carbinephalen Posted August 22, 2015 Share #1 Posted August 22, 2015 1st LT C. F. C-U-R-R-I-D-E-N was born in 1921 in Salem, New Jersey. Enlisting in the Army in 1942 he was quickly put into the combat engineers with his strong background in building construction. He was assigned to the 313th Combat Engineering Battalion in the 88th Division. Shipping out to the MTO, Lt. C wasn't shy about being in the thick of combat. He was wounded in action THREE separate times and awarded the Bronze Star Medal twice. Leadership under fire flowed through his veins and Uncle Sam took notice. He received a battlefield promotion to 2nd Lieutenant on November 12, 1944. After his time in combat was over, he spent several months as an instructor at Ft. Belvier Virginia (hence the Washington Command patch)The story of ID-ing this uniform is just as thrilling as C's. It came to me via the forum as an unnamed, unidentified jacket and whistle uniform group with a BEAUTIFUL bullion 88th Division patch. I was able to get in touch with the original ebay seller that stated it came out of an estate sale in Salem NJ. Upon finding a digitized 313th unit booklet with a full roster in the back, I was stunned to find an 88th Engineer from Salem County NJ listed in it!I reached out to his family via ;their names in C's son's obituary and they provided me with a WEALTH of information, documents, and photos. I believe that this jacket was sold at his son's estate sale in 2012-2013. All that I added was the ribbon bars to reflect his service record (wartime originals of course) The rest is history as they say and I will let the rest of the photos do the talking.NOTE: I believe the whistle attached to his enlisted 4-pocket jacket in the portrait photo below, is the very whistle I received with this jacket! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbinephalen Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share #2 Posted August 23, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbinephalen Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share #3 Posted August 23, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbinephalen Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share #4 Posted August 23, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim2 Posted August 23, 2015 Share #5 Posted August 23, 2015 Awesome grouping, great work in discovering the history! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbinephalen Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share #6 Posted August 23, 2015 Thanks Jim! I am seriously in shock over the album shots his family sent to me last night! They still have his enlisted and officer dog tags, his Purple Heart, AND his Bronze Star Medal! They aren't letting loose of any of that though. Deep down, I'm glad families have a desire to hold on to history....although I know a good home for them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbinephalen Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share #7 Posted August 23, 2015 Just for the drool factor... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katieony Posted August 23, 2015 Share #8 Posted August 23, 2015 A really outstanding group...thank you for posting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chcole1 Posted August 23, 2015 Share #9 Posted August 23, 2015 Awesome job tracking this down. Happy to sell it to you and see it ID'ed. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbinephalen Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share #10 Posted August 23, 2015 His final payment voucher. All of the originals are in his large wartime scrapbook in the possession of his grandson. Copies are just as fine in my eyes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssggates Posted August 23, 2015 Share #11 Posted August 23, 2015 Once again you knock one out of the park! Beautiful coat and patch. Impeccable research is the icing on the cake. Great job keeping his memory alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted August 23, 2015 Share #12 Posted August 23, 2015 Just so you know, the DIs here are of the 15th Engineer Battalion, 15th Eng Bn was a part of the 9th Division, 9th Infantry Division furnished cadres to form the reactivated 88th Division at Camp Gruber Oklahoma in July 1942. So I,m guessing he was one of the cadre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted August 23, 2015 Share #13 Posted August 23, 2015 This will be the DI for the 313th Engineer Battalion, it is the one for the 313th Engineer Regiment, 313th Eng Regt ws the 88th Div's engineer unit, back when Divisions had full regiments in them going back to when the first divisions were formed for the Great War. I gather it was adopted for the then 33th Eng Regt sometime in the late 20s into the early 30s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbinephalen Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share #14 Posted August 23, 2015 Fantastic Add to this post Patches about the cadre DI. I was curious which one it was but without a motto I had nothing to go on! You're a wealth of info sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted August 23, 2015 Share #15 Posted August 23, 2015 Fantastic Add to this post Patches about the cadre DI. I was curious which one it was but without a motto I had nothing to go on! You're a wealth of info sir! Glad to have helped, just out of curiosity, what was his initial entry date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbinephalen Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share #16 Posted August 23, 2015 Patches: Late June, 1942. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted August 23, 2015 Share #17 Posted August 23, 2015 Patches: Late June, 1942. He may have been sent straight to the 9th Division at Bragg and was given training by the 15th Eng Bn rather then being sent to to one of the Engineer School and Replacement Centers, of which there were three. We gather then that he must of been transferred out over to the 88th Division before the 9th Division shipped out itself in the fall of 1942 when they headed to Africa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbinephalen Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share #18 Posted August 23, 2015 There's no telling. I have some stateside photos of training that the 88th patch can be seen clearly in the photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted August 23, 2015 Share #19 Posted August 23, 2015 There's no telling. I have some stateside photos of training that the 88th patch can be seen clearly in the photos. Right, the 88th Div was stateside for awhile after it was reactivated in mid July 1942, it goes overseas out of the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation December 6 1943, destination Africa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbinephalen Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share #20 Posted August 24, 2015 This one is listed for sale/trade if anybody is interested. Time to move it along to make room for more of those 76th grunts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tke507 Posted July 19, 2016 Share #21 Posted July 19, 2016 Is this still available? Thanks Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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