815th 's Cliff Notes

Norman T. Allday was assigned to the 815th Engineers.

815th 's Brief History ( some of this does not quite match up with the information we have on Buster)

WWII

After the start of WWII US military planners scrambled to get a force in the field to defeat the Axis Powers. In addition to combat ground troops, heavy emphasis was placed on US Army Air Corps requirements - air power was needed to break the enemy's tenacious grip around the world. Forward airfield construction would be a high priority item when the air forces were deployed overseas.

Among the numerous units activated after Pearl Harbor was the 815th Engineer Aviation Battalion. Charged with the primary mission of airfield construction and maintenance, the 815th was activated at Jackson Army Air Base, Mississippi on 21Jan1942. After filling initial manpower and training requirements it moved to New York, departing for England on 3Jun1942, arriving on 9Jun1942. After more training, and possibly some construction activity in support of the 8th Air force build up in England, the 815th departed England and arrived in North Africa on 8Nov1942 in support of the US landings there. This was the US Army's baptism of fire against Axis and Vichy French troops.

The 815th landed at Oran as part of Operation Torch's center invasion force and performed airfield repair and construction tasks.

The 815th Engineer Aviation Battalion would go on to particpate in seven African and European military campaigns:
Algeria Nov 1942
Tunisia Nov 1942 - May 1943
Sicily July 1943 - Aug 1943
Naples-Fogia Sep 1943 - Jan 1944
Anzio Jan 1944 - May 1944
Rome-Arno Jan 1944 - Sep 1944
Northern Appenines Sep 1944 - Apr 1945 (northern Italy)

At the end of hostilities in Europe the 815th departed Italy for the US on 25May1945, destined for Geiger Army Air Field, Washington. With the surrender of the Japanese in Sep1945 the 815th was deactivated at Geiger Field on 22Sep1945.

**Because of the 815th's location on the Pacific coast at the time of its deactivation it may be correct to assume it had been earmarked for the invasion of Japan. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb attacks and subsequent formal surrender of Japanese forces negated the need for a military invasion of the Japanese home islands.

The above dates are from Shelby Stanton's Order of Battle - US Army World War II

This information is copy and pasted from the web page below. I just did not post the link, because over time web sites are removed and the links no longer work. The information belongs to the link.
http://groups.msn.com/815thengineers/history1.msnw