History - 49th A.I.B. - Service Co.
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(Pages 15-17)

STORY OF COMPANY
HEADQUARTERS

Among the Louisiana pine trees and sand sat our orderly room. The month was October and the weather was still warm. Messages began to come into our orderly room in a steady flow. All kinds of means were used in order to get these messages to us. One can not but feel sorry for the Battalion runner who made numerous visits. Near the end of the day you would swear that the runner had worn away two inches of his legs. These messages contained information concerning our movement overseas.

One of our biggest jobs was getting our T/O organized to its proper strength of 66 men. Our Company Commander, Captain Carder, and 1st Sgt. Hartgrave, spent many long hours studying each man for a position that he was best suited for in our unit. It was a very difficult job to cut our unit down to T/O positions of 66 from 79.

Once we had the men selected for their positions it was time to make sure that each man was qualified to go overseas. There were three phases for overseas movement, they were P.O.R., P.O.M., P.O.E. In order to make absolutely sure that each man was qualified in all three phases, a chart was kept in the orderly room. On these charts were placed the men's names and T/O positions, also the qualifications necessary for each man to make. This chart was taken care of by Tec. 5 Sarnell, who is the Company Mail Man and general handy man on administrative work. Day by day these qualifications were met by our men. Long hours on the firing range, firing all kinds of weapons from a 45 cal. pistol to an 81 mm Mortar.

Not only was it necessary to make sure that our men were qualified for overseas, but our administrative records had to be perfect. Our morning reports, sick books, Army Regulations, War Department Circulars,

Bulletins and other administrative data was checked carefully by 1st Sgt. 'Gravy' Hartgrave and Sarnell before storing in the United States. Only records that were necessary for operation were taken overseas with us.

Supply was another important factor to be taken care of before we departed from the United States. Supplies for our unit was taken care of by S/Sgt. Neil 'Mac' McKenzie. 'Mac' was responsible for all kind of supplies in our Company - all the way from a tent rope to a tank recovery vehicle.

When all our new equipment began to arrive at Camp Polk we had three boys who constantly hung around the supply room waiting for the most important thing in the Army (they think), - Radio Sets. These men were Communication Sgt. 'Eddie' Dawaliby, Tec. 4 'Olie' Olson, a radio operator, and Tec. 5 'Art' Maharay, also a radio operator. Of course 'Eddie' Dawaliby always pulled his rank when it came time to open these new radios, but 'Mac' McKenzie pulled his rank and said he would open them first. Then when 'Mac' and 'Eddie' were gone, who do you think would come sneaking into the supply room - none other than 'Olie' Olson and 'Art' Maharay and they sure tore those boxes open in a hurry.

Another headache was packing and crating. This big problem was made easier when each section of our Company took care of their own packing and crating.

Last but definitely not least was the process of notifying our families, relatives, and friends of our change in address. This was taken care of by Tec. 5 'Stew' Stuart, our Battalion Mail Clerk.

All this led to October 27th, 1944, the date we departed Camp Polk, Louisiana at 2200 by train. The car that we had on the train was surprisingly good. It was clean and comfortable. 'Gravy', 'Mac' and Sarnell managed to get a drawing room. This room during the day was used as an orderly

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room in order to make out the necessary morning reports. Once these reports were made out the room became a club room for playing cards. Most of our time was spent playing cards, reading, and looking out of the window as we traveled toward the P. O. E.

On the 30th October at 1810 we arrived at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. It was a cold, brisk, evening when we dismounted from our train and marched to our new quarters. The next morning when we had a little time to explore the camp we found that its facilities were many. The P. X. (Post Exchange) were plentiful and well stocked with milk, cake, pies, cookies, sandwiches, hot dogs, and many other items that you were told that the P. X. had but never saw them in Camp Polk.

Latest features were shown at the theatres plus U. S. O. shows. Passes were issued for two nights to go to New York City. Most of the men in our section ended up at Jersey City.

There were still minor things to be taken care of before leaving for overseas. There was climbing of ropes and rope ladders to give us practice in case our ship was sunk at sea, also we practiced loading and unloading on the train. Of course there was the routine clothing and physical checks.

On Nov. 6th, 1944 we departed Camp Kilmer at 2130 for New York Port of Embarkation. We boarded the train a little different than the way we had practiced for half a day, but we made it alright to our next means of transportation which was a Ferry across the North River to Pier 23. We boarded the ship that night and were told that we were sailing on His Majesty's Ship Samaria.

The next morning we all made a dash for the decks to see the Statue of Liberty and we all had hoped we would see it again.

On the 7th of Nov. at 1000 we departed New York - Destination Unknown. (?) At first it looked like we had a good deal with only 33 men in one room, but as each day passed more men entered our room to sleep because where they were sleeping, practically in the hole of the ship, it was impossible to get any rest because of heat, the noise of the engines. and the continued tossing of the ship.

'Gravy', 'Olie', 'Art' and Sarnell spent most of their time near their beds. Although they didn't get sick they felt much better in bed. 'Mac' and 'Eddie' kept the cards and dice in good working condition on the decks. Twice

a day our section managed to go down stairs to eat some terrible food (?). It was hard to say which was worse, the food we got to eat or the stench on the way to and from the mess hall. It seemed like we kept on the equator for our whole trip overseas. We would wake up in puddles of water (perspiration) in our beds. It took us 13 days of actually sailing and one day in the harbor.

We docked at Southampton, England at 1130 on the 19th Nov. 19H and actually got off the ship in time to catch the train leaving for Tidworth at 1700 on 20th Nov. 1944.

Nothing could be seen as we rode through England because the shades of our train had to be pulled down for blackout purposes. We arrived at Tidworth station at 2030. Here at Tidworth, Headquarters Section was honored by being given permission to load the Officers' luggage on trucks. Now we can realize why it took the good old Samaria 13 days to cross the Atlantic. Quartermaster trucks picked us up and took us to Penning's Camp. After dismounting from the vehicles we saw before us a dull village of pyramidal tents, sitting in a sea of mud, just waiting for the Infantry. That night we gathered up some damp wood and tried to make a fire in our tents in order to take the chill out of the tents. The mission was unsuccessful and as we were very tired we bunked down for the night in the cold.

The next morning 'Gravy' assigned each section to their tents. Then the boys began to make their tents a little more comfortable. Doors, wooden floors, and lights were installed in each tent. These small improvements helped immensely.

At Tidworth we were preparing to move out to France. Vehicles and equipment were obtained here and organizational duties continued on a schedule.

Thanksgiving was celebrated in mass formation with Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Company in a large dining room. A prayer was said.

Convoys left at night to visit nearby towns. We all had a chance to visit London for 2 days. We took a tour of famous sights in an open air taxi, winding up at the Rainbow Corner Red Cross Club having seen London - Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, St. Pauls Cathedral, and The Tower of London.

'Mac' got an opportunity to see his mother and sisters in Scotland for 7 days. From all reports - 'Mac' had a grand time.


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Mail began coming, and this made the boys very happy. Some of the boys received packages in time for Christmas.

By Christmas we had our own mess hall, which always makes everything nice. On Christmas Day the kitchen prepared a super-dinner and we had for our guests, several English Orphans and we did everything possible in order that they might have a good time. They seemed to enjoy our Christmas tree which we had outside of our tents. The tree was decorated with painted light bulbs and ornaments cut from colored paper.

Many men that night prayed that they may have their next Christmas with their families.

On Sunday, 30th Dec. 1944 we were alerted to move out the following Tuesday morning. That Sunday our section received their half-track, the vehicle that would carry us through thick and thin in the ETO. 'Gravy', 'Eddie', 'Olie', 'Art', and Sarnell were then known as members of the HAPPY HARMONIOUS HALF-TRACK CREW. New Year's slipped by without even being noticed because we were kept very busy with last minute checks.

We were up at 0530 Tuesday, 2nd Jan. 1915, At 1005 we departed Penning's Camp after cleaning up around the area. We rode through England toward our marshalling area which was Hurley's Camp in the vicinity of Southampton. We arrived at Hurley's Camp at 1630 and at 0600 on the 3rd Jan. 1945 we loaded up and pulled out for Southampton Docks. We arrived at 1200. The remaining part of the day we hung around the docks while our vehicles were loaded aboard the Liberty Ship 'Joseph Storey'. We boarded the ship at 2100 and prepared for bed immediately.

At 0700 the next morning our ship pulled out of the dock and anchored a mile out. At dusk about 1915 our ship pulled anchor for France. We pulled into Le Havre at 1700 along side of

another transport and in about an hour we moved once again to an open pier and began to unload our vehicles and equipment.

We didn't complete the unloading until the following morning at 0800. After chow we formed bur convoy and rolled toward Totes, France in a snow storm. We pulled in at Totes at 1700 and billeted in quarters which were only occupied a few months ago by the Germans.

Here at Totes, 'Gravy', 'Eddie', 'Olie', and 'Art' worked on our half-track that we acquired in England. They built beds in the trailer that We were hauling and also built collapsible beds for the half-track. 'Mac' was busy issuing clothing and Sarnell kept busy between washing pans and pots by making necessary administrative reports.

We were up at 0500 on the 9th Jan. 1945, and again we rolled. This time at 0600. It was a cold, brisk, long ride but we didn't mind it too much because we were kept warm by our half-track motor. At 1900 we pulled into the woods, driving blackout, at Baccones, near Reims, France. The next morning everyone was up early because it was too cold to sleep. This morning we decided to get our half-track combat-loaded. We packed only food and equipment that we decided would be necessary in combat. We got a 50 cal. machine gun from the Fuel and Lube, Section. They were too busy hauling gas for the Battalion and didn't have time to clean the weapon and stand guard at night. Besides, a truck load of gas isn't a very good place to fight from.

In our section this 50 Cal. machine gun got better care than the members of the Happy Harmonious Half-track Crew did. After every move we made the first thing we cleaned the 50 cal. machine gun.

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