Lamp holders

Darius Pigott and Ezell Lee in Denver, CO 9/1950

(Courtesy PRCHS -- 138th Engineer collection)

   Darius and Ezell were two of the youngest members of the 138th Engineer Pontoon Bridge Company. It has been told that they were just 17 years old at the time of deployment.  The story goes that while in Korea, the enemy would blow up the pontoon bridges during the day and the company would rebuild the bridges during the night.  Being the youngest members, Darius and Ezell were assigned the duty of holding the bright spotlights so the men could see how to repair the bridge. Of course, enemy snipers used the spotlights for target practice.  It only took one night for the lamp holders to learn that if they attached the spotlights to a long pole, they were less likely to be targeted by the snipers. (Source of story: Dodd Lee, Ezell's youngest son.)