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7th
Engineer Brigade |
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| Brigade History | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1951 - 1991 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7th Engineer Brigade DISources: "Engr Bridge Tough Spots," JAYHAWK Anniversary Issue, August 19, 1970 7th Engineer Brigade History, Public Affairs Office, HQ 7th Engr Bde (late 1980s) "The 7th Engineer Brigade," by Maj Al Bornmann and SGM Larry David. ENGINEER, Summer 1980 "Leading the Way," JAYHAWK, August 1982 |
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| MAJOR SUBORDINATE UNITS - 1950s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 7th Engineer Brigade became a member of the VII Corps on June 14, 1969, relocating to Ludendorff Kaserne, Kornwestheim. Upon joining VII Corps, the Brigade activated six battalions under its headquarters. Personnel (and equipment) for the brigade were transferred from the 540th and 555th Engineer Groups, which were subsequently inactivated. |
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Also,
the brigade routinely participated in Partnership Projects with
their German partnership units. Exercises from squad to brigade
level with the VII Corps' maneuver commands were common-place throughout
Germany and other NATO training areas. Corps level command post
and field exercises complemented the full training program.
A big step in the brigade was the mechanization of the engineer battalions. Two battalions were mechanized in 1985-86, and another in 1987. The addition of armored personnel carriers to the sappers redefined and accented the combat role that the brigade played in the Army's airland battle doctrine. Annual battalion level exercises that units participated in included BRIDGEX and CEMTAP. BRIDGEX was a battalion size combat bridging exercise at dry span and wet sites. The exercise provided the opportunity for the engineers to practice bridging to ARTEP standards, in addition to the river crossing operations so important ot their combat support role. Both individual soldier skills and small unit cohesion were honed to wartime demands. CEMTAP was a construction exercise in which each battalion participated. During CEMTAP major training areas were upgraded. During CEMTAP rotation, the battalions also incorporated common task testing, weapons qualification, along with concurrent training activity. |
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In
the late 1980s, the 7th Engineer Brigade comprised the following
units:
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| On June 22 1991, the 7th Engineer Brigade was inactivated in Germany. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MAJOR SUBORDINATE UNITS - 1970s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 7TH ENGR BDE MISC. PATCHES - 1950s - 70s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| CASTLE TOWER - Some of the issues published while in Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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* Note: Editor forgot to change Date and Issue No. on the masthead - should be March 1984, Vol. 3 No. 3 |
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CORRECTION
93rd Engineer Company DI(Source: Email from Mike Sanders) |
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I
noticed on your website that you show the 565th
Engineer Bn as being HQ'd in Ettlingen. I was with the
93rd Engineer Co from 1986-1989, and the Bn HQ was located about
100 yards from my barracks on Neureut Kaserne in Karlsruhe.
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| If you have more information on the history or organization of the 7th Engr Bde, please contact me. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1953 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: THE MILITARY ENGINEER, May-Jun 1954, Society of Military Engineers, Wash. D.C.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Aid in Germany Trained Army Engineer troops, using their heavy equipment, are leaving their mark in Germany. Dozens of construction jobs have been completed which benefit the cities and the rural areas. The work, ranging from all types of construction to clearing and earthwork, not only aids the people of the war-battered country but also adds practical experience to troop training schedules. Much of the labor is done by soldiers on their off-duty time. Their weekend work saves months of toil that would be required if the jobs were to be done by Germans using hand tools. No official estimate of the value of this work has been made but it is believed to exceed $500,000 a year. Typical of this aid was the reclaiming of more than 80 acres of wasteland, near the central German city of Giessen, which was badly needed for farming. Three men from the 354th Engineer Construction Battalion used heavy bulldozers to fill bomb craters and cover old gun positions in the area. They leveled rock and distributed rich topsoil, accomplishing in one weekend a job that would have taken hand-workers several months. The 807th Engineer Light Equipment Company undertook the job of removing rubble from the Bundesbahn (German federal railway) which required the work of a mechanized five-man crew for a week. The team filled sixty freight ears with more than than 600 cubic yards of rubble. Countless sports fields have been leveled and completed by engineer units throughout the American Zone and basements and foundations for schools and public buildings have been dug. Aid is extended in summer by the construction of swimming pools and in winter by removal of snowbanks too deep to be handled by the local equipment of the towns. A unique project is the clearing of the Ludwigsburg Castle grounds to prepare a replica of the famous Stuttgart "Killigsberg" or outdoor garden, where national flower shows were held in previous years. The 503d Engineer Light Equipment Company is furnishing men and machinery to make the rock garden ready for the spring opening. The laying of a city park in Weissenhorn, a town in the Danube valley, was a project of the 54th Engineer Construction Battalion. The distance from the park to the camp was too great to move heavy road graders and dump trucks bark and forth each daL°, so tile people of tile town furnished rooms and meals for the soldiers while tile work was in progress. Many refugees from behind the Iron Curtain who have fled from the East are building homes in community projects. Sand and rock to make concrete are always difficult to obtain. To help in this matter, engineer units strip-mine sand for the homes and blast quarry rock in realistic training activities. After quarry blasts for foundation rock, the Army keeps gravel for road repair. The bridges and roads constructed by the engineers during maneuver periods are definite coutributions to the German public works program, and bridges and overpasses built for the civilian users serve military purposes as well. Recently, the police in a small Bavarian village asked the engineers to assist in uprooting a forest of tree stumps which were to be given to needy families for firewood. The troops gladly complied, arid receivcd some excellent demolition practice in the process. But the 547th Combat Engineers received the most unusual request of all recently in Gross-Urnstadt, near Darmstadt. No bulldozers, road graders or steam shovels were involved this time. The sponsors of a youth festival wanted to know if the battalion could provide a dance band. The 547th organized a "combo" for the occasion. The Army likes to answer all the German requests it can, keeping training schedules and budgets constantly in mind. And most of. the time the service results in advantage to all concerned: experience for the engineers and grants-in-aid for the German people. |
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| (Source: Email from Maurice "Jim" Doussard) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| (Source: Description on mug found at eBay.com) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mug has the SCARWAF crest and is inscribed with the unit designation: 923rd EAG (923rd Engineer Aviation Group). The date on the mug: 1956 At the bottom rim lists several (subordinate) units: 7329TH LSU, 850TH EAB, 833D EAB, 818TH EAB and 862ND. |
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| (Source: Email from Samuel C. Railes, 7th Engr Bde) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I was the last
commander of 7th Engineer Brigade (1989-91). I served in the Brigade in 1974/75 as Commander, Company B, 82d Combat Engineer Battalion, Bamberg, Ge.; as Commander, 563d Engineer Battalion in 1983-85, Ludendorff Kaserne, Kornwestheim, Ge, and took over the Brigade in June 1989. In addition to commanding the Brigade, I served as the VII Corps Senior Engineer and as Commander of the Ludwigsburg/Kornwestheim Military Sub-community. The Brigade deployed with VII Corps for the Gulf War. We grew to over 8,500 soldiers, three Groups, 10 Battalions, and assorted companies. The Brigade HQ received a Meritorious Unit Combat Citation for Desert Storm. Samuel C. Raines COL (Ret) |
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| Patch Variant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Variant of the
standard 7th Engineer Brigade shoulder patch |
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| A
collector of US military patches has recently acquired a rather unusual
variation of the 7th Eng. Brig. patch. It appears to have been made
in Germany and is of wool construction having a red background with
black lines and a green castle. At the top of the patch is an attached
gray tab with "Fort USA". It has been removed from a uniform. If anyone has information on this specific variation of the 7th Engineer patch, please send email to me. Of special interest is the significance of the "Fort USA" tab. |
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| 275th Engineer Company (ADM) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 275th Engineer Company Insignia (1960s; pre-ADM mission?) |
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 275th Engineer Company Insignia (1970s) |
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| (Source: Email from Dave Hodgeboom, Engr ADM Pltn, 36th USAFAD) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The ADM Platoon came to the 36th USAFAD from the 275th Engineer Co (ADM) in Ludwigsburg (VII US Corps) when the NATO Support Platoons where assigned to the 59th Ordnance Brigade in 1980. I was assigned to the detachment in 1981 as the Engineer ADM Platoon Sergeant. The platoon consisted of 3 Engineer ADM emplacement teams and platoon headquarters each required to assemble and fire the two ADM weapons systems. The platoon supported the 210th Pionier (Engineer) Kompanie, II GE Corps (Munich). While I was there, the platoon successfully passed 3 separate Nuclear Weapons Technical Inspections with no comments or deficiencies. As part of the detachment, we supported the artillery platoon on their inspections and performed site guard as part of the normal rotation. From 1975 until 1980, the 7th and 9th Engineer ADM Platoon of the 275th Engineer Co (ADM) in Ludwigsburg (VII US Corps) supported the 310th Pionier Kompanie (Koblenz), III GE Corps. The 59th Brigade unit that the platoon supported was the 557th Artillery Group for Herborn-Seelbach. The platoon consisted of 9 Engineer ADM emplacement teams each required to assemble and fire the two ADM weapons systems and 2 platoon headquarters. This platoon deployed over 200 miles across two corps sectors to meet its mission. The 6th Platoon and 8th Platoon of the 275th Engineer Co (ADM) supported the 210th Pionier Companie in Munich. These later became the platoons at the 24th USAFAD (6 teams) and 36th USAFAD (3 teams) respectively. The US unit they supported was the 512th Artillery Group in Neu-Ulm. |
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| 503rd Engineer Company | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Source: Donald Hess, 503rd Engr Co, 1949-53) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 503rd Engineer Company DI |
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I was one of the original members the 503rd Engineer Light Equipment Company in
Anyone having knowledge of the 503rd during this period of time please contact  Donald Hess 704 W Oakview Dr Peoria IL 61615 or email Don at dfhessmg1(at)att.net (Attention! Make sure to replace (at) with the '@' symbol. This was done to avoid Don getting a bunch of SPAM. |
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| The Early Years Following is a short outline of the company’s history that I have compiled so far. In January 1949 we were stationed at Pioneer Barracks, At its inception this company was called “Company E of the 7742 Engineer Base Depot Group” (stationed at In late June 1949 Company E’s status was changed from a temporary to a permanent unit and was renamed as the 503rd Engineer Light Equipment Company. In Sept 1949, with the job in During our stay at Taylor Barracks, the 503rd was Regular Army and wore the EUCOM shoulder patch. Later we were attached to the 555th Combat Group, then the 77th Engineer Construction Battalion. Both were part of 7th Army. We switched to the 7th Army patch sometime in 1950. At Taylor Barracks we were involved in German-American Friendship projects such as building sports fields etc, with individual machines and up to Platoon levels but nothing requiring the full company. As the Cold War became hotter, we were increasingly being sent into the French Zone of occupation near In 1950 the French Zone roads and economy were lagging far behind the British and American Zones. The 1950’s increased escalation of the Cold War mandated the French zone roads be upgraded. Both ends of an Autobahn bridge near Kaiserslauter were destroyed by German engineers near the wars end resulting in long stretches of the autobahn being useless. The 503rd built a by pass road around the bridge to facilitate traffic movement on the Autobahn if needed. We also spent several weeks in late 1950 at Etain, France off-loading equipment and other supplies being shipped in to stock the depots under construction. In early 1951, the entire company moved from Taylor Barracks, Mannheim to Ettlingen, near 87th Engineer Service Company581st Engineer Maintenance Company523rd Engineer Service Battalion403rd Engineer Base Depot In May 1952 the 503rd moved from As I understand it, the 503rd remained at Ludendorff under the 540th Engineer Group for many years. It was deactivated 1992 at Hohenfels Germany. |
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| (Source: STARS & STRIPES, Sept 25, 1958) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 801st Engr Bn Revamping Com Z Posts at Toul, Nancy A major face lifting at two Com Z Advance Section posts by the 801st Engr Bn, of the 7th Engr Brig, in France on temporary duty, is nearing completion. Cranes and bulldozers are beginning to pull out of installations near Nancy and Toul as the 801st goes back home to Zweibruecken, Germany, to start its fall and winter training period. Work at Nancy Lt Col Frederick M. Seymour, battalion CO, said there had been some normal delay in construction because of bad weather, but this was offset by a two-shift operation, and all projects were on schedule. At Nancy Ordnance Depot a new system for storing vehicles and ordnance equipment was made possible by parking areas built along some of the depot's streets. By placing these parallel to the street, vehicles were parked in more accessible positions and now are easier to maintain while in storage. Some of the streetside concrete parking stands are 1,000 feet long. Thousands of tons of construction material went into the parking areas. A total of 108,000 square yards of handstand was constructed, including one, 40,000-square-yard bituminous handstand and one 23,000-yard concrete handstand, both at Nancy Ordnance Depot. In addition, large bituminous handstands were built at Toul Engineer Depot and Jeanne d'Arc Casern. Changing the scenery of military installations is nothing new for the 801st, which originally was stationed at Molesworth, England, and was engaged in air base construction and renovation of U.S. bases in the United Kingdom. |
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| Related Links: 821 Engineer Aviation Battalion, SCARWAF unit in France, 1953-54 555th Engineer Group History 82nd Engineer Combat Battalion - dedicated to the men of the 82nd Engineer Combat Battalion 1942-1945 but also includes information on the Cold War 82nd. |
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Jul 1984 (Vol. 3, No. 6)
