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VERDUN L. NEUBRAND

Neubrand talks of combat life

     Verdun L. Neubrand served as a private in the U.S. Army with the COC 255 Engineer Branch 63rd Infantry Division.  He retired October 1966 from the army in Toledo, Ohio with 22 1/2 years of army service as Sergeant First Class, E7.  He received a total of 13 medals during his career in the army. 

     "I was drafted in March 1944," Neubrand writes, "and I went to Jefferson Barracks to take my physical the first week of April.  Two weeks later, I received notice to return to Jefferson Barracks, where I was sworn into the U.S. Army. 

     "I stayed at Jefferson Barracks for more than two weeks before being sent to Camp Hood IRTC Training Center, Texas for basic training. 

     "After completion of basic training, I was placed in Advance Training, Combat  Engineers and I was trained in mines, booby traps, bridge building and road construction. 

     "I left Camp Hood on a troop train going North to Bismarck and was home about two weeks when I received a telegram to report to Fort Meade, Maryland as a replacement to be shipped to Europe.  After three weeks, I was sent to Camp Van Dorn in Mississippi, where I was placed on Company C 255 ENGR BN, 63rd Infantry Division. 

     "In December of 1944, I was sent to Camp Shanks, N..Y. where I boarded a troop ship bound for Southern France.  We landed in the port of Marseilles, France. 

     "It was cold in the staging area, which was high in the mountains above Marseilles.  We could have no fires at night as the German planes came over us at night-time. 

     "We spent two weeks in the staging area, waiting for equipment from the states.  We cleaned the equipment daily with heavy-duty grease to keep it from rust, as it was stored on the top deck of the transporting vessel. 

     "When we departed the staging area, we headed north, up the Rhone Valley.  Our first encounter with the German Army was at the Colmar Pocket in southeastern France with Hitler's picked troops, the German S.S.  They were backed up against the Swiss Alps and no way to get out. 

     "After several days, the Commanding General of the 7th Army put out an order not to take any prisoners alive. 

     "After leaving the Colmar pocket, we went up the Rhone Valley.   We had built several bridges before arriving at Saargamines, a part of France and Germany.  We got bogged down as snow and rain stopped any movement of troops.  I removed German mines and booby traps for the first time at Saargamines. 

     "At 2 a.m. on March 17 we finally received orders to move out for the Siegfried lines, which were made up of pill boxes and dragon teeth.  In the afternoon of March 17, 1945, I was in a party of engineers picked to move forward to destroy the pill boxes and dragon-teeth.. 

    "Dragon teeth were concrete blocks standing about four feet high which stopped tanks from coming through.  Pill boxes were concrete stations with living quarters under the ground and a gun-turret above ground to stop enemy movements through the front lines. 

     "We were pinned down by German artillery fire and we had to pull back until after dark; then we went back and blew up several pill boxes and dragon teeth.  The next morning the tanks started moving through the Siegfried lines. 

     "Our next encounter was to build a pontoon bridge across the Rhine River and after looking all night the Germans floated mines down the river and blew up our pontoon bridge.  We lost all our equipment and the construction engineers had to build a bridge at Worms, Germany.  A screen was put across the river to stop the mines from having contact with the bridge. 

     "We moved across Germany and arrived at the north side of Heidelberg, Germany on the Neckar River on Good Friday, 1945. 

     "We had to put a pontoon bridge across the river.  We stayed in Heidelberg till Easter night and moved out up the Neckar River to Augsburg, Germany. 

     "On May 17, 1945 we were pulled back from the front lines and moved back.  We received notice that President Roosevelt had passed away. 

     "I spent five years in Germany and I received the following medals and ribbons:  Presidential Citation, Bronze Star, European Theatre Ribbons with 3 Battle Stars, Victory Ribbon and Occupation Ribbon.