The 127th AEB was instituted on November 12, 1942 and was activated as an element of the 11th Airborne Division on February 25th, 1943. The Battalion consisted of Companies A, B, and C, plus a Headquarters and a Service Company. The 127th was just the second unit of airborne engineers activated during the war. The main responsibilities of the Battalion included road and airfield construction.
127th AEB, Company B. Courtesy ww2-airborne.usMen in the unit received their training at Camp Mackall, North Carolina. After almost one year of training, the entire 11th Airborne Division moved to Camp Polk, Louisiana, for intensive jungle warfare training.
On April 30th, 1944, the 11th Airborne departed San Francisco for a 26 day cruise that ended on the island of New Guinea in the South Pacific. The first tasks accomplished by the 127th were construction of a jump school and housing for divisional personnel.
In November the 11th AD was sent to Leyte, in the Philippines, where the Engineers helped construct roads and bridges along a major supply route, which were previously destroyed by torrential rains.
San Pablo airstrip, circa 1946. Courtesy ibiblio.orgBetween December 6th and 8th, elements of the 127th and a few other miscellaneous service units were attacked by 250-300 Japanese airborne forces, while on duty at the San Pablo airstrip. Despite enemy infiltration of their position, which resulted in the destruction of several planes, vehicles and two gasoline dumps, the 127th, reinforced with men from the 674th Field Artillery Battalion, successfully routed the Japanese.
Private Charles S. Wylie was KIA, December 7, 1944, while defending the San Pablo airstrip.Over the course of the war, 16 men in this Battalion were killed in action, while 21 men received the Silver Star for valor. On July 1, 1958, the 127th AEB was re-designated the 3d Engineer Battalion and deployed to Bavaria, Germany.
Disney artist Hank Porter created this design in the summer of 1943.
