History of the 76th. Engineer
Bn.(Const)
The 76th Engineer Battalion (Construction) was originally constituted
on the inactive list of the Regular Army 1 October 1933 as the 4Oth
Engineer Regiment (General Service) It was redesignated the 34th
Engineer Regiment (General Service) 1 January 1938, and activated 5
March 1942 at Vancouver Barracks, Washington, with a cadre of officers
and enlisted men form the 18th Engineer Regiment (Combat. On 18 April
1942 part of the Regiment entrained for Seattle, Washington and boarded
the USS St. Michael, for Skagway, Alaska, the famous boomtown of '98.
They arrived there on 22 April and the remainder of the Regiment came in
on the 25th. On 1 August 1943 the Regiment received orders to return to
the United States. It united at Whitehorse, entrained for Skagway on the
16th, embarked for Port Edward, British Columbia on four small passenger
ships of a Canadian line, and traveled from Port Edward to Camp Sutton,
North Carolina by rail. It returned to the States a unified organization
fused by labor, hardship, and long experience in working together. A
goal that bad been achieved in record time had raised its esprit de
corps to very high level. Until 10 February 1944 the 34th remained in
North Carolina, undergoing extensive training and solving night problems
to accustom the elements of the command to night movement and security.
On the 10th of the month the 34th left Camp Sutton enroute to Camp
Hathaway, Washington, where it arrived on the 15th. Twelve days later
the entire Regiment moved to Portland, Oregon, by truck and debarked on
the U.S.A.T. Motorship Pennant, After a voyage of 37 days it disembarked
at Darwin, Australia, and moved to its bivouac area 5 miles northeast.
As of 20 July 1944 the Regiment was redesignated the 34th Engineer
Construction Battalion. Construction work stopped on 20 December and six
days later the Battalion~ on board the LST's 680 and 126, and Liberty
Ship A.K. Mercury~ was once again at sea The three ships joined a large
Naval Task Force off Sansapor and proceeded to their destination via
Leyte, Surigao Strait, and the China Sea. At dawn on the morning of
"S-Day", 9 January 1945~ the convoy entered Lingayen Gulf,
Luzon, Philippine Island. Following heavy Navy shelling and dive-bombing
the first elements of the Battalion, along with other assault troops,
beached at 12oo hours followed shortly by the remainder of the men and
equipment. Following the Japanese surrender the Engineers of the 34th
wound up in Korea where until their inactivation 25 January 1949, they
directed their efforts toward building up the country. Six months after
its inactivation the 34th was again activated, on 25 June under the
designation 76th Engineer Construction Battalion, it came to life again
this time in Okinawa. One year later it was to receive the dubious honor
of being the first engineer construction battalion to arrive in Korea
after the start of the Korean Operations, Reaching Korea in July 1950,
it immediately set out to prove its worth. The awards for service in
Korea and the previous ones for the Alcan Highway in Alaska are
indicative of the standards of service contained in the battalion
motto,” To Work is to Conquer”. The colors of the 76th bear campaign
streamers for the New Guinea and Luzon campaigns during the Second World
War. Its new distinctive insignia, approved in June 1952, is red and
silver, the Corps Engineers colors and carries symbols representing
service in there two campaign A sea lion, which is part of the arms of
Manila, signifies service in the Philippines and the head of a stone war
club represents service in New Guinea it’s motto previously mentioned,
is "Laborare est Vintere" It would be hard to fine a simpler
phrase to describe the activities of 76TH ENGINEER BATTALION
(CONSTRUCTION]
BATTLE HONORS CAMPAIGN STREAMERS
WORLD WAR II 'KOREA New Guinea UN Defensive Luzon (with arrowhead) UN
Offensive CCF Intervention First UN Counter-offensive CCF Spring
Offensive UN Summer-Fall Offensive Second Korea Winter Korea Summer-Fall
1952 Third Korean Winter Korea Summer-Fall 1952
Decorations; Meritorious Unit Streamer ALCAN Highway. Three
Meritorious Unit Streamers embroidered KOREA. Philippine Presidential
Unit Citation Streamer embroidered 17 October 1944,to 4 July, 1945 Two
Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation Streamers embroidered KOREA
Company A entitled to a Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
Streamer embroidered Naktong and Nam River
| Thanks to Steve Borowski for the
Unit History |
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| Unit: Co "B" 76th Engineer 1964-65 |
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