The 325th Combat Engineers

France

The three companies of the 325th Engineers were divided up and each assigned to an infantry regiment. Company C was made part of the 399th Combat Team, attached to the 399th Infantry Regiment. They landed at Marseilles and tried to get organized before the 420 mile drive inland. The 399th was the first combat team in the division to reach the front.

Operations Summary--"Considerable difficulty was encountered in locating equipment shipped from U.S. and routed to wrong units from the port."

"Then we got overseas and we got drowned when we got off the boat in Marseilles. It was raining, raining, raining. I guess all that shelling and stuff. There was four divisions that went over with the 100th. 15,000 men and their equipment and you load all that in New York. I really think what shocked the Germans and people over there was that we were able to get over there with so much equipment. They were knocking out a hell of a lot of stuff going over there. Of course looking back Hitler made mistakes, he shouldn't have gone after Russia when he did, but how the people would look at you as we passed through some of the towns, you know they didn't expect it.

When we landed at Marseilles. Damnedest thing I ever saw. I thought it was very dangerous, the landing, and it was. Our general got run over and killed by our own big boat that runs on the land and water too. He got run over at Marseilles. There was never too much said about it" (T. C. Moore, 2001)

Bob Heller remembered when they had landed and were getting passes to Marseilles, Masi told them--"If you get in trouble in Marseilles, you will be punished there. And when you get back, I'll punish you for getting caught."

Bob Heller, "As we marched into port, there were ladies there handing out business cards."

Bob Hamer, "Whoa, I didn't get one of those!"

Heller remembered that there was a guy in the unit who had been a seaman originally from Antwerp. In New York, he jumped ship and at that time if you volunteered for service, you'd get to be a citizen, so he volunteered. As a seaman, he knew Marseilles well, so Bob got his own private tour. His name might have been Jean Baptiste de Buiter--Sgt. de Buiter?(Bob Heller, 2004)

Bob Hamer said the thing he remembered about Marseilles was that it was wet! And also that it was an eye opening experience, Marseilles. He was so wet behind the ears. He remembered they drank some anissette, the real stuff. They drank it straight then couldn't breathe.

Heller--"well, you mixed it with water, didn't you?"

Hamer--"no."

Heller--"well, that's the way to drink it."

Hamer--"I was so disappointed to get back to Texas and it just nowhere to be found."

When they got their equipment at the first bivouac, Bagley and Dad were sorting some of it out, and to their disgust the Army had supplied them with an Officers' Mess--china, silverware, glassware-so that they could be served separately and in style on the battlefield. They thought, what the hell do we think we are, some Civil War general? They ditched the lot of it as fast as they could. When Dad would tell this it always seemed shocking to me that three years into the war, the Army was still thinking like that.

Bob Heller remembered that Bagley would always eat last when they were in the field--"a gent." (Bob Heller, 2005)

Dad used to recall that when they were marching out of Marseilles, in France for the first time, that there were all these girls hanging off the balconies waving. The guys got talking "really rough" about the girls until one of them said, "I speak English." That shut them up. Apparently it was hard to tell a business girl.

They landed at Marseilles and immediately hiked five to ten miles straight up a hill to a beet field. Slept in the mud. They got separated from the rest the company. Took them five days to catch up with the other platoon. (J. P. Wallis, 2003 Florida reunion)

"October 22, 1944, Somewhere in France

Dear Mother and Baby (brother),

I'm dropping you a line to let you know that I landed and I am in France. I can't say what part or how close tot he lines I am, but you know that they are shooting live bullets and bombs over here. I had a very nice trip over on the boat and survived it. And sometime soon maybe I can tell you more about it. I didn't get seasick at all although the sea was a little rough at times. This is a pretty country over here, really beautiful. Not at all what I expected it to be. I was filling my canteen yesterday at our water point and a French lady came along pushing a baby carriage and stopped and said hello. So I looked over at the baby. He was a healthy looking youngster. He smiles and was just as cute as any baby you've ever seen. I get about pretty good. Today I needed to shave pretty bad. I hated to shave in cold water so I went over to eget some hot water and traded two American cigarettes for it. Tonight I'm having four nice big juicy pork chops, some corn, spuds, and fruit cup for dessert and tea to drink. By the way, the mess sergeant is a good friend of mine so as long as there is food, I get some. I've been reading in the papers about the invasion of the PHilippines. I guess you thought I was there. I bet MacArthur has the whole island by the time this reaches you. The reason I'm writing in pencil is I broke my bottle of ink and I can't get anymore. So I hope you can read this. Take care of yourselves. I'll write again tomorrow if I have time. I have a picture I made in New York. Sure did have a good time there." (T. C. Moore, letter published in the local newspaper in Georgia)

October 25 1944, "Somewhere in France"--"Shades of Tennessee, rain + more rain. Slogging through the mud is some fun. Nice sloppy mud from the hips down." (Gordon Morse to Margaret Morse)

Dad used to laugh that one of the first things he learned was to put a condom they were all issued over the barrel of his rifle in the rain, so that a unit of men walking along in the rain were a forest of condoms. Another use for the condoms came at a USO show in Stuttgart after the war, when the guys in the balcony blew up condoms as balloons and sent them bouncing down on the WACS in the first row. "There was hell to pay."

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The 325th Combat Engineers

France

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