It was 1925 and World War I had long been over and done with. All American Troops had returned home and America was again a land of peace. The Army was in its regular situation of not receiving any support and few National Guard units were existent. That year, however, the 108th Engineer Battalion was reactivated. After honorable service on the Mexican Border and then overseas it had been laid away to rest along with of the other National Guard units but it now existed again, recruiting, drilling and going to summer camp.
Year by year the 33rd Division grew in size until finally in 1931a second Battalion was activated and the organization was now known as the 108th ENGINEER REGIMENT. Summer camp was followed by winter drills once weekly, and occasionally week ends at the rifle range up on the North Shore just out of Chicago. The Regiment enjoyed a distinction held by no other such organization in that each company of it was sponsored by a large Chicago corporation. Finally, on March 5th, 1941, the Regiment was called on active duty by Presidential Order No. 8633 and was off to a flying start.
Our first station was Camp Forrest, Tennessee, and our first duty was to get the newly constructed camp in shape for habitation. That was the spring of the big mud and the summer of the Camp Forrest hack . Our fillers arrived in the form of selectees and Mobilization Training began. By July our initial training was completed and early in August the entire Division was off to the Arkansas-Louisiana Maneuvers. In October, with maneuvers over and done with, the Division returned to Camp Forrest prepared to spend another six months of garrison life and then once again to be civilians, but the Service Extension Act of 1941 passed by the 77th Congress extended our service.
In December our serene outlook was shattered by the outbreak of war and a new intensive program was initiated. Rumors circulated day and night; and one that we found it hardest to believe was that the division would be triangularized and the Regiment split into two separate battalions.
By February, 1942, the rumor had become a fact and on 21 February orders were received designating the 2nd Battalion as the 181st ENGINEER HEAVY PONTOON BATTALION.
The new Battalion consisted of an H&S Company, Company A ,Company B and a Medical Detachment. Lt. Colonel James C. Fitch, formerly Executive Officer of the 108th Engineer Regiment, became the battalion commander. The original Table of Organization called for a total of 18 officers, 3 warrant officers and 509 enlisted men, Of these, two officers and 8 enlisted men were assigned to the Medical Detachment. 14 officers and 274 enlisted men were the original assignment.
Following activation the battalion went through a series of changes in assignments, going in rapid succession from 2nd Army to GHQ Reserve to Ill Corps to 2nd Army and finally to attachment to 11th Detachment Headquarters, Special Troops, Second Army.
Previous to this time, the battalion’s experience with floating bridges had been quite scanty. Equipment was requisitioned and a training program was instituted. Finally trucks and trailers began to arrive and then one day our bridge began to arrive at the Camp Forrest Railhead. Intensive drivers training was instituted and officers and key NCO’s took one unit of bridge to Lake Tullahoma and worked with it day in and out until they were letter perfect. Company strengths were so reduced by this time (due to the large numbers of officer candidates we were supplying) that it was an unusual day that saw more than 40 men per company working out at the lake.
July brought an interesting variation in our training. The Commanding General, 2nd Army, ordered us to Memphis, Tennessee, to participate in a parade and bridge building demonstration on the Fourth of July.
Once back in Camp Forrest again the battalion went to work even more intensively for by now orders had been received directing us to report to the Louisiana Maneuver Area in August. Just prior to leaving for the maneuver area the battalion sent out a cadre of 25 enlisted men who eventually assisted in the activation of the 49th Engineer Combat Battalion.
On 21 August 1942, three freight trains and one passenger train left Camp Forrest for Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, where it unloaded and proceeded to Elmer, Louisiana, Our acute shortage of personnel was thoroughly noticed during that maneuver. We had but 28 of the 64 six ton truck-tractors that we needed and so each move necessitated shuttling. Due to the size of the maneuver area and the layout of the problems the battalion was forced to drive from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty miles between each problem.
On 3 November the battalion was released for return to Camp Forrest and proceeded to Camp Claiborne to load its equipment for rail shipment. This loading took only 18 hours and involved 108 flat cars — one of the fastest loading times recorded up to that date.
All during the maneuvers a serious shortage of men and officers existed. Now, however, both began to arrive. Fillers were received from the 903rd Ordnance and the 345th Engineer Regiment.
On March 1, 1943, the battalion furnished a cadre of three officers and forty-one enlisted men for the activation of the 555th Engineer Heavy Pontoon Battalion at Camp White, Oregon.
The fillers received in November and December had been thoroughly trained in the battalion’s duties and were ready for the next task which turned out to be participation in the Tennessee Maneuvers No.1 which began in April.
