England in February 1944. It entered combat in France on 29 June 1944 and participated in the Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns of World War II, earning its first Meritorious Unit Commendation. After V-E Day, the regiment remained on occupation duty in Germany until its inactivation on 1 June 1946. On 15 June 1947, the regiment was reactivated in the organized reserves headquartered in Salt Lake, Utah, and remained there until it was again inactivated on 16 March 1949. On 25 October 1954, the 347th Engineer General Services Regiment was re-designated the 18th Engineer Brigade for the first time and activated as a Regular Army unit at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where it remained until inactivation on 26 March 1963. Vietnam War The 18th Engineer Brigade was reactivated on 16 July 1965 at Fort Bragg, N.C. and prepared for deployment to Vietnam. The 18th Engineer Brigade entered Vietnam in September 1965 with the responsibility for overseeing all Army Engineering operations in Vietnam until the establishment of the U.S. Army Engineer Command, Vietnam, in late 1966. Under the command of Colonel C. Craig Cannon, the Brigade prepared for deployment to Vietnam. The Advance Party of the 18th Engineer Brigade arrived at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Air Base on 3 September 1965. Three days later, Brigadier General Robert R. Ploger assumed command of the Brigade. Within two weeks, the Brigade Headquarters at Tan Son Nhut was fully operational. It had been preceded by the 35th Engineer Group, which built Cam Ranh Bay on a peninsula of sand and in a hostile environment. The brigade assumed responsibility for I Corps and II Corps in the northern part of South Vietnam. The 937th Engineer Group (Combat) at Qui Nhơn was assigned to the Brigade in June 1966. Its initial activities centered around rapid development of the port facilities, ammunition dumps, base camps and airfields necessary to support the build-up of US combat forces deploying to Vietnam. During the initial construction phases its combat engineer battalions also provided support for search and destroy missions and defensive operations with the 101st Airborne Division near Ninh Hoa and the 4th Infantry Division at Pleiku. On 18 January 1969, an ammunition storage area was completed at Cam Ranh Bay. It had taken two years to build this complex, which covered over . English Airfield was completed on 21 March 1969 near Qui Nhơn. The runway