130th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Co. & Patches?

I don't know. It does not sound like it to me.
My father Sgt Willard C. MARSH started out in the 3476 Ord. M. Co (A) while at Camp Rucker, Alabama in June 1942. The unit moved to Camp McCain, Mississippi in January 1943, and then he was transferred to the 130th Ord MM Co in March 1943. He was with the 130th the whole time from this time until October 9, 1945 when he was transferred to the 66th Infantry Division for the trip home after the war, and then discharged November 12, 1945 at Camp Atterbury, Indiana.

I'm sorry Jeff. I may have confused matters some.
That MOS 521 is the MOS I found in the company Morning Reports for weeserl's father Pvt James William WEESE during the time of his father's transfer to another unit.

Here are the various MOS numbers for my father [Sgt Willard C. MARSH] in his discharge papers.
1 month Pvt BASIC (QM) 521
13 months Sgt Parts Clerk, Auto 348
14 months Sgt Parts Clerk, Armament 848

In the company's Morning Report dated Sept 25 and Oct 5, 1945 for a 7-day furlough, it listed my father's MOS as 348.
Then, in the company's Morning Report dated a few days later on October 9, 1945, he was transferred to the 66th Infantry Division and his MOS was listed as 848.

No, my father was not a mechanic. He was the unit's Ordnance Parts Clerk. I only have two photos of him while he was in the field in the ETO. One is dated January 20, 1945 and the other is dated March 1945. He wears HBTs and the M1941 Field Jacket in both photos. I still have the field jacket. There never were any patches on it.

I would be happy to post these two photos here if someone could please tell me the forum's file size restrictions for photos and the best way to attach or post them. Otherwise I will just be guessing how to post them correctly. I can't seem to find the forum's instructions for doing so.

Thanks,
-Bill Marsh

 

Thank you very much Otto. This information helps a great deal.

I added this avatar.
This is my father Sergeant Willard C. Marsh 35352480
This is just the typical studio portrait that almost every soldier received near the beginning of their service.
I don't know if these type of photos were taken sometime during basic training, at the beginning of basic training, or perhaps upon completion of basic training. I would like to know though, if anyone happens to know.

He was a private at the time of this photo and not part of the Ordnance Department yet. His round brass collar badge in this photo is still only the U.S. collar badge.
The eyeglasses were his own personal eyeglasses before he eventually received the typical army issue nickel-plated P3 style glasses made by Art Craft. I still have both pair of his eyeglasses.

After his induction on April 17, 1942 at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Indiana he was sent a few days later to Camp Lee, Virginia for his basic training in April and May 1942.

-Bill Marsh

 

Here is one of the two photos of my father (Sgt Willard C. MARSH) that was taken in the field in the ETO while with the 130th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company.
He penciled 1-20-45 on the back of the photo. He is standing in back at the far right and not wearing a helmet. The other soldiers are not identified. None of them are wearing shoulder patches or rank.

There appears to be a German truck on the left. It might be a German Opel truck, but I don't know if it's a civilian truck or military truck. The lettering painted behind them on the brick building looks like e _ _ _ ger-K. It could possibly stand for Warehouse K, or something like that. The other thought was perhaps it might be the name of a local beer. I may never know. But it could be a clue where exactly this photo was taken.

On January 20, 1945 the unit was stationed in Aachen, Germany at U.S. military map grid coordinate vK8544, which is just north northeast between Aachen city center and the suburb of Haaren. I have attached a portion of an actual WWII U.S. military map. I added a red dot on the WWII map for the original coordinate mentioned in the unit's Morning Reports. I also added a red outlined square. The unit could have been located anywhere within the area of that red outlined square for that map coordinate.

When I went to GOOGLE maps satellite view, there are still warehouses in this area.

-Bill Marsh

 

Here is a cropped and enhanced closeup of the same photo of Sgt Willard C. MARSH who is standing in the rear. It shows a bit better detail. The man in front is not identified.

My father appears to be wearing a wool "Jeep" cap, the army issue P3 eyeglasses, an M1941 Field Jacket, and HBT's.

He once told me that he never wore any wools the whole time he was in the field in the ETO. He said it just didn't get that cold for him. He said that he only wore his wools when he went on leave while he was over there.

The gas flap of the HBT shirt in the photograph can plainly be seen straight across his neck. The left sleeve cuff of his M1941 Field Jacket is turned up, because the arms were often rather long on these jackets. He apparently blinked while the photograph was being taken, because his eyes are closed. He is also wearing a Clark Gable style mustache that he began wearing in May or June 1942.

-Bill Marsh

 

Great photos and posts, Bill. Thanks for those additions to the Forums.

 

Thank you TD-Tommy776. My pleasure.


Here is another snap shot taken of my father (Sergeant Willard C. MARSH) in March 1945.
He wears the P3 army issue eyeglasses, HBTs, the M1941 Field Jacket, and the Combat Service Boots that are now often called "double-buckle boots". The army started issuing these boots in the ETO during the fall of 1944. Even though he is a buck sergeant, he wears no unit patches or rank on his field jacket. He also does not have a white horizontal stripe on the back of his helmet.

He only wrote "3/45" on the back of this photograph in pencil. I have no other information about where the photograph was taken or who may have taken it. However, I have been trying to find out by studying the various clues in the photo. With hope, other family members of men in my father's unit will see these postings and be able to provide more information. And I hope the information I provide here also helps them.

It looks like a street corner in a small town. The street does not look very wide. An older civilian man can be seen walking in the background. The damaged building behind him has a very distinctive looking facade, so I have been looking and looking online at old post cards and present day photographs of towns where his unit would have been stationed in March 1945 to see if I can possibly find that building in order to determine its location. No luck so far though.

According to the unit's Morning Reports, the unit was stationed at the following locations in March 1945.

Aachen, Germany ---- map coordinate vK8544 ---- Dec. 27, 1944 - March 2, 1945
Otzenrath, Germany ---- wF1175 ---- March 2 - March 18, 1945
Rheim, Germany ----- rA2022 ---- March 18 - April 6, 1945

The little village of Otzenrath (about 10 miles due south of Monchengladbach) no longer is in the same location that it was in during the war. It was razed in about 2007 or so to make way for coal mining in the region. In fact, several towns in that region were lost to coal mining in recent years. A new village of Otzenrath was established a few miles due north of the original location.

The village of Rheim is about a mile or so due east of Kamp-Lintfort -- a few miles west of the Rhein River. This little village is rather difficult to find on maps. A notation my father made in the little SERVICE RECORD booklet that was included with his discharge papers says "Crossed Rhine From Lintfort in Mar. '45." That does not quite exactly match with the Morning Reports in March 1945 though. My father did not give a specific date or more specific bridge location of the crossing. Another unit like his though (111th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company) was in the same 48th Ordnance Battalion, and that unit crossed the Rhine on the Love Bridge and went into Dinslaken. There is a very good online site for the 111th Ord. MM Co. with photos and veterans's accounts, etc. The 111th was not assigned to the XIX Corps Artillery like the 130th was, but they were still in the same battalion together.
Here is the link. wwiitracings.wordpress.com/what-is-an-mm-ordnance-company/
What Is an MM Ordnance Company?

Anyway, I hope others happen to see these photographs and questions and are able to provide more information about the 130th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company.

I plan to start posting photos of some of my father's army effects, and etc. soon.

-Bill Marsh

 

Hi,

I read the posts about your father... trying to dig into my father's record in France and Belgium/German Border...his military records burned in the St. Louis fire. How did you / can I get maps with the military coordinates for Belgium / Aachen area?

thanks,

John Cline

 

You might be able to find a map or a portion of the particular WWII military map you need at the 30th Infantry Division "Old Hickory" website. I found many useful ones there. Here's the link. Home I also had some luck just GOOGLING something like "WWII military map Heerlen" to try to find images of a map of a certain city location. In one of my books, it says you can obtain copies of WWII military maps from the Cartography Branch of the National Archives, which I think is in College Park, Maryland. I have not tried that yet though. I have also seen WWII maps for sale on Ebay, Etsy and Pinterest.

I obtained the specific WWII map coordinates of my father's unit from his unit's Morning Reports. For instance, on the Morning Report dated 31 October 1944 the location is typed as Heerlen (K769558 - Holland). The Morning Reports are available at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri. Mark Dupont (earlier on this thread) hired a researcher to obtain the unit's complete Morning Reports for him. You can learn how to use those alpha-numeric military map coordinates (like the example K769558) at this following website. The result will get you very close on GOOGLE Maps, but not quite as exact as on an original WWII map. The "Coordinates Translator"

I hope that helps some.

-Bill Marsh

 

Here is a photo of my father's dog tags.
From what I understand, this style of chain was introduced in 1943.
And the style in which the information was stamped on them was done from July 20, 1943 to March 1944.
Since my father was inducted April 17, 1942, I guess these are his second set of dog tags.

-Bill

 

Yes, Jeff, I'm certain both Mark Dupont and I would be interested in that kind of assistance.

V1 BUZZ BOMB
Something that has been nagging me over the years is exactly where a V1 buzz bomb hit across the road from where the unit was bivouacked, according to an incident my father told me about. He said they were bivouacked on the grounds of a chateau or monastery or something like that, and the buzz bomb hit in a field across the road from them.

I have checked WWII maps at each Morning Report map coordinate where the unit was stationed, and the map coordinate at Heerlen (vK769558) seems to be the best candidate for the location of the buzz bomb incident. There is an old monastery/sanatorium there at that location. There is no mention of this buzz bomb explosion in the unit Morning Reports.

I know it's a long shot, but would your contacts possibly know of a list of V1 buzz bomb strikes that occurred in the Heerlen area, especially during the time the unit was stationed there? The unit was stationed there from October 19 to December 27, 1944. I have found such V1 buzz bomb strike lists for places in England, but not Netherlands, although buzz bombs did strike targets in Netherlands. I have also found V2 rocket strike lists for England and Netherlands. If there are period photos of that Heerlen area, all the more better!

Thanks for your assistance.

-Bill Marsh

 

Hello,

My name is Alex Myers, my grandfather Kenneth Lamar Myers served in the 130th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Co in the Euro theatre from Feb 1944 - Nov 1945 (see pic below). After side discussions with Mark Dupont and Bill Marsh we were able to determine our grandfathers most likely knew each other as they were listed multiple times together throughout the Morning Reports.

I am so grateful to have come across this board and connect with individuals who have done such extensive research. My grandmother who is still living (90 years old) is doing some digging to locate his old service photos from in the field. If and when she is able to provide I will post them. Thank you all for your contributions, history of our greatest generation is fascinating.

-Alex Myers

 

If someone has morning reports or roasters of the 130th, could you be so kind as to see if a Sergeant John P. Colarusso exists in there somewhere? He ended up with the 4th Armored but his Purple Heart Code from his injury in January 1945 is coded GO32 HQ130. Hoping to find the missing info I’ve been looking for. Thankyou so much