing o their Regiment. This motto has been approved by the Y l ' e of War Department and reserved for the exc usivc us the 36th Engineers.

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' ' I, ' GEORGE W. GARDES Maior Execufive Officer HEGIME TAL STAFF JEOHN K. KEYS ROBERT W. WOOD, JR. R. A. WHEELER Capfain Captain Warranf Officer S-I . S-I Assisfani S-I MAXMILIAN J. B. WELKER ' WILLIAM E. MOSS LEONARD W. SCANNELL MILTON ZANCHIN Capiain Second Lieufenant Firsi Lieuienanf ' Firs1'LieuI'enan'r S-3 .S-4 Chaplain S-2

Page 9 text:

. 74 rg . ' ,,l1.'ilA,lL 5 Lk,-' M-Qi' Posi' Headquarters ai' PlaH'sburg, New York. EISEEEE EE EEE EEEH EEEIEEEE EEEIEIE E The 36th Engineer Regiment fCombatj was acti- vated on June 1, 1941, at Plattsburg Barracks, New York,,under the command of Lieutenant Colonel W. N. Thomas. L The cadre forming the nucleus of the 36th Engineers consisted of 55 oflicers and enlisted men. The officers were Captain John Danis, Captain Hamilton W. Fish, Captain Francis Bonini, First Lieutenant James B. Chubbuck and First Lieutenant Frank A. Swatta. The enlisted men who completed the cadre were from the Second, Seventh, Seventeenth and Sixty-fourth Engi- neers. Additional officers joined in June, six of whom were sent to the Engineer Replacement Center at Fort Belvoir to bring back troops assigned to the Regiment. These men were part of the first group to complete the three months basic training course in the newly-constructed Replacement Training Center. On June 28, 1941, 954 men arrived at Plattsburg Barracks on the shores of beautiful Lake Champlain, and the formation of the 36th Engineers was initiated. The first task was to weld the various elements of the Regiment into a smoothly-working, cooperative unit. This was accomplished by six weeks of intensive train- ing at the Barracks and at the nearby Macomb Military Reservation, six miles from Plattsburg, a beautiful, heavily wooded undeveloped area where the men were trained in combat and engineering problems. A me- morable feature of this training was the long hikes in full pack from the Barracks to the Reservation, the longest hike being 30 miles. Through this training and toughening, the 36th was quite ready for their first maneuver at Fort Devens, Massachusetts where they went on August 11. The Regiment moved by truck convoy and set up camp about four miles from Shirley, Massachusetts.