111th Combat Engineers

111th Combat Engineers. . , The original engineer unit in the "Texas National Guard” originated in Port Arthur in 1916 and was designated "Company A Texas Engineers.” The Company was first called into service in June 1916 for duty in the Mexican border disturbance of 1916-17 where it remained until its release in March 1917. Company A was again ordered into Federal service on 5 August 1917, and assigned to the 111th Engineer Regiment of newly organized 36th Infantry Division and departed for France in July 1918. Later the 111th was detached from the Division and operated as a separate Regiment where it participated in two major campaigns before the November 11th armistice was signed. After its demobilization and return to the u.s. the 111 th was again reorganized as an element of the 36th Division. Port Arthur was assigned headquarters and service, Companies A, D and the Band. These units served normal peacetime functions until 25 November 1940 when president Roosevelt ordered the National Guard into Federal service. Later due to the restructuring of the 36th Division, more than half of the Port Arthur personnel were destined to serve from Australia to Alaska in the Pacific Theater of operations. Some formed the cadre for a new battalion, the 176th Engineers which served a support role in Alaska in the only campaign fought on North America soil for control of the Aleutian Islands. The troops who remained with the 111th engineers moved with the division to Florida, then to the Carolinas and finally to Cape Cod Massachusetts before transport overseas to north Africa. Next on D-Day they were to wade ashore across the beaches south of Salerno, Italy as an element of the initial assault by American troops of the European continent. For many months as the engineer support element for the 36th Division they were exposed to some of the most savage combat of World War II, including the Rapido River crossing, the breakout at Anzio and capture of Rome, D-Day in southern France, crossings of the Moselle and Rhine rivers, the final mop-up and capitulation of the German forces, and the celebration of V-E Day in southern Bavaria. Subsequent to demobilization and return to the U.S. the 111th was again reorganized and assigned to the golden triangle. units were located in Beaumont, Orange, Port Neches and Port Arthur and remained active as an engineer battalion until the deactivation of the 36th Division in 1968.