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A young W.F. Johnson, not long out of high school, with Heavy Equipment. Little did he know ... |
Portrait, probably of W.F. Johnson, annotated "Candidate." This presumably refers to his time in Officer Candidate School at Ft. Belvoir, which would have been mid-August to mid-November 1942. |
Side trip to the Smithsonian, not far from Ft. Belvoir. OCS Candidate, probably Johnson, standing in front of a dinosaur exhibit. |
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Lt. Johnson at Ft. Belvoir, on the date of his commission. Annotated "1st time." |
Original album page is annotated "Belvoir, H.E. School," probably Heavy Equipment training at Ft. Belvoir, VA. The man in the campaign hat might be the instructor? |
More heavy equipment training at Ft. Belvoir, looks like same men and machine. |
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Training at Ft. Belvoir. Men with power shovel, using it to lift something. |
Business end of shovel, plenty of mud. Probably Winter of 1942/43. |
Man standing in front of solid-looking wood building with sign "Shovel Toolroom." Probably at Ft. Belvoir. |
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Portrait of Anderson, otherwise unidentified. Original album context and brick building, which is more substantial/permanent than those seen in the Camp Claiborne photos, suggest this is at Ft. Belvoir. |
Informal portrait of Schilling (not further identified). Album context suggests this is at Ft. Belvoir. |
Informal shot of three unidentified men. Album context implies Ft. Belvoir. |
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Informal snapshot of a group of men milling around near a possible barracks, significance unknown. US location, probably Ft. Belvoir. |
Informal group portrait, significance unknown. Location unknown but album context implies Ft. Belvoir. |
Cadre for the 618th Base Engineering Equipment Company when the unit was activated at Camp Claiborne. They were drawn from the 614th Engineer Equipment Co. Company personnel also included Capt. Williams (CO) and apparently Lt. Johnson. Other officers and men joined later. |
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618th group portrait at Camp Claiborne. Men are unidentified but appear to be the officers of the unit. More little picket fences. |
Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. This is the 618th Engineers Orderly Room. Does Today's Army still build those little white picket fences? |
Retreat ceremony at the end of the day, Camp Claiborne. Apparently Lt. Johnson was not in formation--perhaps was he the de-facto company photographer. |
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Lt. Drury, probably at Camp Claiborne. We will meet him again. |
Portrait of Lt. McEwen, posing with shovel. Fall 1943. |
Unidentified soldier, probably at Camp Claiborne. Annotated "GI." |
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Portrait of Comey and another man of the 618th. |
Another portrait of Comey. |
Candid snapshot of Sgt. Brehmer at lunch. He doesn't look too pleased at this interruption to his meal, although you'd think he'd be used to it by now; it seems Lt. Johnson was what they used to call "snap-happy." Fall 1943. |
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Portrait of Long (not further identified) in a jeep. |
Group portrait, men not identified. Claiborne. |
Group of men marching, presumably a training exercise. |
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Group of men marching, with helmets, rifles, and a flag. |
Counseling at Camp Claiborne? Annotated "Williams, Drury." Lt. Drury seems to be making a point. Williams is not further identified, nor is the little guy with the flag. |
Two 618th men in field, annotated "Bosch [?], Nelson". June 1943. |
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Informal group portrait, probably vicinity of Camp Claiborne. Annotated "Nieman" (not further identified). June 1943. |
Informal group portrait, probably same place and people. Annotated "Oh yeah!" (meaning unclear) and "Goldberg." The man in the middle with the canteen looks like Nieman. Goldberg is unidentified but the annotatation suggests he might be the one with the cap perched on the back of his head, doing the talking. June 1943. |
Two men under a tree, perhaps during some sort of field exercise. annotated "Hobson - Johnson." Johnson is unidentified but does not look like Lt. W.F. Johnson. |
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Annotated "Driving school." Jeeps can go anywhere. The Driving School photos, and a number of the portraits, involved the 614th Engineers, apparently a sister unit at Camp Claiborne and the source of the cadre for the 618th. |
Cross-country driving. They must have torn up the landscape around Claiborne a little bit. |
Driving school. Going up or coming down? And why is he looking at the camera instead of the, er, "road"? |
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More driving school. Annotation says ""Look OUT!!!". Lord only knows what the guy in back thinks he's doing. Wonder what happened next ... |
Driving school evidently included maintenance training. |
More driving and maintenance training. What kind of vehicle is that? |
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Driving and maintenance school. The annotation, which says "Pinkus (Don't you believe it)," is mysterious. Was he not known for mechanical aptitude? Guy on the left looks like the origin of the term "grease monkey." |
The ubiquitous jeep. Ville Platte is a small town in south-central Louisiana. Photo is associated with the 614th, suggesting this trip might have been part of the driving-school curriculum. |
Car of some sort climbing a bank, annotated "Ready for action". Perhaps related to the completion of driving-school training. |
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Meeting of the minds at Camp Claiborne among Sgts of the 614th Engineers. Another shot of this group is annotated "Huddle (NCOs)". |
Sgt. Adams of the 614th Engineers at Camp Claiborne. Photographer's shadow suggests the photo was posed a little bit. |
614th mess hall |
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NCOs of the 614th Engineers. They might be preparing for some sort of exercise. |
Unidentified man of the 614th |
Two men of the 614th in some sort of discussion |
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Annotated "motor march" during training at Camp Claiborne. |
Portrait of a man posing on the running board of an unidentified car. Another print of this image is annotated "motor march," evidently at Camp Claiborne. Coat and gloves suggest maybe Winter 1943. |
Odd-looking vehicle towing a trailer, annotated "1st auto-car." In the same context as the following construction photos but there is no evident connection. |
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Construction of a gas-generating plant. They are preparing to lay the concrete base. Probably in the vicinity of Claiborne. |
Construction site resembles gas-generating plant and album context implies this is part of that activity. Chiriano (assume a name) is not further identified. |
Man operating unidentified equipment, possibly a road grader. Album context implies relationship to the previous photos but that cannot be determined. |
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Reese (not further identified) driving a bulldozer. Album context implies relationship to previous photos but that cannot be determined. |
Unidentified surveyor at work. Squared-off pond behind him and other characteristics of the scene bear a resemblance to the gas-generating plant site. |
Picnic lunch under the trees. Album context suggests this was taken during construction of the gas-generating plant. Vehicle is carrying several lengths of pipe--possibly gaspipe? |
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In the pits at the Camp Claiborne rifle range, Summer 1943. The 618th were not combat engineers, but you have to be ready. There's a war on. |
Another view of the rifle-range pits. Looks like a hot day out. |
Chow line at the rifle range, served from the back of a truck. |
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Looks like another view of the chow line, with man squatting next to large bucket (possibly intended for washing utensils?) while everybody else stands in line with messkits. Annotation is unclear. Mac might be McEwen but we can't tell. |
Bailing out a well at Camp Claiborne. This and following photos document well-drilling activities. W.F. Johnson later told of a severe drought during his time at Claiborne; presumably this activity is related. Original album page is annotated ""Well-drilling w/ Failing rig. Fall '43, Claiborne." |
Calloway and Grothe at work, looks like they're pouring concrete. Original album page is annotated "Pump mounts for deep well - Claiborne." |
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Grothe and others engaged in construction of the well pump mounts. |
Hill and others pouring concrete for the pump mounts. |
Hill, Whitley, and others building the pump mounts. |
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Looks like a drill rig for the well. This and the following photos are on the original album page annotated "Well-drilling w/ Failing rig. Fall '43, Claiborne." |
Unidentified people engaged in well drilling or preparation, might be near completion of the operation. |
Sgt. Brehmer, Davis (not further identified), and two other men posing in front of what looks like a well-drilling rig. Success at last? |
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A possum in a tree, Louisiana. Somebody (not the photographer) is pulling his tail, which is probably unrecommended. |
Beautiful little country church, with cows. Louisiana. |
