New member introduction and help on the Hawaiian Division, 3rd Engineers

[carlosjanine]

Hello everyone,

 

I live in Salisbury, England and my husband and I are members of an archaeological group which focuses on the welfare of current and former members of the Armed Forces over here.

 

A recent archaeological survey which included metal detecting, at a WW2 airfield at Ramsbury, Wiltshire, uncovered an amazing ring dated 1937. It is from the Hawaiian Division, 3rd Engineers and is a 'Champions' ring. There is a name inscribed on the underside which is quite difficult to decipher. So far I have the initials 'R C' and the surname begins with 'Mer' or 'Mar'.

 

Does anyone have a personnel roster of the Hawaiian Division in 1937, or have any idea what military 'championship' this ring relates to. Or can you point me in the direction of who to contact? I understand the 3rd Engineers merged into the 24th Infantry Division in 1941, so the recipient of this ring may have transferred to another unit or passed the ring onto someone else, who came to England in preparation for D-Day. 

 

I have attached some photos of the ring and inscription. 

 

Thanks in advance, 

 

Janine

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Welcome to this Forum. The name looks like “RC Merkle”. I’ll let some more experienced researchers “weigh in” on the roster question.

[aznation]

I believe and hope this is your guy.  The ring represents the 3rd Engineers Champions of the Hawaiian Division and the dome looking item atop the ring represents a basketball because they were basketball champions in 1937.  The initials on the ring are for Richard Charles Merkle as you'll see more information about him below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can download and save the Adobe .pdf files to your computer and/or print them as you wish.  Thanks...Matt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ancestry - Richard Charles Merkle .pdf WWII Morning Reports - Richard C Merkle.pdf WWII Pennsylvania Compensation - Richard C Merkle.pdf

[Cobra 6 Actual]

One thing you can count on with this Forum is aznation!

[carlosjanine]

Wow!! This is amazing!! Thank you so much and for the information!

shall take a closer look.

[otter42]

Impressive Matt! Well done, even photos of him. Love the one with the red airborne tab over the AAF patch.

[aznation]

19 hours ago, carlosjanine said:

Wow!! This is amazing!! Thank you so much and for the information!

shall take a closer look.

You're very welcome.  I hope the information is helpful.  Take care...Matt

[carlosjanine]

Matt, I don’t suppose you have rough dates for the photos? 
Janine 

[aznation]

2 hours ago, carlosjanine said:

Matt, I don’t suppose you have rough dates for the photos? 
Janine 

Hi Janine, the photos of Richard C Merkle did not have exact dates attached to them.  That said, if I had to guess (and it's only my best guess), I'd say the photo on the extreme left might've been taken around late 1943.  The one in the middle I believe is an earlier photo of him and might've been the earliest photo of the three, taken perhaps in the 1936-1937 timeframe while in Hawaii where he played basketball.  Lastly, the far right photo might have been taken in mid 1944 to mid 1945 timeframe.

 

Some additional information to note: 

 

On the Morning Reports I attached please note that pages 20, 21, and 22 have nothing to do with Richard Merkle.  Sometimes during the scanning process by National Archives some morning reports are blurry and the service numbers are misread into the optical character reader.  Such was the case on those particular pages.

 

Richard's MOS or Military Occupation Specialty was 533, which was a Demolition Specialist (Construction and Engineering)

 

For an example of what these Army Airborne Aviation Engineer Battalions were trained to do see this YouTube video =>  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjwnGGP6SIw

 

Here's another link that might be of interest =>  https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/VII/AAF-VII-9.html#:~:text=At the time of the,of airfields in forward areas.

 

[yokota57]

On 4/20/2026 at 4:41 AM, Cobra 6 Actual said:

One thing you can count on with this Forum is aznation!

+1

[carlosjanine]

Thanks Matt, you are an absolute legend!!

 

Janine

[carlosjanine]

On 4/21/2026 at 8:53 PM, carlosjanine said:

Thanks Matt, you are an absolute legend!!

 

Janine

Hi again Matt,

 

Sorry to bug you, but what is the best way to get access to the unit history for 878 Airborne Engineer Aviation Bn? We are trying to work out when they arrived in England and left (possibly for Market Garden), but it's not easy searching on the National Archives.

 

Janine

[jumpship]

39 minutes ago, carlosjanine said:

Hi again Matt,

 

Sorry to bug you, but what is the best way to get access to the unit history for 878 Airborne Engineer Aviation Bn? We are trying to work out when they arrived in England and left (possibly for Market Garden), but it's not easy searching on the National Archives.

 

Janine

I’m not Matt, but I don’t think he’ll mind:

 

The battalion left the NY Port of Embarkation on 27 Feb 44, arrived in England on 8 Mar 44 and arrived in France on 4 Aug 44. They were given campaign credit for the Rhineland Campaign During Aug 45, the battalion was in Nancy, FR and returned to the USA during Oct 45.

Source: Stanton, Shelby. WWII US Army Order of Battle. 2006.

[jumpship]

From this publication on Market Garden:

 

https://mcoecbamcoepwprd01.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/library/Documents/Hardcopy/paper/D767.67_A21.pdf

 

 

[carlosjanine]

4 minutes ago, jumpship said:

From this publication on Market Garden:

 

https://mcoecbamcoepwprd01.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/library/Documents/Hardcopy/paper/D767.67_A21.pdf

 

 

This info is amazing, thank you Jumpship! This forum is brilliant!

Janine

[Salvage Sailor]

22 minutes ago, jumpship said:

 

 

Interesting note in the last line of that Ridgway message:  HOPE 52ND DIVISION WILL ALSO BE ALLOWED TO COME

 

This is in reference to the 52nd Scottish Lowland Division which had been leg up until Dunkirk, then trained in Mountain tactics, and then as an Airmobile Division for Arnhem and hopefully the 'push' to the Reich.  When the 1st Airborne Division was effective destroyed, this hope of Matthew Ridgway's was not fulfilled in Holland.

 

[aznation]

10 hours ago, jumpship said:

I’m not Matt, but I don’t think he’ll mind:

 

The battalion left the NY Port of Embarkation on 27 Feb 44, arrived in England on 8 Mar 44 and arrived in France on 4 Aug 44. They were given campaign credit for the Rhineland Campaign During Aug 45, the battalion was in Nancy, FR and returned to the USA during Oct 45.

Source: Stanton, Shelby. WWII US Army Order of Battle. 2006.

Thank you very much Jumpship.  You're right, I don't mind at all.  You do an amazing job.  I appreciate you answering Janine.