Home of the 556 Engineers

Welcome to our site. Pause a few moments to join into a specialized, personalized view of a WWII Unit.

In WWII, 16 Million Americans served in the various branches of the military. Within the army, GI's seem to have fallen into two groups. Many were shuffled around, processed through Replacement depots and served in units with which they really had no sense of identification. Others, through no intent of their own, were assigned to specialized units that retained their mission and persona throughout the entire war.

In April, 1943 the War Department created eight engineering units (551-558) named Heavy Ponton Battalions - HV&PN. BN. [ note. Ponton is not a misspelling of Pontoon; ponton is correct] These battalions were equipped with a 25 ton capacity floating bridge. The nature of the bridge was such that the men became specialized bridge builders and their loss or redeployment was a net loss.

In July 1943 the 556 Hv. Pn Bn, was activated and its roster filled by draftees from essentially the same geographical area of the country. My 556 drew its complement from Chicago, Detroit or someplace in between. Us 400 recruits had the advantages a very common background and being trained to work together with complicated equipment deployed to a common mission. The families we left behind, especially the wives of the married men came to know each other, enhancing an other aspect of the unit.

We trained together at Camp Beale, in California; a number of 556 wives had moved to the Beale area and these women bonded as did their husbands.

We went overseas as a unit, served in New Guinea, Leyte and Luzon. When 556 was deactivated in Tokyo on December 15, 1945, it was staffed substantially the same men from Michigan and Illinois.

Given all of that, the first reunion of 556 was a natural and the estimated 94 others followed in the same spirit.

The life of the reunions are implicitly or explicitly detailed in the August 2005 newsletter following. Other parts of the history of 556 are laid out here in this web site and in my photographic history of the battalion, a part of which, while quite personal, speaks to the common backgrounds whence most of our men came from.

556 was a part of the Army combat Engineers but we were specifically ordered not to engage in combat. We were allowed to shoot back, if we were under fire, but our primary mission was bridges. We did almost 200 of them. In today's language, we were skilled labor.

What this web site intends to do is to preserve our story and make it available to any one willing to pause and look at it.

We were not heroes in the conventional mind set of people; we were ordinary men who did as we were trained and directed to do, and retrospect, we did it well. The site will give a human dimension to the efforts of 450 men in a sweep of events that entailed 16 million men, in a event rapidly fading into history books.

I bid you welcome and herein have posted my EMail Address should anyone have a question..


		Welcome to our site. Pause a few moments to join into a specialized, personalized view of a WWII Unit. In WWII, 16 Million Americans served in the various branches of the military. Within the army, GI's seem to have fallen into two groups. Many were shuffled around, processed through Replacement depots and served in units with which they really had no sense of identification. Others, through no intent of their own, were assigned to specialized units that retained their mission and persona throughout the entire war. In April, 1943 the War Department created eight engineering units (551-558) named Heavy Ponton Battalions - HV&PN. BN. [ note. Ponton is not a misspelling of Pontoon; ponton is correct] These battalions were equipped with a 25 ton capacity floating bridge. The nature of the bridge was such that the men became specialized bridge builders and their loss or redeployment was a net loss. In July 1943 the 556 Hv. Pn Bn, was activated and its roster filled by draftees from essentially the same geographical area of the country. My 556 drew its complement from Chicago, Detroit or someplace in between. Us 400 recruits had the advantages a very common background and being trained to work together with complicated equipment deployed to a common mission. The families we left behind, especially the wives of the married men came to know each other, enhancing an other aspect of the unit. We trained together at Camp Beale, in California; a number of 556 wives had moved to the Beale area and these women bonded as did their husbands. We went overseas as a unit, served in New Guinea, Leyte and Luzon. When 556 was deactivated in Tokyo on December 15, 1945, it was staffed substantially the same men from Michigan and Illinois. Given all of that, the first reunion of 556 was a natural and the estimated 94 others followed in the same spirit. The life of the reunions are implicitly or explicitly detailed in the August 2005 newsletter following. Other parts of the history of 556 are laid out here in this web site and in my photographic history of the battalion, a part of which, while quite personal, speaks to the common backgrounds whence most of our men came from. 556 was a part of the Army combat Engineers but we were specifically ordered not to engage in combat. We were allowed to shoot back, if we were under fire, but our primary mission was bridges. We did almost 200 of them. In today's language, we were skilled labor. What this web site intends to do is to preserve our story and make it available to any one willing to pause and look at it. We were not heroes in the conventional mind set of people; we were ordinary men who did as we were trained and directed to do, and retrospect, we did it well. The site will give a human dimension to the efforts of 450 men in a sweep of events that entailed 16 million men, in a event rapidly fading into history books. I bid you welcome and herein have posted my EMail Address should anyone have a question.. Frank Nolte
Frank Nolte

	August 2005
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