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231st Combat Engineer Battalion, Company A guidon


nirvana
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Here is another from my collection. I had it as a reply to another post, but figured I'd give it its own post. The 231st Combat Engineer Battalion, Company A. From what I can tell, they were active from 1951-1954, and may have been put together later again, but this flag is almost certainly from that time. Anyhow, while other units were sent to Korea, this unit was sent to the Nevada proving ground to build Camp Desert Rock. This camp was the home base for Operation Buster-Jangle, a series of nuclear weapons tests. The 321st built the camp, prepared for the explosions, got to observe some (three?) nuclear tests, and then had to do cleanup (whatever that means...). It sounds like that meant exposure to radiation, as here is a VA reporting on a guy from Company A, this flag, claiming to have medical issues from the testing. It's an unusual piece from an unusual period in time.

 

http://www.va.gov/vetapp02/files01/0203869.txt

 

A small blurb about construction of the camp:

 

https://www.nnss.gov/docs/fact_sheets/DOENV_764.pdf

post-153664-0-54021600-1486513568_thumb.jpeg

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  • 6 years later...
Jeremy125

Hello,

 

I found this online, and joined the site to send you a message. My grandfather was trained at Ft. Lewis, Washington. I have a photo of him and the entire unit with this same flag displayed in the photo. There seems to be very little info on the unit, or that it changed names, perhaps. The back of the photo reads “231st Combat Engineer Corp

Ft Lewis, Washington May, 1951 End of basic training. I would love to find more information, unit insignia, anything. I’m happy to share my photo with you. Thank you and I hope to hear back.  

 

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