Leroy H. Regenauer: Company B
35th Engineer (Combat) Battalion
Northern  France - Rhineland - Ardennes/Alsace - Central Europe
  Private First Class Leroy H. Regenauer, Corps of Engineers, 35th Engineer Combat Battalion, United States Army, for meritorious achievement in connection with military operations against the enemy on 17 December 1944 in Luxembourg.  The commanding officer of Company B received orders to undertake a new mission.  While the company moved from its bivouac area, approaching enemy forces opened fire and attacked.  In the face of heavy enemy machine gun and small arms fire, Private First Class Regenauer, a member of a machine gun crew, immediately set up a machine gun to cover the movements of his company.  The withering machine gun fire laid down by Private First Class Regenauer held back enemy advances and made it possible for his company to move out intact.  The unselfish actions and ardent devotion to duty displayed by Private First Class Regenauer constitute the highest traditions of the Armed Forces and reflect great credit upon himself.  Entered military service from Wisconsin.
An Interview with Lee
January 2002


Shawn: Could you tell me a little about how you got to the 35th and share some of your experiences from the Alcan Highway?

Lee: I finished my first basic training at Ft. Riley, Kansas, in mid-November 1942.  We were then shipped to Ft. Lawton, Washington, a port of embarkation.  I thought for sure I was going to the South Pacific, but one day they said, "Pack up your stuff.  You're going north."  We were shipped to Dawson Creek, British Columbia, the end of the railroad in North Canada.  I was interviewed there and told I was going to the 35th Engineers, but they were 1,000 miles north and I probably wouldn't get there until March or April.  I was then attached to the 341st Engineers who were stationed at Dawson Creek.  In March or April I was told once more to pack up.  I was then going to the 35th.  We went by truck to Fort St. John, B.C., where there was an airport.  From there we went by C54 cargo plane 1,000 miles north to Whitehorse, Yukon.  We were met there by some 35th people.  The only question they asked me was,  'How tall are you?"  They decided I would go to B Company and that was where I went for the rest of the war.  B Company, at that time, was between Whitehorse and the Arctic Circle, but I eventually got to them.  We worked six days per week and had one day off.  We slept on the ground and made mattresses out of pine boughs.  The food was all dehydrated eggs, potatoes, and milk.  There was no way to get fresh food to us, as by then we were over 1,100 miles from Dawson Creek.  I didn't care much for the campaign hat as it was hard to hang a mosquito net on it and mosquito's were plentiful.  This was the Canol Road.

Shawn: Could you tell me a little about the return to Camp White? I know that you went through some more training like foot marching and marksmanship.  Tell me some about that.

Lee: Sometime in the fall of 1943 we got the word we were going back to the states, which meant Camp White, Oregon.  When we got back to Whitehorse, we were still 1,000 miles from Dawson Creek.  A quartermaster trucking unit took us to Dawson Creek.  We went 100 miles at a time, stopping for food, gas, and a fresh driver.  This was the Alcan Hwy. and it was very rough.  There was a troop train waiting for us at Dawson Creek.  From there to Camp White, Oregon, was a breeze.  Getting into Camp White was like going to the Garden of Eden.  Beds with mattresses, meat, potatoes, milk, ice cream and a 15 day furlough!  After the furlough, we went on a 7 month training program; bridge building, mine sweeping, weapons training, and lots of hikes with 40 lb. pack, 9 lb. rifle, and a 4 lb. helmet.  The longest hike was 25 miles in 8 hours, with 5 minutes rest per hour.  In the spring of 1944, we had another furlough and when we got back from that we were told to get ready.  A big move was coming.  That was the end of Camp White.

Shawn: What was it like when you realized that you were going to Europe?  You took trains from Camp White to Camp Shanks.  What was Camp Shanks like?

Lee: As far as feelings about going to Europe, we were by then a tough outfit and we didn't’ give it much thought until later when we were loaded on the ship and woke up the second day with nothing but water around us.  Camp Shanks was a different layout than an ordinary Army Camp.  It was tucked away in a big pine forest with camouflaged roofs on the barracks. The barracks were not set in any kind of line or pattern, so they couldn't’ be recognized from the air.  While at Camp Shanks we built a baseball diamond for the camp. The only other job we had was guarding some guys they called boat jumpers. These were guys that scared out.  When it came time to load up they took a one way walk.  When they were picked up and brought back they were dressed in denim pants and blue work shirts with a big white bull's eye on the back.  The officer of the day told us, "These are no good bastards."  "If they make a run for it we should use the bull's eye on their backs for what it was intended for!"  I only drew this detail twice.  This covered the time we spent at Shanks.

Shawn: How was time spent on your way across the Atlantic?  What was life like on the ship?

Lee: We loaded on the ship one sunny afternoon about July 1st.  The Gray Ladies from the Salvation Army gave us coffee and doughnuts before we loaded.  It took quite a while to load as there were 4,500 of us with the other troops that were going.  We were buttoned up until the second day.  The ship was divided into holds.  Each hold could handle 200 men.  The holds had water tight doors between them so if a torpedo hit the hold 200 men would be hit, but the ship might be saved.  Anyone that wasn't’ sick got exercise  on the top deck and lots of lectures.  I remember being told that there was a navy sniper in a position to pick anybody off  that would light a cigarette on the top deck at night.  The trip was fairly smooth up until the Azore Islands.  It was rough in that area.  About the 12th or 13th day we woke up and could see beautiful Glasgow, Scotland.  A very welcome site.

Shawn: Could you tell me a little about your arrival in England?  What did you do in preparation for going into France?

Lee: The first big job in England was cleaning our weapons, as they were covered in cosmolene.  I had two passes into Coventry while I was in England.  The first was to see the bomb damage.  The Germans had come in one evening and bombed every church in town.  I was standing by the ruins of one of them when an elderly Englishman came over to see me and asked me if I knew what was under the rubble.  I said, "No." He said, "1500 women, children and elderly people.  This was an air raid shelter and jobs like this was a German specialty." The second pass I went in for fish and chips and tea.  It was very good.  In a very short time we were shipped to Southampton and got ready for the trip across the Channel.

Shawn: What was your first impression of France after coming in at Omaha Beach?

Lee: We did not have much of an impression of Omaha Beach, as we hadn't heard much about it except that there had been a blood bath there.  Crossing the Channel we would occasionally see bloated bodies floating in the water.  The beach was cleaned up when we got there.  We went right up to the top where the German gun emplacements were.  To stand by one of them and look down at the beach we could get a good idea of what our boys went through on D-Day.  The first night off Omaha Beach we stayed on the ship, then we went in and it was a fast trip to Avranches and up the Brittany Peninsula.

Shawn: Could you tell me a little about the unit's actions on the Brittany Peninsula?

Lee: As far as the Battle of Brest, we were sent up the Crozon Peninsula, which was below Brest.  We went up as far as Telgruc and took our first prisoners.  At one time I had my machine gun trained on eight to ten high ranking naval officers.  There were also army prisoners taken at the same time.  At night we could see Brest burning from Telgruc.  I remember very well when our bombers killed Captain Stark and Levine.  They apparently didn't know that we had called for bomber support and they got too close.  Captain Stark was an excellent captain and the sight of him drilling C Company was something to see.

Shawn: The 35th dealt with a lot prisoners near Brest.  Could you tell me a little of what you remember about that?

Lee: I do not recall anything special happening with the prisoners at Brest.  I do remember an incident which happened later on involving prisoners.  We were taking about 60 prisoners, in four columns, down a road.  I was at about the middle of the column on the left flank.  I happened to look in at the prisoners and I saw one with his head bandaged.  He was bleeding very badly.  I thought he would go down so I ran up to the head of the column, which was being led by a lieutenant.  I told him about the prisoner bleeding bad and he said, "Get the son of bitch out of there before he goes down and screws up the whole column."  I told the Kraut in German to come out and go back, which was the opposite direction we were going.  I don't know what happened to him.  All I wanted was to get rid of him.

Shawn: Could tell me about what it was like staying in Goebelsmuhle, Belgium, and your actions there?

Lee: As far as Goebelsmuhle, we lived in a hotel that was backed up against a high cliff.  All the furniture was removed and we slept on the floor; generally a squad to a room.  While we were there we repaired roads and did a lot of patrolling.  We were told we would be there until at least April, but the Krauts changed our minds on that.  This was December 16th, the day the Bulge started.  I was on the opposite end of town from where the Krauts came in.  I was covering a trail that led up through the hills to the German border.  After my [recent] talk to Lt. Botdorf, there is some confusion as to what happened.  As I remember it, Lt. Botdorf ordered me to go up a hill and set up my machine gun to stop an encirclement.  In my recent talk with him he said he did not order me.  He said I went up on my own.  He also said he ordered a .50 caliber machine gun set up between me and the road the Krauts were coming into town on.  The Lt. said he never heard the .50 caliber shoot, but he heard my .30 caliber from up on the hill.  When I got up on the hill with my gun there was not time to dig in.  I set the gun as low as I could.  I set the sights for 150 yards which was the edge of the woods where the Krauts would come out.  I sprayed the woods with about 100 rounds right away and then I waited.  All of a sudden, from my right, I saw a German patrol of about ten men.  They were apparently lost, as they were going in the wrong direction.  The last time I saw the Battalion history book, they said six of this group were annihilated.  With the confusion I can only refer you to the Battalion history book to see what happened that day.  I do not know who put me in for the Bronze Star.  Lt. Botdorf said he did not do it, but he thought Lt. Williams did.  There was a Lt. about eight feet behind me during this action.  This could have been Lt. Williams, a man I do not know.  The Krauts did not surround us and I received the Bronze Star for the action I took.

Shawn: What happened after you left Goebelsmuhle?

Lee: After this event we went to Neufchateau for the night.  The next day, early to Bastogne.  After three days and nights there, and relief by the 101st Airborne, we were ordered to St. Hubert, Belgium.  We blew trees across the road and did general demolition work all around the place, as the Krauts were headed that way with an armored column.  One night, just after dark, we were told to break up into three vehicle groups and move out.  We all got through okay and went to Bouillon, Belgium, where we covered an American field hospital that was being evacuated.  Patton broke through to Bastogne on December 26th.  On about December 28th, my buddy Morgan went into Bastogne on a patrol.  I went in the next day and that was the last time I ever saw it.  I expect the reason they sent us up this time was to make sure the road to Bastogne was open.  From Bouillon through the rest of the Bulge there was one road block after another.

Shawn: Could you tell me about your experiences during the Mosel and Rhine River crossings?

Lee: As for the Mosel River crossing, I didn't think it amounted to much.  I can only remember one casualty, which was a guy from A Company that was killed.  The Rhine River was something different.  We had practiced on another river for the Rhine River crossing.  If I remember right, we split the 35th in half and formed two assault teams with the 347th and 345th Infantry.  We jumped off at midnight for the first wave and got about halfway across the river when the Kraut's sent up parachute flares and lit the place up like a June afternoon.  Each boat had an engineer sergeant, four infantry on each side, and two engineers on the front.  My engineer buddy was Hank Ridgeway.  We managed to get our boat across and then we were pinned down.  All of a sudden I heard the command, "Marching fire," from the infantry.  They all stood up shoulder-to-shoulder and fired from the hip, one shot for each step they took.  I heard this was a system developed by General Patton.  It did get the infantry up into the town nearby.  I checked the boat next to mine and found Sergeant Callahan dead.  A bullet came down the two lines of infantry, through his helmet, and into his head.  I do not remember who my sergeant was in the boat and and I do not remember what happened to him.  Ridgeway and I took a boat back and made it across the river.  Mortar shells and 20mm were coming across all that night till daylight the next morning.  Sometime during the night I was hit on the side of the dead with a small piece of mortar shrapnel.  A "pill roller" came along and sprinkled some sulfa powder on it and put a patch on it and that was the end of it.  He did not ask me my name and I did not tell him, so there was no Purple Heart.  About 7 AM the next morning, the infantry called back they were running low on ammunition.  We got together another wave and made another crossing.  This was in daylight and didn't seem as bad as the first one.  We got back safe from that one and lay low all day.  About 6 PM that night, we got orders to pull out and go back.  This was the end of the Rhine story for the 35th.  I think the end result of all of this was that General Patton had taken the 35th Division across at Mainz.  At this time some of his forces linked up with some of the guys we took across.  This is my guess only.

Shawn: What did you do after the war?

Lee: I did not settle down right away after the war.  I ran a dairy farm for a while in the early 1950's.  I was stricken with Polio.  I got out of that and went to work for Johnson Outboard Motor Company in Waukegan, IL.  I stayed there until retirement.  I was married and raised seven children and now have 11 grandchildren.  All of my children are doing very well.  One of the highlights of my life was that I walked on the same ground as the 101st walked on.




Leroy H. Regenauer
My Good Friend
31 July 1921 - 24 July 2006