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A Message from General H. H, Arnold
on the Fifth Anniversary of the Aviation Engineers

Five years ago today, the Aviation Engineers were organized as an integral part of the Army Air Forces. Their mission, reduced to its bare essentials, was to provide the Army Air Forces with adequate base facilities not only in the United States but in combat areas in all theaters of operation. The complexities and hardships of this immense task can hardly be over-stated. Enormous bases had to be constructed to accomodate thousands of our heavy bombers. Forward fighter strips had to be constructed with the lightest of engineering equipment, frequently under fire. Often as not, our men slept in slit trenches, lived off field rations, and worked in shifts that shattered all pre-conceived notions of human endurance. Bases sprang into being overnight.

In France, despite the astonishing speed of our ground forces, airstrips were always within a hundred miles of our front lines, often within five miles of a fluid front, and, on occasion, ahead of the infantry. The Engineer Battalion which went ashore on the morning of D-Day was at the Maginot Line on D-plus 120, having built seven airfields enroute. Jungle clearings in New Guinea, inaccessable by land, were put into operating condition in a matter of days through use of airborne equipment.

All this was achieved without fanfare, without the immediate recognition that accompanies more spectacular operations. Yet the record of the Aviation Engineers compares with that of any combat outfit in our armed forces. It is a record that cannot be enhanced by any commendation, however glowing. It is a proud record; new and brilliant achievements are being added to it daily in the Pacific; it is a record that speaks eloquently for itself.

4 June 1945

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TO: Officers and Enlisted Men.

This history records the events which have patterned the life of the 832nd Engineer Aviation Battalion for the past three years and four months, of which time three years have been spent in an active theater of war, the European Theater of Operations.

It seems a long time since we first landed in England, a newly formed unit, inexperienced in the ways of the army and ignorant of the Herculean tasks which confronted us. Through your own efforts it was not long however, before we were welded into an efficient organization which hurdled each obstacle placed in our path, regardless of the odds. The indomitable spirit that you have always shown has carried you triumphant and successful through the hardships and arduous tasks you faced in England, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. The many seemingly impossible jobs that you have accomplished are each a monument to your ability, ingenuity and resourcefulness and will be long remembered.

It is with great pride that I count myself as one of you and no greater honor can I conceive of than to have been your Commanding Officer during two of these trying years. I wish to thank each one of you for the part you have played in compiling a record and building a reputation that places the 832nd Engineer Aviation Battalion second to none.

In your new ventures, whatever they may be, I wish you Good Luck and God-speed.

1 August 1945

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