Identifying the Battalion/Company My Great-Uncle Served In (Sources Included)

My great-uncle Raymond Stubbs enlisted in the army in 1940 and was stationed in Hawaii during Pearl Harbor ('Pearl Harbor Survivor' is on his grave marker). Based on his discharge papers, which I've included below, he was in New Guinea. That's likely where he received at least two of his three bronze stars. Given the fact that he was in the infantry, in Hawaii prior to Pearl Harbor, and involved in the New Guinea campaign, my best guess is that he was in the 24th infantry division, 19th or 21st regiment.

Does anyone have any idea how I can narrow this down further and potentially find his company? I've searched the national archives website and spent quite a few hours scouring the internet for any sort of list that might have his name to no avail. Thanks in advance!

Annotation 2019-02-06 212626 by Sarah Stubbs posted Feb 6, 2019 at 9:29 PM

Raymond Stubbs Enlistment by Sarah Stubbs posted Feb 6, 2019 at 9:35 PM

 

Thanks, Lou. I know that those awards were a dime a dozen so there aren't likely to be any comprehensive lists of recipients. Do you have any idea where I might be able to find lists of the soldiers that served in a specific regiment? Or were those records mostly destroyed by the fire?

 

Correction -- One does not "WIN the Combat Infantryman's Badge, Bronze Star Medal, or any other award for military service. They are "EARNED."

 

Sarah,

I can't view your attachments for some reason? The only "lists of the soldiers" are the Company Morning reports of various units. They are essentially intact, but difficult to use since pretty much you first need to know which company to look at. Luckily, if you are confident of the 19th and 21st Infantry that is "only" 22 companies each that need to be searched.

 

Thanks, Richard! I'll see if I can find any Company Morning Reports. This all starts as an assignment for my graduate class and now I can't stop until I know more!

 

CIB a "dime a dozen"????

 

Hi Sarah, No harm no foul so don't worry about the "dime a dozen" thing.

Let me try and put the true "worth" of the CIB into context for you.

The well known write David Halberstam summed up the meaning of the CIB as follows.

“What the military in its codes valued more than anything else was honor; serious military men always knew which of their colleagues had served their time in combat and could be counted on. That was why in private, when they were in uniform among each other, army men often did not display all their ribbons but instead wore the Combat Infantry Badge. It was the army’s true badge of honor, and wearing the CIB without other ribbons—even the Silver or Bronze Star—was part of the culture’s secret language, the way real army men spoke to each other, deliberately understated. It said in effect that the recipient had been there and done it, and for anyone else who had also been there, that was all you needed to know. And if you hadn’t been there, it didn’t matter what you thought.”

A combat infantryman had the most dangerous job in the entire Army and these men suffered the highest causality rate. If memory serves, at one point after the landings in Normandy (D-Day) about 70% of all combat casualties in Europe was among combat infantrymen. The CIB recognizes this simple fact.

General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the Army during WWII pushed for the CIB as a way of recognizing the extreme sacrifices expected of these me.

I had the honor and pleasure of knowing a man who was one of the most decorated men in his entire division. A year or so before his death he told me he was leaving his Distinguished Service Cross, Silvers Stars, Bronze Stars, and a high British medal for heroism to his family. In his will he specified that he be buried wearing his CIB and wedding ring. That's what it meant to him, and many combat infantrymen I have known over the years felt the same way.

If you look a the Army's official order of precedence (The order awards are to be worn on the uniform.) The CIB is worn above everything on the right breast. It is the highest in order of precedence. Higher than the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, or Bronze Star.

Finally, a combat infantryman once told me the CIB meant that the man who earned it had done so by "standing up into the fire and advancing on the enemy." This was not just once or twice, but over and over again, day after day, month after month, year after year, until he was killed, wounded so badly that he could no longer fight, or if very lucky, men made it through the war without being wounded.

So as you can see, the CIB is a big deal. We, the American people, are very fortunate to have so many men who earned this award by "standing up into the fire and advancing on the enemy."

 

A minor question/correction

The danger to bomber crewmen was even higher I believe. May depend on exactly how you look at it though.

 

It is complicated. The Infantry suffered about 26.4% of its personnel deployed overseas as battle casualties (KIA, WIA, DOW, and MIA/POW) during a typical 12 months of the 40 months from December 1941 to March 1945. The USAAF suffered about 1.4% of its total personnel strength (CONUS and OCUNUS) as battle casualties. However, for example, at the beginning of June 1944, only some 126,000 of the 2,4-million or so USAAF personnel were aircrew overseas...who suffered the majority of the 121,867 battle casualties suffered by the USAAF. I would say for the year roughly from mid 1943 to mid 1944 it was far more dangerous to be a bomber crewman than an infantryman, but on a day-to-day basis the threat to an infantryman was far higher.

 

There's also the fact that in most theaters bomber crews were rotated back to the states after a certain number of missions. As opposed to infantrymen who once they were in combat often stayed in combat for the duration. I guess I shouldn't have put in the qualifier. It does depend on exactly how you look at it.