Troop Commander

from pages 6 and 8 of the last Trident Tribune

The Executive officer of the 322 Engineer Combat Battalion and acting as troop commander aboard the Neshoba, is ruddy, smiling Major Robert F. Gleason.  The major looks at you with a merry twinkle in those blue eyes that leave no doubt that a bit o’ the Emerald Isle shines through them.

He is well liked by the engineers, for he has “gone to bat” countless times for their welfare and benefit.

Major Gleason is a reserve officer, being commissioned in 1938 and called to active duty in 1942.  He was assigned as a platoon leader at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, and was transferred to Camp Edwards, Mass, where amphibious engineer training was in progress.

He became a member of the engineer battalion when the 97^th Division was activated in February 1943.  Major Gleason was commander of Company A, Holding that position throughout basic training and Louisiana Maneuvers.

At the end of the Bayou Badland maneuvers, the major became battalion executive officer and was promoted to his present rank in May 1944.

At the time the division was alerted at Camp Cooke, Calif, Major Gleason was attending the field grade officers’ school at Fort Belvoir, Va.

The major is a graduate of the University of West Virginia, holding a degree as civil engineer.  Before entering the service he was employed by the Carnegie Illinois Steel Corporation.

Back home in Morgantown, West Virginia, awaiting the major is his wife, Naomi Grace Gleason, son Jimmy, 5, and a daughter.  A newcomer in the Gleason family, little Miss Gleason was born September 10 the day before the Neshoba left Seattle.

The major eagerly awaits our arrival at Yokohama, anticipation mail from home to find out his daughter’s baptismal name.  (PD’A)