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Bring Back Flag 17th AB, 341st Engineer Regiment, 31 March 45


17thairborne
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17thairborne

I am happy to add this bring back relic to my collection. THere's a lot of pending research, but so far I am leaning toward a flag captured by two members of the 341st Engineer Regiment on 31 March 1945.

 

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The Regiment sent its 1st Battalion to the Wesel area just after Operation Varsity to assist with the construction of a railroad bridge across the Rhine at Wesel. From the book, "History of the 341st Engineer Regiment" comes the following excerpt:

 

"And then, during the last week in March the First Battalion was ordered on special duty to help in the construction of the Ninth Army railroad bridge at Wesel, the first railroad bridge to be built across the Rhine river. The First Battalion's assignment in this huge project was to construct the east approach to the main span. Company "A" was given a job of building a separate bridge, 465 feet long, 18 feet high, spanning the Lieppe river, which runs into the Rhine at Wesel. The structure was to• consist of six spans of 77 1/2 foot lengths."
The first two names on the flag appear to be "B. Goodm??? and H. Da???"
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The history book has a complete unit roster and I found the following names that might be a match for H. Da???. These are the only Last names beginning with Da and a First Name beginning with H.
Dangler, Hllliar M., 2942 Fontenay Road, Shaker Heights, Ohio
Davidson, Howard, Sr., 2221 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia. Pa.
Dawson, Hayward C., Route I. Blaff Springs. Florida
Dawson, Harold J., Route 3. Greensburg, Indiana
As for the B. Goodm??? I have the following Last names with Good and a First name with B.:
Goodman, Bernard T., 133 North Shanango Street, New Castle, Pennsylvania
Goodman, Bert N., Route 1, Munfordville, Kentucky
Perhaps its the two buddies from Penn.

 

 

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17thairborne

There is a nice bold date of 31 Mar 45.

 

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Below that date appears another name which makes some sense, it is a trooper from what looks like the 507th AIrborne Infantry of the 17th Airborne Division with the name of something like:

 

D. F. Goodw?? (very hard to tell) but the ranks of S/Sgt is clear.

 

 

 

 

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17thairborne

There are a couple of other thinks that don't make sense. The map appears to be annotated with Captured at Hof Germany by (names).

 

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Hof Germany is on the east side of the country near Nurnberg. The 341st History does list the unit as having been at Hof, but on a later date. I'll need to study a map near Wesel to see if another "Hof" turns up. Hof is a german term that was attached to nearly every farmer's compund in the Wesel area. For instanstance, the Joorman family farm was annotated on the Wesel 1:25,000 tactical map dated 1944 as Joormanhof or the Wegeman's as Wegemanhof etc. Perhaps that is where the Hof comes from. It could be a common oversight. Hard to say.

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17thairborne

There are a few more pieces of info that don't make sense and I'll continue to dig. Here's my best guess trace using paint to help decipher.

 

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17thairborne

On a side note, the 17th Airborne Division fought during Operation Varsity which took place on 24 March 1945. The Division trains, those paratroopers and glidermen assigned to the divvisional trains driving the trucks in to link up with the troopers, were stuck on the west bank of the Rhine until the first bridge was built. Perhaps Goodwin or Goodman from the 507th was from the truck convoy and met with the two engineers assigned to build the bridge and he signed their flag.

 

 

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dhcoleterracina

Great piece, I love signed capture flags, great research potential. You know those aren't water stains right? I'm sure it stopped smelling long ago!

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17thairborne

Great piece, I love signed capture flags, great research potential. You know those aren't water stains right? I'm sure it stopped smelling long ago!

O+ eh...smells like moth balls.

 

If anyone is seeing any other interpretation of names or words or can ID the 507th man that would be a great help.

 

Thanks for looking

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USCapturephotos

Great piece and good luck with the research. I love signed flags like this and enjoyed seeing the photo that you included as well. These signed flags are really starting to be appreciated now!

Paul

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17thairborne

Great piece and good luck with the research. I love signed flags like this and enjoyed seeing the photo that you included as well. These signed flags are really starting to be appreciated now!

Paul

 

Its pretty much the only thing that I really collect. The research is enjoyable and challenging. Thanks for taking a gander at it.

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17thairborne

Hi Oz,

nice to read you and ... nice item, of course !

Richard

Richard,

Thank you and good to hear fro you as well. Have been busy with move to Tennessee and building my home and "farm". I look forward to restoring some GPWs soon.

 

If you have any ideas on the 507th name please let me know.

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