were needed for their transfer to Camp Kilmer, a (then) new Army camp named after the American journalist and poet Joyce Kilmer. By this time the regiment had grown to full strength consisting of 1,239 men and 52 officers. They arrived at Camp Kilmer at 1655 hours on 22 July 1942. The purpose of their time at Kilmer was to receive final medical evaluations, vaccinations, and final preparations before shipping overseas. The unit shipped overseas to England on 6 August 1942. Deployment in the United Kingdom Task Force #38 left 6 August 1942 bound for Greenock, Scotland in the British Isles with the USS Arkansas (BB-33) as flagship, fourteen destroyers as escorts with twelve transports including USAT Argentina, carrying the 332nd. The convoy arrived there 17 August 1942. Upon reaching Scotland, 332nd travelled by rail to their first destination, Newport. The 332nd initially was involved to build bases for the coming troops in preparation for the North Africa campaign and D-Day in World War II. In their first 1–2 months they built base camps for the Regiment, first from tents but eventually to more permanent Nissen huts. Training was conducted on how to build Bailey bridges. A depot was constructed at Thatcham. This depot was designed as a staging area for the American Army for assembly and shipping of equipment, supplies and gear to the western and northern ports of the UK, where ships were loaded for North Africa. Engineer Group In order to concentrate engineering resources and to distribute available heavy equipment, the concept of the "engineer group" was begun. General John C. H. Lee was pleased with the work performed with the use of the special and general engineer regiments since mid-1942. These were new concepts of army organization for a new type of war. Still, there were engineers with civilian experience that knew that more improvements could be made with the engineer group idea. In this organization five or six engineer units, including regiments, dump truck companies, welding detachments and engineer maintenance companies would work together on larger projects. Some army engineer officers were lost to aviation construction battalions for runway construction. The engineer section at Southern Base Command implemented the group idea. Southern Base Engineer Group 2 was organized with Colonel Swenholt as commander 1 August 1943. There was no previous Group 1. Invasion of Normandy This unit served with several of the Armies of World