Company A of the 1314th Engineer General Services Regiment.  It was one of many all-black companies lead by a cadre of white officers. This company was in Services Support, and did basically whatever needed done as a jack-of-all-trades sort of outfit:  heavy equipment operation, road and

building construction, clearing debris, repairing damaged roads and bridges, etc.  The photo was taken in 1944, and I believe it was in the spring of that year, in front of a building in Salisbury, England, where the company was pre-positioned for the D-Day invasion.  The unit went ashore at Normandy in very early August 1944.

 

Phil Sammon

Public Affairs Officer

Wayne National Forest

13700 Hwy 33

Nelsonville, OH  45764

office 740-753-0862

fax 740-753-0118

NOTE: Phil Sammon's father was an officer assigned to the unit.