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| The 1567th Engineer Depot Co. |
| in Belgium |
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| My WWII outfit, the 1567th Engineer Depot Company, was at Port of the Ile Monsin, near Liege, where I spent nine months with the U.S. Corps of Engineers from December 1944 to September 1945. We operated a huge depot there, sending tons of materiel to the troops on the front lines to build bridges, detonate bridges, pontoons, generators, etc. Directly across the Meuse from our base was a Quartermaster Dump which stocked thousands of meals for our troops as well as petroleum items such as five-gallon cans of gasoline for tanks and trucks, which the Germans hoped to have for their push toward Antwerp to divide the American and British forces. |
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| The railway bridge from Jupille to Ile Monsin |
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| Our E-514 Engineer Supply Depot contained some 75,000 tons of equipment. We also had a German Prisoner of War camp on the base. They helped load the equipment on trains and trucks for shipment to the front. There were two companies of white troops and one company of black troops on our base. |
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| When word came down that Germans had parachuted behind our lines wearing American uniforms, speaking good English and causing trouble for our military police by turning road signs to confuse our men, we took precautionary measures to counter this. We set up a perimeter guard around the island in mid-December after the battle had begun. Fortunately for us, the Germans never reached Liege. |
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| The Engineer built a bridge through the Meuse |
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| But the city area received some 2,000 buzz bombs during the battle, more than London had received, as I have read. Four of the flying bombs (V-1) killed Belgians and destroyed buildings, frequently private homes. We learned to watch the bombs carefully, coming over the hill on the south side of the Meuse, which we called "Buzz Bomb Hill". |
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| If a bomb were on the far horizon, we felt reassured that it would not hit us, but if it came directly over the hill towards us and the motor cut off before it got to us, then we hit the dirt or found a shelter. |
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| Personally, I saw one that I felt had my name on it, but it landed near a barge moored in the basin nearby and caused little damage except to the Belgian barge operators who were cut by flying glass. All in all, we were very fortunate. |
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| During the period we stayed there, I had the opportunity to meet a young lady in nearby Herstal or Jupille, I don't remember which. She introduced me to her family and I began to learn French. Later, after the war, I attended the University of Paris (Sorbonne), where I studied the French language and culture as well as French history. Unfortunately, I have never returned to visit Liege, which I liked. |
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| John H. K. MASTERSON |
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1567th Engineer
Depot Company
1st Army
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Campaigns:
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Battle of the Bulge,
Belgium
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