One of the guys in the photo Ken posted of the WWII G.I.s with the metal boat is wearing the First Army patch. I suspect that he was in an Echelons Above Corps engineer battalion that was specially equipped and tailored for the Rhine River crossing. Metal boats are probably not in any current TOEs, but it would be nice if there were a few of them stored somewhere in active theaters of operations.

In 1975 my Dad was a member of a group that toured Europe studying urban transportation systems -- subways, rail, and busses. When they arrived in Germany they were welcomed with a luncheon near Bonn at a restaurant overlooking the Rhine. When the official German government greeter asked Dad whether he had ever been in Germany before, Dad pointed to the right and said he'd crossed the river at Remagen in 1945.