The 325th Combat Engineers

The Men of the 325th Engineers

Ahlers, Frank R., 1st Sgt. from Hoboken, N.J. Headquarters Company, did recon.

Bagley, Lewiston "Jim"--1st Lt., then captain of Company C for most of the combat, finally major in the engineers' battalion headquarters, from Astoria, Oregon.

Bauman, John C.--Sgt., from Flushing, New York, jeep driver for Lt. Morse during combat.

Bell, John C.--1st Lt., platoon 1 leader, West Point graduate, from Petersburg, Virginia.

Blanton, Carl--Sgt., from Shelby, North Carolina, terribly sick all the way over on the boat. Captured 19 Germans. Member of the Florida Association.

Chambers, Robert--Pfc, from New Berlin, N.Y. Supposed to be Morse's jeep driver in S.C. but rode in the back.

Cresscitelli, Quirino E., Tec 5--from The Bronx, N.Y. Headquarters Company

Dano, Ralph E.--S Sgt, Company C, from 1000 Island Park, N.Y. Pictured in the 1987 Florida reunion.

Denton, Ramon E.--1st Lt., his wife Katherine spent a lot of time with Margaret Morse in Fayetteville and the two couples got to know each other well. Denton had trouble handling the fighting and died right at the end of the war--blew himself up in front of everyone through suicidal recklessness.

Ding, William--Tec 5, jeep driver for Capt. Bagley, helped with the anti-freeze problem in Tennessee, from Union, New Jersey.

Dixon, Richard M.--Cpl, Company C, from Reidsville, N.C. Pictured in the 1987 Florida reunion.

Festa, Henry M., T Sgt, from Turtle Creek, PA. Headquarters Company, did recon.

Fountain, Omer--Tec 4, from Dublin, Georgia. "The only Georgia boy who couldn't shoot."

Gehrett, Robert, R. Jr.--S. Sgt, from Lewistown, PA. Headquarters Company, did recon.

Gibson, Joe E.--Pfc, possibly Zeke Zederbaum's friend from Tenn. in the photos, from Columbia, Tennessee.

Hawthorne, Emil F.--1st Lt., from Syracuse, New York. Platoon leader for Company B.

Ianelli, Vincent T.--Tec 4, Brooklyn, N.Y. Served in the Headquarters Company doing recon--checking on the condition of roads, bridges, and obstacles to report back to Battalion HQ.

Jones, Norval E.--Sgt, from St. Mary's, W.V. In NYC with Moore, played football on the team in Germany, in the car wreck with Ding in West Virginia after the war.

Levinson, Lawrence M.--captain, later major, from Atlanta, Georgia. When the battalion was formed, he was battalion personnel officer. He became intelligence officer for Headquarters Company by the time they went overseas. He was awarded the Bronze Star.

Lynch, Frank J., S. Sgt, from Glendale, N.Y. In Headquarters Company.

Masi, Lawrence J.--1st Sgt, from Newark, N.J.

May, Steve--Tec 5, from Warthen, Georgia.

Moore, T. C.--Tec 5, from Colquitt, Georgia. Jeep driver for Lt. Bell. Always on the look out for a good cigar.

Morse, Gordon H.--1st Lt., platoon leader during most of the fighting, company commander of Company C in the spring of 1945 to January 1946. Drafted in April 1941, served in the 28th Infantry, from boot camp to reaching the rank of sergeant--a squad leader of a machine gun unit. Got "volunteered" to go to Fort Belvoir to become an officer in the summer of 1942. And after the war, my father. The letters are to Margaret Youngs, later Margaret Morse, my mother, who was his girlfriend, fiancee, and wife during his service--so that's why I chose this picture. He had just surprised her. And for once had a crease in his pants because he wanted to impress his fiancee. A lot of the pictures here come from the Century Division 1944 volume of pictures taken some time in Fort Bragg. They remind me a lot of driver's license photos--

Ogilvie, Granville "Red"--Tec 5, from Bangor, Maine.

O'Malley, Joseph M.--S. Sgt., from Chicago, Illinois, in the motor pool, had his cake ripped off by the old sgt.

O'Neal, James W.--Major, from Chattanooga, Tennessee (perhaps ordered them not to blow up bridges and roads as the Germans attacked during Nordwind. My father blew them anyway.).

Peters, William G.--Pfc. from Curwensville, Pennsylvania, radio operator for Lt. Bell and road with T. C. Moore.

Reidy, Patrick F.--1st Lt., Amsterdam, New York: bunked with Morse and Bagley on the boat over.

Upchurch, John J., III--Capt., from Bronxville, New York, West Point graduate. He was the commander of Company B and was part of the task force taking Fort Schiesseck.

Wallis, John P.--Tec 4, from Lawrenceville, Georgia. In platoon 1 with Blanton, Fountain, and Moore.

Williams, William E. "Willie"--2nd Lt. His wife "Ugly" had been a beauty queen. She and Margaret Morse and Katherine Denton spent a lot of time with each other in Fayetteville in the summer of 1944.

Windham, Arthur--Pfc., from Bishopville, South Carolina, wife had a baby during Tenn. maneuvers. He served in the headquarters/service company overseas.

Winston, William J.--Pfc., from Locust Valley, N.Y. Headquarters Company

Zederbaum, Herman "Zeke"--Pfc., who took photos throughout the war, developing some in the foxholes during Bitche, from Roselle, New Jersey. Died June 1975.