Pictorial History of Fort Wolters, Volume 11: 864 Engineer Battalion, Special Category Army and Air Force Page: 6 of 273
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We are not at all satisfied with what has been accomplished. The training you have
received has not been what it should be. You have not had the equipment and facilities you need.
Action to provide necessary construction at this and other base has been slow. There has been
delay in the appropriation and the release of funds needed to do our job. We ourselves perhaps
have failed to make the most of what little time we have had, and to squeeze in as much training
as possible within the limitations of equipment and facilities at hand. No one is entirely to blame,
yet, we are all to blame. Our condition is typical of that through the armed services and the entire
country. It is merely proof of the mortal danger in which we stand, and paradoxically it is the
very reason why you may have had to be called into service.
But though there is much reason to be dissatisfied with results we have obtained, there is
no reason to be discouraged. We have laid a solid foundation for a thoroughly competent
aviation engineer service. In a construction job, during the period of planning, gathering materials
and equipment and laying the foundation is never seen after the structure starts going up; But if
it's unsound, the structure will not stand. You men are the foundation. It is your fate to be
tramped on, sat on, and dumped on. You will get little or no appreciation from anyone except
your follow engineers. Only they and you will know whether or not you have done a good job.
But you are just as important as the men and the units who will follow you. They will
have complete equipment. Maintenance shops, specialist training courses. They will have
adequate barracks, family housing, commissaries, and recreational facilities. They will gain the
spotlight and get presidential citations, decorations and promotions. Your job has been, and is
now to make these things possible. Those of you who stay with it will reap some of the benefits;
The rest of you must be content with the knowledge that you are building the way for other to
follow.
This force is now at a turning point in its development. Some of our original units are
leaving us shortly for overseas areas. Some units will soon be engaged in overseas areas in actual
airfield construction. Many men of other units, now engaged on off-base construction project,
will soon complete their tour of duty with the Armed Forces and return to civilian life. Those
units will have to be rebuilt with new men. Individuals from all units will be needed to replace men
who have done their duty and are now returning from Korea.
To those of you who are leaving, I want to take this occasion to thank you for your hard
work and to wish you good luck and God speed. Those of us who remain will have a much
harder task during the coming year, because of your leaving. With the aid of our hosts and
helpers of the air base groups, we can surmount all our difficulties, and go on to build an aviation
engineer service which will permit our Air Force to display quickly anywhere it is needed, with
full confidence that its' foundation of bases is firm and solid.
Copied for historical interest: Camp Wolters Trumpet
Willie H. Casper
Colonel US Army (Ret)
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Casper, Willie H., Jr. Pictorial History of Fort Wolters, Volume 11: 864 Engineer Battalion, Special Category Army and Air Force, book, Date Unknown; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth25113/m1/6/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boyce Ditto Public Library.