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Citizens Bureau of Governmental Research,
Inc. of New York State
Albany
R.R. Battalion
Sirs:
TIME, June 14, carried an exciting account of the exploits performed by Brigadier General Carl R. Gray's special railway corps in North Africa. Perhaps your readers will be interested in the background of a typical unit in this special corps. . . .
At the request of the War Department in 1929, the Southern Railway System organized a railway operating battalion. . . . While we were at peace . . . the battalion existed largely as a skeleton organization, with . . . officers . . . keeping up with military and transportation developments . . . to be prepared if they should be called. . . . That call came. . . . The battalion was then designated the —th Engineer Battalion, U.S. Army, and was the first military railway organization to be activated.
. . . To provide practical experience in every phase of railroad operation . . . the Southern Railway System negotiated a contract with the U.S. Government making available to the battalion that part of the Southern Railway System known as the New Orleans & Northeastern Railroad, which extends from Meridian, Miss, to New Orleans, 202 miles. No charge was made by the N.O. & N.E. for its facilities, the services of its officers or employes, or the use of its property. . . .
How well the job was done is indicated by the following words written by General Gray:
. . . "It is a delight to congratulate the officers and men of the Southern Railway System on the manner in which they have assisted the officers of the battalion and of the Military Railway Service in the training of the —th. Never has there been, in my knowledge of railroad service, a more cooperative, coordinated, unselfish and thoroughly competent help given anybody. . . .".
The officers and men who formed the battalion were led by Lieut. Colonel Fred W. Okie, formerly superintendent of the Southern's Birmingham division. . . .
A War Department press release of April 29 reveals that the Legion of Merit has been awarded to Colonel Okie by General Eisenhower. . . .
HOLCOMBE PARKES
Assistant to the President
Southern Railway System
Washington