Unit 1211 began its combat operation in the ETO with the Ninth Army, at that time in Renes, France. After reporting; to the Ninth Army HQ, the unit was sent to cover the activities of the 44th Infantry Division, which was at Cherbourg. Lt Thomas Daniel, Sgt Victor Calvano, Sgt Harold Thompson, Tec 4 Bart Macaspac, and Tec 5 Aubrey Drummond, Jr. formed the unit.
The 44th Division was preparing for combat but since there were so many units already engaged and moving the unit was reassigned to the 30th Infantry Division which was at that time in Herzogenrath, Germany along the Seigfried Line. The first day of action with the 30th Lt Daniel, Calvano, and Macaspac went with the 1st Platoon, I Co, 3rd Bn of the 119th Inf. Reg. to take the town of Kolschied. Going through the town they ended up at Wirschlen. Here the action slowed down for several days and the division was engaged in clearing the area of scattered pockets of resistance. In this clearing action Lt Daniel was hit in the leg by mortar fragments.
Later the division shoved off for the Rohr River. Lt Daniel and Drummond went with the 120th Infantry for the town of Euchen. During the attack and a terrific mortar barrage, both men were wounded. Lt Daniel was hit in the wrist and Drummond was hit in the upper arm. Moth men disregarded their wounds and went on taking pictures. Later in the day however, Drummond was hit again in the wrist, and was evacuated to the 125th General Hospital in England.
On the same day Calvano and Thompson shoved off with the 117th Infantry. It took the Division ten days to reach the Rohr River and then they pulled back and were replaced by a cavalry Outfit.
During the German counterattack the division pulled out to enter the "battle of the Bulge”. The unit went into Malmedy with the division where they were relieved and reported back to Ninth Army HQ, and stayed there for about a month as headquarters photogs. Pfc Gaylord LaMond joined the unit to replace Drummond who was still in the hospital.
From there the unit went to the XIII Corps to relieve Lt Calvert's unit, then to the 29th Division to relieve Lt Butterfield's unit, then to the 102nd Division to relieve Lt Babbitt's unit so all the relieved units could have a week of rest and refitting. This was accomplished and the unit joined the XVIII Corps in Sittard, Holland where preparations were being made for the crossing of the Rohr. Calvano, Thompson and Macaspac covered the crossing with the 35th Division. The unit was more or less split up for a time, Macaspac and Drummond covering XVIII Corps and the rest of the unit covering the 35th division and vice versa.
After crossing the Rhine, Calvano and Thompson joined the 30th Division and followed them up across the Rhineland. Macaspac and Drummond stayed with Corps and moved to Dinslaken and covered the drive northward. Corps then moved to Recklinghausen, and helped clean out the Ruhr pocket from the north. After the Ruhr pocket collapsed the unit returned for a much needed rest in Paris. Lt Daniel left the unit and the company at that time and became assistant photographic officer for the Fifteenth US Army.
After the Paris trip Lt William R. Simmons joined the unit as officer in charge. The unit went to Ninth Army where it was assigned to the 8th Infantry Division. At that time the 8th was in a small town just west of Uelzen. From there the 8th pushed across the Elbe River with the British Second Army, with whom they were attached at the time. The drive across the Elbe was quick and the division was in the city of Schwerin two days later. There the unit covered the mass surrender of the German Army and the huge migration of German civilians into the American lines. While in Schwerin Germany surrendered and the unit returned to company headquarters a short time later to prepare for the coming boat trip to the United States.
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