231st Combat Engineer Battalion, Company A guidon

[nirvana]

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