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My name is Jack G. Sams. I was an ROTC graduate, commissioned in 1949. I joined the 844th EAB , which was an organized reserve unit with a small cadre of construction professionals headquartered in Memphis, Tenn. It was sponsored and largely populated by members of the Association of General Contractors. The 844th was activated in March 1952 and sent to Fort Huachuca, Arizona to receive and train a full complement of draftees. By that time, I had been promoted to 1st Lt. and given command of Company B. In early 1953, the 844th was assigned to duty with the AirForce (SCARWAF), reorganized, re-equipped, and shipped to Beale AFB, CA. All units of the battalion were dispatched in March of 1953 to either Shemya AFB, AK or to Cold Bay AK to renovate WWII era facilities that were needed by the air transport command in support of the ongoing Korean conflict. Company B was one of two companies sent to Shemya. We were responsible for construction of a new operations building and for major repairs to the existing runway and fueling facilities. We landed our equipment from LST's across the beach in April while the island was snowbound, and worked around the clock through August. Most of our heavy equipment was left behind when we returned to Beale in early September, because it couldn't be on-loaded from shore. The battalion was doing firefighting in northern California when I was released from active duty in October of 1953. At the time we were first activated, the Battalion commander was Lt. Col Raymond Welch. He was replaced by Major Richard(?) Stonik. I have no knowledge of the subsequent history of the 844th.
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