United States. Army. Engineer Regiment, 314th
Biography
Consolidated and Organized by the United States Army in 1917, the first elements of the 314th Engineer Regiment arrived at Camp Funston, Kanas to begin training for eventual combat in France. Commanded by William B. Ladue, the 314th consisted of men from St. Louis and Kansas City, as well as from counties in Southern and Southeast Missouri. Assigned to the 89th Infantry Division, the 314 departed for France in May 1918 aboard the Carpathia. The regiment disembarked at Cherbourg, France on June 29, 1918. During the war, the 314th supported the 89th Division during the Saint-Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives, constructing pill-boxes, strongpoints, and dugouts, as well as erecting barbed wire entanglements. In the final stages of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the regiment maintained roads and repaired bridges in preparation for crossing the Meuse River. After the Armistice, the 314th, along with the 89th Division, occupied the German towns of Kyllburg, Kreiss, Prum, Bitburg, Trier, and Saarburg, and built mess halls, kitchens, guard houses, and stables. The 314th returned to the United States with the 89th Division in May 1919.