Posted by mark miller
on December 5, 2008, 2:02 pm, in reply to "Re: Cloyes Cutrell"
64.136.26.227
My dad (Maurice Miller) was with the 309th Combat Engineers also. (HQ) I know some of their duty was to blow up pillboxes, build bridges, clear mine fields. Many of those pontoon bridges to cross the rivers like the Roer, were built by the 309th. A caption I have (but a lost photo) is of Roy Fabre of 309th Co "C" which states "first to cross the Roer River" during the morning hours of Feb 23, 1945. Another photo that was forwarded to me is captioned "Co. B men - This is Co. B men after clearing a mine field so the Infantry
and Reconn. could move up."
My dad was always angry about some of the officers in that unit. One of his best buddies, Vernon Giggy of Bakersfield, CA, drove the jeep for the 309th company commander when the unit first entered combat in the Geilenkirchen area. When the the Red Ball Express started transporting supplies, Vernon drove their trucks for a while, and my dad took over driving the jeep for the co. commander. Then Vernon returned back to the 309th to drive for the cmmdr. The first day out in the jeep, the commander ordered Vernon to drive across a mine field. Vernon protested that the field was labeled by the Germans as mined with signs (Auctung Minug sp?). The commander said it was an order and that was final. So they drove across the mine field, and hit a mine part way in the field, under the driver's wheel. Vernon was hit very heavily, shrapnell all thru his body, broken ear drums, and broken knee caps, etc. The co commander crawled away to safety with a broken leg, and left Vernon to die. Finally Vernon was rescued by British commandoes that came by. For years Vernon was in the hospital, too ashamed to go home. We visited Vernon at his Bakersfield home in the mid 1960's and only until then was he first getting off crutches. We have a photo of Vernon in Leeds, Lousianna near where they had basic training before going into combat.
If you are interested in seriously finding some of the other vets from your uncle's outfit, I have a copy of the original home addresses of everybody in the unit. I can gladly email you copies of those few Co "A" pages. You might be fortunate enough to locate others in the unit, perhaps still in their original home area, though now it is a very long shot. Hope that helps and gives you a bit of understanding. MM
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