N&W in the Milita First of Two Parts | ‘While a broken, yet expectant, humankind — now set tree from the ‘mutilations of six years of global conflict — awaited the formation of the United Nations, the daughter of an NAW employee penned her testa- iment of hope fora new world, Here is Betty Milton, ago 16, wting in the Norfolk and Westem Magazine: . The great leaders of today have ‘assembled in San Francisco to dis- ‘cuss peace, for they realized that...2 lasting world peace... must be well planned, with every country sharing in it. In order to make this possible, we ‘must stamp out intolerance, hatred, {greed and jealousy between coun- tries and among people... Think of (those) who fought on Bougainville, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, Guam and in the Philippines. Nothing held them back...\Now it's up to us to Tinish the job. We must help those ‘countries to grow again into..peace- ful fands...We must rid the world for- ever of people who want more than their share; who want to dictate to the world; who would torture, destroy or kill to get what they want...We must begin at once to eliminate tho chiot causes of war. We must encourage friendly relations among countries. ‘Youth in the service of acting for global responsibility! Betty was ready, steele for “the job,’ ‘no doubt, by the plain-out force of will she had known in her people ‘across the years, just enced, when the nation had committed to the struggle, whatever the cost, to safe- ‘guard freedom's future and hope for all. Betty could not have known the full measure of the story we are about to recall, bt, for sure, this story — N&W’s contribution to the Military Railway Service — does make for an arresting note in history's irrepress- ible search for a worldwide culture: ‘non-racial, pluralistic, authentically ‘democratic and free. 4 The Arrow We accomplished our misston because... we knew our business and. operated to as great a degree as possible the railroads of Europe in the good old ‘American way. Gen Carl R. Gray, Jr. MRS Director General * [The MRS story) acclaims the herotsm of Gi. raliroaders in moving gargantuan ‘amounts of freight and large numbers of troops, often under intense fire and bor bardment, over tmpossible railroads. hopelessly, (t seemed, beyond repair..vith ‘motive power that in the US would have been relegated tothe scrap heap half a cen- tury before. MRS: The Big Picture allway units were organized with in the US Army Corps of Engineers from WWI until ‘November 1942, when the recon stituted Military allway Service (MRS) was lodged within the U.S. Army ‘Transportation Corps itself created in July of that year. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. had just one fully mobilized rail unit, the 711th Railway Operating Battalion (training): a number of railways had agreed to sponsor military “Keeping ‘em Rolling” in Wold W7v | _ ry Railway Service ‘ail units stil, however. on inactive status, As Railway Grand Division (RGD), Ratlway Operating Battalion (ROB) and Railway Shop Battalion (RSB) sponsors, ‘our nation's rallways committed to draw from their highly specialized ranks leader ship to be commissioned as unit officers, and made enlisted technicians as well, with a view towards felding an “American railroad in uniform." Although virtually all officers had considerable prior railroad experience, only 40 percent of MRS enlist ed personnel had prior civilian ratlway experience, meaning that most enlisted Personnel, apart from non-commissioned officers, liad to be trained from seratch. Over the course of the war 40 U.S. rail ‘ays would step up to the plate to sponsor ‘most of the MRS’ 12 grand divisions and 52 battalions, ‘Analogous, essentially, o a regimental headquarters operation, the RGD, with approximately 25 officers and some 70 enlisted personnel, consisted of an adi istrative section and transportation /engi- neering/ equipment/stores technieal sec tions, and commonly exereised command direction over two or more ROBS and one RSB. Typically, the ROB consisted of a Headquarters and Headquarters Company (administration, tran dispatching, sig- nals}, Company A (structures, mainte ee a IN&W’s 755tn PSB at work on USATC 2-8-0 eR} and European (right) locomotves. ‘Un Fue, oar, ut Bea, 194,nance of way), Company B (maintenance of running equipment), and Company C (train operations), with 25 to 30 officers and normally up to 800 enlsted personnel serving. an operational range akin to that of a US rail division, Likewise, the RSE (steam), a back shop heavy repair and assembly operation, consisted of Headquarters Company, Company A (erecting and machine shop), Company B (boiler and blacksmith shop), and Company € (car repair shop), with’ man- power roughly equal to the ROB. RSBs (diese) similarly were four-company’ units, ‘Organization and deployment of MRS units were highly fluid in character Whereas combat battalions had fixed assignments within particular regiments, MRS battalions, not permanently assigned to given RGDs, were deployed among RGDs as evolving theater Transportation Corps mission requirements dictated. NaW's 755th SB. for example, while in France and Belgium, as we shall see, reported at diverse times (0 four RGDs Further. exigencies tn the fed frequently produced line unit arrangements at vari ance from the official tables of organiza. tion, And detachments often were assigned to points remote from the battalion base, the case, again, as we wil encounter, below, with N&W's battalion, ‘MRS’ first mission beyond the con- tiguous states was the leasing (from October 1942 until war's end) and enlary- ing for military purposes the celebrated White Pass and Yukon Route in Alaska, accustomed to shutting down in the win: ter, with temperatures reaching 70 below zero amid 90 mph winds. Up to the chal- lenge was the 770th ROB ('men..used to snow and lois of i), which took care of business up and dovn the line all through the winter. With manpower recruited from 17 US. railways, the 770th operated the “toughest, steepest 110 miles of rllway in the world", much of it on a four pereent grade, permitting consists of around Just 13 or so cars ~an arresting portend of the MRS story ahead! In April 1943, the 714th (CMO, Chicago Minneapolis and Omaha, a sub sidiary of C&NW) ROB took over the ‘Alaska Railroad and ran it for the duration, of the war. In late 1942, the 702nd (UP) RGD (later, 3rd MRS) and related units were called to take over from the British the operating of the Trans-lranian Railway, some 800 miles, standard gauge, in a land whose right-of way in the mountains at 7,200 feet descends to the coastal plain “where the temperature goes up to 150 degrees and stays there." Augmenting ‘indigenous locomotives were US Army ‘Transportation Corps {USATC) class $-200 {ALCO /Baldwin/Lima) 2-8-2 standard gauge steam locomotives within consign- ‘ments of 200 units destined for Iran and British use in the Middle East and in Italy Commented the MRS’ Director General *Our friend Zhukov would never have reached Berlin, had st not been for..mil tary supplies for Russia which were hauled from...the Persian Gulf...o the Caspian Sea."® What an endurance for the MRS- operated 400 locomotives and 5,000 freight cars: 231 tunnels, over 4,000 bridges, severe flooding and washouts, Silver lining: in Iran the MRS did not have to overcome war ravages. In mid-1945 MRS returned control of operations to the British, In the story to follow the RGDs in North Africa, Italy and Southern France were organized under the Ist MRS, while the 2d MRS, the command relevant to the NA&W's 755th RSB, was responsible for RGDs in the Northern ranges of the European Theater of Operations, US Army (eTOUSA)" MRS battalion detachments landed with the November 1942 tnvasion of North Africa, whose decrepit main rail line ran roughly parallel to the coastline, 1,400 miles—in three metric gauges—eastward from Casablanca, Introduced were USATC “MacArthur” locomotives. within consign. ‘ments of nearly 800 of the class $-118 (ALCO / Baldwin /Davenport/Porter/ Vulean) 2-8-2 steam engines, meter gauge, sent to MRS units North Aftica and, most of all, to India. Also engaged were USATC standard gauge S-160 2-8-0 steam loco- motives. During the course of the cam- palgn in North Africa the 70rd (ACL) RGD, followed by the 701st (NYC) and 704th (GN) RGDs and constituent units, with 1.000 US freight cars and 180 US locomotives, weighed in with British ‘Transportation Service units to face rall- roading “the hard way", eliciting from fone Maintenance of Way officer the wry comment, “Our MRS has yet to find an obstacle too difficult to surmount, if mot in orthodox fashion, then by squeezing out of necessity whatever invention is required to reduce the insuperable to the nego- table..." To Rome, to V-E and V-J Days Up next: Fortress Europe! The first ROB to land on European soil was the 727th (SOU), which supported Gen. George S. Patton's Seventh Army in Sicily, Deginning at Licata with the landing of an advance detachment of the unit on 13 July 1943 (D-Day + 3) and steaming up for a ‘run within four hours after landing. By the fend of the month the entire battalion was ‘engaged in Sielly. in short order clearing and running most of the trackage on the island, with 300 locomotives, 3,500 freight cars and 1,400 miles of right-of-way seized ‘in Patton’s awesomely swift drive to the North and East. Since the captured equip- ‘ment was in good condition, no Allied rail ‘way equipment was called to Sicily. Naples. which would become the MRS' first headquarters in Italy, was taken on 1 October 1943; three days later an advance echelon of the 703rd RGD, from North Arica, reached that city. The 703rd and Constituent units straightaway took over the portion of the Italian State Rallway in Allied hands, in support of Gen. Mark W. Clark’s Fifth Army on the Mediterranean flank. Subsequently the 701st and 704th, RGDs and constituent units from North Arica and the later-activated 774th RGD and related units served in Italy, all facing prodigious repair work to restore trackage, bridges, tunnels, installations and running ‘equipment, virtually inoperable everywhere due to appalling German demolition in Largest (2.000) of the (MRS classes, tho USATC S- 160 locomo- we was ‘doployed in to main to {the European Theater. May / June 5retreat, In Naples alone some 10,000 laborers were marshaled to clear the debris, install trackage and restore service ‘across yards and mainlines alike Notable in the Italian campaign was the deployment of nearly 250 ALCO/ Baldwin/Lima superheated 2-8-0 steam engines (USATC class S-160, standard gauge) built 194-1945, to complement remnant ALCO/Montreal 2-8-0 “Pershing” engines sent (nearly 400) to Italy during WWI and reconsiruction thereafter “Pershing” locomotives Ukewise in the 1940s were recovered and run, along with the USATC engines, by the MRS in North [Africa and France. Field necessities in both Mediterranean and European theaters ‘often compelled the conversion of locomo- tives from coal to oll fuel — for the MRS, a fast-shulle three-day operation. MRS headquarters personnel in Naples came from 34 US roads; one officer from the N&W was s0 assigned." It should bbe noted here that the MRS in Italy was an ‘Anglo-American operation. with British rail units serving in support of the British Bighth Army fighting its way up the pentn- ssula on the Adriatic flank to the Bast. On $ July 1944, the first MRS train entered Rome, one month to the day following the selaure of that city, which would become the primary MRS center in Italy, with over- sight, at sts peak, of operations (conducted ‘in the main by the Halian State Railway) along same 3,000 miles of trackage. By 2 May 1945, shen the remnant Nazi-Fascist forces in Italy surrendered, MRS opera- tional supervision extended into the great Po River plain. After the war. residual MRS supervisory units, due to the question of ‘Trieste, remained in Italy until inactivated late n 1947. After the Normandy (6 June) and Southern France (15 August) invasions of 1944, many of the MRS units in Tlaly. including the 703rd and 704th RGDs and constituent units (the 701st and 74th RGDs remaining in Italy) were sent to Southern France, where. by the close of the year, over 40 bridges and 800 miles of track had been restored to service, and 4,000 miles of rail lines were in operation by the Ist MRS. Main port: Marseilles. which, by V-E Day (8 May 1945), had dls. tcharged more War tonnage than any other European port 2d MRS operations in Northern France, then Belgium-Netherlands- Luxembourg and, finally, Germany, ‘emanated in the main from ports of entry fat Cherbourg and Le Havre in France, Antwerp in Belgium and Bremen in Germany. By V-E Day some 2,000 USATC locomotives and 20.000 USATC loaded frelght cars had been transshipped from the UK to Northern France and Belgium for deployment and maintenance by con- 8 The Arrow stituent units of fe RGDs (706th ~ 710th IPRR, SOU, B&O, Assoc. American Railroads, ATSF)). This, coupled with ren- dering operable seized equipment: a colos- sal challenge for the Yank rail units often ‘m forward areas facing unremitting fire {rom the enemy which often had managed, {in flight, to wreck installations, stores and ‘equipment, By V-E Day the MRS in Europe was running 35,000 freight cars, and hosp!- tal/leave/ troop tactical deployment/ pris: loner of war/refugee train equipment over 11,000 males of trackage, under Gen. Cart R, Gray, dr, MRS' Director General, head- quartered in Paris, who reported to the European Theater Chief of Transportation, ‘The war in Europe ended, MRS units in the field soldiered on, transporting demobilized US troops, repatriated prison- fers and refugees, and conveying control of rail operations back to national civilian authorities, Headquarters, MRS in Europe, ‘was closed on 24 October 1945, while mil tary railroading, in evolving formats, would remain a permanent division to this day ‘within the US Army Transportation Corps. In India, with diverse rail gauges, the MRS was called upon to support Chinese defenders and British and American oper- ations in Burma. By March 1944 the 705th (SP) RGD with five ROBs and one RSB were deployed to run 800 critical imiles of the Bengal and Assam Railway, ‘The last MRS unit departed for the US in October 1945. ‘Transportation challenges in the Pacific Theater were met by air, naval and ‘motor transport forces In the main. In 1944. aaa 1045 the 775th RGD, with two ROBs, sev- ‘eral mobile workshop, railway operating ‘and base depot units, was organized for ‘duty in the Philippines, where the trackage ‘was of five gauges, and locomotives. coal being scarce, were fired with driftwood, pillpwood and coconut hulls, After V-d day [14 August 1945) diverse line units within the Pacifle Theater were deployed briefly to Japan (the railroads there being reason- ably modern} During the course of the war nearly 5,600 locomolives and 84,000 units of rolling stock were exported from the US for ruse by MRS and Allied forces ‘There were 12 RGD. 40 ROB and 12 SB (nine steam, three diesel) units; of the 64 units, 13 would serve in more than one theater, and 18 would serve in the UK preparatory to theater engagement. MRS railway grand division and bat- lalion peak strength in the several theaters ‘was as follows: Theater RGDs_ROBs_ASBs N Attica 3 6 3 Europe fncusingitty) 9 O71 Middle East 1 2B India-Burma 1 5 4 Pacific dnoucing Asta) 5D MRS forces, additionally, included a General Headquarters; multiple theater headquarters: diverse rallway transporta- tion and base depot companies. mobile ‘workshop and hospital train maintenance units; and, for security purposes, Military Police battalions, on average one per RGD. — a rs i USATC gondola, fresh Irom 755th RSB car erecting yard, on the way to UK depot ready line User FaTotal MRS strength: some 50,000 personnel Cur purpose now turns to sketching the story of the Norfolk and Western-sponsored 755th Railway Shop Battalion, which for Iree- dom fought the good fight in the UK, France and Belgium, The other RSBs, sponsors and deploy- ments; 753d (CCC&STL: N. Africa, Ilaly) 754th (SP; Iran, France), 756th (PRR; UK, France), 757th (MILW; UK, France Germany), 758th (ATSF: India), 760th (diesel) [ALCO /Baldwin; N. Africa, Italy), 762d (dese!) [ALCO/EMD: Iran, Germany), 763d (DL&W/LV: UK, France, Belgium), 764th (BM/CV/B&AINYC]/ D&H; UK. France), ‘765th (diesel) (ERIE; UK, France), and 766th (Assn. Am. Railroads; France), N&W’s Railway Shop Battalion The ingenuity, superior craftsmanship and falthjul service ofthe officers and enlisted ‘men of (the N&W) Battalion made it one of the fursianding units of the Miltary Ratlway Service...The Battalion gave an excellent ‘account of itself and truly did the Norfolk and Wester proud. Gen Frank , Ross, US Army Chief of Transportation. European Theater, to NAW President WJ. Jenks, 1945" ‘Apri, 144, Newport, Wales: readied by the shop battalion at nearby Caerphilly, USATC 2-8-0 on depot tracks await Channel crossing fo the European Theater. Provo coum Gos Ha, Ratna Neon BOUNCE May / June 7I desire to commend the entire Battalion and tts Norjol and Western off. cers and men for very superior Serice..(and) outstanding record of accom: plishment in the maintenance af Amertcan ‘motive power...[and) repair of Belgian and French locomotives and cars. Gen Carl R. Gray, Jr, Director General, MRS, to NAW President. W.J. Jenks, 1945)" ‘The 755th RSB, half of whose ofMcers ‘and some 25 of whose enlisted personnel (with prior technical experience) came from the N&W, was organized on 30 November 1942, trained at Camps Clalborne and Millard, respectively, in Louisiana and Ohio, and arrived in the UK on 12 December 1948, pursuant fo the build-up and preparations for the invasion of France and subsequent service on the con- tinent. The first MRS unit to arive in the UK, on 15 July, had been the 729th (NH) ROB, “Run ‘em out of steel!" The four MRS shop battalions in the UK erected rolling stock (20-ton box, 20- and 40-ton gondola, 40-ton tank, 50-ton flat, 35-ton refrigerator, 20-ton cab ears) shipped from the US knocked down (a box: car could be fully built up in 45 minutes), and made ready for placement on depot ready tracks; the standard gauge USATC 2-8-0 (ALCO/Baldwin/Lima} and 0-6-0T (Davenport/Porter/ Vulcan) steam locomo- tives (classes S160 and S100, respectively) and diesel switching and road engines {ALCO-GE/GE/Watteomb)."" The shop battalions were pressed into service, further, to fit out Liberty ships and assemble tloating cranes, rail barges and LSTs for Channel shuttle missions. As the Unit File, 31 July 1944, puts it, Ceriainly something new f0 a rall uunt!..Civiians (hae! been) launching a barge every 10 to 12 days...The 755th within a short while (pro- duced) similar barges at the rate of one..very 26 hours..(al feat largely ‘due to modern pneumatic equipment, teamwork and determination...Col. ‘Stevens (unt commanding ocer) hhad told his men to “run ‘em out of steel” and that is exacly what they went ahead and dl. ‘The 755th worked at Sudbury: Staffordshire, Hainault-Essex, Longmoor, Liss, Hants, Kings: Newton {car erection); Caerphilly, Wales (steam, diesel locomotive preparation); Truro and Hayle- ‘Comwall (barges, sea mules). B The Arrow To show the degree of preparedness: American steam locomotives had water Placed tn the bollrs. Wood and paper were laced in the fireboxes for the match upon ‘arrival on the’ continent, and enough water was placed in the tenders to keep them moving. By D-Day. 6 June 1944, for thetr ren- dezvous with history, the headquarters of the 707th (SOU) and 708th (B&O) RGDs were in the ready in the UK. with the fol lowing constituent units: 712th (RDG, NJ}, 717th (PRR), 720th (CNW), 728th ILAN), 729th (NED). 7334 (CG) ROBs: ‘785th (NAW), 756th (PRR), 757th (MILW) and 763d (DL&W) RSBs. Trail by fi The first MRS unit to land in Normandy, an advance detachment of the 2d MRS, made for the high ground above Utah Beach on D-Day + 11, t0 be followed, presently, by the launch baitalion unit, the 729th ROB (NED, arriving 2 July 1944 and commencing immediately operations based at Cherbourg. With the unit: an N&W man, By the time of the seizing of Parts, 25 August (the first supply train, operated by the 712th (RDG, CNJ) ROB, arriving ‘one week later} these other units had land! ced in France: 706th (PRR), 707th (SOU), 708th {B&O} RGDs: 712th (RDG, CNJ}, 718th (CCC&STL/NYC), 720th (CNW), a0th (C&O) ROBS: and the 755th (NEW), ‘757th (MILW), 764th (BM, CV, BRA. D&H) RSBs. N@W's 755th, which landed at Utah Beach on 16 August, 2200 hours, was the Liege second RSB to arrive from the UK." The battalion proceeded via truck convoy to the Brittany Base Depot at Rennes, France {about 90 miles South of the Normandy beaches, and just 15 miles from the front lines} and would remain there for two ‘months, transitioning increasingly from running to heavy repairs. From the Unit File, 20 October 1944: Here al last was the great task for which the unit had been trained...1his was it! The first Railway Shop Battalion tn the Brittany sector. Setting up quarters in bombed-out apartment houses at the corner of Rue Arthur Fontaine and Boulevard Villebots-Mareull. we) went about overcon- Ing the language handleap and slowly, vet efficiently began working with the French clolian workers in the yards and shops at the Rennes depot and main sta: ton. On 11 October, in a permanent change of duty station, the 755th was sent to a quiet Belgian provincial capital in the heart of Wallonia — to the gateway of the Ardennes, Namur, some 30 miles Southeast of Brussels (which would become, in February, 1945, 2nd MRS headquarters). Battalion headquarters: an ex-maternity hospital and nurses’ quarters (late, from January, the Institut Kegeljan). ‘Within the first weeks in Belgium two for- ward detachments beyond the headquar- lets and Salzinnes locomotive shops in [Namur were organized: at Ans, a suburb of Liege (ear shop. with Company C), and, Just a few miles from the German border, at Herbesthal (locomotive shop, with Detachment B). A distinct leg-up for the 755th: of the major Belgian rail shops, those at Namur survived virtually intact, the least damaged by the war. ‘Most of Belgium had been liberat: ced by mid-September 1944, with a loss. for the rail community, of 1,200 rallwaymen, over 400 locomo- tives, some 70 diesels and nearly 24,000 freight cars. The 755th ‘would be called upon to service a fair share of USATC 2-8-08 (300 requisitioned) and freight cars (6,000), and to coax life out of dam- aged European equipment deemed sultable for overhauling." As in France. the 758th found local rai way personnel eager for victory's sake to pull and haul with new ‘American colleagues, On the continent at diverse times until war's end the 755th saw action as a component of the 706th (PRR), 708th (B&O) (19) and 709th (Assn. of Am, Railroads) RGDs, the MRS units butting up against the