US divisional casualties?

Hi
RichT090 - I’ve been told that the unit listed on separation paper is one they use for the discharge process…and not actually his unit -or- organization he served with .

 

There’s not enough said about the Army - I mean I know the Marines took huge hits and casualties-however the Army suffered more then any arm in the Military in total losses .
Not saying one should have top recognition- - I’m just saying I would like to see more about the Army as an individual fighting force in print. The loss of lives retaking the Philippines and the other Islands envolved as a total was nightmarish for these Men and Women…and the fact that Generals - Captains and leaders of all the Armed Forces put them all in harms way- the way they did is heartbreaking and I would say almost unforgivable .

 

You need to re-read what I wrote. He was discharged before the war ended as a member of the 90th FA. It was still in the Phillipines when he was discharged.

 

I’m getting good at this now
Copy of New document

 

You see the date WIA - - he wasn’t discharged till at least a month later . He was in the Hospital . So ‘ I’m not sure what you’re trying to tell me ?? I’m still new . I do not claim to know a whole lot of procedures and processes of separation- tho I came across some good reading about the subject . It was very late last night after I did a search for ( at the Convenience of the Government)

 

No there’s not . He had been wounded and spent time-a short time in a hospital or other unit of medical, plus he had 4 years 1 month and 27 days in

 

Papers

Copy of New document

 

Ok I went and checked out the Hyper War
Deaths thing from top to bottom
I’m not getting it ???
What was I supposed to gather from this exercise ??

 

W

Well thank you for that confusion upon my confusion , ha ha . How did a Reservist unit become a Army unit ??

 

…
….and i know some say the unit listed on discharge paper is not usually the correct unit- so I can’t be sure about the 90th can I ??
I will research it later tonight I gotta go out now . I’ll check back later tonight
Thanx , Laterrrrr

 

Okay, let's walk through it.

He enlisted in the Field Artillery (FA) of the Regular Army (RA) before the attack on Pearl Harbor on 29 April 1941. On 28 May 1941 he departed San Francisco, where he enlisted, for Hawaii (not called the Asiatic-Pacific Theater (APT) at that time but what it was called when he was discharged), where he arrived on 2 June 1941. The country was still not at war. At the time, the Field Artillery units in Hawaii were part of the Hawaiian Division (sometimes called the 11th Division, although that was never its designation). Those were the 8th, 11th, and 13th Field Artillery Regiments. Now, he may have been initially assigned to one of those but on 26 August a new organization began, because the Army was planning on reorganizing the Hawaiian Division into two new divisions, the 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions. As part of that the 90th Field Artillery Battalion was activated in Hawaii on 26 August 1941 and on 1 October 1941 the two divisions were also officially activated.

On 1 July 1945, he left the Philippines after being wounded on 13 April 1945. Likely the intervening six weeks he was stabilized, went through surgery, and was convalescing. Since the type and severity of his wound or wounds was not specified it is possible he was sent to the States either for further treatment or specifically to be invalided out. Since his discharge was for the "Convenience of the Service" rather than for medical reasons it is hard to tell for sure on that. Unfortunately I cannot read his last name on the copy you posted so I cannot check if he has a hospital record after his return that might clear that up.

His discharge unit was the 90th Field Artillery Battalion, which was an organic part of the 25th Infantry Division. There is no real reason to suppose he was in any of the other three Field Artillery battalions of the 26th Infantry Division but that is possible and it is also possible that some of his early days in Hawaii were spent training with one of the Field Artillery regiments of the Hawaiian Division.

His Campaign Credits matches the 25th Infantry Division and the 90th FA Battalion. The 90th arrived on Guadalcanal on 23 December 1942 and was probably engaged there in the final battles at Mount Austen and Seahorse Hill until the island was secured 9 February 1943. They left Guadalcanal and arrived New Zealand on 9 November 1943, then to New Caledonia on 8 February 1944, before landing in the Philippines 11 January 1945. He was wounded there either in the actions at Crump Hill (8-13 April) of Mount Myoko (9-19 April).

 

It always was an Army unit. It wasn't a "Reservist unit", it was a Regular Army Inactive unit, which were Regular Army units in caretaker status because there was no money funded for them between the wars. It was "constituted" in the U.S. Army, which means it was recognized as a unit by Congress, which is the final arbiter on that. It was also in theory "organized" in that it had a few Regular personnel assigned to it administratively. However, it was only periodically "active" when an influx of Organized Reserve officers and men were assigned to it for summer training. Much of the Regular Army was in that status between the wars due to lack of funding - many were affiliated with universities and were part of its ROTC program - the officers assigned to the unit were also usually the college ROTC instructors.

Understand, all those terms - constituted, active, inactive, and organized have specific meanings in Army Regulations and Congressional legislation when it comes to units - they are both an organizational entity in the US Army as well as a legal entity in the US government. They may also be "redesignated" - given a new number or name or may in some cases even be "converted" - changed from their original purpose to another as in a Cavalry unit converting to Armor.

So what happened was that in the spring of 1940 Germany conquered most of Europe and threatened to invade Britain. Japan was expanding into China and Indochina. As o 8 September 1939, FDR declared a State of Limited Emergency and began lobbying Congress to expand the authorized size of the Army and Navy and to modernize them. As part of that expansion, the basic organization of divisions was updated, and all the old divisional Field Artillery regiments, which in peacetime were quite small organizations, were reorganized as battalions...and many of the old Regular Army Inactive units were activated or were reorganized and redesignated as battalions for the newly constituted, activated, and organized divisions. That is what happened to the 90th Field Artillery Regiment (RAI), which became the 90th Field Artillery Battalion (RA) and was assigned to the new 25th Infantry Division.

 

Alrighty then- good going . Sounds pretty close . See these are little things wouldn’t put together for quite awhile . You saw it too tho - that he followed the 25th like a shadow .
Thank you for your help and time it takes to discover treasures like this . I was writing down the Order of Battle for the US Army and reading everything about the Divisions -Infantry- Armored and so on . I’ve never heard of the two places you mentioned tho . Looks like some more reading is at hand . I’ll let you know what my conclusions are . Oh ! His name
I’m sorry- Kenneth Chesnut- ..and Thanx again

 

Okay. He was admitted in March 1944 for "malaria, vivax (tertian)" - i.e. benign tertian malaria, and again in May 1944 for "otitis externa", and in July 1944 for hemorrhoids (he had a hemorrhoidectomy - the dangers of being a truck driver.

His wound admittance information was:

Injury Type: Battle injury; InjuryType2: All battle casualties, and all battle injuries not intentionally inflicted by self or another person;
Diagnosis: Wound(s), penetrating (point of entrance only: includes incised, puncture or stab wound) with no nerve or artery involvement;
Location: Arm;
Location: Head, occipital region;
Causative Agent: Grenade, Rifle, Fragments;
Diagnosis: Wound(s), abrade;
Medical Treatment: Closure of wound, delayed, or Suture secondary of wound (delayed closure).

He was discharged to duty but I suspect was probably later reevaluated and chosen for a medical discharge.

BTW, he enlisted specifically for the Hawaiian Department, which was a thing then. I strongly suspect he was recruited specifically as part of the expansion of the Hawaiian Division into the 24th and 25th Infantry divisions..

 

Dah - discharged before the War the ended as a Member of the 90th . Ok Thank you

 

You are working too hard
I certainly appreciate what you’ve done for me and all the others you give your time . For someone just starting out - this isn’t easy - but then sometimes a person can put the answer right in front of you… and your just too busy struggling to find it - that ya can’t see it
Right ?