On 5 October 1944, Unit 1214 headed for TDY with the 94th Infantry Division stationed in Chateaubriant, France, the Western part of France. The unit included Lt. James Bowns, Sgt Joseph N. Gray, Pfc. James A. Mulhaney, Tec 5 Albert Kasluga, and Sgt Ellis from the 3264th Signal Service Company. About the 16th of November Sgt Ellis was replaced by Tec 4 George Miehle.

  About that time the unorthodox meetings, prisoner exchanges, with the Germans were taking place and the common cry was, "If you are captured the Red Cross will have you out in two weeks", for it was well known that a 11 American captives were released from German control within a few weeks Many meetings were held with the officers of the German forces in that sector, and the photographic situation came to such a plane that photographs taken by both forces were exchanged at the next meeting.

Sgt Gray photographing sequences during a prisoner exchange in Etel, France about 15 November 1944. Photo taken by a German cameraman known only as "Rudolph" and presented to Lt. Bowns.

  The front in Western France was long, 400 miles long, and all covered by one unit--Unit 1214.

  But on New Years Day, 1945, the 94th Division joined Third Army and the 66th Infantry Division, just in from the States, took charge of the sector. From then until April, the same unit continued to plug along, shooting mostly home town stuff, and it was possible to visit such historic cities as Rennes, Angers, Quimperly, Brest, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, and Orleans.

  The war in the Lorient--St. Nazaire was continually a holding action, with neither side advancing or retreating. Patrol action was constant, with a daily loss of one man here or there by both the division and the Germans.

  One fateful day, the unit's jeep "Pocatello” got her nose into the wrong section of the area and emerged with four flat tires, no windshield, a busted radiator, no headlights, and a leaking gas tank. Kraut observation had caused a few air bursting 88's to take vengeance on the jeep. No casualties occurred; Mulhaney, Kasluga, and Lt Bowns were exchanging places with the termites found in old mortar holes near the jeep.

  Early in April a change in district control relieved Unit 1214 and the unit headed to Verdun, company headquarters, for reassignment, and the unit number 1214 was changed to 1212.