108th Combat Engineers Provided Vital Support

When Army Ground Forces chief, General Joseph W Stillwell, visited the Division in June and surveyed the rugged mountainous terrain, he called it "worse than Burma!" General Clarkson, viewing the remark as a gross understatement, corrected "worse than anywhere!"

Luzon 1945 - One of many bridges the 108th Combat Engineers had to replace. Photo: Westrop.

Because of the enormous barriers created by the precipitous Caraballos, supplying forward units with ordnance and supplies became the Division's paramount logistical problem. Moving these essentials for combat up to the combat areas was a war in itself. Road-building turned out to be the major necessity.

It took every vestige of resourcefulness and self-sacrifice of the 108th Combat Engineers to force open lines of supplies to the Infantry. Starting at Question Mark Hill, where the engineers built a supply road rising 800 feet in a distance of two miles, their support contributed much to the outcome of the battle for Baguio.

In the Question Mark battle LTC. Kane's engineers did more than construct roads. Engineer relief parties hand-carried water to front-line troops of I Company 130th Infantry when airdropped parachutes with water canisters floated over Japanese lines. That task completed, engineers evacuated casualties under Japanese fire.

Later in the campaign when the drive toward the Philippine summer capitol was gaining momentum, the 108th, with a party of infantry, opened the key to the Agoo-Tubao road, permitting two battalions of the 123rd Infantry to pour through and envelop Hill X. On this mission they rebuilt and replaced several demolished bridges, fighting their way from one structure to the next. On occasion this detachment operated in front of the infantry, probing for mines along the shoulder of the road. While this team worked forward, enemy machine gunners and mortarmen harassed it from steep ridges overlooking the pass.

Engineers set examples of heroism that compared with those of the infantry. In the campaign they cleared 14 major minefields, disposing of 234 individual mines. One of the largest of these was located on Kennon Road, just north of Camp 3.

Riflemen from the 136th were all but stopped until engineers from C Company of the 108th walked out ahead and disarmed the mines. In the course of this the engineers were shelled at close range by enemy artillery.

Other accomplishments of the 108th included preparing Cub strips for the L4s; construction of nearly 60 miles of mountain roadway; maintenance of 165 miles of roads in Division hands at the time it was relieved of combat; construction and maintenance of twenty-two water points that yielded almost four million gallons for Division consumption; construction of 25 bridges, five of which were Bailey-type; repair of fifteen additional bridges, and the construction of 35 bypasses.

For its superb performance of duty in Northern Luzon the 108th Combat Engineer Battalion was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation. The 75-day campaign also yielded one DSC, six Silver Stars, nine Bronze Stars for heroism in action, and 26 Bronze Stars for meritorious achievement.

In the words of Col. Frank Sackton, "...the true measure of this service may be better found in the magnificent respect and admiration the infantryman had for the combat engineer."

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