What Did Dad Do in the War?

A little over two years ago I began to wonder what Dad did in the war. Dad passed away in 1983 having mentioned precious little to his family about his war experiences. With encouragement from my hus

A little over two years ago I began to wonder what Dad did in the war. Dad passed away in 1983 having mentioned precious little to his family about his war experiences. With encouragement from my husband, Brad Peters, I did some internet searches and turned up a couple of bits of information as well as a web site for Camp White, OR where the 300th trained. It was clear that the 300th was not a high profile battalion and information would be scarce.

I sent two e-mails to total strangers (one on the Camp White web site) and crossed my fingers one of them might answer. The first answer was from (Jeff) a son of a 300th veteran who offered to send a map of the route of the 300th in Europe. I couldn't believe our ggod fortune. When it arrived, we were very excited and knew this would be a key document. Jeff kept in touch by e-mail providing us with some 300th basic information.

Months passed and one day there was an e-mail answer from that second e-mail so long ago. It was from a veteran of the 300th from Camp White - Warren Chancellor. Although he did not know my Dad, he gave us contact information for another 300th veteran, Randy Hanes, that might have more information.

Once we contacted Randy, we knew our journey was just beginning. We could not know where that journey would lead. In fact, the connection with Randy led to many other 300th veterans and the information we were collecting became overwhelming. It was obvious we needed to find a way to permanently document the history of this battalion.

On Memorial Day, 2007, www.300thcombatengineersinwwii.com was launched as tribute to the these brave men caught in a moment of history. There are more than 100 differenct recollections told in the words of the veterans, over 300 photographs loaned to us by the veterans for scanning and digital voice recordings that are temporarily transcribed to text that will eventually be heard in their own voices. This is their site told as closely to their words as possible.

What started with a simple question has taken us back to the War through the eyes of the 300th veterans. Their stories are poignant, funny and nothing short of amazing. The message they gave us over and over again was, "We are not heroes. We were there to do a job and we just did it."

Thank you Dad, thank you veterans of the 300th and thank you to all members of our Armed Services whether veterans or currently serving our country. We salute you!

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