Carter, Richard, SFC

Best Friends
The 68th Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squad (Separate) was activated on 10 December 1943 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland with personnel transferred from the 103rd  Bomb Disposal Company (Provisional) and the 233rd Ordnance Bomb Disposal Company.    They left Aberdeen for transit overseas on 16 April 1944.  The squad earned campaign credit for Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe and the occupation of Germany.
 
They arrived in Gourock, Scotland on 27 April 1944, moving on to England for additional training with Royal Air Force bomb disposal units.    They arrived in Vaubadon, France, on 10 July 1944. From there they worked with the Aviation Engineers, under the Ninth Air Force in clearing ALG temporary landing strips.   They conducted this work in France,  Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany  as the Allies advanced.   From the time they arrived at Normandy  in June the squad was moving at a rapid pace from one airfield to the next in support of the Aviation Engineers.  On 8 August the squad was told to move to Le Mans and begin clearing the airfield there.  They were told to proceed with caution however, because both the town and airfield might still be in German controlled land.  On 9 August 1944 the squad moved to  Laval, where the commander and two men took a jeep to Le Mans to scout the area.  On arrival they found the situation calm and sent a sergeant back to guide the remainder of the unit.   While en route the jeep came under sniper fire, a tire blew and Sgt. John F. Smith was seriously injured when the jeep overturned.  The squad finally reached Le Mans and continued work one man short.
 
On 28 August the squad arrived at an airfield just outside Paris, two days after the official liberation of the city.   They had traveled  well over 100 miles the day they arrived, but immediately after an evening meal they began to work and worked until darkness shut down their operations.  In the following day and a half they managed to clear all of the Category A and B incidents in the area.  A total of 13 UXB's were removed or destroyed in place.  One had to be removed from beneath a concrete runway heavily reinforced with wire mesh, a task that took a lot of time and effort.  Also taken care of were 18 demolition charges, some Molotov Cocktails,  a 90mm round, several grenades and other ordnance.  The demolition charges had been set-up, but were not booby trapped so removal was easy.
 
After completing this work the squad decided to enter the city of Paris and they were greeted with a scene repeated many times over as the Americans advanced through Europe.  Amidst the destruction and aftermath of war were miles of streets with people lining them cheering, waving French and American flags and shouting thanks in both French and English.  Almost to a man the squad members say the memory of that drive was the high point of their experience in the war.  Comments were also made that this experience was certainly different than driving through German cities at a later point.  Then there was no cheering, no flag waving and their reconnaissance was often interrupted by mortar or small arms fire.
 
The unit work was quite often routine labor efforts and often somewhat boring, but about the time boredom would set in some unique or more challenging incident would occur.  The 68th did not have any deaths, but suffered numerous minor injuries to personnel, just as many other squads experienced.  They enjoyed the rapid pace set by the advancing US forces and the chance to see new areas and sites as they continued their work.  Most felt that in spite of the hazards of their work, no one would willingly change his occupation as long as they were in the Army.
 
By February 1945 the squad was one of six assigned permanent duty with the Ninth Air Force Engineers.  The 68th was inactivated at Burgfarrnbach, Furth, Germany, effective 12 November 1945.