TO ANY FOE

About the Book

The Ninety-Eighth Engineer (General Service) Regiment, African American, embarked for North Africa in February 1943 and landed at Algeria. The regiment became nomadic and split up its battalions and companies to work in different locations, including port stewards, road construction, and clearing mines in the Kasserine Pass. All the while, they were moving forward with the combat units until they reached Tunisia. In December 1943, the Ninety-Eighth loaded aboard amphibious vehicle landing ships and sailed to Naples, Italy. As in North Africa, upon arrival, the regiment was split up and sent to different locations. It began work on the ports, roads, railroads, and reconstruction of buildings, minesweeping, and bridges. It moved up the coast of Italy, ensuring that the roads and bridges could hold armor and other vehicles as combat units advanced up the boot. Eventually, the regiment reunited in Leghorn, Italy, where it added another battalion and worked in Pisa, Florence, and surrounding areas until September 1945.

About the Author

I am a retired Army National Guard officer with twenty-two years of active duty, including two tours in Vietnam, and six years of inactive military duty. I served in the US Marine Corps, beginning in 1958 at the age of seventeen, and spent twelve years in what I call my “piss and vinegar days.” Then, after getting my degree at California State University, Long Beach, I joined the Army National Guard and received a direct commission to captain. I then started working for the Guard full time as an AGR officer and spent another twelve years before I retired as a major. During this period, I went to several military schools, including Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (class of 1989). The time spent in the Army Guard was my "Managemet and Leadership days". I was a company commander of a mechanized company and served in several staff positions at the battalion headquarters as well as an assistant operation officer at the brigade headquarters. My last assignment was as a mechanized battalion executive officer. I started this project when a cousin of mine wanted to know what her dad had done during World War II in an engineer regiment. All she knew what that the regiment was in North Africa and Italy and that it was an African American regiment with white officers. She knew her dad was promoted to lieutenant colonel at the age of twenty-nine. Finding that there was no immediate information on the regiment, I decided that it needed to be recognized for its accomplishments. At the present time, I live in Kansas, on a small ranch in the middle of nowhere, raising cattle and watching the world pass by very slowly. I love to fish, and I love my ’59 Chevy sedan that I cruise around in every week, if not more. I enjoy all my small animals—dogs and cats as well as my mini mules. I travel as much as I can to California to see my kids and grandkids, as well as to Australia, Italy, Alaska, and Japan. I attend rodeos when they are close by, and I carve various animals during the winter. I read a lot and write.